[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 218 (Thursday, November 10, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 70067-70069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29158]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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. 76, No. 218 / Thursday, November 10, 2011 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 70067]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 51
[Docket Nos. PRM-51-14, et al.; NRC-2011-0189]
Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, et al.; Environmental Impacts of
Severe Reactor and Spent Fuel Pool Accidents
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 15 petitions for rulemaking (PRMs), each dated August 10,
August 11, or August 12, 2011, from the multiple petitioners listed in
Section I, Procedural Processing, of this document. The petitioners
request that the NRC rescind its regulations that allow generic
conclusions about the environmental impacts of severe reactor and spent
fuel pool accidents and its regulations that preclude considerations of
those issues in individual licensing proceedings. The petitioners also
request the NRC to suspend multiple ongoing licensing proceedings while
the NRC considers these petitions and the environmental issues raised
in the Fukushima Task Force Report. The NRC is not instituting a public
comment period for these PRMs at this time.
ADDRESSES: You can access publicly available documents related to the
15 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 email to
[email protected]. For the ADAMS accession numbers for the documents
related to the 15 PRMs, see Section I, Procedural Processing, of this
document.
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Supporting materials related
to the 15 petitions for rulemaking can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2011-0189. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: (301) 492-
3668; email: [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, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Procedural Processing
The petitions for rulemaking were docketed by the NRC on September
20, 2011, and have been assigned the Docket Numbers identified in the
following table. The following table also identifies the ADAMS
accession numbers for each PRM. In addition, the following table
provides the specific licensing proceedings that each petitioner
requests the NRC to suspend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Licensing proceeding
Petitioner Docket Nos. ADAMS Accession No. affected
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gene Stilp, on behalf of Taxpayers PRM-51-14................. ML112430559.......... Bell Bend.
and Ratepayers United.
Diane Curran, on behalf of San PRM-51-15................. ML11236A322.......... Diablo Canyon.
Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace.
Diane Curran, on behalf of PRM-51-16................. ML11223A291.......... Watts Bar.
Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy.
Mindy Goldstein, on behalf of PRM-51-17................. ML11223A043.......... Vogtle.
Center for a Sustainable Coast,
Georgia Women's Action for New
Directions f/k/a/ Atlanta Women's
Action for New Directions, and
Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy.
Mindy Goldstein, on behalf of PRM-51-18................. ML11223A044.......... Turkey Point.
Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy, National Parks
Conservation Association, Dan
Kipnis, and Mark Oncavage.
Deborah Brancato, on behalf of PRM-51-19................. ML11229A712.......... Indian Point.
Riverkeeper, Inc. & Hudson River
Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
Paul Gunter, on behalf of Beyond PRM-51-20................. ML11223A371.......... Seabrook.
Nuclear, Seacoast Anti-Pollution
League and Sierra Club of New
Hampshire.
Michael Mariotte, on behalf of PRM-51-21................. ML11223A344.......... Calvert Cliffs.
Nuclear Information and Resource
Service, Beyond Nuclear, Public
Citizen, and SOMDCARES.
Raymond Shadis, on behalf of PRM-51-22................. ML11223A465 (PRM).... Seabrook.
Friends of the Coast and New ML11223A443 (Motion
England Coalition. to Admit)..
ML11223A444
(Contention)..
ML11223A446
(Declaration)..
Robert V. Eye, on behalf of PRM-51-23................. ML11223A472.......... South Texas.
Intervenors in South Texas
Project Nuclear Operating Co.,
Application for Units 3 and 4
Combined Operating License.
Robert V. Eye, on behalf of PRM-51-24................. ML11223A477.......... Comanche Peak.
Intervenors in Luminant
Generation Company, LCC,
Application for Comanche Peak
Nuclear Power Plant Combined
License.
[[Page 70068]]
Mary Olson, on behalf of the PRM-51-25................. ML11224A074.......... Levy.
Ecology Party of Florida, Nuclear
Information and Resource Service
Southeast Office, and the Green
Party of Florida.
Terry Lodge, on behalf of Beyond PRM-51-26................. ML112450527.......... Davis-Besse.
Nuclear, Citizens Environment
Alliance of Southwestern Ontario,
Don't Waste Michigan, and the
Green Party of Ohio.
Terry Lodge, on behalf of Beyond PRM-51-27................. ML112450528.......... Fermi.
Nuclear, Citizens for
Alternatives to Chemical
Contamination, Citizens
Environmental Alliance of
Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste
Michigan, Sierra Club, Keith
Gunter, Edward McArdle, Henry
Newman, Derek Coronado, Sandra
Bihn, Harold L. Stokes, Michael
J. Keegan, Richard Coronado,
George Steinman, Marilyn R.
Timmer, Leonard Mandeville, Frank
Mantei, Marcee Meyers, and
Shirley Steinman.
Barry White, on behalf of Citizens PRM-51-28................. ML11224A232.......... Turkey Point.
Allied for Safe Energy, Inc.
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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, ADAMS Accession No. ML111861807), dated July 12,
2011, as rationale for the petitions 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 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.
On September 9, 2011, the Commission issued a Memorandum and Order,
Union Electric Company D/B/A/Ameren Missouri et al. (Callaway Plant,
Unit, et al.), CLI-11-05, ---- NRC ---- (Sept. 9, 2011) (slip op. at
41) which declined the petitioners' request to suspend any of the
licensing or rulemaking proceedings pending resolution of these
rulemaking petitions.
II. Petitioners
Each petitioner is an intervener group that has filed PRMs and
contentions to suspend licensing proceedings while the NRC considers
the environmental impacts of each licensing proceeding and the
environmental implications in the Fukushima Task Force Report.
III. Petitions
All 15 PRMs cite the Fukushima Task Force Report dated July 12,
2011, currently under review by the Commission, as rationale 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 make recommendations applicable to power reactors in the
United States.
In addition to the Fukushima Task Force Report, each petitioner
cites the Declaration of Dr. Arjun Makhijani (the Declaration, ADAMS
Accession No. ML11223A446) as rationale for their contentions and PRMs.
Dr. Makhijani is the President of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research (IEER) in Takoma Park, Maryland. The IEER
provides scientific information and analyses to advocacy groups and
policy makers on a wide range of technical topics such as energy and
environmental issues. Dr. Makhijani declares that the Fukushima Task
Force Report ``provides further support for [his] opinions that the
Fukushima accident presents new and significant information regarding
the risks to public health and safety and the environment posed by the
operation of nuclear reactors and that the integration of this new
information into the NRC's licensing process could affect the outcome
of safety and environmental analyses for reactor licensing and
relicensing decisions and the NRC's evaluation of the fitness of new
reactor designs for certification.'' See page 2 in the Declaration.
The petitioners assert that the Fukushima Task Force Report and the
Declaration demonstrate that the ``Fukushima accident has significant
regulatory implications with respect to both severe reactor accidents
and spent fuel pool accidents, because the Task Force Report recommends
that mitigative measures for both of these types of accidents, which
are not currently included in the design basis for nuclear reactors,
should be added to the design basis and subject to mandatory safety
regulation.''
Primarily, the petitioners request that the NRC rescind all
regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR)
part 51 (including 51.45, 51.53, and 51.95 and Appendix B to 10 CFR
part 51) that ``reach generic conclusions about the environmental
impacts of severe reactor and/or spent fuel pool accidents and
therefore prohibit consideration of those impacts'' in reactor
licensing proceedings.
Specifically, the petitioners request rescission of ``any NRC
regulations that would prevent the NRC from complying with its
obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).'' The
petitioners also request rescission of NRC regulations that would
impede consideration of ``the environmental implications of new and
significant information discussed in the Fukushima Task Force Report
regarding the regulatory implications of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
accident'' in the licensing proceedings.
In support of their requests to suspend licensing proceedings, the
petitioners quoted Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490
U.S. 332, 350 (1989) which states that ``NEPA requires that agencies
consider the environmental impacts of their actions before they are
taken, in order to ensure that `important effects [of the licensing
decision] will not be overlooked or underestimated only to be
discovered after resources have been committed or
[[Page 70069]]
the die otherwise cast.' '' The petitioners assert that the ``NRC's
obligation to comply with NEPA in this respect is independent of and in
addition to the NRC's responsibilities under the Atomic Energy Act, and
must be enforced to the `fullest extent possible.' '' Thus, the
petitioners argue that the ``NRC has a non-discretionary duty to
suspend'' the subject licensing proceedings ``while it considers the
environmental impacts of that decision, including the environmental
implications of the Task Force Report with respect to severe reactor
and spent fuel pool accidents.''
IV. Conclusion
The Commission is currently reviewing the Fukushima Task Force
Report, including the issues presented in the 15 petitions for
rulemaking. The petitioners specifically cite the Fukushima Task Force
Report as rationale for the 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 2nd day of November 2011.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew L. Bates,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011-29158 Filed 11-9-11; 8:45 am]
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