[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 84 (Monday, May 1, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25367-25368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10742]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-344]


In the Matter of Portland General Electric Company (Trojan 
Nuclear Plant); Exemption

I.

    Portland General Electric Company is the holder of Facility 
Operating License No. NPF-1, which authorizes the licensee to possess 
the Trojan Nuclear Plant (TNP). The license states, in part, that the 
facility is subject to all the rules, regulations, and orders of the 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or NRC) now or 
hereafter in effect. The facility was originally licensed as a 
pressurized water reactor located at the licensee's site in Columbia 
County, Oregon. The facility is permanently shut down and defueled and 
the licensee is no longer authorized to operate or place fuel in the 
reactor.

II.

    Section 50.54(q) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
states in part that ``A licensee authorized to possess and operate a 
nuclear power reactor shall follow and maintain in effect emergency 
plans which meet the standards in Sec. 50.47(b) and the requirements in 
appendix E of this part.''
    Section 50.47 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 
``Emergency plans,'' states in part in paragraph (b) that ``The onsite 
and, except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, offsite 
emergency response plans for nuclear power reactors must meet the 
following standards:'' and then sets forth 16 emergency planning 
requirements.
    Appendix E to Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, ``Emergency Planning and Preparedness for Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' states, in part:

    Each applicant for an operating license is required by 
Sec. 50.34(b) to include in the final safety analysis report plans 
for coping with emergencies* * * . The applicant's emergency plans 
shall contain, but not necessarily be limited to, information needed 
to demonstrate compliance with the elements set forth below, i.e., 
organization for coping with radiation emergencies, assessment 
action, activation of emergency organization, notification 
procedures, emergency facilities and equipment, training, 
maintaining emergency preparedness, and recovery. In addition, the 
emergency response plans submitted by an applicant for a nuclear 
power reactor operating license shall contain information needed to 
demonstrate compliance with the standards described in 
Sec. 50.47(b), and they will be evaluated against those standards. 
The nuclear power reactor operating license applicant shall also 
provide an analysis of the time required to evacuate and for taking 
other protective actions for various sectors and distances within 
the plume exposure pathway EPZ [Emergency Planning Zone] for 
transient and permanent populations.

    By letter dated August 27, 1998, as supplemented by letter dated 
July 1, 1999, the licensee requested an exemption from the emergency 
planning requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(q), 10 CFR 50.47(b), and Appendix 
E to 10 CFR part 50. Sections 50.54(q) and 50.47(b), and Appendix E to 
10 CFR part 50 provide emergency planning requirements to protect the 
health and safety of the public in the event of an accident at a 
licensed power reactor site. The exemption from the emergency planning 
requirements for the Trojan Nuclear Plant will be effective after the 
spent fuel has been removed from the reactor site and relocated to the 
new independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), which is not 
part of the reactor site. The new ISFSI has been licensed under 10 CFR 
part 72 for storage facilities not associated with a reactor site and 
possesses an approved emergency plan as required by 10 CFR 72.32.

III.

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission 
may, upon application by any interested person or upon its own 
initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of the regulations 
of 10 CFR part 50, which are (1) authorized by law, will not present an 
undue risk to the public health and safety, and are consistent with the 
common defense and security; and (2) present special circumstances. 
Section 50.12(a)(2) identifies special circumstances as being present 
whenever 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; compliance would result 
in undue hardship or costs that are significantly in excess of those 
incurred by others similarly situated; or circumstances exist that were 
not considered when the regulation was adopted for which it would be in 
the public interest to grant an exemption.
    The movement of the spent nuclear fuel from the Trojan Plant to the 
ISFSI and removal of the reactor vessel and internals from the site 
removes the available radiological source terms for credible accident 
scenarios. The sources remaining in the Trojan plant area are 
comparable to those in the possession of many source and byproduct 
licensees

[[Page 25368]]

and for whose sites emergency plans are not required to protect the 
public health and safety. The continued application of 10 CFR part 50 
emergency plan requirements would require the licensee to expend 
significantly more funds for emergency preparedness than other 
licensees possessing similar source terms at a single site. 
Accordingly, special circumstances, as defined by 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(iii), are present.
    Section 72.32 establishes emergency planning requirements for spent 
nuclear fuel stored under a specific license issued pursuant to 10 CFR 
part 72. The Trojan ISFSI has an emergency plan, approved by the NRC on 
March 31, 1999, to protect the public health and safety in the event of 
an accident. The Commission has determined that the existing 10 CFR 
Part 50 requirements need to be maintained at the Trojan Nuclear Plant 
until the spent fuel located in the spent fuel pool is physically 
relocated from the defueled site to the new security area at the ISFSI. 
Upon meeting this criterion, the NRC finds the exemption from the 
emergency planning requirements for a power reactor site acceptable 
since new assurance objectives and general performance requirements 
will be in place by the emergency planning requirements in 10 CFR 
72.32.

IV.

    Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.12(a), this exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life 
or property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the 
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Portland 
General Electric Company an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 
50.54(q), 10 CFR 50.47(b), and Appendix E to 10 CFR part 50 at the 
Trojan Nuclear Plant, effective upon completion of the relocation of 
all the spent nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool to the ISFSI.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that this 
exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the 
human environment (64 FR 46423).
    This exemption is effective upon completion of the transfer of the 
spent nuclear fuel at the Trojan Nuclear Plant to the Trojan 
independent spent fuel storage installation.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of April 2000.
John A. Zwolinski,
Director, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 00-10742 Filed 4-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P