Florida Power & Light Company; Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating License, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and Opportunity for a Hearing, 33460-33462 [E8-13197]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 114 (Thursday, June 12, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33460-33462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13197]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-389]


Florida Power & Light Company; Notice of Consideration of 
Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating License, Proposed No 
Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and Opportunity for a 
Hearing

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. 
NPF-16 issued to the Florida Power and Light Company (the licensee) for 
operation of the St. Lucie Plant, Unit 2, located in St. Lucie County, 
Florida. The proposed amendment would change the Technical 
Specifications to modify the facilities operating licensing bases to 
adopt the alternative source term as allowed in 10 CFR 50.67 and 
described in Regulatory Guide 1.183. Through reanalysis of the 
following radiological consequences of the Updated Final Safety 
Analysis Report Chapter 15 accidents: Loss-of-Coolant Accident, Fuel 
Handling Accident, Main Steam Line Break, Steam Generator Tube Rupture, 
Reactor Coolant Pump Shaft Seizure, Control Element Assembly Ejection, 
Letdown Line Break, and Feedwater Line Break.
    Before issuance of the proposed license amendment, the Commission 
will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations.
    The Commission has made a proposed determination that the amendment 
request involves no significant hazards consideration. Under the 
Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR), Section 50.92, this means that operation of the facility in 
accordance with the proposed amendment would not (1) Involve a 
significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident 
previously evaluated; or (2) create the possibility of a new or 
different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated; or 
(3) involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required 
by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue 
of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented below:

    1. The proposed amendment does not involve a significant 
increase in the probability or consequences of an accident 
previously evaluated.
    Alternative source term calculations have been performed for St. 
Lucie Unit 2 which demonstrate that the dose consequences remain 
below limits specified in NRC Regulatory Guide 1.183 and 10 CFR 
50.67. The proposed changes modify the setpoint for Control Room 
Isolation radiation monitoring instrumentation and add a new 
surveillance requirement. Control Room Isolation radiation 
monitoring instrumentation does not adversely affect accident 
initiators or precursors or prevent the ability of structures, 
systems, and components to perform their intended function to 
mitigate the consequences of an initiating event within the assumed 
acceptance limits. The modified setpoint and new surveillance 
requirement will ensure that the Control Room is isolated within the 
limits assumed in the AST analysis. The use of the AST only changes 
the regulatory assumptions regarding the analytical treatment of the 
design basis accidents and has no direct effect on the probability 
of any accident. The AST has been utilized in the analysis of the 
limiting design basis accidents listed above. The results of the 
analyses, which include the proposed changes to the Technical 
Specifications, demonstrate that the dose consequences of these 
limiting events are all within the regulatory limits.
    The proposed Technical Specification [TS] changes are consistent 
with, or more restrictive than, the current TS requirements, with 
the possible exception of the alarm/trip setpoint for Control Room 
Isolation radiation monitoring instrumentation. The current alarm/
trip setpoint of <= 2 times background is variable. A background 
reading of approximately 40 cpm is typical for the Control Room 
Isolation radiation monitors. It is possible that the background 
reading could increase to above 160 cpm. Revising the Control Room 
Isolation alarm/trip setpoint from <= 2 times background to <= 320 
cpm will establish a maximum setpoint value and ensure automatic 
actuation of the control room emergency ventilation system for the 
limiting case event with adequate margin for the bounding total loop 
uncertainty of 200%. None of the affected systems, components or 
programs are related to accident initiators. As such, the revised TS 
requirements can not affect the probability of an accident and can 
only reduce the consequences of analyzed accidents.
    Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant 
increase in the probability or consequences of an accident 
previously evaluated.
    2. The proposed amendment does not create the possibility of a 
new or different kind of accident from any accident previously 
evaluated.
    Other than discussed below, the proposed change does not affect 
any plant structures, systems, or components. The operation of plant 
systems and equipment will not be affected by this proposed change. 
Neither implementation of the alternative source term methodology 
nor establishing more restrictive TS requirements have the 
capability to introduce any new failure mechanisms or cause any 
analyzed accident to progress in a different manner.
    The proposed changes associated with the Control Room Isolation 
radiation monitoring instrumentation setpoint and new surveillance 
requirement are not accident initiators. These proposed changes do 
not involve a physical alteration of the plant (i.e., no new or 
different type of equipment will be installed) or a significant 
change in the methods governing normal plant operation. These 
changes do not alter any safety analysis assumptions and will not 
affect or degrade the ability of structures, systems, and components 
to perform their specified safety function.
    Therefore, the proposed change does not create the possibility 
of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously 
evaluated.
    3. The proposed amendment does not involve a significant 
reduction in the margin of safety.
    The proposed implementation of the alternative source term 
methodology is consistent with NRC Regulatory Guide 1.183. The 
proposed Technical Specification changes are consistent with, or 
more restrictive than, the current TS requirements with the possible 
exception of the alarm/trip setpoint for Control Room Isolation 
radiation monitoring instrumentation. The current alarm/trip 
setpoint of <= 2 times background is variable. A background reading 
of approximately 40 cpm is typical for the Control Room Isolation 
radiation monitors. It is possible that the background reading could 
increase to above 160 cpm. Revising the Control Room Isolation 
radiation monitoring

[[Page 33461]]

instrumentation alarm/trip setpoint from <= 2 times background to <= 
320 cpm will establish a maximum setpoint value and ensure automatic 
actuation of control room emergency ventilation system for the 
limiting case event with adequate margin for the bounding total loop 
uncertainty of 200%. These TS requirements support the AST revisions 
to the limiting design basis accidents. As such, the current plant 
margin of safety is preserved. Conservative methodologies, per the 
guidance of RG 1.183, have been used in performing the accident 
analyses. The radiological consequences of these accidents are all 
within the regulatory acceptance criteria associated with use of the 
alternative source term methodology.
    The proposed changes continue to ensure that the doses at the 
exclusion area and low population zone boundaries and in the Control 
Room are within the corresponding regulatory limits of RG 1.183 and 
10 CFR 50.67. The margin of safety for the radiological consequences 
of these accidents is considered to be that provided by meeting the 
applicable regulatory limits, which are set at or below the 10 CFR 
50.67 limits. An acceptable margin of safety is inherent in these 
limits.
    Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant 
reduction in the margin of safety.

    The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on 
this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c) are 
satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to determine that the 
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration.
    The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed 
determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the date of 
publication of this notice will be considered in making any final 
determination.
    Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the 
expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this notice. The 
Commission may issue the license amendment before expiration of the 60-
day period provided that its final determination is that the amendment 
involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, the 
Commission may issue the amendment prior to the expiration of the 30-
day comment period should circumstances change during the 30-day 
comment period such that failure to act in a timely way would result, 
for example, in derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the 
Commission take action prior to the expiration of either the comment 
period or the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a 
notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No Significant 
Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will take place after 
issuance. The Commission expects that the need to take this action will 
occur very infrequently.
    Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rulemaking, 
Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and 
page number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also 
be delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. 
Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 
O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
    The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to 
intervene is discussed below.
    Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the 
licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to issuance of 
the amendment to the subject facility operating license and any person 
whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to 
participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request 
for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a 
hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in 
accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic 
Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should 
consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the 
Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 
F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents 
Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room 
on the Internet at the NRC Web site, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-
collections/cfr/. If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to 
intervene is filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding 
officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative 
Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the 
request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative 
Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a 
hearing or an appropriate order.
    As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene 
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in 
the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of 
the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons 
why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the 
following general requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone 
number of the requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the 
requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the 
proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's 
property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the 
possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the 
proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The petition must 
also identify the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor 
seeks to have litigated at the proceeding.
    Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue 
of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the 
petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the bases for 
the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert 
opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner 
intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The 
petitioner/requestor must also provide references to those specific 
sources and documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the 
petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. 
The petition must include sufficient information to show that a genuine 
dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. 
Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the 
amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, if 
proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor 
who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one 
contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
    Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, 
and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the 
hearing.
    If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final 
determination on the issue of no significant hazards consideration. The 
final determination will serve to decide when the hearing is held. If 
the final determination is that the amendment request involves no 
significant hazards consideration, the Commission may issue the 
amendment and make it immediately effective, notwithstanding the 
request for a hearing. Any hearing

[[Page 33462]]

held would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the final 
determination is that the amendment request involves a significant 
hazards consideration, any hearing held would take place before the 
issuance of any amendment.
    A request for hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be 
filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC 
promulgated on August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49139). The E-Filing process 
requires participants to submit and serve documents over the Internet 
or in some cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. 
Participants may not submit paper copies of their filings unless they 
seek a waiver in accordance with the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 
ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor 
must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at 
hearingdocket@nrc.gov, or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a 
digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal 
server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) 
creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances 
in which the petitioner/requestor (or its counsel or representative) 
already holds an NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each petitioner/
requestor will need to download the Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ to 
access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-
Filing system. The Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ is free and is available 
at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. 
Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on 
NRC's public Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/
apply-certificates.html.
    Once a petitioner/requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, 
had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit 
a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions 
should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC 
guidance available on the NRC public Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/
site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the 
time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an 
electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE system no later than 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a 
transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends 
the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to 
the document to the NRC Office of the General Counsel and any others 
who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to 
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the 
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition 
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document 
via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the 
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/
site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, 
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or 
locally, (301) 415-4737. Participants who believe that they have a good 
cause for not submitting documents electronically must file a motion, 
in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing 
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper 
format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: 
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth 
Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville, Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. 
Participants filing a document in this manner are responsible for 
serving the document on all other participants. Filing is considered 
complete by first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or 
by courier, express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing 
the document with the provider of the service.
    Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding 
officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition 
and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be 
admitted, based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). To be timely, filings must be submitted no later 
than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
https://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant 
to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or 
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include personal 
privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, 
or home phone numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted 
works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the 
adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, 
participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in 
their submissions.
    For further details with respect to this license amendment 
application, see the application for amendment dated July 16, 2007, as 
supplemented June 2, 2008, which is available for public inspection at 
the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, File Public 
Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. 
Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, https://
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 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, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of June 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lois M. James,
Chief, Plant Licensing Branch III-1, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 [FR Doc. E8-13197 Filed 6-11-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P