Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 228 / Wednesday, November 26, 1997 / Notices 63203

information that could harm individuals if

they are disclosed. If discussions were open

to the public, these matters that are exempt

under 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) (4) and (6) of the

Government in the Sunshine Act would be

improperly disclosed.

Dated: November 21, 1997.

M. Rebecca Winkler,

Committee Management Officer.

[FR Doc. 97–31122 Filed 11–25–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7555–01–M

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50–302]

Florida Power Corporation; Crystal

River Nuclear Generating Plant Unit 3;

Exemption

I

Florida Power Corporation (the

licensee) is the holder of Facility

Operating License No. DPR–72, which

authorizes operation of the Crystal River

Nuclear Generating Plant Unit 3 (CR3).

The license provides, among other

things, that the licensee is subject to all

rules, regulations, and orders of the

Commission now or hereafter in effect.

The facility is of a pressurized water

reactor type and is located in Citrus

County, Florida.

II

In its letter dated September 5, 1997,

the licensee requested an exemption

from the Commission’s regulations.

Title 10 of the Code of Federal

Regulations, part 50, Appendix A,

‘‘General Design Criteria for Nuclear

Power Plants,’’ Criterion 3, ‘‘Fire

Protection,’’ specifies that ‘‘Structures,

systems, and components important to

safety shall be designed and located to

minimize, consistent with other safety

requirements, the probability and effect

of fires and explosions.’’ 10 CFR part 50,

Appendix R sets forth the fire protection

features required to satisfy certain

provisions of General Design Criterion 3

of the Commission’s regulations.

Pursuant to 10 CFR part 50, Appendix

R, Section III, Paragraph O, ‘‘Oil

Collection System for Reactor Coolant

Pump,’’ reactor coolant pumps (RCPs)

shall be equipped with an oil collection

system which ‘‘* * * shall be capable

of collecting lube oil from all potential

pressurized and unpressurized leakage

sites in the reactor coolant pump lube

oil systems.’’

In 1985, CR3 added remote oil

addition lines (ROALs) to the original

RCP oil fill lines to eliminate the need

to shut down the reactor, and to reduce

personnel radiation and heat stress

exposure during periodic RCP oil

additions. At that time, the licensee did

not consider the ROALs to be a part of

the RCP lube oil systems and as a result,

did not provide a lube oil collection

system to collect potential leakages. As

part of its current Appendix R design

review project, the licensee has now

determined the ROALs to be a part of

the RCP lube oil systems and therefore,

would require a lube oil collection

system.

The licensee states that the ROALs are

of a rugged leak tight design. They are

used only periodically using controlled

plant procedures. In a hypothetical

worst case spill, with ignition assumed,

use of the ROALs does not impact post

fire safe shutdown capability. As a

result, the licensee believes that a lube

oil collection system for the ROALs is

not necessary to achieve the underlying

purpose of the rule. Exemption from

Appendix R, Paragraph O, requirements

is required for the ROALs to have no

lube oil collection system for collecting

oil from potential leak sites.

III

Discussion

The licensee requests an exemption

from the technical requirements relating

to an oil collection system for the

ROALs associated with the RCPs.

CR3 design includes four RCP motors

which are located inside the D-Ring

area. This area is separated from other

fire areas by concrete barriers forming

primary containment. Each group of two

RCPs is separated from the other group

by the reactor vessel and its concrete

compartment. The walls of the reactor

compartment are four feet thick

concrete.

The RCP Motors have an upper oil

reservoir for the thrust bearing

containing 175 gallons of oil, and a

lower bearing oil reservoir containing 15

gallons of oil. Both reservoirs are vented

to the containment atmosphere to

ensure that they would not be

overpressurized during oil addition

operations. The upper and lower oil

reservoirs have oil fill lines at the

motors which are contained by the RCP

motor lube oil collection system. In

1985, ROALs were added to the original

RCP oil fill lines to eliminate the need

to shut down the reactor, and to reduce

personnel radiation and heat stress

exposure during periodic RCP oil

additions. The RCP lube oil collection

system provides collection coverage for

the original oil fill lines and the ROAL

connection at the RCP motor. High and

low oil level control room annunciators,

and digital local level indications are

provided for both upper and lower lube

oil reservoirs.

The ROALs are constructed of 1⁄2′′

stainless steel tubing with 3000 psi

pressure-rated swagelok unions. The

ROALs transition to 1⁄2′′ stainless steel

flexible metal hose (3000 psi rating)

with compression type fittings at the DRing penetrations and attachment to

each RCP motor reservoir. Connections

to the original RCP lube oil fill line are

above the maximum oil level of the

upper and lower reservoirs. The

operating pressure of the ROALs is 30

psig or less.

Inside the RCP D-Ring, the ROALs

travel over or along a main steam line,

steam generator insulation, and RCP

casing before attaching to the original

oil fill lines. The main steam line and

the steam generator are insulated with

stainless steel encapsulated mineral

wool. The RCP casing insulation is a

non-absorbing mirror-type insulation.

Outside the secondary shield wall, the

ROALs do not travel over any hot main

pipes or steam lines.

A portable oil metering pump skid,

two portable tanks, and associated high

pressure flexible hoses transport oil to

containment during oil transfer

operations. Connection of the pump

discharges to the permanently mounted

ROALs is via high pressure flexible hose

with quick disconnect fittings. Each

metering pump is provided with a relief

valve located adjacent to the pump

discharge and arranged to ensure that

any oil discharge from the relief valve

is captured and contained in a portable

tank (suction supply). The oil supply

tanks for each of the oil metering pumps

meet the requirements of CR3’s

Administrative Instructions for the use

of flammable or combustible liquids

inside plant areas.

To minimize the potential for an oil

fire due to a leak from the ROALs, the

licensee proposes to implement several

precautionary procedural actions during

and following oil additions. They

include requirements for monitoring oil

transfers, communications between the

control room and local operations

personnel, walkdown and inspection of

the ROALs and the areas around the oil

pumping manifolds, and containment

closeout inspection following refueling

outages to assure the integrity of the

ROALs.

IV

Evaluation

The Commission has completed its

evaluation of the licensee’s application.

The reactor lube oil collection system

is required to prevent a major fire from

occurring inside the reactor
63204 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 228 / Wednesday, November 26, 1997 / Notices

containment as a result of a lube oil leak

from the RCPs. The ROALs are a low

pressure system. The 3000 psi minimum

design pressure of the ROALs is

significantly higher than the 30 psig line

operating pressures. All piping

components associated with the suction

and discharge of the portable oil transfer

pump skid are appropriately rated for

the service conditions. The hose

connections are flexible hoses, and

therefore, are not subjected to

mechanical vibration and thermal

stresses.

Oil leakage from the ROALs is not

expected to occur during oil transfer

operations. The ROALs are used only

periodically and operated using

controlled procedures and processes.

The controlled oil addition process

includes determining the amount of oil

to be added, performing a walk down

before oil addition to check for leakage,

and local and control room monitoring

of the oil addition process. Following

the addition of the proper amount of oil,

the ROAL is drained either by gravity or

by reversing the pump suction and

discharge connections and pumping

down the line. The upper and lower

reservoirs contain only limited

quantities of oil, 175 and 10 gallons,

respectively. Based on the maximum oil

addition allowed by procedures, the

maximum potential oil spill will be only

12 gallons.

During power operation, damage to

the ROALs would not occur because the

reactor building access and work

activities are limited during this time.

Further, following refueling outages,

containment close-out procedures

require visual inspections to assure the

integrity of the ROALs.

Inside the D-ring, the ROALs travel

over or along hot components that are

insulated with a non-absorbing material

or encased mineral wool. The surface

temperatures of the insulation are below

the ignition temperature of the oil, such

that the insulation would not be a

potential ignition source. The

construction of this insulation makes it

less likely for potential leaking oil to

soak the encased mineral wool. Any

potential oil leak in this area would be

reasonably expected to travel down the

insulation to the floor. Further, there are

spot-type heat detectors located in this

general area which can provide early

warning to the control room in the event

of a fire.

Outside the secondary shield wall, the

ROALs do not travel over any hot main

coolant pipes or steam lines and any

potential leak in this area would pool on

the floor and have no opportunity for

ignition.

The ROALs are routed through two

fire areas in the reactor building (RB),

elevations 95 and 119 feet, designated as

RB–95–300 and RB–119–302. The

licensee has administrative controls that

are designed to control the type,

amount, use and location of

combustibles. Proper control of

combustibles minimizes the possibility

of starting, spreading, or contributing to

a fire. The probability for a fire hazard

in this area is minimal because of

separation of redundant components,

the surrounding concrete structure,

minimal or no intervening combustibles

in the area, high ROAL design pressure

and low operating pressure, and the

short duration and infrequency of oil

addition operations. However, the

licensee has evaluated a worst case lube

oil fire for these fire areas that contain

ROALs and concluded that it is

bounded by the CR3’s existing Fire

Hazards Analysis and Appendix R fire

study.

In 1985, when the ROALs were

originally installed, they were

functionally leak tested with no visible

leakage detected. During the last 12

years of performance there has been no

indication of any leakage from the

ROALs.

Fire detection and manual fire

suppression equipment is available in

the vicinity of the lube oil fill lines. In

the event of a fire, it is expected that a

detector will alarm while the fire is in

its incipient stages. Operators would

then take appropriate action to mitigate

the consequences of the fire. This

provides further assurance that a worstcase postulated fire would not damage

safe shutdown equipment.

Based on the design features of the

ROALs and associated lube oil

collection systems, and the licensee’s

proposed compensatory actions, there is

reasonable assurance that the RCP lube

oil system will not lead to a major fire

hazard. In addition, based on the

present level of fire protection provided

for the RCPs, if a fire were to occur in

the area, there is reasonable assurance

that the fire will be detected and

mitigated. Therefore, the staff finds the

ROALs without an oil collection system

acceptable.

The underlying purpose of 10 CFR

part 50, Appendix R, Section III.O, is to

ensure that lube oil from all potential

pressurized and unpressurized leakage

sites in the reactor coolant pump lube

oil systems would be collected and not

become a fire hazard such that ‘‘the

capability to achieve and maintain safe

shutdown conditions during and after

any postulated fire in the plant’’ will be

ensured. On the basis of its review and

evaluation of the licensee’s exemption

request, the staff concludes that the

addition of an oil collection system for

the ROALs is not necessary to achieve

the underlying purpose of the rule.

Therefore, an exemption from the

requirement for providing a lube oil

collection system for the RCP Motor

ROALs is acceptable.

V

For the foregoing reasons, the NRC

staff has concluded that pursuant to 10

CFR 50.12(a) an exemption permitting

the licensee’s proposed use of ROALs

without an oil collection system is

authorized by law, will not present an

undue risk to public health and safety

and is consistent with the common

defense and security. The NRC staff has

determined that there are special

circumstances present, as specified in

10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), in that

application of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix

R, Section III.O, is not necessary in

order to achieve the underlying purpose

of this regulation.

Accordingly, the Commission hereby

grants an exemption from the technical

requirements of 10 CFR part 50,

Appendix R, Section III.O to the extent

that the ROALs need not be provided

with an oil collection system.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the

Commission has determined that the

granting of this exemption will not have

a significant effect on the quality of the

human environment (62 FR 59752).

This exemption is effective upon

issuance.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day

of November 1997.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Samuel J. Collins,

Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 97–31085 Filed 11–25–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket Number 40–6622]

Pathfinder Mines Corporation

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Amendment of Source Material

License SUA–442 to change three

reclamation milestone dates.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission has amended Pathfinder

Mines Corporation’s (PMC’s) Source

Material License SUA–442 to change

three reclamation milestone dates. This

amendment was requested by PMC in