[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63999-64000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-25702]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos.: 50-335, 50-389; License Nos.: DPR-67, NPF-16; EA-08-172]


In the Matter of Florida Power and Light Company St. Lucie 
Nuclear Plant; Confirmatory Order (Effective Immediately)

I

    Florida Power and Light Company (FPL or Licensee) is the holder of 
Operating License Nos. DPR-67 and NPF-16, issued by the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) pursuant to 10 CFR Part 50 on 
March 1, 1976, and April 6, 1983, respectively. The license authorizes 
the operation of St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, (St. Lucie or 
facility) in accordance with conditions specified therein. The facility 
is located on the Licensee's site in Jensen Beach, Florida.
    This Confirmatory Order is the result of an agreement reached 
during an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session 
conducted on August 25, 2008.

II

    On January 7, 2008, the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI) 
completed an investigation (OI Case No. 2-2007-011) regarding 
activities at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Based on the evidence 
developed during the investigation, the NRC staff concluded that on 
April 21 and 23, 2006, a container was permitted to enter the site 
without being properly searched, in apparent violation of 10 CFR 
73.55(d)(3), Section 9.4 of the St. Lucie Physical Security Plan, and 
licensee implementing procedure Security Force Instruction (SFI) 2100. 
Specifically, after permitting the container into the site on April 21, 
2006, a Security Operations Supervisor deliberately failed to conduct a 
search of the container to verify its contents in the manner required 
by licensee implementing procedure SFI 2100. The Security Operations 
Supervisor then left the container unattended, and the container 
remained inside the site for an extended period of time. The results of 
the investigation were sent to FPL in a letter dated June 27, 2008.

III

    On August 25, 2008, the NRC and FPL met in an ADR session mediated 
by a professional mediator, arranged through Cornell University's 
Institute on Conflict Resolution. ADR is a process in which a neutral 
mediator with no decision-making authority assists the parties in 
reaching an agreement or resolving any differences regarding their 
dispute. This confirmatory order is issued pursuant to the agreement 
reached during the ADR process. The elements of the agreement consist 
of the following:
    1. The NRC and FPL agreed that a violation occurred on April 21 and 
23, 2006, when a container was permitted to enter the site without 
being properly searched, in violation of 10 CFR 73.55(d)(3), Section 
9.4 of the St. Lucie Physical Security Plan, and licensee implementing 
procedure SFI 2100. Specifically, after permitting the container into 
the site on April 21, 2006, a Security Operations Supervisor 
deliberately failed to conduct a physical search of the container by 
verifying its contents, in violation of licensee implementing procedure 
SFI 2100. The Security Operations Supervisor then left the container 
unattended, and the container remained inside the site for an extended 
period of time.
    2. Based on FPL's review of the incident, its root cause analysis, 
and NRC concerns with respect to precluding recurrence of the 
violation, FPL agreed to corrective actions and enhancements, as fully 
delineated in Section V of the Confirmatory Order.
    3. At the ADR session, the NRC and FPL agreed that the above 
elements involving the violation, and FPL's corrective actions and 
enhancements as delineated in Section V, will be incorporated into a 
Confirmatory Order.
    4. In consideration of the commitments delineated in Section V of 
this Confirmatory Order, the NRC agrees to exercise enforcement 
discretion to forego issuance of a Notice of Violation against FPL for 
all matters discussed in the NRC's letter to FPL of June 27, 2008 (EA-
08-172).
    5. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of the St. 
Lucie Nuclear Plant and FPL.
    On October 9, 2008, the Licensee consented to issuance of this 
Order with the commitments, as described in Section V below. The 
Licensee further agreed that this Order is to be effective upon 
issuance and that it has waived its right to a hearing.

IV

    Since the licensee has agreed to take actions to address the 
violation as set forth in Section III above, the NRC has concluded that 
its concerns can be resolved through issuance of this Order.
    I find that the Licensee's commitments as set forth in Section V 
are acceptable and necessary and conclude that with these commitments 
the public health and safety are reasonably assured. In view of the 
foregoing, I have determined that public health and safety require that 
the Licensee's commitments be confirmed by this Order. Based on the 
above and the Licensee's consent, this Order is immediately effective 
upon issuance.

V

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 104b, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182 and 
186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's 
regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR Part 50, it is hereby ordered, 
Effective Immediately, That License Nos. DPR-67 AND NPF-16 are modified 
as follows:
    a. FPL will ensure current FPL Site procedures clearly address 
requirements for search thoroughness and completeness and that current 
FPL Site training lesson plans address this requirement.
    b. FPL will proceduralize fleet-wide security force personnel 
standards of performance and professionalism in a Conduct of Security 
procedure. Training on the new procedure was conducted for all security 
force personnel and will be provided to newly hired security force 
personnel.
    c. FPL will create a fleet security organization, and will increase 
on-site staffing of security organizations at St. Lucie, Turkey Point, 
and Seabrook Station to augment oversight of the contract security 
force. FPL will evaluate the security organization at Point Beach to 
determine management staffing needs.
    d. FPL will proceduralize management observations of the security 
force by FPL security personnel.
    e. FPL will conduct a fleet-wide briefing of security force 
supervisors and officers regarding this event and reinforcing proper 
search methods and requirements.
    f. FPL will establish a fleet-wide vehicle and material search 
procedure to provide consistency in processes. This procedure will 
include a standardized search checklist, provisions for documentation 
of vehicle and material search completion, and guidance to address and 
mitigate any factors that may impact security officers' ability to 
perform the search.
    g. FPL will establish a fleet-wide lesson plan for individual tasks 
concerning vehicle and material searches. Training will be conducted 
for future new hire sessions for security officers and annual 
requalifications.
    h. FPL agrees to complete all corrective actions and enhancements 
identified in Section V within nine months of the date of issuance of 
the Confirmatory Order. Training on the

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new guidelines and lesson plan will be completed beginning the cycle 
following the approval date of the relevant procedure and the lesson 
plan.
    The Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, may relax or rescind, in 
writing, any of the above conditions upon a showing by FPL of good 
cause.

VI

    Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other 
than the Licensee, may request a hearing within 20 days of its 
issuance. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to 
extending the time to request a hearing. A request for extension of 
time must be directed to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and include a 
statement of good cause for the extension.
    If a person other than FPL requests a hearing, that person shall 
set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is 
adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set 
forth in 10 CFR 2.309 (d) and (f).
    If a hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely 
affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and 
place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered 
at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order should be 
sustained.
    A request for a hearing must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-
Filing rule, which became effective on October 15, 2007. The NRC E-
filing Final Rule was issued on August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49,139) and was 
codified in pertinent part at 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart B. The E-Filing 
process requires participants to submit and serve documents over the 
internet or, in some cases, to mail copies on electronic optical 
storage media. Participants may not submit paper copies of their 
filings unless they seek a waiver in accordance with the procedures 
described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements associated with E-
Filing, at least five (5) days prior to the filing deadline the 
requestor must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at 
[email protected], or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a 
digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal 
server for any NRC proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) 
creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances 
when the requestor (or its counsel or representative) already holds an 
NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each requestor will need to 
download the Workplace Forms ViewerTM to access the 
Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing 
system. The Workplace Forms ViewerTM is free and is 
available at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate 
also is available on NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.
    Once a requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, had a 
docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit a 
request for a hearing through EIE. Submissions should be in Portable 
Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance available on the 
NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. 
A filing is considered complete at the time the filer submits its 
document through EIE. To be timely, electronic filings must be 
submitted to the EIE system no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 
the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the E-Filing system time-
stamps the document and sends the submitter an e-mail notice confirming 
receipt of the document. The EIE system also distributes an e-mail 
notice that provides access to the document to the NRC Office of the 
General Counsel and any others who have advised the Office of the 
Secretary that they wish to participate in the proceeding, so that the 
filer need not serve the document on those participants separately. 
Therefore, any others who wish to participate in the proceeding (or 
their counsel or representative) must apply for and receive a digital 
ID certificate before a hearing request is filed so that they may 
obtain access to the document via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the 
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, 
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or 
locally, (301) 415-4737.
    Participants who believe that they have good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file a motion, in accordance 
with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing requesting 
authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such 
filings must be submitted by (1) first class mail addressed to the 
Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or expedited 
delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, 
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants filing a 
document in this manner are responsible for serving the document on all 
other participants. Filing is considered complete by first-class mail 
as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service upon depositing the document with the 
provider of the service.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant 
to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or 
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include personal 
privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, 
or home phone numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted 
works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the 
adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, 
Participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in 
their works.

VII

    In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of 
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions 
specified in Section V above shall be final 20 days from the date of 
this Order without further order or proceedings. If an extension of 
time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the provisions 
specified in Section V shall be final when the extension expires if a 
hearing request has not been received. A request for hearing shall not 
stay the immediate effectiveness of this order.


    Dated this 20th day of October 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Luis A. Reyes,
Regional Administrator.
 [FR Doc. E8-25702 Filed 10-27-08; 8:45 am]
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