Exelon Nuclear, Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1; Exemption From Certain Security Requirements, 30204-30205 [2011-12784]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30204-30205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-12784]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-010; NRC-2011-0108]


Exelon Nuclear, Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1; Exemption 
From Certain Security Requirements

1.0 Background

    Exelon Nuclear is the licensee and holder of Facility Operating 
License No. DPR-2 issued for Dresden Nuclear Power Station (DNPS), Unit 
1, located in Grundy County, Illinois. DNPS Unit 1 is a permanently 
shutdown nuclear reactor facility that began commercial operation in 
October 1960 and shutdown on October 31, 1978. The facility is in a 
SAFSTOR condition. Spent fuel has been removed from the facility and is 
currently stored either in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installation (ISFSI) or the DNPS Unit 3 spent fuel pool, both located 
within the protected area of DNPS Units 2 and 3. Additionally, the DNPS 
Unit 1 spent fuel pool has been drained and decontaminated. The reactor 
vessel and primary system piping remain in place. DNPS Unit 1 is 
currently licensed pursuant to Section 104(b) of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954, as amended, and 10 CFR 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production 
and Utilization Facilities,'' to possess and maintain, but not to 
operate, the facility.

2.0 Action

    Section 50.54(p)(1) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
states, in part, ``The licensee shall prepare and maintain safeguards 
contingency plan procedures in accordance with Appendix C of part 73 of 
this chapter for affecting the actions and decisions contained in the 
Responsibility Matrix of the safeguards contingency plan.''
    Part 73 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Physical 
Protection of Plant and Materials,'' provides in part, ``This part 
prescribes requirements for the establishment and maintenance of a 
physical protection system which will have capabilities for the 
protection of special nuclear material at fixed sites and in transit 
and of plants in which special nuclear material is used.'' In Section 
73.55, entitled ``Requirements for physical protection of licensed 
activities in nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,'' 
paragraph (b)(1) states, ``The licensee shall establish and maintain a 
physical protection program, to include a security organization, which 
will have as its objective to provide high assurance that activities 
involving special nuclear material are not inimical to the common 
defense and security and do not constitute an unreasonable risk to the 
public health and safety.''
    The NRC revised 10 CFR 73.55, in part to include the preceding 
language, through the issuance of a final rule on March 27, 2009 (74 FR 
13926). The revised regulation stated that it was applicable to all 
Part 50 licensees. The NRC became aware that many part 50 licensees 
with facilities in decommissioning status did not recognize the 
applicability of this regulation to their facility. Accordingly, the 
NRC informed licensees with facilities in decommissioning status and 
other stakeholders that the requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 were 
applicable to all part 50 licensees. By letter dated August 2, 2010, 
the NRC informed Exelon Nuclear of the applicability of the revised 
rule and stated that it would have to evaluate the applicability of the 
regulation to its facility and either make appropriate changes or 
request an exemption.
    By letter dated December 3, 2010, Exelon Nuclear responded to the 
NRC's letter and requested exemptions from the security requirements in 
10 CFR Part 73 and 10 CFR 50.54(p).

3.0 Discussion

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by 
any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from 
the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, 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) when special circumstances are present. Special circumstances are 
present when, for example, application of the regulation in the 
particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the 
rule or when compliance would result in costs significantly in excess 
of those incurred by others similarly situated. Also, pursuant to 10 
CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission may, upon application 
of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions 
from the regulations in part 73 as it determines are authorized by law 
and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and 
security, and are otherwise in the public interest.
    The purpose of the security requirements of 10 CFR part 73, as 
applicable to a 10 CFR part 50 licensed facility, is to prescribe 
requirements for a facility that possesses and utilizes SNM. With the 
completion of the transfer of the DNPS Unit 1 spent nuclear fuel to 
either the ISFSI site or DNPS Unit 3 spent fuel pool, both located 
within the protected area of Units 2 and 3, there is no longer any SNM 
located within DNPS Unit 1 other than that contained in plant systems 
as residual contamination.
    The remaining radioactive material of concern (i.e., reactor 
vessel, piping systems, and building structures) for DNPS Unit 1 is in 
a form that does not pose a risk of removal (i.e., an intact reactor 
pressure vessel) and is well dispersed and is not easily aggregated 
into significant quantities. With the removal of the fuel containing 
SNM, the potential for radiological sabotage or diversion of SNM at the 
10 CFR part 50 licensed site was eliminated. Therefore, the continued 
application of the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 
CFR part 73 to DNPS Unit 1 would no longer be necessary to achieve the 
underlying purpose of the rule. Additionally, as has been noted at 
other decommissioning nuclear power facilities, with the removal of the 
spent nuclear fuel from the site, the 10 CFR part 50 licensed site 
would be comparable to a source and byproduct licensee that uses 
general industrial security (i.e. locks and barriers) to protect the 
public health and safety. The continued application of the fixed site 
physical protection requirements of 10 CFR part 73 security 
requirements would cause the licensee to expend significantly more 
funds for security requirements than other source and byproduct 
facilities that use general industrial security. Therefore,

[[Page 30205]]

compliance with the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 
CFR part 73 would result in costs significantly in excess of those 
incurred by others similarly situated. Based on the above, the NRC has 
determined that the removal of the fuel containing SNM at the 10 CFR 
part 50 licensed site constitutes special circumstances. With the SNM 
removed from the Unit 1 site, the protection of the SNM is no longer a 
requirement of the licensee's 10 CFR part 50 license. With no SNM to 
protect, there is no need for the physical protection requirements of 
10 CFR part 73, which includes a safeguards contingency plan or 
procedures, physical security plan, guard training and qualification 
plan, or cyber security plan for the DNPS Unit 1, 10 CFR part 50 
licensed site. The requirements for protection of safeguards 
information, physical protection of SNM in transit, and records and 
reports remain applicable.

4.0 Conclusion

    Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.12(a), an 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 based on the continued maintenance of appropriate 
security requirements for the SNM. Additionally, special circumstances 
are present based on the removal of the spent nuclear fuel from the 10 
CFR part 50 licensed site. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants 
Exelon Nuclear an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(p) at 
DNPS Unit 1.
    The Commission has also determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, 
an exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or property 
or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public 
interest because the security requirements for the spent fuel 
containing SNM are no longer the responsibility of the licensee. 
Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Exelon Nuclear an exemption 
from the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 CFR part 73 
at DNPS Unit 1. The fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 
CFR part 73 are delineated in 73.20, 74.40, 73.45, 73.46, 73.50, 73.51, 
73.54, 73.55, 73.56, 73.57, 73.58, 73.59, 73.60, 73.61, 73.67, Appendix 
B and Appendix C. The requirements for protection of safeguards 
information, physical protection of SNM in transit, and records and 
reports, contained in these or other sections of Part 73 continue to 
apply. To the extent that the licensee's request for an exemption from 
10 CFR part 73 included the requirements other than for the fixed site 
physical protection requirements, that request is denied.
    Part of this licensing action meets the categorical exclusion 
provision in 10 CFR part 51.22(c)(25), as part of this action is an 
exemption from the requirements of the Commission's regulations and (i) 
There is no significant hazards consideration; (ii) there is no 
significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts 
of any effluents that may be released offsite; (iii) there is no 
significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational 
radiation exposure; (iv) there is no significant construction impact; 
(v) there is no significant increase in the potential for or 
consequences from radiological accidents; and (vi) the requirements 
from which an exemption is sought involve safeguard plans. Therefore, 
this part of the action does not require either an environmental 
assessment or an environmental impact statement.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, 51.32, and 51.35, an environmental 
assessment and finding of no significant impact related to part of this 
exemption was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2011 (76 FR 
28480). Based upon the environmental assessment, the Commission has 
determined that issuance of this exemption will not have a significant 
effect on the quality of the human environment.

    These exemptions are effective immediately.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of May 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery, Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-12784 Filed 5-23-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P