[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 136 (Friday, July 14, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 43789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-17883]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-247]


Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.; Facility Operating 
License No. DPR-26 Receipt of Additional Information Relating to 
Petition for Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206

    Notice is hereby given that additional information has been 
submitted in support of a Petition dated March 14, 2000, filed by Mr. 
David A. Lochbaum, on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, the 
Nuclear Information & Resource Service, the PACE Law School Energy 
Project, and Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project 
(petitioners). The petitioners requested that the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action with regard to Indian Point 
Nuclear Generating Unit No. 2 (IP2), owned and operated by the 
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (the licensee). The 
petitioner requested that the NRC issue an order to the licensee 
preventing the restart of IP2, or modify the license for IP2 to limit 
it to zero power, until (1) all four steam generators are replaced, (2) 
the steam generator tube integrity concerns identified in Dr. Joram 
Hopenfeld's differing professional opinion (DPO) and in Generic Safety 
Issue (GSI-163) are resolved, and (3) potassium iodide tablets are 
distributed to residents and businesses within the 10-mile emergency 
planning zone (EPZ) or stockpiled in the vicinity of IP2. The original 
Petition was published in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 
19398). The supplemental information consisted of a letter from Mr. 
Lochbaum dated April 14, 2000, a letter from Mr. Riccio dated April 12, 
2000, and information provided at an April 7, 2000, public meeting.
    As stated in the original Federal Register notice, the request that 
the NRC prevent the licensee from restarting IP2 until all four steam 
generators are replaced is being treated pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of 
the Commission's regulations. The original request that the NRC prevent 
the licensee from restarting IP2 until the DPO filed by Dr. Hopenfeld 
is resolved and until potassium iodide tablets are distributed to 
people and businesses within the 10-mile EPZ or stockpiled in the 
vicinity of IP2 was not being treated at that time pursuant to 10 CFR 
2.206 of the Commission's regulations. However, the petitioners 
provided additional information at the April 7, 2000, public meeting 
and in Mr. Riccio's April 12, 2000, letter concerning the population 
density in the vicinity of the IP2 site and difficulties in emergency 
planning at the site which, in their view, make adequate evacuation 
and/or sheltering of the local population impossible. Based on this 
additional information, the NRC staff has determined that the request 
that the NRC issue an order to prevent Con Ed from restarting IP2, or 
modify the license for IP2 to limit it to zero power, until potassium 
iodide tablets are distributed to people and businesses within the 10-
mile EPZ or stockpiled in the vicinity of IP2 meets the criteria of 10 
CFR 2.206. As provided by section 2.206, action will be taken on this 
request within a reasonable time.
    In their April 14, 2000, letter, the petitioners contend that the 
information in NUREG/CR-5752, ``Assessment of Current Understanding of 
Mechanisms of Initiation, Arrest, and Reinitiation of Stress Corrosion 
Cracks in PWR Steam Generator Tubing,'' is relevant to their request to 
replace the IP2 steam generators and to resolve Dr. Hopenfeld's DPO 
prior to IP2 restart. However, the information in NUREG/CR-5752 is a 
schematic or generalized presentation of the process for crack 
initiation and growth and was not intended to be representative of 
actual plant conditions. Thus, NUREG/CR-5752 is not directly applicable 
to IP2 and does not provide information specific to IP2 restart. 
Therefore, the request that the NRC prevent the licensee from 
restarting IP2 until the DPO filed by Dr. Hopenfeld is resolved will 
not be treated pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of the Commission's 
regulations.
    Copies of the Petition and additional information are available for 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman 
Building, 2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC, and accessible 
electronically through the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room link at 
the NRC Web site (http:/ /www/nrc.gov).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of June 2000.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 00-17883 Filed 7-13-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P