[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