[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 14 (Friday, January 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3927-3929]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1263]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 52-037; NRC-2008-0556]
Ameren Missouri; Combined License Application for Callaway Plant
Unit 2; Exemption
1.0 Background
Union Electric Company, doing business as Ameren UE, submitted to
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) a Combined License (COL)
Application for a single unit of AREVA NP's U.S. EPR in accordance with
the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR), subpart C of part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals
for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This reactor is to be identified as
Callaway Plant (Callaway), Unit 2, and located at the current Callaway
County, Missouri site of the Callaway Power Plant. The Callaway, Unit
2, COL application is based upon and linked to the U.S. EPR reference
COL (RCOL) application for UniStar's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power
Plant, Unit 3 (CCNPP3). The NRC docketed the Callaway, Unit 2, COL
application on December 12, 2008. In its letter to the NRC dated April
28, 2009, Ameren informed that it was suspending its efforts to build a
nuclear power plant in Missouri. Subsequently, by letter dated June 23,
2009, Ameren requested the NRC to suspend all review activities
relating to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application. The NRC informed
Ameren by letter dated June 29, 2009, that it had suspended all review
activities relating to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application. The NRC
is currently performing a detailed review of the CCNPP3 RCOL
application, as well as AREVA NP's application for design certification
of the U.S. EPR.
2.0 Request/Action
The regulations specified in 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) require that
an applicant for a combined license under 10 CFR part 52 shall, during
the period from docketing of a COL application until the Commission
makes a finding under 10 CFR 52.103(g) pertaining to facility
operation, submit an annual update to the application's Final Safety
Analysis Report (FSAR), which is a part of the application.
On February 25, 2009, Ameren submitted Revision 1 to the COL
application, including updates to the FSAR. Pursuant to 10 CFR
50.71(e)(3)(iii), the next annual update would be due in December 2010.
Union Electric Company, doing business as Ameren Missouri (Ameren) as
of October 1, 2010, as noted in its letter to the NRC dated October 26,
2010, has requested a one-time exemption from the 10 CFR
50.71(e)(3)(iii) requirements to submit the scheduled 2010 and 2011 COL
application FSAR updates, and proposed for approval of a new submittal
deadline of December 31, 2012, for the next FSAR update.
In summary, the requested exemption is a one-time schedule change
from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption would
allow Ameren to submit the next FSAR update at a later date, but still
in advance of NRC's reinstating its review of the application and in
any event, by December 31, 2012. The current FSAR update schedule could
not be changed, absent the exemption. Ameren requested the exemption by
letter dated October 26, 2010 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Accession Number ML103090556).
3.0 Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the NRC may, upon application by any
interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the
requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, including Section 50.71(e)(3)(iii)
when: (1) the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an
undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the
common defense and security; and (2) special circumstances are present.
As relevant to the requested exemption, special circumstances exist if:
(1) ``Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances
would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary
to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); (2) ``Compliance would result in undue hardship or
other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when
the regulation was
[[Page 3928]]
adopted, or that are significantly in excess of those incurred by
others similarly situated'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii)); or (3) ``The
exemption would provide only temporary relief from the applicable
regulation and the licensee has made good faith efforts to comply with
the regulation'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v)).
The review of the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application FSAR has been
suspended since June 29, 2009. Since the COL application FSAR is
directly linked to the CCNPP3 RCOL application, many changes in the
RCOL application require an associated change to the COL application
FSAR and, because the NRC review of the COL application is suspended,
the updates to the FSAR will not be reviewed by the NRC staff until the
Callaway, Unit 2, COL application review is resumed. Thus, the optimum
time to prepare a revision to the COL application FSAR is sometime
prior to Ameren requesting the NRC to resume its review. To prepare and
submit a COL application FSAR update when the review remains suspended
and in the absence of any decision by Ameren to request the NRC to
resume the review would require Ameren to spend significant time and
effort and would be of no value, particularly due to the fact that the
RCOL application and the U.S. EPR FSAR are still undergoing periodic
revisions and updates. Furthermore, the adjudicatory proceedings
related to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application were terminated by the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) after agreements were made
between Ameren, the NRC, and the petitioners for intervention, as
documented in ``AMERENUE (Callaway Plant Unit 2) MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
(Approving Settlement Agreement and Terminating Contested Adjudicatory
Proceeding) LBP-09-23 (August 28, 2009)'' (ML092400189). Ameren commits
to submit the next FSAR update prior to any request to the NRC to
resume review of the COL application and, in any event, by December 31,
2012. Ameren would need to identify all committed changes to the RCOL
application since the last revisions to the RCOL application and the
U.S. EPR FSAR in order to prepare a COL application FSAR revision that
accurately and completely reflects the committed changes to the RCOL
application as well as the U.S. EPR FSAR.
The requested one-time exemption to defer submittal of the next
update to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application FSAR would provide only
temporary relief from the regulations of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii).
Ameren has made good faith efforts to comply with 10 CFR
50.71(e)(3)(iii) by submitting Revision 1 to the COL application dated
February 25, 2009, prior to requesting the review suspension. Revision
1 incorporated information provided in prior supplements and
standardized language with the RCOL application.
Authorized by Law:
The exemption is a one-time schedule exemption from the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption would allow
Ameren to submit the next Callaway Unit 2 COL application FSAR update
on or before December 31, 2012, in lieu of the required scheduled
submittals in December 2010, and December 2011. As stated above, 10 CFR
50.12 allows the NRC to grant exemptions. The NRC staff has determined
that granting Ameren the requested one-time exemption from the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) will provide only temporary
relief from this regulation and will not result in a violation of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the NRC's regulations.
Therefore, the exemption is authorized by law.
No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety:
The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) is to provide for
a timely and comprehensive update of the FSAR associated with a COL
application in order to support an effective and efficient review by
the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC staff's safety evaluation report.
The requested exemption is solely administrative in nature, in that it
pertains to the schedule for submittal to the NRC of revisions to an
application under 10 CFR part 52, for which a license has not been
granted. In addition, since the review of the application has been
suspended, any update to the application submitted by Ameren will not
be reviewed by the NRC at this time.
Based on the nature of the requested exemption as described above,
no new accident precursors are created by the exemption; thus, neither
the probability nor the consequences of postulated accidents are
increased. Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and
safety.
Consistent with Common Defense and Security:
The requested exemption would allow Ameren to submit the next FSAR
update prior to requesting the NRC to resume the review and, in any
event, on or before December 31, 2012. This schedule change has no
relation to security issues. Therefore, the common defense and security
is not impacted by this exemption.
Special Circumstances:
Special circumstances, in accordance with 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), are
present whenever: (1) ``Application of the regulation in the particular
circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is
not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); (2) ``Compliance would result in undue hardship or
other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when
the regulation was adopted, or that are significantly in excess of
those incurred by others similarly situated'' (10 CFR
50.12(a)(2)(iii)); or (3) ``The exemption would provide only temporary
relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee has made good
faith efforts to comply with the regulation'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v)).
The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) is to provide for
a timely and comprehensive update of the FSAR associated with a COL
application in order to support an effective and efficient review by
the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC staff's safety evaluation report.
As discussed above, the requested one-time exemption is solely
administrative in nature, in that it pertains to a one-time schedule
change for submittal of revisions to an application under 10 CFR Part
52, for which a license has not been granted. The requested one-time
exemption will permit Ameren time to carefully review the most recent
revisions of the CCNPP3 RCOL application as well as the U.S. EPR FSAR,
and fully incorporate these revisions into a comprehensive update of
the Callaway, Unit 2, FSAR associated with the COL application. This
one-time exemption will support the NRC staff's effective and efficient
review of the COL application when resumed, as well as issuance of the
safety evaluation report, and therefore does not affect the underlying
purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). Under the circumstances that Ameren
has suspended its pursuit of the COL, the NRC has suspended its review
of the application, and the adjudicatory proceedings have been
terminated by ASLB, application of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) would result
in Ameren spending significant time and effort in incorporating changes
made to the RCOL application into the Callaway, Unit 2, COL
application, but not achieve the underlying purpose of that rule;
granting a one-time exemption from 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) would
provide only temporary relief; and Ameren has made good faith efforts
to comply with the regulation; therefore, the special circumstances
required by 10 CFR
[[Page 3929]]
50.12(a)(2) for the granting of an exemption from 10 CFR
50.71(e)(3)(iii) exist.
4.0 Conclusion
Accordingly, the NRC has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12,
the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to
the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense
and security. Also, special circumstances are present. Therefore, the
NRC hereby grants Ameren a one-time exemption from the requirements of
10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) pertaining to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL
application to allow submittal of the next FSAR update prior to any
request to the NRC to resume the review and, in any event, no later
than December 31, 2012.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the NRC has determined that the granting
of this exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of
the human environment (76 FR 800).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of January 2011.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph Colaccino,
Chief, EPR Projects Branch, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office
of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2011-1263 Filed 1-20-11; 8:45 am]
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