[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52943-52944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-25148]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-251]


Florida Power and Light Company (Turkey Point Unit 4); Exemption

I

    Florida Power and Light Company (the licensee) is the holder of 
Facility Operating License No. DPR-41, which authorizes operation of 
Turkey Point Unit 4 (the facility), at a steady-state 

[[Page 52944]]
reactor power level not in excess of 2200 megawatts thermal. The 
facility is a pressurized water reactor located at the licensee's site 
in Dade County, Florida. The license provides among other things, that 
it is subject to all rules, regulations, and Orders of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (the Commission or NRC) now or hereafter in 
effect.

II

    Section III.D.1.(a) of Appendix J to 10 CFR Part 50 requires the 
performance of three Type A containment integrated leakage rate tests 
(ILRTs) of the primary containment, at approximately equal intervals 
during each 10-year service period.

III

    By letter dated August 8, 1995, and revised by letter dated 
September 6, 1995, the licensee requested an exemption from the 
requirements pertaining to the Type A testing interval required by 10 
CFR 50 Appendix J. This section requires the performance of three Type 
A tests of the primary containment at approximately equal intervals 
during each 10-year service period. The requested exemption would 
permit a one-time interval extension of the Type A test by one 
refueling outage (from the March 1996 refueling outage, to the October 
1997 refueling outage).
    The licensee's request cites the special circumstances of 10 CFR 
50.12, paragraph (a)(2)(ii) as the basis for the exemption. The 
licensee points out that the existing Type B and C testing programs are 
not being modified by this request and allowing a one-time scheduler 
exemption will not reduce the current level of safety since the Type A 
test frequency does not alter the containment leak rates.

IV

    In the licensee's August 8, 1995, as revised by letter dated 
September 6, 1995, exemption request, the licensee stated that special 
circumstance 50.12(a)(2)(ii) is applicable to this situation, i.e., 
that application of the regulation is not necessary to achieve the 
underlying purpose of the rule.
    Appendix J states that the leakage test requirements provide for 
periodic verification by tests of the leak tight integrity of the 
primary reactor containment. Appendix J further states that the purpose 
of the tests ``is to assure that leakage through the primary reactor 
containment shall not exceed the allowable leakage rate values as 
specified in the Technical Specifications or associated bases.'' Thus, 
the underlying purpose of the requirement to perform Type A containment 
leak rate tests at intervals during the 10-year service period is to 
ensure that any potential leakage pathways through the containment 
boundary are identified within a time span that prevents significant 
degradation from continuing or becoming unknown.
    The NRC staff has reviewed the basis and supporting information 
provided by the licensee in the exemption request. It has been the 
experience at Turkey Point Unit 4 during the Type A tests conducted 
from 1982 to date, that the Type A tests have demonstrated that the 
reactor containment buildings have acceptable leak rates that are far 
below the leak rates assumed in the site's offsite dose calculation and 
the ILRT acceptance criteria. The licensee has reported that the test 
results are approximately one-third to one-fourth of the leakage 
assumed in offsite dose rate calculations (0.25%) and approximately 
one-half to one-third of the acceptance criteria for the ILRT 
(0.1875%). The leak rate data from these tests do not show an 
increasing trend, indicating that the containment liner and isolation 
system are stable and supporting the conclusion that a one-time 
scheduler exemption will not reduce the current level of safety.
    The licensee will perform the general containment inspection 
although it is only required by Appendix J (Section V.A.) to be 
performed in conjunction with Type A tests. The NRC staff considers 
that these inspections, though limited in scope, provide an important 
added level of confidence in the continued integrity of the containment 
boundary.
    The NRC staff has also made use of a draft staff report, NUREG-
1493, which provides the technical justification for the present 
Appendix J rulemaking effort which also includes a 10-year test 
interval for Type A tests. The integrated leakage rate test, or Type A 
test, measures overall containment leakage. However, operating 
experience with all types of containments used in this country 
demonstrates that essentially all containment leakage can be detected 
by local leakage rate tests (Type B and C). According to results given 
in NUREG-1493, out of 180 ILRT reports covering 110 individual reactors 
and approximately 770 years of operating history, only 5 ILRT failures 
were found which local leakage rate testing could not detect. This is 
3% of all failures. This study agrees well with previous NRC staff 
studies which show that Type B and C testing can detect a very large 
percentage of containment leaks.
    The Nuclear Management and Resources Council (NUMARC), now the 
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), collected and provided the NRC staff 
with summaries of data to assist in the Appendix J rulemaking effort. 
NUMARC collected results of 144 ILRTs from 33 units; 23 ILRTs exceeded 
1.0La. Of these, only nine were not due to Type B or C leakage 
penalties. The NEI data also added another perspective. The NEI data 
show that in about one-third of the cases exceeding allowable leakage, 
the as-found leakage was less than 2La; in one case the leakage 
was found to be approximately 2La; in one case the as-found 
leakage was less than 3La; one case approached 10La; and in 
one case the leakage was found to be approximately 21La. For about 
half of the failed ILRTs the as-found leakage was not quantified. These 
data show that, for those ILRTs for which the leakage was quantified, 
the leakage values are small in comparison to the leakage value at 
which the risk to the public starts to increase over the value of risk 
corresponding to La (approximately 200La, as discussed in 
NUREG-1493). Therefore, based on those considerations, it is unlikely 
that an extension of one cycle for the performance of the Appendix J, 
Type A test at Turkey Point Unit 4 would result in significant 
degradation of the overall containment integrity. As a result, the 
application of the regulation in these particular circumstances is not 
needed to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule.
    Based on generic and plant-specific data, the NRC staff finds the 
basis for the licensee's proposed exemption to allow a one-time 
exemption to permit a schedular extension of one cycle for the 
performance of the Appendix J Type A test, provided that the general 
containment inspection is performed, to be acceptable.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that 
granting this Exemption will not have a significant impact on the 
environment (60 FR 49926).
    This Exemption is effective upon issuance and shall expire at the 
completion of the 1997 refueling outage.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of September 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Steven A. Varga,
Director, Division of Reactor Projects--I/II, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-25148 Filed 10-10-95; 8:45 am]
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