[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 55 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13197-13198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6814]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-029]


Yankee Atomic Electric Company, Yankee Nuclear Power Station 
(ROWE); Exemption

1.0  Background

    The Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC or the licensee) is the 
holder of Possession Only License No. DPR-3, which authorizes 
possession and maintenance of the Yankee Nuclear Power Station (YNPS or 
plant). The license provides, among other things, that the facility is 
subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) now or hereafter in 
effect. The facility is a permanently shutdown pressurized-water 
reactor (PWR) currently in the process of decommissioning and is 
located on the licensee's site in Franklin County, Massachusetts.
    On February 27, 1992, the licensee submitted written certifications 
to the Commission that it had decided to permanently cease operations 
at YNPS and that all fuel had been permanently removed from the 
reactor. The NRC in a license amendment dated August 5, 1992, modified 
License No. DPR-3 to a Possession Only License (POL). The license is 
conditioned so that YAEC is not authorized to operate the reactor and 
fuel may not be placed in the reactor vessel, thus formalizing the YAEC 
commitment to permanently cease power operations. The YNPS spent 
nuclear fuel is currently being stored in the spent fuel pool, which is 
protected by a physical protection system meeting the requirements of 
10 CFR 73.55, ``Requirements for physical protection of licensed 
activities in nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,'' 
with exemptions as previously issued by the NRC. To complete the plant 
site decommissioning process, the spent fuel will be removed from the 
spent fuel pool and transferred to an onsite independent spent fuel 
storage installation (ISFSI) for interim storage.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the 
Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear

[[Page 13198]]

Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste,'' an ISFSI may be licensed 
either under a general or a specific license. Under a general license, 
a licensee can construct and operate an ISFSI in accordance with the 
requirements of 10 CFR 72.212, ``Conditions of general license issued 
under Sec. 72.210 [,''General license issued''],'' without staff 
approval. Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.212(b)(5), a licensee must protect the 
spent fuel at the ISFSI against the design basis threat (DBT) of 
radiological sabotage in accordance with the same provisions and 
requirements as are set forth in the licensee's 10 CFR 73.55 physical 
security plan, with additional conditions and exceptions.
    Alternatively, an ISFSI can be constructed under a 10 CFR part 72 
specific license, which requires a licensee to develop a detailed 
security plan in accordance with 10 CFR 73.51, ``Requirements for the 
physical protection of stored spent nuclear fuel and high-level 
radioactive waste.'' The design objective of 10 CFR 73.51 is to protect 
against a loss of control of the facility that could be sufficient to 
cause radiation exposure exceeding the dose as described in 10 CFR 
72.106, ``Controlled area of an ISFSI or MRS (monitored retrievable 
storage).''
    In an August 21, 2000, Federal Register notice (65 FR 50606), the 
Commission clarified portions of 10 CFR part 72, stating that the 
requirements of 10 CFR 72.106 apply to ISFSIs with either general or 
specific licenses. The offsite dose limits of 10 CFR 72.106 are defined 
such that any individual on or beyond the nearest boundary of the 
controlled area may not receive from any design basis accident the more 
limiting of a total effective dose equivalent of 0.05 Sv (5 rem) or the 
sum of the deep-dose equivalent and the committed dose equivalent to 
any individual organ or tissue of 0.5 Sv (50 rem).

2.0  Request

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.212(b)(5), licensees who store their spent 
fuel under the provisions of 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, ``General 
License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites,'' as YAEC 
proposes to do, are required to ``Protect the spent fuel against the 
design basis threat of radiological sabotage in accordance with the 
same provisions and requirements as are set forth * * * '' in 10 CFR 
73.55.
    By letter dated September 28, 2000, as supplemented by letters 
dated October 12, 2000, April 18, 2001, May 29, 2001, June 28, 2001, 
and March 4, 2002, the licensee requested an exemption from certain 
requirements of 10 CFR 73.55. YAEC proposed alternative approaches to 
meet the provisions of portions of 10 CFR 73.55(b) through (h) related 
to the security organization, physical barriers, access requirements, 
detection aids, communications, and response requirements. By this same 
correspondence, the licensee also requested a license amendment that 
would revise Facility Operating License No. DPR-3 to reference the 
revisions of the Physical Security Plan, Guard Training and 
Qualification Plan, and Safeguards Contingency Plan, and made available 
a copy of the YAEC plans to assist the staff in its review of the 
exemption and amendment requests.

3.0  Discussion

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, ``Specific exemptions,'' and 10 CFR 73.5, 
``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission may, upon application by any 
interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the 
requirements of the regulations that it determines are authorized by 
law and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and 
security and are otherwise in the public interest. Pursuant to 10 CFR 
73.55(a), the Commission may authorize a licensee to provide measures 
for protection against radiological sabotage other than those specified 
in the regulations if the licensee demonstrates that the measures have 
the same high assurance objective as specified in 10 CFR 73.55(a) and 
that the overall level of system performance provides protection 
against radiological sabotage equivalent to that which could be 
provided by paragraphs (b) through (h) of 10 CFR 73.55.
    The staff has reviewed the proposed YAEC ISFSI and Fuel in Transit 
(FIT) Physical Protection Programs against the requirements of each 
section of 10 CFR 73.55 to determine whether the alternative measures 
that YAEC proposed should be authorized pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55(a), or 
whether specific exemptions should be granted from the requirements of 
these regulations. As part of its review, the staff evaluated the 
offsite dose that would result from unimpeded access by the DBT of 
radiological sabotage without protracted loss of control of the 
facility. On the basis of YAEC's plan in the ISFSI Physical Protection 
Program to maintain the boundary of its controlled area at a minimum of 
300 meters from the dry cask storage installation and provisions in the 
ISFSI Physical Protection Program that provide the capability to summon 
off-site local law-enforcement agency response forces to preclude a 
protracted loss of control of the facility, the staff concluded that 
the DBT of radiological sabotage would result in an offsite dose well 
below the 10 CFR 72.106(b) limits. The staff therefore concluded that 
the alternative measures proposed by YAEC are authorized pursuant to 10 
CFR 73.55(a), with one exception. With regard to the requirements of 10 
CFR 73.55(d)(5), the staff concluded that the measures proposed by YAEC 
did not meet the criteria of 10 CFR 73.55(a) to be authorized as 
alternative measures. However, the staff concluded that pursuant to 10 
CFR 72.7 and 10 CFR 73.5, the proposed alternatives to the requirements 
of 10 CFR 73.55(d)(5) that YAEC requested could be granted as an 
exemption. A detailed discussion of the staff's evaluation is contained 
in the safety evaluation supporting these findings dated March 13, 
2002, which safeguards information in accordance with 10 CFR 73.21 and 
therefore, is not available to the public.

4.0  Conclusion

    Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
72.7 and 10 CFR 73.5, exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 
73.55(d)(5) related to access requirements is authorized by law, will 
not endanger life or property or the common defense and security, and 
are otherwise in the public interest.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, ``Finding of no significant impact,'' the 
Commission has previously determined that the granting of this 
exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the 
human environment (66 FR 48720, dated September 21, 2001).
    This exemption is effective upon issuance.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of March 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John A. Zwolinski,
Director, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-6814 Filed 3-20-02; 8:45 am]
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