Ameren Missouri; Combined License Application for Callaway Plant Unit 2; Exemption, 3927-3929 [2011-1263]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 14 (Friday, January 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3927-3929]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1263]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-037; NRC-2008-0556]


Ameren Missouri; Combined License Application for Callaway Plant 
Unit 2; Exemption

1.0 Background

    Union Electric Company, doing business as Ameren UE, submitted to 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) a Combined License (COL) 
Application for a single unit of AREVA NP's U.S. EPR in accordance with 
the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR), subpart C of part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals 
for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This reactor is to be identified as 
Callaway Plant (Callaway), Unit 2, and located at the current Callaway 
County, Missouri site of the Callaway Power Plant. The Callaway, Unit 
2, COL application is based upon and linked to the U.S. EPR reference 
COL (RCOL) application for UniStar's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power 
Plant, Unit 3 (CCNPP3). The NRC docketed the Callaway, Unit 2, COL 
application on December 12, 2008. In its letter to the NRC dated April 
28, 2009, Ameren informed that it was suspending its efforts to build a 
nuclear power plant in Missouri. Subsequently, by letter dated June 23, 
2009, Ameren requested the NRC to suspend all review activities 
relating to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application. The NRC informed 
Ameren by letter dated June 29, 2009, that it had suspended all review 
activities relating to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application. The NRC 
is currently performing a detailed review of the CCNPP3 RCOL 
application, as well as AREVA NP's application for design certification 
of the U.S. EPR.

2.0 Request/Action

    The regulations specified in 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) require that 
an applicant for a combined license under 10 CFR part 52 shall, during 
the period from docketing of a COL application until the Commission 
makes a finding under 10 CFR 52.103(g) pertaining to facility 
operation, submit an annual update to the application's Final Safety 
Analysis Report (FSAR), which is a part of the application.
    On February 25, 2009, Ameren submitted Revision 1 to the COL 
application, including updates to the FSAR. Pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii), the next annual update would be due in December 2010. 
Union Electric Company, doing business as Ameren Missouri (Ameren) as 
of October 1, 2010, as noted in its letter to the NRC dated October 26, 
2010, has requested a one-time exemption from the 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii) requirements to submit the scheduled 2010 and 2011 COL 
application FSAR updates, and proposed for approval of a new submittal 
deadline of December 31, 2012, for the next FSAR update.
    In summary, the requested exemption is a one-time schedule change 
from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption would 
allow Ameren to submit the next FSAR update at a later date, but still 
in advance of NRC's reinstating its review of the application and in 
any event, by December 31, 2012. The current FSAR update schedule could 
not be changed, absent the exemption. Ameren requested the exemption by 
letter dated October 26, 2010 (Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) Accession Number ML103090556).

3.0 Discussion

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the NRC may, upon application by any 
interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the 
requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, including Section 50.71(e)(3)(iii) 
when: (1) the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an 
undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the 
common defense and security; and (2) special circumstances are present. 
As relevant to the requested exemption, special circumstances exist if: 
(1) ``Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances 
would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary 
to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); (2) ``Compliance would result in undue hardship or 
other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when 
the regulation was

[[Page 3928]]

adopted, or that are significantly in excess of those incurred by 
others similarly situated'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii)); or (3) ``The 
exemption would provide only temporary relief from the applicable 
regulation and the licensee has made good faith efforts to comply with 
the regulation'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v)).
    The review of the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application FSAR has been 
suspended since June 29, 2009. Since the COL application FSAR is 
directly linked to the CCNPP3 RCOL application, many changes in the 
RCOL application require an associated change to the COL application 
FSAR and, because the NRC review of the COL application is suspended, 
the updates to the FSAR will not be reviewed by the NRC staff until the 
Callaway, Unit 2, COL application review is resumed. Thus, the optimum 
time to prepare a revision to the COL application FSAR is sometime 
prior to Ameren requesting the NRC to resume its review. To prepare and 
submit a COL application FSAR update when the review remains suspended 
and in the absence of any decision by Ameren to request the NRC to 
resume the review would require Ameren to spend significant time and 
effort and would be of no value, particularly due to the fact that the 
RCOL application and the U.S. EPR FSAR are still undergoing periodic 
revisions and updates. Furthermore, the adjudicatory proceedings 
related to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application were terminated by the 
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) after agreements were made 
between Ameren, the NRC, and the petitioners for intervention, as 
documented in ``AMERENUE (Callaway Plant Unit 2) MEMORANDUM AND ORDER 
(Approving Settlement Agreement and Terminating Contested Adjudicatory 
Proceeding) LBP-09-23 (August 28, 2009)'' (ML092400189). Ameren commits 
to submit the next FSAR update prior to any request to the NRC to 
resume review of the COL application and, in any event, by December 31, 
2012. Ameren would need to identify all committed changes to the RCOL 
application since the last revisions to the RCOL application and the 
U.S. EPR FSAR in order to prepare a COL application FSAR revision that 
accurately and completely reflects the committed changes to the RCOL 
application as well as the U.S. EPR FSAR.
    The requested one-time exemption to defer submittal of the next 
update to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL application FSAR would provide only 
temporary relief from the regulations of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). 
Ameren has made good faith efforts to comply with 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii) by submitting Revision 1 to the COL application dated 
February 25, 2009, prior to requesting the review suspension. Revision 
1 incorporated information provided in prior supplements and 
standardized language with the RCOL application.
    Authorized by Law:
    The exemption is a one-time schedule exemption from the 
requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption would allow 
Ameren to submit the next Callaway Unit 2 COL application FSAR update 
on or before December 31, 2012, in lieu of the required scheduled 
submittals in December 2010, and December 2011. As stated above, 10 CFR 
50.12 allows the NRC to grant exemptions. The NRC staff has determined 
that granting Ameren the requested one-time exemption from the 
requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) will provide only temporary 
relief from this regulation and will not result in a violation of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the NRC's regulations. 
Therefore, the exemption is authorized by law.
    No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety:
    The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) is to provide for 
a timely and comprehensive update of the FSAR associated with a COL 
application in order to support an effective and efficient review by 
the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC staff's safety evaluation report. 
The requested exemption is solely administrative in nature, in that it 
pertains to the schedule for submittal to the NRC of revisions to an 
application under 10 CFR part 52, for which a license has not been 
granted. In addition, since the review of the application has been 
suspended, any update to the application submitted by Ameren will not 
be reviewed by the NRC at this time.
    Based on the nature of the requested exemption as described above, 
no new accident precursors are created by the exemption; thus, neither 
the probability nor the consequences of postulated accidents are 
increased. Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and 
safety.
    Consistent with Common Defense and Security:
    The requested exemption would allow Ameren to submit the next FSAR 
update prior to requesting the NRC to resume the review and, in any 
event, on or before December 31, 2012. This schedule change has no 
relation to security issues. Therefore, the common defense and security 
is not impacted by this exemption.
    Special Circumstances:
    Special circumstances, in accordance with 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), are 
present whenever: (1) ``Application of the regulation in the particular 
circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is 
not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); (2) ``Compliance would result in undue hardship or 
other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when 
the regulation was adopted, or that are significantly in excess of 
those incurred by others similarly situated'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(iii)); or (3) ``The exemption would provide only temporary 
relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee has made good 
faith efforts to comply with the regulation'' (10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v)).
    The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) is to provide for 
a timely and comprehensive update of the FSAR associated with a COL 
application in order to support an effective and efficient review by 
the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC staff's safety evaluation report. 
As discussed above, the requested one-time exemption is solely 
administrative in nature, in that it pertains to a one-time schedule 
change for submittal of revisions to an application under 10 CFR Part 
52, for which a license has not been granted. The requested one-time 
exemption will permit Ameren time to carefully review the most recent 
revisions of the CCNPP3 RCOL application as well as the U.S. EPR FSAR, 
and fully incorporate these revisions into a comprehensive update of 
the Callaway, Unit 2, FSAR associated with the COL application. This 
one-time exemption will support the NRC staff's effective and efficient 
review of the COL application when resumed, as well as issuance of the 
safety evaluation report, and therefore does not affect the underlying 
purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). Under the circumstances that Ameren 
has suspended its pursuit of the COL, the NRC has suspended its review 
of the application, and the adjudicatory proceedings have been 
terminated by ASLB, application of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) would result 
in Ameren spending significant time and effort in incorporating changes 
made to the RCOL application into the Callaway, Unit 2, COL 
application, but not achieve the underlying purpose of that rule; 
granting a one-time exemption from 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) would 
provide only temporary relief; and Ameren has made good faith efforts 
to comply with the regulation; therefore, the special circumstances 
required by 10 CFR

[[Page 3929]]

50.12(a)(2) for the granting of an exemption from 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii) exist.

4.0 Conclusion

    Accordingly, the NRC has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, 
the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to 
the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense 
and security. Also, special circumstances are present. Therefore, the 
NRC hereby grants Ameren a one-time exemption from the requirements of 
10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) pertaining to the Callaway, Unit 2, COL 
application to allow submittal of the next FSAR update prior to any 
request to the NRC to resume the review and, in any event, no later 
than December 31, 2012.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the NRC has determined that the granting 
of this exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of 
the human environment (76 FR 800).
    This exemption is effective upon issuance.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of January 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph Colaccino,
Chief, EPR Projects Branch, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office 
of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2011-1263 Filed 1-20-11; 8:45 am]
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