[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 223 (Monday, November 20, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 67072-67073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19568]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 51

[Docket No. PRM-51-11]


Sally Shaw; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of receipt.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for 
public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated 
June 23, 2006, which was filed with the Commission by Sally Shaw. The 
petition was docketed by the NRC on November 1, 2006, and has been 
assigned Docket No. PRM-51-11. The petitioner requests that the NRC 
prepare a rulemaking that will require that the NRC reconcile its 
generic environmental impact statement for nuclear power plant 
operating license renewal applications with the National Academy of 
Sciences Health Risks From Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing 
Radiation: Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) VII Phase 2 
Report.

DATE: Submit comments by February 5, 2007. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this petition by any one of the 
following methods. Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
    E-mail comments to: [email protected]. If you do not receive a reply e-
mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us 
directly at (301) 415-1966. You may also submit comments via the NRC's 
rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Address questions 
about our rulemaking Web site to Carol Gallagher (301) 415-5905; e-mail 
[email protected]. Comments can also be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
    Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 
20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. (Telephone 
(301) 415-1966).
    Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 
(301) 415-1101.
    Please include PRM-51-11 in the subject line of your comments. 
Comments on petitions submitted in writing or in electronic form will 
be made available for public inspection. Because your comments will not 
be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC 
cautions you against including any information in your submission that 
you do not want to be publicly disclosed.
    Publicly available documents related to this petition may be viewed 
electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR), Room O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR reproduction contractor 
will copy documents for a fee. Selected documents, including comments, 
may be viewed and downloaded

[[Page 67073]]

electronically via the NRC rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov.
    Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after 
November 1, 1999, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic 
Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this 
site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Document 
Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image 
files of NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or 
if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, 
contact the PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by 
e-mail to [email protected].
    A copy of the petition can be found in ADAMS under accession number 
ML061770056. A paper copy of the petition may be obtained by contacting 
Betty Golden, Office of Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington DC 20555-0001, telephone 301-415-6863, toll-free 1-800-368-
5642, or by e-mail [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking, 
Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-7163 or toll-free: 1-800-
368-5642.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) submitted an application 
for renewal of Operating License No. DPR-28 for an additional 20 years 
of operation at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VYNPS). The 
VYNPS is located in the town of Vernon, Vermont, in Windham County on 
the west shore of the Connecticut River immediately upstream of the 
Vernon Hydroelectric Station. The operating license for VYNPS expires 
on March 21, 2012. A notice of receipt and availability of the 
application, which included the environmental report, was published in 
the Federal Register on February 6, 2006 (71 FR 6102). Subsequently, 
the NRC published a ``Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process'' on April 21, 2006 (71 FR 
20733). The NRC will prepare an EIS related to the review of the 
license renewal application.
    The applicable NRC regulation, 10 CFR 51.95(c), required that the 
NRC, in determining whether to grant a renewal of a nuclear power plant 
operating license, prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS). The 
regulation provides that this EIS supplement the NRC's baseline, 
generic EIS issued in 1996, NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact 
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants'' (May 1996)(GEIS).

Petitioner's Request

    The petitioner requests that the NRC prepare a rulemaking that 
would require that the NRC reconcile its GEIS for nuclear power plant 
operating license renewal applications with the National Academy of 
Sciences (NAS) Health Risks From Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing 
Radiation: BEIR VII, Phase 2 which was released in 2005. The petitioner 
asserts that the GEIS relies upon an earlier NAS report, the BEIR V, 
with was released in 1990. According to the NAS Web site, the BEIR VII 
updates the information contained in the BEIR V and draws upon new data 
in both epidemiologic and experimental research.
    The petitioner requests that NRC consider the NAS BEIR VII report 
as new and significant information and recalculate certain conclusions 
set forth in the GEIS, including early fatalities, latent fatalities 
and any injury projections based on this information.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of November 2006.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E6-19568 Filed 11-17-06; 8:45 am]
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