[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30204-30205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-12784]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-010; NRC-2011-0108]
Exelon Nuclear, Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1; Exemption
From Certain Security Requirements
1.0 Background
Exelon Nuclear is the licensee and holder of Facility Operating
License No. DPR-2 issued for Dresden Nuclear Power Station (DNPS), Unit
1, located in Grundy County, Illinois. DNPS Unit 1 is a permanently
shutdown nuclear reactor facility that began commercial operation in
October 1960 and shutdown on October 31, 1978. The facility is in a
SAFSTOR condition. Spent fuel has been removed from the facility and is
currently stored either in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation (ISFSI) or the DNPS Unit 3 spent fuel pool, both located
within the protected area of DNPS Units 2 and 3. Additionally, the DNPS
Unit 1 spent fuel pool has been drained and decontaminated. The reactor
vessel and primary system piping remain in place. DNPS Unit 1 is
currently licensed pursuant to Section 104(b) of the Atomic Energy Act
of 1954, as amended, and 10 CFR 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production
and Utilization Facilities,'' to possess and maintain, but not to
operate, the facility.
2.0 Action
Section 50.54(p)(1) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
states, in part, ``The licensee shall prepare and maintain safeguards
contingency plan procedures in accordance with Appendix C of part 73 of
this chapter for affecting the actions and decisions contained in the
Responsibility Matrix of the safeguards contingency plan.''
Part 73 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Physical
Protection of Plant and Materials,'' provides in part, ``This part
prescribes requirements for the establishment and maintenance of a
physical protection system which will have capabilities for the
protection of special nuclear material at fixed sites and in transit
and of plants in which special nuclear material is used.'' In Section
73.55, entitled ``Requirements for physical protection of licensed
activities in nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,''
paragraph (b)(1) states, ``The licensee shall establish and maintain a
physical protection program, to include a security organization, which
will have as its objective to provide high assurance that activities
involving special nuclear material are not inimical to the common
defense and security and do not constitute an unreasonable risk to the
public health and safety.''
The NRC revised 10 CFR 73.55, in part to include the preceding
language, through the issuance of a final rule on March 27, 2009 (74 FR
13926). The revised regulation stated that it was applicable to all
Part 50 licensees. The NRC became aware that many part 50 licensees
with facilities in decommissioning status did not recognize the
applicability of this regulation to their facility. Accordingly, the
NRC informed licensees with facilities in decommissioning status and
other stakeholders that the requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 were
applicable to all part 50 licensees. By letter dated August 2, 2010,
the NRC informed Exelon Nuclear of the applicability of the revised
rule and stated that it would have to evaluate the applicability of the
regulation to its facility and either make appropriate changes or
request an exemption.
By letter dated December 3, 2010, Exelon Nuclear responded to the
NRC's letter and requested exemptions from the security requirements in
10 CFR Part 73 and 10 CFR 50.54(p).
3.0 Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by
any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from
the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, 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) when special circumstances are present. Special circumstances are
present when, for example, application of the regulation in the
particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the
rule or when compliance would result in costs significantly in excess
of those incurred by others similarly situated. Also, pursuant to 10
CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission may, upon application
of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions
from the regulations in part 73 as it determines are authorized by law
and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and
security, and are otherwise in the public interest.
The purpose of the security requirements of 10 CFR part 73, as
applicable to a 10 CFR part 50 licensed facility, is to prescribe
requirements for a facility that possesses and utilizes SNM. With the
completion of the transfer of the DNPS Unit 1 spent nuclear fuel to
either the ISFSI site or DNPS Unit 3 spent fuel pool, both located
within the protected area of Units 2 and 3, there is no longer any SNM
located within DNPS Unit 1 other than that contained in plant systems
as residual contamination.
The remaining radioactive material of concern (i.e., reactor
vessel, piping systems, and building structures) for DNPS Unit 1 is in
a form that does not pose a risk of removal (i.e., an intact reactor
pressure vessel) and is well dispersed and is not easily aggregated
into significant quantities. With the removal of the fuel containing
SNM, the potential for radiological sabotage or diversion of SNM at the
10 CFR part 50 licensed site was eliminated. Therefore, the continued
application of the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10
CFR part 73 to DNPS Unit 1 would no longer be necessary to achieve the
underlying purpose of the rule. Additionally, as has been noted at
other decommissioning nuclear power facilities, with the removal of the
spent nuclear fuel from the site, the 10 CFR part 50 licensed site
would be comparable to a source and byproduct licensee that uses
general industrial security (i.e. locks and barriers) to protect the
public health and safety. The continued application of the fixed site
physical protection requirements of 10 CFR part 73 security
requirements would cause the licensee to expend significantly more
funds for security requirements than other source and byproduct
facilities that use general industrial security. Therefore,
[[Page 30205]]
compliance with the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10
CFR part 73 would result in costs significantly in excess of those
incurred by others similarly situated. Based on the above, the NRC has
determined that the removal of the fuel containing SNM at the 10 CFR
part 50 licensed site constitutes special circumstances. With the SNM
removed from the Unit 1 site, the protection of the SNM is no longer a
requirement of the licensee's 10 CFR part 50 license. With no SNM to
protect, there is no need for the physical protection requirements of
10 CFR part 73, which includes a safeguards contingency plan or
procedures, physical security plan, guard training and qualification
plan, or cyber security plan for the DNPS Unit 1, 10 CFR part 50
licensed site. The requirements for protection of safeguards
information, physical protection of SNM in transit, and records and
reports remain applicable.
4.0 Conclusion
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
50.12(a), an 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 based on the continued maintenance of appropriate
security requirements for the SNM. Additionally, special circumstances
are present based on the removal of the spent nuclear fuel from the 10
CFR part 50 licensed site. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants
Exelon Nuclear an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(p) at
DNPS Unit 1.
The Commission has also determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5,
an exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or property
or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public
interest because the security requirements for the spent fuel
containing SNM are no longer the responsibility of the licensee.
Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Exelon Nuclear an exemption
from the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 CFR part 73
at DNPS Unit 1. The fixed site physical protection requirements of 10
CFR part 73 are delineated in 73.20, 74.40, 73.45, 73.46, 73.50, 73.51,
73.54, 73.55, 73.56, 73.57, 73.58, 73.59, 73.60, 73.61, 73.67, Appendix
B and Appendix C. The requirements for protection of safeguards
information, physical protection of SNM in transit, and records and
reports, contained in these or other sections of Part 73 continue to
apply. To the extent that the licensee's request for an exemption from
10 CFR part 73 included the requirements other than for the fixed site
physical protection requirements, that request is denied.
Part of this licensing action meets the categorical exclusion
provision in 10 CFR part 51.22(c)(25), as part of this action is an
exemption from the requirements of the Commission's regulations and (i)
There is no significant hazards consideration; (ii) there is no
significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts
of any effluents that may be released offsite; (iii) there is no
significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational
radiation exposure; (iv) there is no significant construction impact;
(v) there is no significant increase in the potential for or
consequences from radiological accidents; and (vi) the requirements
from which an exemption is sought involve safeguard plans. Therefore,
this part of the action does not require either an environmental
assessment or an environmental impact statement.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, 51.32, and 51.35, an environmental
assessment and finding of no significant impact related to part of this
exemption was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2011 (76 FR
28480). Based upon the environmental assessment, the Commission has
determined that issuance of this exemption will not have a significant
effect on the quality of the human environment.
These exemptions are effective immediately.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of May 2011.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery, Licensing
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-12784 Filed 5-23-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P