December 28, 1988

For:

From:

POLICY ISSUE

(Information)

The Commissioners

Victor Stello, Jr.

Executive Director for Operations

SEcr-88-355

Subject:

Purpose:

Background:

TRANSFER OF REGULATORY RESPONSIBILITY FOR pmJER REACTGR

CECOr-;rUSSIONING FROM THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR

REGULATION (NRR) TO THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR ~1ATERIAL SAFETY

AND SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)

To inform the Commission of the status of transferring responsibility for power reactor decommissioning from NRR

to NMSS and to identify the resources to be transferored

fr.om NRR to NMSS.

In SECY-88-128, May 10, 1988, the Comission was informed

that the responsibility for power reactor decommissioning \-/as being transferred from NRR to NMSS. The change was

implemented because the decommissioning process now focuses

primarily on waste management, financial assurance, and

custodial and decommissioning activities, rather than on

operational activities. Currently, NMSS is responsible for the decommissioning associated with power reactor and

materia1 licenses; NRR retains responsibi1i ty for research

and test reactor decommissioning. However, the transfer of

responsibility from t4RR to NMSS .has not been implemented

yet, because no resources ~/ere· transferred to the NfJiSS

bUdget for FY89 and FY90 to accommodate this new

responsibility. To date, NMSS has helped NRR revie~1

decommissioning plans, but NRR has retained project

management of power reactors.

Contact:

Clayton L. Pittiglio, Jr., NMSS

492-3438

•
The Commissioners

Discussion:

- 2 -

On August 10, 1988, the Chairman provided Commissi(in comments

on the FY89-FY93 Draft Five Year Plan. Included was the

following Commission comment:

"Secy-88-128 states that the plan to shift the

responsibility for power reactor decommission'ing from

NRR to .NMSS would be addressed in the update of the

Five Year Plan. This transfer along with associated

resources should be made before the plan is pUblished in the spring. Prior to publication the Comm'ission

would like to receive an information paper that

describes this transfer and identifies the resources

to be transferred to NMSS."

This paper responds to the Commission's request fOl" an

Information Paper.

The transfer of regu 1atory respcnsi bi1i ty to NMSS 'js

summarized as follows:

1. NMSS will assume responsibility for revil~w of

the power reactor Decommissioning Plan, and

preparation of the Safety Evaluation Report ilnd

Environmental Assessment associated with

decommissioning.

2. NRR will remain responsible for modifyin9 the

facility Technical Spec tftcations, Physical Security Plan, and Emergency Plan; issuil1g the

Possession-Only license; and approving the

Decommissioning Plan.

3. The overall project management technical review

and inspection responsibilities will be

transferred to NMSS after completion of

the activities in Item 2, which includes approval of the Decommissioning Plan.

4. NMSS will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Decommissioning Pla.n and

the license termination, upon successful

completion of the decommissionins activities.

The transfer of responsibil ity does not include non-power (research, test, or training) reactors, at this time. The

lead for decommissioning non-power reactors wi 11 rematn in
The Commissioners - 3 -

NRR and will be coordinated with NMSS. These facilities

are a unique group of reactors; most belong to universities.

From an NRC standpoint, the review of the decommissioning of these reactors wi 11 be performed most effi ciently by the

Project Managers who handled them.

To implement the transfer, power reactors already under

decoDJllissioning review will be transitioned as discussed

below. The transfer of project management responslbi 1ity for Huwboldt Bay Unit 3 and Vallecitos from NRR to NMSS

will be implemented once the necessary resources are obtained. For these plants, the Possession-Only Licenses

and Decommissioning Plans have been approved. The project

management responsibility for La Crosse, Dresden Unit 1,

and Indian Point Unit 1 will be transferred after the

Decommissioning Plans are approved. Project managt:ment responsibility for Fermi Unit 1 and Peach Bottom Unit 1

should be transferred after the forty-year Possesston-unly license extensions are approved. Since these last five

plants have ongoing NRR actions nearing completion~ NMSS

will continue to provide input only in the waste manaqement

areas until the transfer occurs.

On December 5, 1988, the Public Service Company of Colorado

informed the tlRC that it plans to decommission Fort St.

Vrain (Enclosure 1). They stated that a preliminar~

decommissioning plan will be submitted by April 1989. The

final decommissioning plan is expected to be submitted for

approval in FY91. This will be the first plant for which

NMSS will have full responsibility for the deconmtss tontnq

activities described above. For planning purposes, it is

assumed that one additional operating plant will request decommissioning plan approval in FY93.

In addition to the power reactors being transferred from

NRR, an existing reactor (Pathfinder) has a byproduct material license and is assigned to NMSS. Pathfinder

recently declared that it ~/ill be undergoing dismantlement

starting in FY90 and will submit a dismantlement plan in FY89. The intention to initiate dismantlement of the

plant was not known at the time the Five Year Plan (FYP)

was developed.

A listing of all the plants and the projected dates for

transfer of responsibility are provided in Enclosur'e 2. 0

The estimated resources for NMSS to perform the

•
The Commissioners - 4 -

decommissioning activities for these plants are based on

historical NRR full-time equivalent unit (FTE) expenditures for review of decommissioning plans, project manaqement , and inspection of reactors that have Possession-Only

Licenses. The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES)

activities are not included since they are not affected by

the transfer. The RES effort included in the Five Year

Plan is about 1.5 FTE for FY89 through FY93, as well as a

contractor assistance effort of $350 thousand for FY89 and

$150 thousand for FY90 and FY91. The estimated total FTE

required by the NMSS program for FY89 - FY93 is summarized

below.

Reactor Decommissioning FTE Summary

FTE Required FY89 FY90 FY91 FY92 FY93

Existing 7 Plants 0.6 1:2 1:2 1:2 -n

New Plants 0.2 1.8 0.9 1.8

Pathfinder 0.7 3.1 1.4 1.4 0.5

Total ""T:"5 4:1 4:4 j:5 -U

FTE Ava ilab le

Transferred from

NRR 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0

NMSS FYP • 2.4 2.5 1.5

Total 1:0 1:0 4:4 T5" -13

Overage/(Shortfall) (0.5) (3.3) (0) (0) (0)

The resources being transferred from NRR are suffic:ient

for the NMSS decommissioning of reactors currently under

NRR responsibility. The shortfall in the table above is

associated with the recent decision to dismantle

Pathfinder. Utility decisions on decommissioning

at Shoreham and Three Mile Island Unit 2 would increase

these resource requirement and shortfall projections. This

paper assumes that Shoreham will continue operation and

that a decommissioning decision at Three Mile Island Unit 2

will not be made before FY93.
Th~ Commissioners - 5 -

I plan to implement the transfer of power reactor

decommissioning, including the transfer of FTE from NRR to

NMSS, as discussed above. The next update to the Five Year

Plan will reflect this FTE transfer. The FY90 shortfall

will be addressed as part of the formulation of th.~ FY90-94

Five Year Plan.

Enclosures:

1. Public Service Company of Colorado Letter,

dated 12/5/88

2. Power Reactor Decommissioning Workload

D1STRIBurrCN:

cemni.ssioners

CGC

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OIA

GPA

All Regional Offices

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PCRS

ASLBP

ASIAP

SB::Y

•
e Public Service"

December 5, 1988

Fort St. Vrain

Unit No. 1

P-88422

U. S. Nuclear Regulato~v Commfssion

ATTN: Document Control Desk

Washington, D.C. 20555

Attention: Mr. Jose A. Calvo

Director, Project Directorate IV

Docket No. 50-267

PILlblic SIPYlce

CDmINny of Color.do

",0. 10J( 841)

Dlnvtr, eo 81)201- 0840

A.O. WILLiAMS, JR.

SI:NIORVIC!! PRESIDENT

NUCI.iAR O'~EAATIONS

'SUBJECT: Earlv Tenmination of

Forf St. Vrain Operatiofls

REFERENCE: 1) NRC Letter. Heitner to Williams,

dated November 4, 1988 ('G-8844,3)

2) NRC Memorandum. Heitner to Calvo, .

dated October 26. 1988 ('G-88436)

Dear Mr. Calvo:

The present Faeilit,Y Operating Lieense for the Fort St. Vrain Nuclear

Generating Station, lfcense No. DPR-34, expires at midnight on

September 17, 2008. Based on economic considerations assoc;atEld with

the ongoing operating costs of Fort St. Vrain, Public Service (;ompan.v

of Colorado (PSC) has determined that it will be neces!.ary to

terminate Fort St. Vrain operations earl.v. Whfle II final date for

tenninatfng Fort St. Vrain operations has not been selected cit this

time, Fort St. Vrain operations will be dfscontinued on or before

June 30, 1990.

In Reference 1), the NRC r8~uested that PSC prOVide a def'lnitive

operating plan for Fort St. Vrain within 30 days. Because ()f the

aforementioned economic considerations, PSC has decided to te1~inate

Fort St. Vrain operations as soon as planning and preparations can be

completed for the initiation of an orderly Fort St. Vrain defueling, inclUding the completion of the necesiiary NRC reviews and rece~lpt of

the required NRC approvals for initiation of the defuelfng proc:ess•

•
"' P-SS'122 -2- December 5. 1988

•

At the meeting on OctuLt!r" 13-14, 1088 botween r.pr!~pnt.lttfves of the

NRC, PSC and the State of Colorado {see Reference 2}. PSC presented

two of the possible future Fort St. Vrafn ~perating plan scenarios:

• Operating Fort St. Vrafn through Cycle 4 (Segment 9) inr.luding a

power coastdown period as part of Cycle 4.

.. Operat'ng Fort St. Vrain through Cycle 5 (Segment 10) including

a power eoastdown perfod IS part 0' Cycle 5 instead of Cycle 4.

Neither of these operating pl.n scenarios envisioned the procurement of Segment 11 or a sixth fuel operating ~cle for Fort St. Vrain.

Based on the estimated time requfred to complete planning and

preparations for the initiation of defuelfng and decommiss:ionfng activities at Fort St. Vrafn, PSC has decided not to conduct a fourth

Fort St. Vrain refueling outage to load new fuel Segment 10, arId the

fifth fuel operating cycle is therefore being cancelled. "he one ' currently undefined operating plannfng premhe is the final duration

of the current fourth fuel operating cycle, including thE! power coastdown perind. The final duration of the fourth fuel op.!rating cycle wilT be based upon the time to complete planning and

prel)aratfons for the initiation of defueling, the reliability c)f Fort

St. Vrain, and the allowable duration of a power coastdown period prior to the end of the fourth fuel operating cycle. Based on these

factors, the best current PSC estimate fs that the fourth fuel

operating cycle will be concluded between December 1989 and June1990. Therefore, PSC will be terminating Fort St. Vrain ope:ratfons;

on or before June 30, 1990.

During the remainder of the fourth fuel operating cycle, PSC intends

to pursue and obtain the necessary reviews Ind approvals from the NRC

staff to peMmft the safe termination of nuclear operations at Fort

St. Vrain, and penn1t the orderly completion of defuel1ng anti

decommissioning planning activities. PSC has already initiated

plann1ngdfscuss10ns wfth the NRC staff (see Re'erence 2) concerning the defueling. decommissionfng. and the possible conversion of Fort

St. Vrain to an alternate fossil fuel source. PSC plans to make the

following submittali to the NRC during 1989 to support these

defue 11ng and deconwnission1ng planning activities. and requests tha~c

NRC reviews and approval be completed on the fndicated schedule:

- PSC will submit the I!reHmfnar"v decomn1ss1onfng plan 1'or For't

St. Vrain by March 31. 1989.. to fulfllf the riGintly issued

requfrements of!Q CFR 50. 75 (f)•
I·

P-88422 -3- Oecember 5. 1988

•

- Although not specifically required by the regulations. PSC will

also submit by March 31, 1989 infoMmation concerning PSC's

financial plans to support the defuelfng of Fort St. Vr,ain as

discussed durfng the October 13-14, 1988 metting.

- PSC will submit by May 31. 1989 the Fort St. Vrain de~~eling

plan, and associated safety analysis report and required Technfcal Specffication changes to the NRC for approval • .. - PSC r-equests that NRC review and approve the defuel1ng pla". and

associated safety analysis report and Technical Specif1c:atfon chang@s by December 31, 1989 to support the early terminat'ron of

Fort St. Vrafn operations.

As part of the planning process, PSC is revfewing all outstandfrlg NRC r~quir~mf!nts and PSC cnnm;tm~nU to fd~nt.1fy thoslt that shnulld b~

completed to support the safe. short.-tenn completicm of nuclear

opeNtions at Fort St. Vrafn. PSC fs also identifying those! PSC

comnftments and new NRC requirements that are longer term fn nalture,

and whose safety benefits would not be realized, to any significant

extent, since Fort St. Vrain operations will be discontinued on or

before June 30, 1990. To optimfze the utilization of both NRC: ,and

PSC resources. work on conwnftments and new requirements whose s:afety

b,m"ff ~~ wuuld ldry.,ly dc.;c.;r"UU ur,l, Jr Furl SL. Vr"d.ln w~n: l,u L~

opeJ'ated beyond June 30. 1990 would be te""inat~d at the pr'esent time. PSC plans to subm;t by January 20, 1989 a definitive listing of proposed changes to current PSC commitments as required to assure the safe termination of Fort St. Vrain operations.

If you should have any questions concerning this matter, please

contact Mr. M. H. Holmes at (303) 480-6960.

Very truly yours.

R. O. Williams. Jr.

Sentor Vice President

Nuclear Operations

ROW/MHH:brc

cc: (See next page)
P<H:R REACTOR DECCM-1ISSIONING WORKLOAD

PROJECTED DATE

FACILITIES REGION CURRENT STATUS OF TRANSFER

UNDER REVIEW:

HlMIDLDT BAY 3 V ApPROVED Ir+1EDIATELY

INDIAN POINT 1 I AWA ITING DECOM OK APRIL 1989

VAlLECITOS V IN SAFSmR Ir"'MEDIATELY

DRESDEN 1 III IN DEC(1<1 REvI EW NOVEttlBER 1989

LA CROSSE III IN DECa.1 REVIEW JUNE 1989

FE~lI 1 III IN SAFSTOR APRIL 1989

PEACH BoTT<1-t 1 I IN SAFSTOR JUNE 1989

NEW ApPLICATIONS:

FORT ST. VRAIN IV PRELIMINARY DECOM PLAN FY93

IN FY89

FINAL DECOM PLAN IN FY91

ONE NEW PLANT -- DECOM PLAN IN FY93 BEYOND FIVE YEAR

PLAN

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* HAS BYPRODUCT MATERIAL LICENSE.

..

tllCLOSURE 2