[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 63 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16289-16290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8546]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-397]
In the Matter of Washington Public Power Supply System; Nuclear
Project No. 2; Confirmatory Order Modifying License
Effective date: March 25, 1998.
I
Washington Public Power Supply System, WPPSS, ( WPPSS or the
Licensee) is the holder of Facility Operating License No. NPF-21, which
authorizes operation of Nuclear Project No. 2 (WNP-2) located in
Richland, Washington, at steady state reactor core power levels not in
excess of 3485 megawatts thermal (rated power).
II
The staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been
concerned that Thermo-Lag 330-1 fire barrier systems installed by
licensees may not provide the level of fire endurance intended and that
licensees that use Thermo-Lag 330-1 fire barriers may not be meeting
regulatory requirements. During the 1992 to 1994 time frame, the NRC
staff issued Generic Letter (GL) 92-08, ``Thermo-Lag 330-1 Fire
Barriers'' and subsequent requests for additional information that
requested licensees to submit plans and schedules for resolving the
Thermo-Lag issue. The NRC staff has obtained and reviewed all
licensees' corrective plans and schedules. The staff is concerned that
some licensees may not be making adequate progress toward resolving the
plant-specific issues, and that some implementation schedules may be
either too tenuous or too protracted. For example, several licensees
informed the NRC staff that their completion dates had slipped by 6
months to as much as 3 years. For plants that have completion action
scheduled beyond 1997, the NRC staff has met with these licensees to
discuss the progress of the licensees' corrective actions and the
extent of licensee management attention regarding completion of Thermo-
Lag corrective actions. In addition, the NRC staff discussed with
licensees the possibility of accelerating their completion schedules.
WPPSS was one of the licensees with which the NRC staff held
meetings. At these meetings, the NRC staff reviewed with WPPSS the
schedule of Thermo-Lag corrective actions described in the WPPSS
submittals to the NRC dated April 13, 1993, February 11, 1994, November
9, 1994, April 27, 1995, and September 26, 1997. Based on the
information submitted by WPPSS and provided during the meetings, the
NRC staff has concluded that the schedules presented by WPPSS are
reasonable. This conclusion is based on the (1) amount of installed
Thermo-Lag; (2) the complexity of the plant-specific fire barrier
configurations and issues; (3) the need to perform certain plant
modifications during outages as opposed to those that can be performed
while the plant is at power; and (4) integration with other
significant, but unrelated issues that WPPSS is addressing at its
plant. In order to remove compensatory measures such as
[[Page 16290]]
fire watches, it has been determined that resolution of the Thermo-Lag
corrective actions by WPPSS must be completed in accordance with
current WPPSS schedules. By letter dated February 27, 1998, the NRC
staff notified WPPSS of its plan to incorporate WPPSS's schedular
commitment into a requirement by issuance of an order and requested
consent from the Licensee. By letter dated March 12, 1998, the Licensee
provided its consent to issuance of a Confirmatory Order.
III
The Licensee's commitment as set forth in its letter of March 12,
1998, is acceptable and is necessary for the NRC to conclude that the
public health and safety are reasonably assured. To preclude any
schedule slippage and to assure public health and safety, the NRC staff
has determined that the Licensee's commitment in its March 12, 1998,
letter be confirmed by this Order. The Licensee has agreed to this
action. Based on the above, and the Licensee's consent, this Order is
effective March 25, 1998.
IV
Accordingly, pursuant to sections 103, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and
186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's
regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR Part 50, It is hereby ordered,
effective March 25, 1998 that:
WPPSS shall complete final implementation of Thermo-Lag 330-1
fire barrier corrective actions at Washington Public Power Supply
System, Nuclear Project No. 2, described in the WPPSS submittals to
the NRC dated April 13, 1993, February 11, 1994, November 9, 1994,
April 27, 1995, and September 26, 1997, during the R-14 Maintenance
and Refueling Outage (Spring 1999). Overall work package close-out
will be completed by December 1999.
The Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, may relax or
rescind, in writing, any provisions of this Confirmatory Order upon a
showing by the Licensee of good cause.
V
Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other
than the Licensee, may request a hearing within 20 days of its
issuance. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to
extending the time to request a hearing. A request for extension of
time must be made in writing to the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
D.C. 20555, and include a statement of good cause for the extension.
Any request for a hearing shall be submitted to the Secretary, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Attention: Docketing and Services
Section, Washington, D.C. 20555. Copies of the hearing request shall
also be sent to the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.
S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D. C. 20555, to the
Assistant General Counsel for Hearings and Enforcement at the same
address, to the Regional Administrator, NRC Region IV at 611 Ryan Plaza
Drive, Suite 400, Arlington, Texas 76011, and to the Licensee. If such
a person requests a hearing, that person shall set forth with
particularity the manner in which his/her interest is adversely
affected by this Order and shall address criteria set forth in 10 CFR
2.714(d).
If a hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely
affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and
place of any such hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be
considered at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order
should be sustained.
In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions
specified in Section IV above shall be final 20 days from the date of
this Order without further order or proceedings. If an extension of
time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the provisions
specified in Section IV shall be final when the extension expires if a
hearing request has not been received. An answer or a request for
hearing shall not stay the effectiveness of this Order.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 25th day of March 1998.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Samuel J. Collins,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 98-8546 Filed 4-1-98; 8:45 am]
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