[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 62 (Thursday, April 1, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16360-16361]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7405]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 62 / Thursday, April 1, 2010 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 16360]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 51
[Docket No. PRM-51-13; NRC-2010-0088]
Dan Kane; 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) has received and
requests public comment on a petition for rulemaking dated February 2,
2010, filed by Dan Kane (petitioner). The petition was docketed by the
NRC and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-51-13. The petitioner is
requesting that the NRC amend the regulations that govern environmental
protection for domestic licensing and related regulatory functions.
Specifically, the petitioner requests that the provisions that govern
temporary storage of spent fuel after cessation of reactor operation be
revoked, that licensing of new nuclear power plants cease, and that
existing operating nuclear power plants be phased out. The petitioner
believes these suggestions are necessary until the NRC can be assured
of the technical and economic certainties of a waste disposition
decision and associated political certainties in light of the current
administration's proposed defunding of the Yucca Mountain Repository
for permanent disposal and storage of spent nuclear fuel.
DATES: Submit comments by June 15, 2010. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of
consideration cannot be given except as to comments received on or
before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this petition by any one of the
following methods. Please include PRM-51-13 in the subject line of your
comments. Comments on petitions submitted in writing or in electronic
form will be made available for public inspection. Personal
information, such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail
address, etc., will not be removed from your submission.
The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments
received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those
persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any
identifying or contact information, and therefore, they should not
include any information in their comments that they do not want
publicly disclosed.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
search for documents filed under Docket ID [NRC-2010-0088]. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 301-492-3668; e-mail
[email protected].
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 301-415-1677.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays, telephone
number 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at
301-415-1101.
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 electronically via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC, are
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain
entry into the NRC's Agencywide Documents 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 NRC PDR Reference
staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
For a copy of the petition, write to Michael T. Lesar, Chief,
Rulemaking and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services,
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. The petition is also available
electronically in ADAMS at ML100570095.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555. Telephone: 301-492-3663 or Toll-Free: 1-800-368-5642 or E-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The NRC has received a petition for rulemaking dated February 2,
2010, submitted by Mr. Dan Kane (petitioner). The petitioner is a
registered professional engineer who states that he has designed safety
systems for commercial nuclear power plants and prepared some sections
of the license application for Yucca Mountain. The petitioner requests
that the NRC amend 10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental Protection
Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.''
Specifically, the petitioner requests that the regulations at Sec.
51.23, ``Temporary storage of spent fuel after cessation of reactor
operation--generic determination of no significant environmental
impact'' be revoked. The NRC has determined that the petition meets the
threshold sufficiency requirements for a petition for rulemaking under
10 CFR 2.802. The petition was docketed by the NRC as PRM-51-13 on
February 25, 2010. The NRC is soliciting public comment on the petition
for rulemaking.
Discussion of the Petition
The petitioner notes that on September 15, 2008 (73 FR 53284), the
NRC accepted an application for construction of a mined geologic
repository for spent nuclear fuel (Yucca Mountain) from the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) for docketing and began a
[[Page 16361]]
technical review of the application. The petitioner also notes that on
February 1, 2010, the current administration proposed that the funding
for the Yucca Mountain repository be discontinued for what the
petitioner believes are political reasons. The petitioner states that
the proposed update of the NRC's Waste Confidence Decision and proposed
rule that the NRC published on October 9, 2008 (73 FR 59547),
specifically Finding 2 (73 FR 59561), indicates that the NRC found
reasonable assurance that a mined geologic repository for permanent
disposal of spent nuclear fuel would be available within 50-60 years
beyond the licensed life for operation (which may include the term of a
revised or renewed license) of any reactor.
The petitioner also states that the DOE Director of the Office of
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management expressed concern about adequate
funding of the Yucca Mountain repository when DOE informed Congress
that Yucca Mountain could be ready to accept spent nuclear fuel in
2020. The petitioner notes that the NRC denied a 2005 petition for
rulemaking (PRM-51-8) by declining to define ``availability'' of a
repository based on a presumption that an acceptable disposal site for
spent nuclear fuel would become available ``at some undefined time in
the future.'' (73 FR 59561.) The petitioner cites, Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) v. NRC, 574 F.2d 633 (DC Cir. 1976), as
determining that the NRC's waste confidence decision must demonstrate
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (NEPA), by assuring that ``safe and adequate storage methods
[for spent nuclear fuel] are technologically and economically
feasible.'' However, the petitioner states that the NRDC decision did
not anticipate the ``current political reality.''
The petitioner has concluded that the current administration's
proposed decision to no longer fund Yucca Mountain now places the
possibility of construction and licensing of a permanent repository for
spent nuclear fuel from U.S. nuclear power facilities and licensees in
jeopardy. The petitioner requests that the NRC cease licensing new
nuclear power plants and begin to orderly phase out existing operating
nuclear power plants. The petitioner also requests that Sec. 51.23,
``Temporary storage of spent fuel after cessation of reactor
operation--generic determination of no significant environmental
impact,'' be revoked. The petitioner has concluded that the NRC cannot
rely on existing regulations to make a determination on issuance of a
construction authorization or license for a mined geologic repository
at a location that has not been identified at an undetermined future
time. The petitioner has also concluded that the NRC needs to
strengthen the current regulations by adding additional requirements
that address the political considerations of siting a mined geologic
repository.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, March 25, 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-7405 Filed 3-31-10; 8:45 am]
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