[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66875-66876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-27192]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-325 and 50-324; NRC-2012-0269]


Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Receipt of request for action.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is giving notice that by petition dated July 10, 2012, Mr. David 
Lochbaum (the petitioner) and two copetitioners on behalf of the North 
Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network, the Nuclear Information 
and Resource Service, and the Union of Concerned Scientists have 
requested that the NRC take action with regard to Brunswick Steam 
Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Brunswick). The petition is included in 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0269 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access information related to this document, which the NRC 
possesses and are publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0269. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number 
for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Farideh Saba, Project Manager, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1447; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 10, 2012, the petitioners requested 
that the NRC take action with regard to Brunswick. The petitioners 
request that the NRC take action in the form of an order either 
modifying the Brunswick operating licenses' technical specifications 
(as detailed in the petition) or requiring the licensee to submit 
amendment requests for these licenses.
    As the basis for this request, the petitioners stated that ``the 
current technical specifications for the Brunswick Units 1 and 2, 
reactors are based on the assumption that the sole scenario involving 
damage to irradiated fuel outside of the reactor vessel is that 
resulting from a fuel handling accident involving recently irradiated 
fuel (i.e., fuel that was within a critical reactor core within the 
past 24 hours).'' However, ``loss of water inventory from the spent 
fuel pool or sustained loss of its cooling capability can also result 
in damage to irradiated fuel. And the potential extent of that damage 
and the amount of radioactivity released from damaged fuel can be 
considerably larger than that resulting from a fuel handling 
accident.'' The petitioners stated that ``because the probability of 
spent fuel pool water inventory or cooling loss is not so low as to be 
neglected, the technical specification provisions that currently manage 
the risk from a fuel handling accident must be extended to also cover 
other credible spent fuel pool events.''
    The NRC is handling this petition pursuant to Title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 2.206 of the Commission's 
regulations. The petition has been referred to the Director of the 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR). As provided by 10 CFR 
2.206, appropriate action will be taken on this petition within a 
reasonable time. The petitioners had a recorded conference call with 
the NRR petition review board on August 15, 2012, to discuss and 
supplement the petition. A copy of the petition is available for 
inspection under ADAMS Accession No. ML12193A123. The official 
transcript of the August 15, 2012, conference call is accessible via 
ADAMS Accession No. ML12234A730.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of October, 2012.


[[Page 66876]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2012-27192 Filed 11-6-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P