[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33649]


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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0291]


Receipt of Request for Action

    Notice is hereby given that by petition dated April 13, 2011, Paul 
Gunter and Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear requested that the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action to immediately suspend 
the operating licenses of General Electric boiling water reactors with 
Mark I containments. More than 8,000 copetitioners submitted emails 
stating that they shared the concerns raised by Beyond Nuclear. Beyond 
Nuclear and the copetitioners will be referred to collectively as the 
``petitioners.''
In their petition, the petitioners request:

enforcement action to ensure that the public health and safety is 
not unduly being jeopardized by the unsafe operations at twenty one 
(21) General Electric [GE] Boiling Water Reactors [BWRs] Mark I 
units that rely upon a fundamentally flawed combination of free 
standing steel primary containments for their pressure suppression 
containment system, the installation of the ``hardened vent 
system,'' or not, and an additional three (3) Mark I units for a 
total of twenty four (24) units which rely upon used radioactive 
fuel storage pools (also known as ``spent fuel pools'' elevated to 
the top [of] the reactor building outside and above the rated 
containment structure without safety-related back-up electric power 
(Class 1 E) systems to cool high-density storage of thermally hot 
and highly radioactive nuclear waste in the event of loss of grid 
power.

    This request is being reviewed pursuant to the NRC's regulation at 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 2.206. The request 
has been referred to the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation. As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, appropriate action will be 
taken on this petition within a reasonable time. An NRC Petition Review 
Board (PRB) held public meetings with the petitioners on June 8, 2011, 
and October 7, 2011, during which the petitioners supplemented and 
clarified the requested actions and bases for their petition. The 
results of those discussions were considered in the PRB's determination 
regarding the petitioners' request for immediate action and in 
establishing the schedule for the review of the petition.
    By letter dated December 13, 2011, the Director of the NRC's Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation denied the petitioners' request to 
immediately suspend the operating licenses of General Electric boiling 
water reactors with Mark I containments. Although the Director denied 
the petitioners' request for immediate action, the Director nonetheless 
accepted their petition for review in part. The Director's findings 
regarding each of the requested actions and bases for the petition can 
be found in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) at Accession No. ML11339A078, ``Table Summarizing Each Issue 
for 2.206 Criteria,'' included in his December 13, 2011 letter. ADAMS 
may be accessed through the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    Copies of the petition and the transcripts from the June 8, 2011 
and October 7, 2011 public meetings can be found in ADAMS at Accession 
Nos. ML11104A058 (petition), ML11167A114 (June 8, 2011 meeting) and 
ML11292A162 (October 7, 2011 meeting). Copies of these documents are 
also available for inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room 
(PDR). The PDR is located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 
F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
    Any additional publicly available documents created or received at 
the NRC will be accessible electronically through ADAMS. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who have difficulty accessing documents in 
ADAMS should contact the NRC's PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-
(800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by email to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of December 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bruce A. Boger,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-33649 Filed 12-30-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P