[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 125 (Thursday, June 28, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34486-34488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-16266]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-313]


Entergy Operations, Inc.; Notice of Consideration of Issuance of 
Amendment to Facility Operating License and Opportunity for a Hearing

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is 
considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. 
DPR-51, issued to Entergy Operations, Inc., (the licensee), for 
operation of Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1 (ANO-1) located in Pope 
County, Arkansas.
    The proposed amendment, requested by the licensee in a letter dated 
January 28, 2000, as supplemented by letters dated August 9 and 
September 28, 2000, and February 6, March 19, and May 1, 2001, would 
represent a full conversion from the current Technical Specifications 
(CTS) to a set of improved Technical Specifications (ITS) based on 
NUREG-1430, ``Standard Technical Specifications, Babcock and Wilcox 
Plants.'' NUREG-1430 has been developed by the Commission's staff 
through working groups composed of both NRC staff members and industry 
representatives, and has been endorsed

[[Page 34487]]

by the staff as part of an industry-wide initiative to standardize and 
improve the Technical Specifications (TS) for nuclear power plants. As 
part of this submittal, the licensee has applied the criteria contained 
in 10 CFR 50.36, ``Technical specifications,'' to the CTS, and, using 
NUREG-1430 as a basis, proposed an ITS for ANO-1.
    The licensee has categorized the proposed changes to the CTS 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 operating requirement. The reformatting, 
renumbering, and rewording process reflects the attributes of NUREG-
1430 and does not involve technical changes to the existing TS. The 
proposed changes include: (a) Providing the appropriate numbers, etc., 
for NUREG-1430 bracketed information (information that 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-1430 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 TS. Relocated changes 
are those current TS requirements that 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 
requirements and surveillances for these affected structures, systems, 
components, or variables will be relocated from the TS to 
administratively controlled documents such as the quality assurance 
program, the Final Safety Analysis Report, the ITS BASES, the Technical 
Requirements Manual, the Core Operating Limits Report (COLR), the 
Offsite Dose Calculation Manual, the Inservice Testing Program, or 
other licensee-controlled documents. Changes made to these documents 
will be made pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59 or other appropriate control 
mechanisms and may, within the prescribed limits, be made without prior 
NRC review and approval. In addition, the affected structures, systems, 
components, or variables are addressed in existing surveillance 
procedures that are also subject to 10 CFR 50.59. These proposed 
changes to the TS will not, in and of themselves, impose or eliminate 
any requirements.
    More restrictive changes are those involving more stringent 
requirements compared to the CTS for operation of the facility. These 
more stringent requirements do not result in operations that will alter 
assumptions relative to the mitigation of an accident or transient 
event. The more restrictive requirements will not alter the operation 
of process variables, structures, systems, or components described in 
the safety analyses. For each requirement in the CTS that is more 
restrictive than the corresponding requirement in NUREG-1430 that 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 
facility because of specific design features of the plant.
    Less restrictive changes are those where CTS requirements are 
relaxed or eliminated, or new plant operational 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 TS 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-1430 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-1430, thus providing a basis for these 
revised TS, or if relaxation of the requirements in the current TS is 
warranted based on the justification provided by the licensee.
    These administrative, relocated, more restrictive, and less 
restrictive changes to the requirements of the CTS do not result in 
operations that will alter assumptions relative to mitigation of an 
analyzed accident or transient event.
    In addition to the proposed changes solely involving the 
conversion, there are also changes proposed that are differences to the 
requirements in both the CTS and the Improved Standard Technical 
Specifications (NUREG-1430). These proposed beyond-scope issues to the 
ITS conversion are as follows:
    1. ITS Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO) 3.2.3, ``Axial Power 
Imbalance Operating Limits''--Completion time for power reduction if 
axial power imbalance not restored to within limits changed to 4 hours 
from value in NUREG-1430 (2 hours).
    2. ITS LCO 3.2.4, ``Quadrant Power Tilt (QPT)''--Revised the 
completion time for several actions for circumstances where QPT exceeds 
limits specified in the COLR.
    3. ITS LCO 3.4.8, ``RCS [Reactor Coolant System] Loops, MODE 5, 
Loops Not Filled''--Added a required action to suspend operations 
involving reduction in RCS water volume if required decay heat removal 
(DHR) loops were not operable or required DHR loop not in operation.
    4. ITS LCO 3.4.11, ``Low Temperature Overpressure Protection (LTOP) 
System''--Adopted some of the NUREG-1430 required actions and 
surveillance requirements which are more restrictive than CTS but did 
not adopt all NUREG-1430 requirements.
    5. ITS LCO 3.5.2, ``ECCS [Emergency Coor Cooling System]--
Operating''--Added a shutdown requirement for a condition where less 
than 100 percent of the ECCS flow equivalent to a single operable train 
is available.
    6. ITS LCO 3.7.1, ``Main Steam Safety Valves (MSSVs)''--Reformatted 
to replace figure in NUREG-1430 with a table providing limitations for 
operation with more than one inoperable MSSV per steam generator.
    7. ITS LCO 3.4.13, ``RCS Operational LEAKAGE''--Modified 
surveillance requirement to specify that the surveillance is not 
required until after the plant is at or near operating pressure.
    8. ITS Administrative Controls 5.5.1, ``Offsite Dose Calculation 
Manual (ODCM)''--Reference reports by name only instead of NUREG-1430 
convention of including report name and associated TS.
    9. ITS Administrative Controls 5.2.2, ``Unit Staff''--Reference to 
specific operator staffing requirements is replaced with a reference to 
the applicable regulation.
    10. ITS LCO 3.6.3, ``Reactor Building Isolation Valves''--
Surveillance requirement in NUREG-1430 not adopted for reactor building 
purge

[[Page 34488]]

valves since ANO-1 does not have resilient seated valves.
    11. ITS LCO 3.6.4, ``Reactor Building Pressure''--Lower limit on 
reactor building pressure increased to a more restrictive value to be 
consistent with ECCS analyses and Bases statements in NUREG-1430.
    Before issuance of the proposed license amendment, the Commission 
will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (the Act) and the Commission's regulations.
    By July 30, 2001, 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, located at One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically 
from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. If you do not have access to 
ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in 
ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-
800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. 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 must 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 a 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 that may be 
entered in the proceeding on the petitioner's interest. The petition 
must 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 that must include a list of the contentions 
that the petitioner seeks to have litigated in the hearing. 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 bases of each contention and a 
concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion that 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. The 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 that, if proven, would 
entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner who fails to file such a 
supplement that 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 and petition for leave to intervene must be 
filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff, or may be delivered to the Commission's Public 
Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike 
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland, by the above date. A copy of the 
request for a hearing and the petition should also be sent to the 
Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, and to Nicholas S. Reynolds, Esquire, 
Winston and Strawn, 1400 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-3502, 
attorney for the licensee.
    Nontimely filings of petitions for leave to intervene, amended 
petitions, supplemental petitions, and/or requests for a hearing will 
not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the 
presiding officer, or the 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 amendment dated January 28, 2000, as supplemented by 
letters dated August 9 and September 28, 2000, and February 6, March 
19, and May 1, 2001, which are available for public inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic 
Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there 
are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the 
NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-
415-4737, or by email to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of June 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William D. Reckley,
Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate IV, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-16266 Filed 6-27-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P