STP Nuclear Operating Company, South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2; Exemption, 11947-11948 [2010-5433]
Download as PDF
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 48 / Friday, March 12, 2010 / Notices
implementation deadline. The
environmental impacts of the proposed
exemption and the ‘‘no action’’
alternative are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
The action does not involve the use of
any different resources than those
considered in the Final Environmental
Statement for the Fermi 2, NUREG–
0769, dated August 1981, Addendum
No. 1, dated March 1982.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with its stated policy,
on January 12, 2010, the NRC staff
consulted with the Michigan State
official, Mr. Ken Yale, regarding the
environmental impact of the proposed
action. The State official had no
comments.
srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the environmental
assessment, the NRC concludes that the
proposed action will not have a
significant effect on the quality of the
human environment. Accordingly, the
NRC has determined not to prepare an
environmental impact statement for the
proposed action.
For further details with respect to the
proposed action, see the licensee’s letter
dated November 19, 2009, as
supplemented by letter dated December
23, 2009. Portions of November 19,
2009, and December 23, 2009,
submittals contain security related
information and, accordingly, are not
available to the public. Other parts of
these 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 O–1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852.
Publicly available records will be
accessible electronically from the
Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (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 or 301–415–4737, or send an
e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day
of March, 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mahesh Chawla,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch LPL
III–1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010–5427 Filed 3–11–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
VerDate Nov<24>2008
17:18 Mar 11, 2010
Jkt 220001
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50–498 and 50–499; NRC–
2010–0060]
STP Nuclear Operating Company,
South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2;
Exemption
1.0
Background
STP Nuclear Operating Company
(STPNOC, the licensee) is the holder of
Facility Operating Licenses numbered
NPF–76 and NPF–80, which authorize
operation of the South Texas Project
(STP), Units 1 and 2, respectively. The
licenses provide, among other things,
that the facility is subject to the rules,
regulations, and orders of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC,
the Commission) now or hereafter in
effect.
The facility consists of two
pressurized-water reactors located in
Matagorda County, Texas.
2.0
Request/Action
Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) Part 73, ‘‘Physical
protection of plants and materials,’’
Section 73.55, ‘‘Requirements for
physical protection of licensed activities
in nuclear power reactors against
radiological sabotage,’’ published March
27, 2009, effective May 26, 2009, with
a full implementation date of March 31,
2010, requires licensees to protect, with
high assurance, against radiological
sabotage by designing and
implementing comprehensive site
security programs. The amendments to
10 CFR 73.55 published on March 27,
2009, establish and update generically
applicable security requirements similar
to those previously imposed by
Commission Orders issued after the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,
and implemented by the licensees. In
addition, the amendments to 10 CFR
73.55 include new requirements to
further enhance site security based upon
insights gained from implementation of
the post September 11, 2001, security
orders. STPNOC seeks an exemption
from the March 31, 2010,
implementation date. All other physical
security requirements established by
this recent rulemaking have already
been or will be implemented by the
licensee by March 31, 2010.
By letter dated November 18, 2009,
the licensee requested an exemption in
accordance with 10 CFR 73.5, ‘‘Specific
exemptions.’’ The licensee’s letter
contains security-related information
and, accordingly, those portions are not
available to public. The licensee has
requested an exemption from March 31,
PO 00000
Frm 00114
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
11947
2010, compliance date, stating that it
must complete certain modifications to
address the new 10 CFR Part 73
requirements. Specifically, the request
is to extend the compliance date for one
specific requirement from the current
March 31, 2010, deadline to June 30,
2010. Granting this exemption for the
one item would allow the licensee to
complete design, procurement, and
installation of plant upgrades to meet
the regulatory requirements.
3.0 Discussion of Part 73 Schedule
Exemptions from the March 31, 2010,
Full Implementation Date
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55(a)(1), ‘‘By
March 31, 2010, each nuclear power
reactor licensee, licensed under 10 CFR
Part 50, shall implement the
requirements of this section through its
Commission-approved Physical Security
Plan, Training and Qualification Plan,
Safeguards Contingency Plan, and Cyber
Security Plan referred to collectively
hereafter as ‘security plans.’’’ Pursuant
to 10 CFR 73.5, the Commission may,
upon application by any interested
person or upon its own initiative, grant
exemptions from the requirements of 10
CFR Part 73 when the exemptions are
authorized by law, and will not
endanger life or property or the common
defense and security, and are otherwise
in the public interest.
NRC approval of this exemption, as
noted above, would allow an extension
from March 31, 2010, to June 30, 2010,
of the implementation date for one
specific requirement of the new rule.
The NRC staff has determined that
granting the licensee’s proposed
exemption request would not result in
a violation of the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended, or Commission’s
regulations. Therefore, the exemption is
authorized by law.
In the draft final power reactor
security rule provided to the
Commission, the NRC staff proposed
that the requirements of the new
regulation be met within 180 days. The
Commission directed a change from 180
days to approximately 1 year to allow
licensees to fully implement the new
requirements. This change was
incorporated into the final rule. From
this, it is clear that the Commission
wanted to provide a reasonable
timeframe for licensees to achieve full
compliance.
As noted in the final rule, the
Commission also anticipated that
licensees would have to conduct sitespecific analyses to determine what
changes were necessary to implement
the rule’s requirements, and that
changes could be accomplished through
a variety of licensing mechanisms,
E:\FR\FM\12MRN1.SGM
12MRN1
11948
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 48 / Friday, March 12, 2010 / Notices
including exemptions. Since issuance of
the final rule, the Commission has
rejected a generic industry request to
extend the rule’s compliance date for all
operating nuclear power plants, but
noted that the Commission’s regulations
provide mechanisms for individual
licensees, with good cause, to apply for
relief from the compliance date
(Reference: June 4, 2009, letter from R.
W. Borchardt, NRC, to M. S. Fertel,
Nuclear Energy Institute). The licensee’s
request for an exemption is therefore
consistent with the approach set forth
by the Commission and discussed in the
June 4, 2009, letter.
srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2,
Schedule Exemption Request
The licensee provided detailed
information in Enclosure 1 of its
submittal dated November 18, 2009,
requesting the exemption.
Enclosure 2 provides the licensee’s
basis for exemption, and states that the
duration of the modification project is
expected to extend from 12 to 18
months. The licensee describes a plan to
install equipment related to certain
requirements in the new Part 73 rule
and provides a timeline for achieving
full compliance with the new
regulation. The submittal contains
security-related information regarding
the site security plan, details of the
specific portions of the regulation for
which the site cannot be in compliance
by March 31, 2010, deadline, and the
required changes and a timeline, with
critical path activities, that would
enable the licensee to achieve full
compliance by June 30, 2010. The
timeline provides dates indicating (1)
when various phases of the project
begin and end (i.e., design, field
construction), (2) outages scheduled for
each unit, and (3) when critical
equipment will be ordered, installed,
tested, and will become operational. A
redacted version of the licensee’s
exemption request is publicly available
in the Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML093280174.
Notwithstanding the scheduled
exemptions for these limited
requirements, the licensee will continue
to be in compliance with all other
applicable physical security
requirements as described in 10 CFR
73.55 and reflected in its current NRCapproved physical security program. By
June 30, 2010, STP Units 1 and 2 will
be in full compliance with all the
regulatory requirements of 10 CFR
73.55, as issued on March 27, 2009.
VerDate Nov<24>2008
17:18 Mar 11, 2010
Jkt 220001
4.0 Conclusion for Part 73 Schedule
Exemption Review
The NRC staff has reviewed the
licensee’s submittals and concludes that
the licensee has provided adequate
justification for its request for an
extension of the compliance date to June
30, 2010, with regard to the specified
requirement of 10 CFR 73.55.
Accordingly, the Commission has
determined that pursuant to 10 CFR
73.5, ‘‘Specific exemptions,’’ an
exemption from the March 31, 2010,
compliance date is authorized by law
and will not endanger life or property or
the common defense and security, and
is otherwise in the public interest.
Therefore, the Commission hereby
grants the requested exemption.
The NRC staff has determined that the
long-term benefits, that will be realized
when the STP Units 1 and 2 equipment
installation is complete, justifies
extending the compliance date with
regard to the specified requirement of 10
CFR 73.55. The significant security
enhancements that STP Units 1 and 2
need to complete are new requirements
imposed by March 27, 2009,
amendments to 10 CFR 73.55, and are
in addition to those required by security
orders issued in response to the events
of September 11, 2001. Therefore, the
NRC staff concludes that the licensee’s
proposed actions are in the best interest
of the protection of public health and
safety, through the security changes that
would result from granting the
exemption.
As per licensee’s request and the NRC
staff’s regulatory authority to grant an
extension from the March 31, 2010,
implementation deadline for
requirements specified in the licensee’s
letter dated November 18, 2009, the
licensee is required to be in full
compliance by June 30, 2010. In
achieving compliance, the licensee is
reminded that it is responsible for
determining the appropriate licensing
mechanism (i.e. 10 CFR Part 50.54(P) or
10 CFR Part 50.90) for incorporation of
all necessary changes to its security
plans.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, ‘‘Finding of
no significant impact,’’ the Commission
has previously determined that the
granting of this exemption will not have
a significant effect on the quality of the
human environment (75 FR 8150;
February 23, 2010).
This exemption is effective upon
issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day
of March 2010.
PO 00000
Frm 00115
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert A. Nelson,
Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010–5433 Filed 3–11–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
POSTAL SERVICE
Board of Governors; Sunshine Act
Meeting
DATES AND TIMES: Tuesday, March 23,
2010, at 10 a.m.; Wednesday, March 24,
at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
PLACE: Washington, DC at U.S. Postal
Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant
Plaza, SW., in the Benjamin Franklin
Room.
STATUS: March 23 at 10 a.m.—Closed;
Wednesday, March 24 at 8:30 a.m.—
Open; and 11 a.m.—Closed.
Matters To Be Considered
Tuesday, March 23 at 10 a.m. (Closed)
1. Strategic Issues.
2. Pricing.
3. Financial Matters.
4. Personnel Matters and
Compensation Issues.
5. Governors’ Executive Session—
Discussion of prior agenda items and
Board Governance.
Wednesday, March 24 at 8:30 a.m.
(Open)
1. Approval of Minutes of Previous
Meetings.
2. Remarks of the Chairman of the
Board.
3. Remarks of the Postmaster General
and CEO.
4. Amendments to Board Bylaws.
5. Appointment of Committee
Members and Committee Reports.
6. Financial Update.
7. Inspector General Report on USPS
Share of CSRS Pension Responsibility.
8. Quarterly Report on Service
Performance.
9. Five-Day Delivery Plan.
10. Tentative Agenda for the May 4–
6, 2010, meeting in Washington, DC.
Wednesday, March 24 at 11 a.m.
(Closed—if Needed)
1. Continuation of Tuesday’s closed
session agenda.
CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Julie S. Moore, Secretary of the Board,
U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza,
E:\FR\FM\12MRN1.SGM
12MRN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 48 (Friday, March 12, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11947-11948]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5433]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-498 and 50-499; NRC-2010-0060]
STP Nuclear Operating Company, South Texas Project, Units 1 and
2; Exemption
1.0 Background
STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC, the licensee) is the holder
of Facility Operating Licenses numbered NPF-76 and NPF-80, which
authorize operation of the South Texas Project (STP), Units 1 and 2,
respectively. The licenses provide, among other things, that the
facility is subject to the rules, regulations, and orders of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) now or hereafter in
effect.
The facility consists of two pressurized-water reactors located in
Matagorda County, Texas.
2.0 Request/Action
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 73,
``Physical protection of plants and materials,'' Section 73.55,
``Requirements for physical protection of licensed activities in
nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,'' published March
27, 2009, effective May 26, 2009, with a full implementation date of
March 31, 2010, requires licensees to protect, with high assurance,
against radiological sabotage by designing and implementing
comprehensive site security programs. The amendments to 10 CFR 73.55
published on March 27, 2009, establish and update generically
applicable security requirements similar to those previously imposed by
Commission Orders issued after the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, and implemented by the licensees. In addition, the amendments to
10 CFR 73.55 include new requirements to further enhance site security
based upon insights gained from implementation of the post September
11, 2001, security orders. STPNOC seeks an exemption from the March 31,
2010, implementation date. All other physical security requirements
established by this recent rulemaking have already been or will be
implemented by the licensee by March 31, 2010.
By letter dated November 18, 2009, the licensee requested an
exemption in accordance with 10 CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions.'' The
licensee's letter contains security-related information and,
accordingly, those portions are not available to public. The licensee
has requested an exemption from March 31, 2010, compliance date,
stating that it must complete certain modifications to address the new
10 CFR Part 73 requirements. Specifically, the request is to extend the
compliance date for one specific requirement from the current March 31,
2010, deadline to June 30, 2010. Granting this exemption for the one
item would allow the licensee to complete design, procurement, and
installation of plant upgrades to meet the regulatory requirements.
3.0 Discussion of Part 73 Schedule Exemptions from the March 31, 2010,
Full Implementation Date
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55(a)(1), ``By March 31, 2010, each nuclear
power reactor licensee, licensed under 10 CFR Part 50, shall implement
the requirements of this section through its Commission-approved
Physical Security Plan, Training and Qualification Plan, Safeguards
Contingency Plan, and Cyber Security Plan referred to collectively
hereafter as `security plans.''' Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, the
Commission may, upon application by any interested person or upon its
own initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR Part
73 when the exemptions are authorized by law, and will not endanger
life or property or the common defense and security, and are otherwise
in the public interest.
NRC approval of this exemption, as noted above, would allow an
extension from March 31, 2010, to June 30, 2010, of the implementation
date for one specific requirement of the new rule. The NRC staff has
determined that granting the licensee's proposed exemption request
would not result in a violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended, or Commission's regulations. Therefore, the exemption is
authorized by law.
In the draft final power reactor security rule provided to the
Commission, the NRC staff proposed that the requirements of the new
regulation be met within 180 days. The Commission directed a change
from 180 days to approximately 1 year to allow licensees to fully
implement the new requirements. This change was incorporated into the
final rule. From this, it is clear that the Commission wanted to
provide a reasonable timeframe for licensees to achieve full
compliance.
As noted in the final rule, the Commission also anticipated that
licensees would have to conduct site-specific analyses to determine
what changes were necessary to implement the rule's requirements, and
that changes could be accomplished through a variety of licensing
mechanisms,
[[Page 11948]]
including exemptions. Since issuance of the final rule, the Commission
has rejected a generic industry request to extend the rule's compliance
date for all operating nuclear power plants, but noted that the
Commission's regulations provide mechanisms for individual licensees,
with good cause, to apply for relief from the compliance date
(Reference: June 4, 2009, letter from R. W. Borchardt, NRC, to M. S.
Fertel, Nuclear Energy Institute). The licensee's request for an
exemption is therefore consistent with the approach set forth by the
Commission and discussed in the June 4, 2009, letter.
South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2, Schedule Exemption Request
The licensee provided detailed information in Enclosure 1 of its
submittal dated November 18, 2009, requesting the exemption.
Enclosure 2 provides the licensee's basis for exemption, and states
that the duration of the modification project is expected to extend
from 12 to 18 months. The licensee describes a plan to install
equipment related to certain requirements in the new Part 73 rule and
provides a timeline for achieving full compliance with the new
regulation. The submittal contains security-related information
regarding the site security plan, details of the specific portions of
the regulation for which the site cannot be in compliance by March 31,
2010, deadline, and the required changes and a timeline, with critical
path activities, that would enable the licensee to achieve full
compliance by June 30, 2010. The timeline provides dates indicating (1)
when various phases of the project begin and end (i.e., design, field
construction), (2) outages scheduled for each unit, and (3) when
critical equipment will be ordered, installed, tested, and will become
operational. A redacted version of the licensee's exemption request is
publicly available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML093280174.
Notwithstanding the scheduled exemptions for these limited
requirements, the licensee will continue to be in compliance with all
other applicable physical security requirements as described in 10 CFR
73.55 and reflected in its current NRC-approved physical security
program. By June 30, 2010, STP Units 1 and 2 will be in full compliance
with all the regulatory requirements of 10 CFR 73.55, as issued on
March 27, 2009.
4.0 Conclusion for Part 73 Schedule Exemption Review
The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's submittals and concludes
that the licensee has provided adequate justification for its request
for an extension of the compliance date to June 30, 2010, with regard
to the specified requirement of 10 CFR 73.55.
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that pursuant to 10 CFR
73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' an exemption from the March 31, 2010,
compliance date is authorized by law and will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants the requested
exemption.
The NRC staff has determined that the long-term benefits, that will
be realized when the STP Units 1 and 2 equipment installation is
complete, justifies extending the compliance date with regard to the
specified requirement of 10 CFR 73.55. The significant security
enhancements that STP Units 1 and 2 need to complete are new
requirements imposed by March 27, 2009, amendments to 10 CFR 73.55, and
are in addition to those required by security orders issued in response
to the events of September 11, 2001. Therefore, the NRC staff concludes
that the licensee's proposed actions are in the best interest of the
protection of public health and safety, through the security changes
that would result from granting the exemption.
As per licensee's request and the NRC staff's regulatory authority
to grant an extension from the March 31, 2010, implementation deadline
for requirements specified in the licensee's letter dated November 18,
2009, the licensee is required to be in full compliance by June 30,
2010. In achieving compliance, the licensee is reminded that it is
responsible for determining the appropriate licensing mechanism (i.e.
10 CFR Part 50.54(P) or 10 CFR Part 50.90) for incorporation of all
necessary changes to its security plans.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, ``Finding of no significant impact,'' the
Commission has previously determined that the granting of this
exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the
human environment (75 FR 8150; February 23, 2010).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of March 2010.
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert A. Nelson,
Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010-5433 Filed 3-11-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P