[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56972-56974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28371]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-387 and 50-388]


Pennsylvania Power and Light Company; Notice of Consideration of 
Issuance of Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses and Opportunity 
for a Hearing

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. 
NPF-14 and NPF-22 issued to the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company 
(PP&L or the licensee) for operation of the Susquehanna Steam Electric 
Station (Susquehanna, SSES), Units 1 and 2, located in Luzerne County, 
Pennsylvania.
    The proposed amendments, requested by the licensee in a letter 
dated August 1, 1996, would represent a full conversion from the 
current Technical Specifications (TSs) to a set of TS based

[[Page 56973]]

on NUREG-1433, Revision 1, ``Standard Technical Specifications for 
General Electric Plants, BWR/4,'' dated April 1995. NUREG-1433 has been 
developed through working groups composed of both NRC staff members and 
the BWR/4 owners and has been endorsed by the staff as part of an 
industry-wide initiative to standardize and improve TS. As part of this 
submittal, the licensee has applied the criteria contained in the 
Commission's ``Final Policy Statement on Technical Specification 
Improvements for Nuclear Power Reactors (final policy statement),'' 
published in the Federal Register on July 22, 1993 (58 FR 39132), to 
the current Susquehanna TSs, and, using NUREG-1433 as a basis, 
developed a proposed set of improved TSs for SSES. The criteria in the 
final policy statement were subsequently added to 10 CFR 50.36, 
``Technical Specifications,'' in a rule change which was published in 
the Federal Register on July 19, 1996 (60 FR 36953) and became 
effective on August 18, 1995.
    The licensee has categorized the proposed changes to the existing 
TSs into four general groupings. These groupings are characterized as 
administrative changes, relocated changes, more restrictive changes, 
and less restrictive changes.
    Administrative changes are those that involve restructuring, 
renumbering, rewording, interpretation and complex rearranging of 
requirements and other changes not affecting technical content or 
substantially revising an operational requirement. The reformatting, 
renumbering and rewording process reflects the attributes of NUREG-1433 
and do not involve technical changes to the existing TSs. The proposed 
changes include: (a) Providing the appropriate numbers, etc., for 
NUREG-1433 bracketed information (information which must be supplied on 
a plant-specific basis, and which may change from plant to plant), (b) 
identifying plant-specific wording for system names, etc., and (c) 
changing NUREG-1433 section wording to conform to existing licensee 
practices.
    Such changes are administrative in nature and do not impact 
initiators of analyzed events or assumed mitigation of accident or 
transient events.
    Relocated changes are those involving relocation of requirements 
and surveillances for structures, systems, components or variables that 
do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the TSs. Relocated changes 
are those current TS requirements which do not satisfy or fall within 
any of the four criteria specified in the Commission's policy statement 
and may be relocated to appropriate licensee-controlled documents.
    The licensee's application of the screening criteria is described 
in that portion of their August 1, 1996, application titled 
``Application of Selection Criteria to the Susquehanna Steam Electric 
Station, Units 1 and 2 Technical Specifications,'' in Volume 1 of the 
submittal. The affected structures, systems components or variables are 
not assumed to be initiators of analyzed events and are not assumed to 
mitigate accident or transient events. The requirements and 
surveillances for these affected structures, systems, components or 
variables will be relocated from the TS to administratively controlled 
documents such as the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR), the BASES, 
the Technical Requirements Manual (TRM) or plant procedures. Changes 
made to these documents will be made pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59 or other 
appropriate control mechanisms. In addition, the affected structures, 
systems, components or variables are addressed in existing surveillance 
procedures which are also subject to 10 CFR 50.59. These proposed 
changes will not impose or eliminate any requirements.
    More restrictive changes are those involving more stringent 
requirements for operation of the facility. These more stringent 
requirements do not result in operation that will alter assumptions 
relative to mitigation of an accident or transient event. The more 
restrictive requirements will not alter the operation of process 
variables, structures, systems and components described in the safety 
analyses. For each requirement in the current SSES TSs that is more 
restrictive than the corresponding requirement in NUREG-1433 which the 
licensee proposes to retain in the ITS, they have provided an 
explanation of why they have concluded that retaining the more 
restrictive requirement is desirable to ensure safe operation of the 
facilities because of specific design features of the plant.
    Less restrictive changes are those where current requirements are 
relaxed or eliminated, or new flexibility is provided. The more 
significant ``less restrictive'' requirements are justified on a case-
by-case basis. When requirements have been shown to provide little or 
no safety benefit, their removal from the TSs may be appropriate. In 
most cases, relaxations previously granted to individual plants on a 
plant-specific basis were the result of (a) generic NRC actions, (b) 
new NRC staff positions that have evolved from technological 
advancements and operating experience, or (c) resolution of the Owners 
Groups' comments on the improved Standard Technical Specifications. 
Generic relaxations contained in NUREG-1433 were reviewed by the staff 
and found to be acceptable because they are consistent with current 
licensing practices and NRC regulations. The licensee's design will be 
reviewed to determine if the specific design basis and licensing basis 
are consistent with the technical basis for the model requirements in 
NUREG-1433 and thus provides a basis for these revised TSs or if 
relaxation of the requirements in the current TSs is warranted based on 
the justification provided by the licensee.
    In addition to the above changes related to conversion of the 
current TSs to be similar to the ISTSs in NUREG 1433, the licensee has 
proposed to change the surveillance frequency from 18 to 24 months for 
all surveillances that are normally performed at refueling outages. The 
proposed amendments would extend the required frequency of selected 
surveillance requirements to 24 months to support the adoption of a 24-
month fuel cycle.
    In the application of August 1, 1996, PP&L is also requesting an 
amendment to the Environmental Protection Plan (Appendix B to the 
operating licenses) for Susquehanna Units 1 and 2. The proposed changes 
to Appendix B would reformat and renumber the Environmental Protection 
Plan to be consistent with proposed changes to the TSs (Appendix A to 
the licenses), to incorporate several administrative changes associated 
with studies and evaluations that have been completed and to clarify 
existing requirements. NUREG-1433 does not address Appendix B 
requirements.
    Before issuance of the proposed license amendments, the Commission 
will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (the Act) and the Commission's regulations.
    By December 5, 1996, the licensee may file a request for a hearing 
with respect to issuance of the amendment to the subject facility 
operating license and any person whose interest may be affected by this 
proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding 
must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to 
intervene. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene 
shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice 
for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested 
persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.714 which is 
available at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman

[[Page 56974]]

Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC, and at the local public 
document room located at the Osterhout Free Library, Reference 
Department, 71 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. If a 
request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed by 
the above date, the Commission or an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, 
designated by the Commission or by the Chairman of the Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; 
and the Secretary or the designated Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
will issue a notice of hearing or an appropriate order.
    As required by 10 CFR 2.714, a petition for leave to intervene 
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in 
the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of 
the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons 
why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the 
following factors: (1) The nature of the petitioner's right under the 
Act to be made party to the proceeding; (2) the nature and extent of 
the petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the 
proceeding; and (3) the possible effect of any order which may be 
entered in the proceeding on the petitioner's interest. The petition 
should also identify the specific aspect(s) of the subject matter of 
the proceeding as to which petitioner wishes to intervene. Any person 
who has filed a petition for leave to intervene or who has been 
admitted as a party may amend the petition without requesting leave of 
the Board up to 15 days prior to the first prehearing conference 
scheduled in the proceeding, but such an amended petition must satisfy 
the specificity requirements described above.
    Not later than 15 days prior to the first prehearing conference 
scheduled in the proceeding, a petitioner shall file a supplement to 
the petition to intervene which must include a list of the contentions 
which are sought to be litigated in the matter. Each contention must 
consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be 
raised or controverted. In addition, the petitioner shall provide a 
brief explanation of the basis of the contention and a concise 
statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the 
contention and on which the petitioner intends to rely in proving the 
contention at the hearing. The petitioner must also provide references 
to those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is 
aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those 
facts or expert opinion. Petitioner must provide sufficient information 
to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material 
issue of law or fact. Contentions shall be limited to matters within 
the scope of the amendment under consideration. The contention must be 
one which, if proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A 
petitioner who fails to file such a supplement which satisfies these 
requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be 
permitted to participate as a party.
    Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, 
and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the 
hearing, including the opportunity to present evidence and cross-
examine witnesses.
    A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must 
be filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Docketing and 
Services Branch, or may be delivered to the Commission's Public 
Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC, 
by the above date. Where petitions are filed during the last 10 days of 
the notice period, it is requested that the petitioner promptly so 
inform the Commission by a toll-free telephone call to Western Union at 
1-(800) 248-5100 (in Missouri 1-(800) 342-6700). The Western Union 
operator should be given Datagram Identification Number N1023 and the 
following message addressed to John F. Stolz, Director, Project 
Directorate I-2: petitioner's name and telephone number; date petition 
was mailed; plant name; and publication date and page number of this 
Federal Register notice. A copy of the petition should also be sent to 
the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, and to Jay Silberg, Shaw, Pittman, Potts and 
Trowbridge, 2300 N Street NW., Washington, DC 20037, attorney for the 
licensee.
    Nontimely filings of petitions for leave to intervene, amended 
petitions, supplemental petitions and/or requests for hearing will not 
be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding 
officer or the presiding Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the 
petition and/or request should be granted based upon a balancing of the 
factors specified in 10 CFR 2.714(a)(1) (i)-(v) and 2.714(d).
    If a request for a hearing is received, the Commission's staff may 
issue the amendment after it completes its technical review and prior 
to the completion of any required hearing if it publishes a further 
notice for public comment of its proposed finding of no significant 
hazards consideration in accordance with 10 CFR 50.91 and 50.92.

    For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for amendments dated August 1, 1996, which is available 
for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, the 
Gelman Building, 2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC. and at the local 
public document room located at the Osterhout Free Library, 
Reference Department, 71 South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of October 1996.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John F. Stolz,
Director, Project Directorate I-2, Division of Reactor Projects--I/II, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 96-28371 Filed 11-4-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P