Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Receipt of Request for Action Under 10 CFR 2.206, 63933-63934 [E7-22093]

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• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 218 (Tuesday, November 13, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63933-63934]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22093]


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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-271; License No. DPR-28]


Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc.; Receipt of Request for Action Under 10 CFR 2.206

    Notice is hereby given that by petition dated August 27, 2007, the 
New England Coalition (NEC or the petitioner) has requested that the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) take action with 
regard to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee). 
The NEC petition requested that NRC promptly restore reasonable 
assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety that is 
now degraded by the failure of the licensee and its employees to report 
adverse conditions leading to a reduction in plant safety margins at 
the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee), or otherwise 
to order a derate or shutdown of Vermont Yankee until it can be 
determined to what extent Vermont Yankee is being operated in an 
unanalyzed condition. Specifically, the petition requested the 
following actions: (1) NRC completion of a Diagnostic Evaluation Team 
examination or Independent Safety Assessment of Vermont Yankee to 
determine the extent of condition of non-conformances, reportable 
items, hazards to safety, and the root causes thereof; (2) NRC 
completion of a safety culture assessment to determine why worker 
safety concerns were not previously reported and why assessments of 
safety culture under the Reactor Oversight Process failed to capture 
the fact or reasons that safety concerns have gone unreported; (3) 
derate Vermont Yankee to 50% of licensed thermal power with a mandatory 
hold at 50% until a thorough and detailed structural and performance 
analysis of the cooling towers, including the alternate cooling system, 
has been completed by the licensee; reviewed and approved by NRC; and 
until the above steps (1) and (2) have been completed; and (4) NRC 
investigation and determination of whether or not similar non-
conforming conditions and causes exist at other Entergy-run nuclear 
power plants.
    As a basis for the request, the petition cited problems related to 
the inadequate performance of Vermont Yankee Inservice Inspection, 
Maintenance, Engineering, and Quality Assurance leading to a cooling 
tower cell collapse coupled with the employees' assertion of degrading 
plant conditions inimical to public health.
    The request is being treated pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) section 2.206 of the Commission's 
regulations. The request has been referred to the Director of the 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, 
appropriate action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable 
time. Mr. Raymond Shadis, in his capacity as the petitioner's Staff 
Technical Advisor, participated in two telephone conference calls with 
the NRC's Petition Review Board (PRB) on September 12, 2007, and 
October 3, 2007, to discuss the petition and provide any additional 
explanation in light of the PRB's initial recommendation. The results 
of those discussions were considered in the PRB's determination 
regarding the petitioner's request for action and in establishing the 
schedule for the review of the petition. The PRB confirmed its initial 
recommendation to reject action items (1), (2), and (4), which are the 
diagnostic evaluation team examination, safety culture assessment, and 
the NRC investigation at other Entergy facilities. These action items 
were rejected for review under the 2.206 process because these actions 
are not enforcement-related. However, the PRB has determined that the 
petition meets the criteria for review in Management Directive 8.11 
with respect to a portion of action item (3). Specifically, the PRB 
found that the facts presented in the petition related to the cooling 
tower cell collapse in action (3) were credible and sufficient to 
warrant further inquiry.
    A copy of the petition and supplement and the transcripts of the 
telephone conference calls are available for inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland and from the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS)

[[Page 63934]]

Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML072420194, ML072780363, ML072610466, and ML07830584). Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff 
by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
pdr@nrc.gov.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of November 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
J. T. Wiggins,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 [FR Doc. E7-22093 Filed 11-9-07; 8:45 am]
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