[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25509-25510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12693]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-309]


Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, Maine Yankee Atomic Power 
Station; Receipt of Petition for Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206

    Notice is hereby given that by letter dated January 20, 1996, 
Friends of the Coast--Opposing Nuclear Pollution (Petitioner) requested 
that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action with regard to 
the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Maine Yankee), licensed to 
Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (licensee).
    Petitioner requests that the Commission take expedited action to:

[[Page 25510]]

(1) Suspend the operating license of Maine Yankee pending resolution of 
the Petition; (2) examine and test by plug sampling--or other ASME 
approved method--all large piping welds that may have been susceptible 
to micro-fissures at the time of construction; (3) reanalyze Maine 
Yankee containment as one located in an area where seismic risk is not 
``low''; (4) reduce the licensed operating capacity of Maine Yankee to 
a level consistent with a flawed containment and/or flawed reactor 
coolant piping welds; (5) provide an informal public hearing in the 
area of the plant regarding the Petition; and (6) place Petitioner on 
service and mailing lists relevant to its interests in safety at Maine 
Yankee and all public forums opened by the NRC.
    As the basis for these requests, the Petition states that: (1) The 
containment is inadequate for power operation in excess of the original 
license, and may be inadequate for the original power operation limits 
because of insupportable original design acceptance criteria, yet the 
NRC staff recommended to the Commission that it grant a license 
amendment permitting this design. It is further stated that the Maine 
Yankee containment was designed and constructed without diagonal 
reinforcement rods, based on low seismic risk. Additionally, after a 
1979 earthquake of 4.2 magnitude and an epicenter less than 10 miles 
from the plant site, the NRC ordered the shutdown of Maine Yankee until 
piping and piping supports could be seismically qualified. There is no 
public record, however, that the NRC reevaluated this marginally 
acceptable containment design, including prior to granting license 
amendments to operate at increased power; and (2) the Maine Yankee 
emergency core cooling system (ECCS), reactor coolant piping, and other 
large piping have not been adequately analyzed for materials 
degradation to ensure integrity at power operation in excess of the 
originally licensed power level, or under accident conditions. The 
Atomic Energy Commission's concern with ``micro-fissures'' in reactor 
coolant system welds led to appointment of a task force, and prompted 
studies and reports in 1971 (prior to heightened awareness of 
embrittlement phenomena) that concluded that the microfissures would 
not propagate or grow under foreseeable conditions. The Petitioner 
asserts that large pipe welds next to the reactor vessel have endured 
23 years of corrosion, stress, vibration, and radiation and may fail, 
initiating a loss-of-coolant accident, or may be subject to thermal 
shock failure initiated by use of the ECCS.
    The Petition has been referred to the Director of the Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206. As provided 
by Section 2.206, appropriate action will be taken on the Petition 
within a reasonable time. By letter dated May 13, 1996, the Director 
denied the Petitioner's request for suspension of Maine Yankee's 
operating license, pending resolution of the Petition.
    A copy of the Petition is available for inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room at 2120 L Street NW., Washington, 
D.C. 20555-0001 and the local public document room in the Wiscasset 
Public Library, High Street, P.O. Box 367, Wiscasset, ME 04578.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 13th day of May 1996.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William T. Russell,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 96-12693 Filed 5-20-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P