[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72007-72008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29983]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304; NRC-2011-0244]
ZionSolutions, LLC; Zion Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2;
Exemption From Certain Security Requirements
1.0 Background
Zion Nuclear Power Station (ZNPS or Zion), Unit 1, is a
Westinghouse 3250 MWt Pressurized Water Reactor, which was granted
Operating License No. DPR-39 on October 19, 1973, and subsequently shut
down on February 21, 1997. Zion, Unit 2, is also a Westinghouse 3250
MWt Pressurized Water Reactor, which was granted Operating License No.
DPR-48 on November 14, 1973, and was shut down on September 19, 1996.
Zion is located in Lake County, Illinois.
In February 1998, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) 50.82(a)(1)(i), the licensee certified to the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) that as of
February 13, 1998, operations had ceased at Zion, Units 1 and 2. The
licensee later certified, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(1)(ii), that all
fuel had been removed from the reactor vessel of both units, and
committed to maintain the units in a permanently defueled status.
Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2), operations at Zion are no
longer authorized under the 10 CFR part 50 licenses.
On September 1, 2010, the facility license was transferred from
Exelon to ZionSolutions for the express purpose of expediting the
decommissioning of the site. ZionSolutions intends to use a process
that will reduce the labor-intensive separation of contaminated
materials and transport the facility in bulk to the EnergySolutions
disposal site in Utah. Preparations for decontamination and
dismantlement have begun. Completion of fuel transfer to the
independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) is scheduled for
2014. Final site survey and license reduction to the ISFSI is currently
planned for 2020.
2.0 Request/Action
Section 50.54(p)(1) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
states, ``The licensee shall prepare and maintain safeguards
contingency plan procedures in accordance with Appendix C of Part 73 of
this chapter for affecting the actions and decisions contained in the
Responsibility Matrix of the safeguards contingency plan.''
Part 73 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Physical
Protection of Plant and Materials,'' provides, ``This part prescribes
requirements for the establishment and maintenance of a physical
protection system which will have capabilities for the protection of
special nuclear material at fixed sites and in transit and of plants in
which special nuclear material is used.'' In Section 73.55, entitled
``Requirements for physical protection of licensed activities in
nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,'' paragraph
(b)(1) states, ``The licensee shall establish and maintain a physical
protection program, to include a security organization, which will have
as its objective to provide high assurance that activities involving
special nuclear material are not inimical to the common defense and
security and do not constitute an unreasonable risk to the public
health and safety.''
The NRC revised 10 CFR 73.55, in part to include the preceding
language, through the issuance of a final rule on March 27, 2009. The
revised regulation stated that it was applicable to all Part 50
licensees. The NRC became aware that many Part 50 licensees with
facilities in decommissioning status did not recognize the
applicability of this regulation to their facility. Accordingly, the
NRC informed licensees with facilities in decommissioning status and
other stakeholders that the requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 were
applicable to all Part 50 licensees. By letter dated August 2, 2010,
the NRC informed ZionSolutions of the applicability of the revised rule
and that it would have to comply with the revised rule or request an
exemption.
By letter dated December 2, 2010, ZionSolutions responded to the
NRC's letter and requested exemptions from
[[Page 72008]]
certain security requirements in 10 CFR Part 73.
3.0 Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission
may grant exemptions from the regulations in this part as it determines
are authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the
common defense and security, and are otherwise in the public interest.
The NRC evaluated the proposed exemptions and documented the review
in a Safety Evaluation which contains security related information and
has been withheld from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1)
On the basis of Commission policy, NRC security orders, and ongoing
staff activities, the Commission determined the following requested
exemptions to the current 10 CFR 73.55 are approved: Target Sets,
Insider Mitigation Program, Waterway Approaches, Owner Controlled Areas
Searches, PA Searches, Weapons Training, and Personnel Equipment.
These exemptions meet the high assurance requirements and the
general performance objectives of 10 CFR 73.55 considering the
permanently shut down and defueled conditions at the ZNPS where all of
the nuclear fuel is located within the spent fuel pool. With respect to
the proposed exemption requests: (1) There is reasonable assurance that
the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by granting
said exemptions; (2) such activities will be conducted in compliance
with the Commission's regulations and orders; and (3) the approval of
these exemptions will not be inimical to the common defense and
security or the health and safety of the public. Accordingly, the staff
has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, these exemptions are
authorized by law and are otherwise in the public interest.
4.0 Conclusion
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
73.5, an exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the
public interest based on permanently shut down and defueled conditions
at the ZNPS. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants ZionSolutions an
exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR part 73 delineated in
Sec. Sec. 73.55(b)(4), 73.55(f), 73.55(i)(5)(vi), 73.55(b)(9),
73.55(e)(10)(ii), 73.55(h)(2), 73.55(h)(3)(i), and Appendixes B.III and
B.V.
Part of this licensing action meets the categorical exclusion
provision in 10 CFR Part 51.22(c)(25), as part of this action is an
exemption from the requirements of the Commission's regulations and (i)
There is no significant hazards consideration; (ii) there is no
significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts
of any effluents that may be released offsite; (iii) there is no
significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational
radiation exposure; (iv) there is no significant construction impact;
(v) there is no significant increase in the potential for or
consequences from radiological accidents; and (vi) the requirements
from which an exemption is sought involve safeguard plans. Therefore,
this part of the action does not require either an environmental
assessment or an environmental impact statement.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, 51.32, and 51.35, an environmental
assessment and finding of no significant impact related to part of this
exemption was published in the Federal Register on October 21, 2011 (76
FR 65541). Based upon the environmental assessment, the Commission has
determined that issuance of this exemption will not have a significant
effect on the quality of the human environment.
These exemptions are effective immediately.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of November 2011.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-29983 Filed 11-18-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P