[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 87 (Monday, May 5, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 24616]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-9798]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-271; License No. DPR-28]
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear
Operations, Inc.; Notice of Issuance of Director's Decision Under 10
CFR 2.206
Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, has issued a Director's Decision with regard to a petition
dated August 27, 2007, filed pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR), Sec. 2.206, by Mr. Raymond Shadis on behalf
of the New England Coalition (NEC), hereinafter referred to as the
``petitioner.'' The petition was supplemented on October 3, 2007. The
NEC petition requested that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or
the Commission) promptly restore reasonable assurance of adequate
protection of public health and safety that is now degraded by the
failure of the licensee and its employees to report adverse conditions
leading to a reduction in plant safety margins at the Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee), or otherwise to order a derate
or shutdown of Vermont Yankee until it can be determined to what extent
Vermont Yankee is being operated in an unanalyzed condition.
Specifically, the petition requested the following actions: (1) NRC
completion of a Diagnostic Evaluation Team examination or Independent
Safety Assessment of Vermont Yankee to determine the extent of
condition of non-conformances, reportable items, hazards to safety, and
the root causes thereof; (2) NRC completion of a safety culture
assessment to determine why worker safety concerns were not previously
reported and why assessments of safety culture under the Reactor
Oversight Process failed to capture the fact or reasons that safety
concerns have gone unreported; (3) derate Vermont Yankee to 50% of
licensed thermal power with a mandatory hold at 50% until a thorough
and detailed structural and performance analysis of the cooling towers,
including the alternate cooling system, has been completed by the
licensee; reviewed and approved by NRC; and until the above steps (1)
and (2) have been completed; and (4) NRC investigation and
determination of whether or not similar non-conforming conditions and
causes exist at other Entergy-run nuclear power plants. On September 6,
2007, the NRC staff notified the petitioner that, based on the
recommendation of the Petition Review Board (PRB), the request for
immediate action to derate or shutdown Vermont Yankee was denied
because the petition did not identify any safety hazards sufficient to
warrant those actions.
Mr. Raymond Shadis, in his capacity as the petitioner's consultant,
participated in two telephone conference calls with the NRC's PRB on
September 12, 2007, and October 3, 2007, to discuss the petition. Those
discussions were considered in reaching the PRB's final recommendation
regarding the petitioner's request for action and in establishing the
schedule for the review of the petition. The PRB confirmed its initial
recommendation to reject requests (1), (2), and (4) for review under
the Section 2.206 process and accept a portion of request (3) related
to the cooling tower cell collapse.
In an acknowledgment letter dated November 6, 2007, the NRC
informed the petitioner that the petition was accepted, in part, for
review under 10 CFR 2.206, and had been referred to the Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation for appropriate action. The petitioner's
request to derate Vermont Yankee was denied, but the petition was
granted, in part, by the NRC staff's review of Entergy's evaluation and
analysis of the partial cooling tower collapse and associated causes.
The NRC staff sent a copy of the proposed Director's Decision to
the petitioner for comment on February 29, 2008. The NRC staff did not
receive any comments on the proposed DD.
The Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation has
determined that the NRC has in effect granted the petitioner's request.
The reasons for this decision are explained in the Director's Decision
pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 (DD-08-01). The petitioner's concern regarding
the partial collapse of the cooling tower cell at Vermont Yankee has
been adequately resolved such that no further action is needed.
The documents cited in this Director's Decision are available for
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at
One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland and from the NRC's Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic
Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who
encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should
contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or
301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected].
A copy of the Director's Decision will be filed with the Secretary
of the Commission for the Commission to 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 within that time.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of April 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
J.E. Dyer,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E8-9798 Filed 5-2-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P