[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 58165-58167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24079]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100

[Docket Nos. PRM-50-97, PRM-50-98, PRM-50-99, PRM-50-100, PRM-50-101, 
PRM-50-102; NRC-2011-0189]


Petitions for Rulemaking Submitted by the Natural Resources 
Defense Council, Inc.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petitions for rulemaking; notice of receipt.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
has received six petitions for rulemaking (PRM), dated July 26, 2011, 
from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC or the 
petitioner). The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations 
to require emergency preparedness (EP) enhancements for prolonged 
station blackouts; EP enhancements for multiunit events; licensees to 
confirm seismic hazards and flooding hazards every 10 years and address 
any new and significant information; licensees to improve spent nuclear 
fuel pool safety; each operating and new reactor licensee to establish 
station blackout mitigation strategies and resources; and more 
realistic, hands-on training and exercises on Severe Accident 
Mitigation [sic] Guidelines and Extreme Damage Mitigation Guidelines 
for specified licensee staff. The NRC is not instituting a public 
comment period for these PRMs at this time.

ADDRESSES: You can access publicly available documents related to this 
action, including the six petitions for rulemaking, using the following 
methods:
     NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine 
and have copies made, for a fee, publicly available documents at the 
NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available online in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 
which provides text and image files of the 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's PDR reference staff 
at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected]. 
For the ADAMS accession numbers to the six PRMs, see Section I, 
Procedural Processing, of this document.
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Supporting materials related 
to the six petitions for rulemaking can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on the related Docket IDs. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-492-3667, e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Procedural Processing

    The petitions for rulemaking were docketed by the NRC on July 28, 
2011, and have been assigned the following Docket Numbers and can be 
accessed in ADAMS under the associated ADAMS accession number:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Title                 Docket Nos.          ADAMS ML No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emergency Preparedness          PRM-50-97........  ML11216A237
 Enhancements for Prolonged
 Station Blackouts.
Emergency Preparedness          PRM-50-98........  ML11216A238
 Enhancements for Multiunit
 Events.
Seismic Hazards and Flooding    PRM-50-99........  ML11216A239
 Hazards.
Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Safety  PRM-50-100.......  ML11216A240
Station Blackout Mitigation...  PRM-50-101.......  ML11216A241
Training on Severe Accident     PRM-50-102.......  ML11216A242
 Mitigation [sic] Guidelines.
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    Each submission separately cites the ``Recommendations for 
Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century: The Near-Term Task Force 
Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident'' (Fukushima 
Task Force Report, ML111861807), dated July 12, 2011, as the rationale 
for the petition for rulemaking. The Commission has recently directed 
staff to engage promptly with stakeholders to review and assess the 
recommendations of the Fukushima Task Force Report for the purpose of 
providing the Commission with fully-informed options and 
recommendations. See U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Near-Term 
Report and Recommendations for Agency Actions Following the Events in 
Japan,'' Staff Requirements Memorandum SECY-11-0093, August 19, 2011 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML112310021) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, ``Engagement

[[Page 58166]]

of Stakeholders Regarding the Events in Japan,'' Staff Requirements 
Memorandum COMWDM-11-0001/COMWCO-11-0001, August 22, 2011 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML112340693). The NRC will consider the issues raised by 
these PRMs through the process the Commission has established for 
addressing the recommendations from the Fukushima Task Force Report, 
and is not providing a separate opportunity for public comment on the 
PRMs at this time.

II. Petitioner

    The NRDC is a national, nonprofit, membership environmental 
organization incorporated in New York in 1970. The NRDC has offices in 
Washington, DC, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and 
Beijing. The staff membership of NRDC consists of lawyers, scientists, 
and policy experts. The NRDC states that its purpose is to maintain and 
enhance environmental quality and monitor Federal agency actions to 
ensure that Federal statutes enacted to protect human health and the 
environment are fully and properly implemented. With regard to the NRC, 
the NRDC asserts that, since its inception in 1970, it has sought to 
improve the environmental, health, and safety conditions at the nuclear 
facilities licensed by the NRC and its predecessor agency.

III. Petitions

    All six PRMs cite the Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety 
in the 21st Century: The Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from 
the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident (Fukushima Task Force Report), dated 
July 12, 2011, currently under review by the Commission, as the 
rationale and bases for the petitions for rulemaking. The Fukushima 
Task Force was a group of NRC staff experts specifically selected to 
review the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident and made recommendations 
applicable to power reactors in the United States. A summary of each 
PRM follows.

1. Require EP Enhancements for Prolonged Station Blackouts. [PRM-50-97]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR 50, 
52, and other applicable regulations to require emergency preparedness 
enhancements for prolonged station blackouts in the areas of (1) 
Communications ability, (2) Emergency Response Data System capability, 
(3) training and exercises, and (4) equipment and facilities. The 
petitioner cites Section 4.3.1, pages 50-56--regarding the requiring of 
facility emergency plans to address prolonged station blackouts--of the 
Fukushima Task Force Report as the rationale for its PRM.

2. Require EP Enhancements for Multiunit Events. [PRM-50-98]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR parts 
50, 52, and other applicable regulations to require EP enhancements for 
multiunit events in the areas of (1) Personnel staffing, (2) dose 
assessment capability, (3) training and exercises, and (4) equipment 
and facilities. The petitioner cites Section 4.3.1, pages 50-56--
regarding the requiring of facility emergency plans to address 
multiunit events--of the Fukushima Task Force Report as the rationale 
for its PRM.

3. Require Licensees To Confirm Seismic Hazards and Flooding Hazards 
Every 10 Years and Address Any New and Significant Information. [PRM-
50-99]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR parts 
50, 52, 100, and other applicable regulations to require licensees to 
confirm seismic hazards and flooding hazards every 10 years and address 
any new and significant information, which would include, if necessary, 
updating the design basis for structures, systems, and components 
important to safety to protect against the updated hazards. The 
petitioner cites Section 4.1.1, pages 25-30--regarding the reevaluation 
and upgrade of design basis seismic and flooding protection of 
structures, systems, and components for each operating reactor--of the 
Fukushima Task Force Report as the rationale for its PRM.

4. Require Licensees To Improve Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Safety. [PRM-
50-100]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR parts 
50, 52, and other applicable regulations to require licensees to (1) 
Provide sufficient safety-related instrumentation, able to withstand 
design-basis natural phenomena, to monitor key spent fuel pool 
parameters (i.e., water level, temperature, and area radiation levels) 
from the control room; (2) provide safety-related AC electrical power 
for the spent fuel pool makeup system; (3) revise their technical 
specifications to address requirements to have one train of onsite 
emergency electrical power operable for spent fuel pool makeup and 
spent fuel pool instrumentation when there is irradiated fuel in the 
spent fuel pool, regardless of the operational mode of the reactor; and 
(4) have an installed seismically qualified means to spray water into 
the spent fuel pools, including an easily accessible connection to 
supply the water (e.g., using a portable pump or pumper truck) at grade 
outside the building. The petitioner cites Section 4.2.4, pages 43-46--
regarding the enhancement of spent fuel pool makeup capability and 
instrumentation for the spent fuel pool--of the Fukushima Task Force 
Report as the rationale for its PRM.

5. Revise 10 CFR 50.63 [Station Blackout Mitigation]. [PRM-50-101]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR parts 
50, 52, and other applicable regulations to revise 10 CFR 50.63 to 
require each operating and new reactor licensee to (1) Establish a 
minimum coping time of 8 hours for a loss of all AC power, (2) 
establish the equipment, procedures, and training necessary to 
implement an ``extended loss of all AC'' coping time of 72 hours for 
core and spent fuel pool cooling and for reactor coolant system and 
primary containment integrity as needed, and (3) preplan and prestage 
offsite resources to support uninterrupted core and spent fuel pool 
cooling and reactor coolant system and containment integrity as needed, 
including the ability to deliver the equipment to the site in the time 
period allowed for extending coping, under conditions involving 
significant degradation of offsite transportation infrastructure 
associated with significant natural disasters.
    The petitioner cites Section 4.2.1, pages 32-39, of the Fukushima 
Task Force Report, regarding the enhancement of the ability of nuclear 
power plants to deal with the effect of prolonged station blackout 
conditions at single and multiunit sites without damage to the nuclear 
fuel in the reactor or spent fuel pool and without the loss of reactor 
coolant system or primary containment integrity.

6. Require More Realistic Training on Severe Accident Mitigation 
Guidelines [PRM-50-102]

    The petitioner requests that the NRC institute a rulemaking 
proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 10 CFR parts 
50, 52, and other applicable regulations to require more realistic, 
hands-on training and exercises on Severe Accident Mitigation [sic] 
Guidelines (SAMGs) and Extreme

[[Page 58167]]

Damage Mitigation Guidelines (EDMGs) for licensee staff expected to 
implement the strategies and those licensee staff expected to make 
decisions during emergencies, including emergency coordinators and 
emergency directors. The petitioner cites Section 4.2.5, pages 46-50--
regarding the strengthening and integration of onsite emergency 
response capabilities such as emergency operating procedures, SAMGs, 
and EDMGs--of the Fukushima Task Force Report as the rationale for its 
PRM.

IV. Conclusion

    The Commission is currently reviewing the Fukushima Task Force 
Report, including each issue presented in the six petitions for 
rulemaking. The petitioner solely and specifically cites the Fukushima 
Task Force Report as the rationale and bases for its six PRMs. The NRC 
will consider the issues raised by these PRMs through the process the 
Commission has established for addressing the recommendations from the 
Fukushima Task Force Report and is not providing a separate opportunity 
for public comment on the PRMs at this time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of September 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011-24079 Filed 9-19-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P