Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC; Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station; Request for Licensing Action, 39057-39058 [2010-16462]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 129 / Wednesday, July 7, 2010 / Notices regarding transfer or other disposition of radioactive material by licensees who wish to terminate their licenses. The information is used by the NRC as part of the basis for its determination that the facility has been cleared of radioactive material before the facility is released for unrestricted use. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O–1 F21, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doccomment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by August 6, 2010. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. Christine J. Kymn, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150–0028), NEOB–10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Week of July 5, 2010 Thursday, July 8, 2010 1:25 p.m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative). a. Pa’ina, Hawaii, LLC (Materials License Application), Docket No. 30–36974–ML, Petition for Review of Licensing Board Initial Decision (Tentative). b. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3), Certified Question Arising From Motion for Leave to Admit New Contentions (Tentative). c. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station), Petitions for review of LBP–08–25 (Nov. 24, 2008) & LBP–09–9 (July 8, 2009), Docket No. 50–271–LR (Tentative). This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web address—https://www.nrc.gov. 1:30 p.m. Briefing on Proposed Rule on Part 35 Medical Events Definitions—Permanent Implant Brachytherapy (Public Meeting). (Contact: Andrew Carrera, 301– 415–1078). This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address—https://www.nrc.gov. Week of July 12, 2010—Tentative 39057 Contact person for more information: Rochelle Bavol, (301) 415–1651. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet at: https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/policymaking/schedule.html. * * * * * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large print), please notify Angela Bolduc, Chief, Employee/Labor Relations and Work Life Branch, at 301– 492–2230, TDD: 301–415–2100, or by email at angela.bolduc@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. * * * * * This notice is distributed electronically to subscribers. If you no longer wish to receive it, or would like to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301–415–1969), or send an e-mail to darlene.wright@nrc.gov. Comments can also be e-mailed to Christine.J.Kymn@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395– 4638. The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, (301) 415–6258. Tuesday, July 13, 2010 9:30 a.m. Briefing on the Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force Report (Closed—Ex. 9). Dated: July 1, 2010. Rochelle C. Bavol, Policy Coordinator, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 2010–16623 Filed 7–2–10; 4:15 pm] Dated at Rockville Maryland, this 29th day of June 2010. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Tremaine Donnell, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services. There are no meetings scheduled for the week of July 19, 2010. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Week of July 26, 2010—Tentative [Docket No. 50–271; NRC–2010–0243; License No. DPR–28] [FR Doc. 2010–16458 Filed 7–6–10; 8:45 am] Week of August 2, 2010—Tentative BILLING CODE 7590–01–P There are no meetings scheduled for the week of August 2, 2010. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Week of August 9, 2010—Tentative Week of July 19, 2010—Tentative [NRC–2010–0002] cprice-sewell on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES Sunshine Federal Register Notice Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Weeks of July 5, 12, 19, 26, August 2, 9, 2010. DATE: PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. VerDate Mar<15>2010 15:28 Jul 06, 2010 There are no meetings scheduled for the week of July 26, 2010. Thursday, August 12, 2010 AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETINGS: Jkt 220001 BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 9:30 a.m. Meeting with Organization of Agreement States (OAS) and Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) (Public Meeting) (Contact: Cindy Flannery, 301 415–0223). This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web address—https://www.nrc.gov. * * * * * *The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on short notice. To verify the status of meetings, call (recording)—(301) 415–1292. PO 00000 Frm 00083 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC; Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station; Request for Licensing Action Notice is hereby given that by petitions dated January 12, 2010, from Mr. Michael Mulligan, February 8, 2010, from Mr. Raymond Shadis, and February 20, 2010, from Mr. Thomas Saporito have requested that pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 2.206, ‘‘Requests for Action under this Subpart,’’ the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action with regard to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Mr. Mulligan requested in his petition that (1) the radioactive leak into the environment of Vermont Yankee (VY) be immediately stopped and VY be E:\FR\FM\07JYN1.SGM 07JYN1 cprice-sewell on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES 39058 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 129 / Wednesday, July 7, 2010 / Notices immediately shutdown and all leaking paths be isolated and (2) VY disclose its preliminary ‘‘root cause analysis’’ and the NRC release its preliminary investigative report on this analysis before plant startup. Mr. Shadis requested in his petition that the NRC (1) require VY to go into cold shutdown and depressurize all systems in order to slow or stop the leak, (2) act promptly to stop or mitigate the leak(s) and not wait until all issues raised by the New England Coalition are resolved, (3) require VY to reestablish its licensing basis by physically tracing records and reporting physical details of all plant systems that would be within scope as ‘‘Buried Pipes and Tanks’’ in NUREG–1801, ‘‘Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report,’’ and under the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54, ‘‘Conditions of Licenses,’’ (4) investigate and determine why Entergy has been allowed to operate VY since 2002 without a working knowledge of all plant systems and why the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) and review process for license renewal amendment did not detect this dereliction, (5) take notice of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee’s many maintenance and management failures (from 2000–2010) and the ROP’s failure to detect them early and undertake a full diagnostic evaluation team inspection or NRC Inspection Procedure 95003, ‘‘Supplemental Inspection for Repetitive Degraded Cornerstones, Multiple Degraded Cornerstones, Multiple Yellow Inputs or One Red Input,’’ and (6) require Entergy VY to apply for an amendment to its license renewal that would address both aging analysis and aging management of all buried piping carrying or with the potential to carry radionuclides and/or the potential to interact with any safety or safety-related system. Mr. Saporito requested in his petition that the NRC (1) order a ‘‘cold-shutdown’’ mode of operation for VY because of leaking radioactive tritium and (2) issue a confirmatory order modifying the NRC-issued license for VY so that the licensee must bring the nuclear reactor to a ‘‘cold-shut-down’’ mode of operation until the licensee can provide definitive reasonable assurance to the NRC, under affirmation, that the reactor will be operated in full compliance with the regulations in 10 CFR Part 50, ‘‘Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,’’ and Appendix A, ‘‘General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,’’ to 10 CFR Part 50, Criterion 60, ‘‘Control of Releases of Radioactive Materials to the Environment,’’ and Criterion 64, ‘‘Monitoring Radioactivity Releases,’’ VerDate Mar<15>2010 15:28 Jul 06, 2010 Jkt 220001 and other NRC regulations and authority. The requests are being treated pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of the Commission’s regulations. The requests have 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 consolidated petition within a reasonable time. Each petitioner stated that the tritium leak is just one example of many maintenance and management failures at VY. All three raised a concern regarding what they perceive as the NRC’s failure to examine the deficiencies at VY in an integrated manner. Although the individual petition was written to request enforcement action specifically because of the tritium leak, during each of the transcribed phone calls, each petitioner urged the NRC to take a broader view and assess operational and performance failures at VY collectively, instead of individually. This concern has met the criteria for review in accordance with Management Directive (MD) 8.11 ‘‘Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions.’’ Subsequently, the PRB made a recommendation to accept the consolidated petition for review for the following specific issues and concerns identified in the petitions and/or supplemented during the teleconferences: (1) Increasing concentrations of radiocontaminants in the soil and groundwater at VY, as well as an increasing area of contamination, are manifest on a daily basis. VY risks aggravating the contamination by continuing to run the reactor at full power while attempting over a period of a month to triangulate the location of a presumed leak by drilling a series of test wells in the affected area. (2) During the license renewal application proceeding, the licensee has averred that it was unaware of the existence of some buried pipes, now uncovered, and it has yet to discover their path and purpose. (3) Entergy has, in 8 years of ownership, failed to learn and understand VY’s design, layout, and construction. This failure to comprehend and understand the layout, function, and potentially the interaction of the plant’s own piping systems constitutes a loss of design basis. (4) The NRC’s ROP has apparently failed to capture, anticipate, and prevent ongoing maintenance, engineering, quality assurance, and operation issues that have manifested themselves in a series of high-profile incidents since Entergy took over VY. The agency has PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 repeatedly failed to detect root cause trends until they have, as in this instance, become grossly self-revealing. (5) The NRC should ensure that Entergy has adequate decommissioning funds. The tritium leak will increase decommissioning costs because of the need for site radiological examination and soil remediation. Copies of the petitions are available to the public from the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) in the public Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html under ADAMS Accession Nos. ML100190688, ML100470430, and ML100621374, and are available for inspection at the Commission’s Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 25th day of June 2010. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Eric J. Leeds, Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 2010–16462 Filed 7–6–10; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Reconsideration of Initial Determinations AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. ACTION: Notice of request for extension of OMB approval. SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a collection of information under its regulation on Rules for Administrative Review of Agency Decisions (OMB control number 1212–0063, expires September 30, 2010). This notice informs the public of PBGC’s request and solicits public comment on the collection of information. DATES: Comments should be submitted by August 6, 2010. ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail at OIRA_DOCKET@omb.eop.gov or by fax E:\FR\FM\07JYN1.SGM 07JYN1

Agencies

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 7, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39057-39058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16462]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-271; NRC-2010-0243; License No. DPR-28]


Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, 
LLC; Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station; Request for Licensing Action

    Notice is hereby given that by petitions dated January 12, 2010, 
from Mr. Michael Mulligan, February 8, 2010, from Mr. Raymond Shadis, 
and February 20, 2010, from Mr. Thomas Saporito have requested that 
pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
Section 2.206, ``Requests for Action under this Subpart,'' the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action with regard to the 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
    Mr. Mulligan requested in his petition that (1) the radioactive 
leak into the environment of Vermont Yankee (VY) be immediately stopped 
and VY be

[[Page 39058]]

immediately shutdown and all leaking paths be isolated and (2) VY 
disclose its preliminary ``root cause analysis'' and the NRC release 
its preliminary investigative report on this analysis before plant 
startup.
    Mr. Shadis requested in his petition that the NRC (1) require VY to 
go into cold shutdown and depressurize all systems in order to slow or 
stop the leak, (2) act promptly to stop or mitigate the leak(s) and not 
wait until all issues raised by the New England Coalition are resolved, 
(3) require VY to reestablish its licensing basis by physically tracing 
records and reporting physical details of all plant systems that would 
be within scope as ``Buried Pipes and Tanks'' in NUREG-1801, ``Generic 
Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report,'' and under the requirements of 10 
CFR 50.54, ``Conditions of Licenses,'' (4) investigate and determine 
why Entergy has been allowed to operate VY since 2002 without a working 
knowledge of all plant systems and why the NRC's Reactor Oversight 
Process (ROP) and review process for license renewal amendment did not 
detect this dereliction, (5) take notice of Entergy Nuclear Vermont 
Yankee's many maintenance and management failures (from 2000-2010) and 
the ROP's failure to detect them early and undertake a full diagnostic 
evaluation team inspection or NRC Inspection Procedure 95003, 
``Supplemental Inspection for Repetitive Degraded Cornerstones, 
Multiple Degraded Cornerstones, Multiple Yellow Inputs or One Red 
Input,'' and (6) require Entergy VY to apply for an amendment to its 
license renewal that would address both aging analysis and aging 
management of all buried piping carrying or with the potential to carry 
radionuclides and/or the potential to interact with any safety or 
safety-related system.
    Mr. Saporito requested in his petition that the NRC (1) order a 
``cold-shut-down'' mode of operation for VY because of leaking 
radioactive tritium and (2) issue a confirmatory order modifying the 
NRC-issued license for VY so that the licensee must bring the nuclear 
reactor to a ``cold-shut-down'' mode of operation until the licensee 
can provide definitive reasonable assurance to the NRC, under 
affirmation, that the reactor will be operated in full compliance with 
the regulations in 10 CFR Part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production 
and Utilization Facilities,'' and Appendix A, ``General Design Criteria 
for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to 10 CFR Part 50, Criterion 60, ``Control 
of Releases of Radioactive Materials to the Environment,'' and 
Criterion 64, ``Monitoring Radioactivity Releases,'' and other NRC 
regulations and authority.
    The requests are being treated pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of the 
Commission's regulations. The requests have 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 consolidated 
petition within a reasonable time.
    Each petitioner stated that the tritium leak is just one example of 
many maintenance and management failures at VY. All three raised a 
concern regarding what they perceive as the NRC's failure to examine 
the deficiencies at VY in an integrated manner. Although the individual 
petition was written to request enforcement action specifically because 
of the tritium leak, during each of the transcribed phone calls, each 
petitioner urged the NRC to take a broader view and assess operational 
and performance failures at VY collectively, instead of individually. 
This concern has met the criteria for review in accordance with 
Management Directive (MD) 8.11 ``Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 
Petitions.''
    Subsequently, the PRB made a recommendation to accept the 
consolidated petition for review for the following specific issues and 
concerns identified in the petitions and/or supplemented during the 
teleconferences:
    (1) Increasing concentrations of radiocontaminants in the soil and 
groundwater at VY, as well as an increasing area of contamination, are 
manifest on a daily basis. VY risks aggravating the contamination by 
continuing to run the reactor at full power while attempting over a 
period of a month to triangulate the location of a presumed leak by 
drilling a series of test wells in the affected area.
    (2) During the license renewal application proceeding, the licensee 
has averred that it was unaware of the existence of some buried pipes, 
now uncovered, and it has yet to discover their path and purpose.
    (3) Entergy has, in 8 years of ownership, failed to learn and 
understand VY's design, layout, and construction. This failure to 
comprehend and understand the layout, function, and potentially the 
interaction of the plant's own piping systems constitutes a loss of 
design basis.
    (4) The NRC's ROP has apparently failed to capture, anticipate, and 
prevent ongoing maintenance, engineering, quality assurance, and 
operation issues that have manifested themselves in a series of high-
profile incidents since Entergy took over VY. The agency has repeatedly 
failed to detect root cause trends until they have, as in this 
instance, become grossly self-revealing.
    (5) The NRC should ensure that Entergy has adequate decommissioning 
funds. The tritium leak will increase decommissioning costs because of 
the need for site radiological examination and soil remediation.
    Copies of the petitions are available to the public from the NRC's 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) in the public 
Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under ADAMS Accession Nos. ML100190688, 
ML100470430, and ML100621374, and are available for inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 25th day of June 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010-16462 Filed 7-6-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.