[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 81 (Monday, April 28, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22422-22423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10394]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-15 and 50-219; License No. DPR-16]


Amergen Energy Company, LLC., Oyster Creek Generating Station; 
Notice of Issuance of Director's Decision

    Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC), has issued a Director's Decision with regard to a petition dated 
June 21, 2002, filed by Ms. Edith Gbur of the Jersey Shore Nuclear 
Watch, et al., hereinafter referred to as the ``petitioners.'' The 
Petition concerns the operation of AmerGen Energy Company's Oyster 
Creek Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The 
petitioners requested NRC to take the following actions:
    1. Suspend Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1004 for the NUHOMS 
dry spent fuel storage system.
    2. Halt transfer of spent fuel from wet pool storage to dry storage 
modules at the Oyster Creek Generating Station (Oyster Creek).
    3. Conduct a site-specific public hearing before independent judges 
on the dry cask licensing proceeding for Oyster Creek and other nuclear 
issues identified in the petition.
    4. Make a determination of the NUHOMS' capability to withstand 
terrorist attacks similar to those on September 11, 2001.
    5. Develop criteria and regulations to empirically verify dry 
storage system capability and to apply those requirements to Oyster 
Creek.
    6. Halt loading until a thorough inspection of the total system has 
been completed to verify that the NUHOMS modules were fabricated 
properly and will last the design life.
    As the basis for the request, the petitioners presented safety 
concerns in the following areas:
    1. Location of the Oyster Creek independent spent fuel storage 
installation (ISFSI) relative to local roads and communities;
    2. Ability of the NUHOMS dry spent fuel storage system to survive a 
sabotage attack;
    3. Adequacy of Oyster Creek security measures for fuel-handling 
activities;
    4. Adequacy of the Oyster Creek emergency evacuation plan; and
    5. Quality of the NUHOMS systems planned for use at Oyster Creek.
    The petitioners addressed the NRC Petition Review Board in a 
teleconference on July 18, 2002, to clarify the bases for the petition. 
The meeting was held to provide the petitioners and licensee an 
opportunity to present additional information and to clarify issues 
raised in the petition. Subsequently, the petitioners sent NRC a series 
of form letters signed by various members of the public in August 2002, 
to demonstrate additional support for the petition. On November 8, 
2002, NRC received additional form letters forwarded by the 
petitioners. The NRC sent a copy of the proposed Director's Decision to 
the petitioners and AmerGen for comment on December 10, 2002. The 
petitioners responded with comments by e-mails dated February 6, March 
5, 10, and 19, 2003. The comments and the staff responses to them are 
available electronically through NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room 
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under docket number 
07200015.
    The Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards has determined that the six requests of the petitioner are 
denied. The reasons for this decision are explained in the Director's 
Decision pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 [DD-03-01], the complete text of 
which is available in ADAMS for inspection at the Commission's Public 
Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike 
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and via the NRC's Web site (http://www.nrc.gov) on the World Wide Web, under the ``Public Involvement'' 
icon.
    The Director's Decision addressed the petitioner's requested 
actions as follows:
    1. Suspend CoC No. 1004 for the NUHOMS dry spent fuel storage 
system, halt transfer of spent fuel from wet pool storage to dry 
storage modules at Oyster Creek, and halt loading of all NUHOMS systems 
until a thorough inspection has been completed to verify compliance 
with fabrication requirements.
    The NRC staff found no safety basis for NRC immediately suspending 
CoC No. 1004 and prohibiting transfer of spent fuel from wet pool 
storage to dry storage modules at Oyster Creek, but would continue to 
consider the request as our safety review proceeded. Based on the 
staff's safety review, as detailed in the Director's Decision, NRC 
found no basis for suspending CoC No. 1004 nor disallowing transfer of 
spent fuel from wet storage to dry storage at Oyster Creek.
    2. Conduct a site-specific public hearing before independent judges 
on the dry cask licensing proceeding for Oyster Creek and other nuclear 
issues identified in the petition.
    Based on the staff's review, as detailed in the Director's 
Decision, NRC found no basis to conduct a hearing on the Oyster Creek 
ISFSI activities nor for the other concerns identified in the petition.
    3. Make a determination of the NUHOMS's capability to withstand 
terrorist attacks similar to those on September 11, 2001.
    The NRC, other Federal, State, and local agencies, and the nuclear 
industry has implemented a significant number of measures to prevent 
and mitigate terrorist attacks similar to those on September 11, 2001. 
These measures are summarized in the Director's Decision. In addition, 
although dry spent fuel storage systems are not specifically assessed 
as to their ability to withstand

[[Page 22423]]

the impact of a commercial aircraft, the design of the storage systems 
must have the capability to provide for the protection of public health 
and safety against naturally occurring events. This includes flying 
debris from tornadoes or hurricanes, and seismic events. To provide 
this level of protection, the design must be robust. This robustness 
prevents the dispersion of radioactive materials under analyzed 
accident conditions. The inherent robustness of the design will limit 
the release of radioactive materials under a terrorist attack, and 
continue to protect public health and safety.
    4. Develop criteria and regulations to empirically verify dry 
storage system capability and to apply those requirements to the Oyster 
Creek storage design prior to approval.
    The NRC technical review includes evaluating storage design 
characteristics such as structural, thermal, radiation shielding, 
radioactive material confinement, nuclear criticality, material 
interactions, and overall performance. As discussed in the Director's 
Decision, the NUHOMS design has been analyzed using industry standards 
for material characteristics based on empirical data for design life 
performance. Dry storage systems are evaluated using conservative 
analysis and assumptions to store the spent fuel safely for a design 
life of 20 years, at a minimum.
    A copy of the Director's Decision will be filed with the Secretary 
of the Commission for the Commission's review in accordance with 10 CFR 
2.206 of the Commission's regulations. As provided for by this 
regulation, the Director's Decision will constitute the final action of 
the Commission 25 days after the date of the decision, unless the 
Commission, on its own motion, institutes a review of the Director's 
Decision in that time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of April, 2003.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Martin J. Virgilio,
Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 03-10394 Filed 4-25-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P