[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 98 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29348-29350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12377]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2014-0002]
Emergency Planning Exemption Requests for Decommissioning Nuclear
Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing
Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) NSIR/DPR-ISG-02, ``Emergency Planning
Exemption Requests for Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants,'' May 11,
2015. This document provides guidance for NRC staff to produce clear
and consistent reviews of requests for exemptions and license
amendments for defueled station emergency plans submitted by licensees
after permanent cessation of operations.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0002 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0002. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
[[Page 29349]]
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The
draft NSIR/DPR-ISG-02, the final NSIR/DPR-ISG-02, the public comments,
and the NRC staff's responses to public comments are available in ADAMS
under Accession Nos. ML13304B442, ML14106A057, ML14225A717, and
ML14230A346.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Wasem, telephone: 301-287-
3793, email: [email protected], or Michael Norris, telephone: 301-
287-3754, email: [email protected], both of the Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
Currently, licensees of permanently shut down and defueled nuclear
power plants are required to maintain emergency plans meeting the same
requirements as emergency plans for operating nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power plants that have permanently ceased operating and
permanently removed fuel from the reactor vessel, with spent fuel
stored in the spent fuel pool and/or in dry cask storage provide less
of a risk of radiological releases than operating nuclear power plants.
Licensees of these decommissioning plants have historically submitted
requests for exemption from emergency preparedness regulations based on
this lower risk. The final ISG will be used by NRC staff for future
submittals and reflects the experience of NRC staff in the technical
review of exemptions requested for the Kewaunee Power Station (KPS), as
documented in SECY-14-0066, ``Request by Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc.
for Exemptions from Certain Emergency Planning Requirements'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML14072A257), and for the review of proposed changes to
the KPS emergency plan and emergency action level (EAL) scheme
implementing exemptions as approved by the Commission in Staff
Requirements Memorandum (SRM) to SECY-14-0066 ADAMS Accession No.
ML14219A366). The final ISG is intended to provide guidance for staff
to facilitate the clear and consistent reviews of subsequent requests
for exemptions to specific emergency plan requirements of part 50 of
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) for a permanently
shut down and defueled power reactor, and for license amendments to
emergency plans and EAL schemes implementing the specific emergency
plan requirements of 10 CFR part 50, as exempted.
Licensees have historically used the exemption process to decrease
the burden of maintaining required parts of emergency plans in cases
where continued application of the regulation by the licensee is not
necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the regulation. The
findings from previous exemption request reviews, along with the
results of studies such as NUREG-2161: ``Consequence Study of a Beyond-
Design-Basis Earthquake Affecting the Spent Fuel Pool for a U.S. Mark I
Boiling Water Reactor'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML14255A365); NUREG-1738,
``Technical Study of Spent Fuel Accident Risk at Decommissioning
Nuclear Power Plants'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML010430066); and NUREG-
1864, ``A Pilot Probabilistic Risk Assessment of a Dry Cask Storage
System at a Nuclear Power Plant'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML071340012),
inform the technical review of exemptions to specific emergency plan
requirements of 10 CFR part 50, and license amendments to a licensee's
emergency plan and EAL scheme, as exempted.
The Commission directed the staff in SRMs to SECY-0066 and SECY-14-
0118, ``Request by Duke Energy Florida, Inc., for Exemptions from
Certain Emergency Planning Requirements'' (ADAMS Accession No.
ML14219A444) to proceed with an integrated rulemaking on
decommissioning. It is anticipated that this ISG will be replaced by
future guidance developed in conjunction with this rulemaking.
II. Public Comments
A draft ISG was published for public comment in the Federal
Register on January 10, 2014 (79 FR 1900). The public comment period
closed on April 10, 2014. The NRC received 22 comment submissions on
the draft ISG from members of the public, non-government organizations,
and the nuclear industry. None of the comments received from members of
the public supported a reduction in emergency preparedness for
decommissioning nuclear power plants. In addition, eight of the
submissions from members of the public were directed specifically at
decommissioning of a specific licensee. The submission from the Nuclear
Energy Institute (NEI) provided editorial comments, comments for
clarification, and a request that power reactors undergoing
decommissioning need not implement Initiating Conditions PD
[permanently defueled]-HU1 and PD-HA1 in the EALs as outlined in NEI
99-01 (Revision 6), ``Development of Emergency Action Levels for Non-
Passive Reactors'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML12326A805). The NRC received
six comment submissions from representatives of other non-governmental
organizations opposing any reduction in emergency planning and
expressing dissatisfaction with the NRC's exemption process.
III. Changes to ISG
This ISG was revised from the draft that appeared in the Federal
Register on January 20, 2014, based on public comments, NRC review of
the Kewaunee exemption request, and subsequent Commission direction. A
summary of the changes follows:
Section 1.0, Purpose, was expanded to include a description of
Table 1 (Exemptions for Consideration) and Attachment 1 (Staff Guidance
for Evaluation of Permanently Defueled Emergency Plans), and a
discussion on how they are to be used by NRC staff. The NRC also added
a description of the process to be used for the review of changes to a
decommissioning licensee's EALs.
Section 2.0, Scope, was modified to reflect that licensees may
submit exemption requests when they notify the NRC of the intent to
permanently cease operation. The draft document incorrectly stated that
the ISG could only be used after the licensee had certified that the
reactor vessel was defueled.
The NRC deleted the term ``risk factor'' and moved the discussion
on risk from Section 3.0, Background, to Section 4.0, Overview of
Existing Guidance. A short description of physical security
requirements for decommissioning nuclear power reactors was added to
Section 3.0.
Table 1 was revised to reflect potential exemption requests based
on the Commission's SRM dated August 7, 2014, for SECY-14-0066.
Attachment 1 was replaced in its entirety by a table of the
applicable guidance contained in NUREG-0654/FEMA-REP-1 (Revision 1),
``Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency
Response Plans and Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants''
(ADAMS Accession No. ML040420012).
IV. Congressional Review Act
NSIR/DPR-ISG-02 is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review
Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget
has not found
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it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.
V. Backfitting and Issue Finality
The NRC is issuing interim guidance for the NRC staff regarding its
review of requests from licensees of decommissioning nuclear power
plants for exemptions from specific emergency plan requirements in 10
CFR part 50 and license amendments to permanently defueled emergency
plans. Issuance of the ISG does not constitute backfitting as defined
in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise inconsistent
with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. The NRC's
position is based upon the following considerations.
1. The ISG positions do not constitute backfitting, inasmuch as the
ISG is internal guidance to NRC staff.
The ISG provides interim guidance to the staff on how to review
certain requests for exemption or license amendments. Changes in
internal staff guidance are not matters for which applicants or
licensees are protected under 10 CFR 50.109 or issue finality
provisions in 10 CFR part 52.
2. The staff has no intention to impose the ISG on existing nuclear
power plant licenses or holders of regulatory approvals either now or
in the future (absent a voluntary request for change from the licensee
or holder of a regulatory approval).
The staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions
described in the ISG to existing (already issued) licenses (e.g.,
operating licenses and combined licenses) and regulatory approvals.
Hence, the ISG--even if considered guidance that is within the purview
of the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52--need not be
evaluated as if it were a backfit or as being inconsistent with issue
finality provisions. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a
position in the ISG on holders of already issued licenses in a manner
that does not provide issue finality as described in the applicable
issue finality provision, then the staff must make the showing as set
forth in the Backfit Rule, or address the criteria for avoiding issue
finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision, as
applicable.
3. Backfitting and issue finality do not--with limited exceptions
not applicable here--protect current or future applicants.
Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain
exceptions, protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality
provisions under 10 CFR part 52. This is because neither the Backfit
Rule nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52--with
certain exclusions discussed below--were intended to apply to every NRC
action that substantially changes the expectations of current and
future applicants.
The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification
rule) with specified issue finality provisions. The staff does not, at
this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the ISG in a
manner that is inconsistent with any issue finality provisions.
If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the ISG
in a manner that does not provide issue finality as described in the
applicable issue finality provision, then the staff must address the
criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in the applicable
issue finality provision.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of May, 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert J. Lewis,
Director, Division of Preparedness and Response, Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response.
[FR Doc. 2015-12377 Filed 5-20-15; 8:45 am]
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