Agenda - 02-02-1999 - 9e1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 17. NRC regulations require that spent fuel storage pools must be cooled by safety grade cooling systems. When the Harris plant was designed, the intention was that pools C and D would be cooled by the component cooling water (CCW) system for the second unit of the Harris plant a That unit was never built, and therefore the Unit 2 CCW system does not exist. In the absence of a second CCW system, CP&L plans to cool pools C and D by connecting their cooling systems to the CCW system of the first unit. This system already provides cooling to pools A and B and serves other, important safety functions. Attachment B provides supporting information.5 It should be noted that CP&L considered, but has not pursued, the option of cooling pools C and D by a new, independent system that could have had dedicated emergency diesel generators. Attachment C provides information in support of this point.6 Three significant safety issues are raised by the fact that the spent fuel pool cooling arrangement originally designed for pools C and D of the Harris plant was not completed. These issues relate to the heat loading of the existing CCW system, the load on the existing emergency diesel generators, and the loss of some important quality assurance documentation for cooling piping at pools C and D. 18. Heat load. According to CP&L's license amendment application, the bounding heat load from. the fuel in pools C and D will be 15.6 million BTU/hour:~ At present, the CCW system cannot absorb this additional heat load. Thus, CP&L proposes to include in the Technical Specifications for Harris an interim provision that the heat load in pools C and D will not be allowed to exceed 1.0 million BTU/hour.8 CP&L claims that an additional heat load of 1.0 million BTU/hour can be accommodated by the existing CCW system, and that the fuel to be placed in pools C and D will not create a heat load exceeding 1.0 million BTU/hour through 2001. 19. Apparently, CP&L contemplates a future upgrade of the CCW system, so that the CCW system can accommodate an additional heat load of 15:6 million BTU/hour from pools C and D. This contemplated upgrade is not described in the present license amendment application. Attachment C indicates that CP&L plans to perform the upgrade of the CCW system concurrent with a power uprate for the Hams reactor. Apparently, a 4.5 percent power uprate will be associated with steam generator replacement, and there will be a subsequent further power uprate of 1.5 percent. A chart in Attachment C shows that the projected CCW heat load, including the reactor power uprate and the use of pools. C and D, will substantially exceed the capability of the present CCW system. 20. To summarize, CP&L's short-term plan (through 2001) for cooling pools C and D is to exploit the margin in the existing CCW system, so as to accommodate an additional heat load of 1.0 million BTU/hour. CP&L's longer-term plan is to upgrade the CCW 4 The Harris pools have their own closed-circuit cooling systems, which can transfer heat to the relevant CCW system through heat exchangers. 5 Attachment B is a portion of a set of viewgraphs (titled "Harris Spent Fuel Pool 'C' and 'D' Activation") shown by CP&L representatives during a meeting with NRC staff on 16 July 1998. ~ 6 Attachment C is an NRC staff memo about a meeting between CP&L representatives and NRC staff on 3 March 1998, together with a portion of a set of viewgraphs (titled "HNP Spent Fuel Pool'C' and'D' Activation") shown by CP&L during that meeting. ~ ~ License amendment application, Enclosure 7, page 5-16. s License amendment application, Enclosure 5.