[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39019-39020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15524]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-285, NRC-2013-0111]


Omaha Public Power District, Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Request for action; receipt.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice 
that by petition dated June 21, 2012, Mr. Wallace Taylor (the 
petitioner) has requested that the NRC take enforcement action against 
Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 (FCS). The petitioner's requests are 
included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0111 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 is publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0111. 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 document (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.

[[Page 39020]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 21, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML11174A228), the petitioner requested that the NRC take enforcement 
action with regard to FCS. The petitioner also met with the Petition 
Review Board (PRB) and supplemented its petition during a 
teleconference on August 27 and November 19, 2012 (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML12250A714, and ML12352A279, respectively). As a basis for the 
request, the petitioner states that the NRC's own guidelines regarding 
enforcement sanctions would categorize the events at FCS over the past 
20 years at Severity Level I, the highest level, because those events 
involve (1) Situations involving particularly poor licensee 
performance, or involving willfulness; (2) situations when the 
violation results in a substantial increase in risk, including cases in 
which the duration of the violation has contributed to the substantial 
increase; and (3) situations in which the licensee made a conscious 
decision to be in noncompliance to obtain an economic benefit (63 FR 
26630-01, 26642; May 13, 1998). The petitioner states that the NRC 
considers these violations to be of significant concern, and it may 
apply its full enforcement action to remedy these violations, including 
issuing appropriate orders. Id. The petitioner provided supplemental 
information in support of the petition and states that (1) A support 
beam was found that was not within allowable limits for stress and 
loading; (2) given Exelon's long history of deliberate misconduct and 
willful violations at its various nuclear plants around the United 
States, day-to-day management of FCS by Exelon is likely to worsen FCS' 
performance rather than improve it; (3) the flooding hazard at Fort 
Calhoun greatly exceeds its flooding protection measures at this time; 
(4) FCS' risk of flooding from each of the six upstream dams has not 
been evaluated or resolved; and (5) the identification of 614 primary 
reactor containment electrical penetration seals containing Teflon that 
could degrade during design-basis accident conditions.
    The request is being treated pursuant to Sec.  2.206 of Title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Requests for Action under This 
Subpart,'' of the Commission's regulations. The request has been 
referred to the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 
(NRR). As provided by Sec.  2.206, appropriate action will be taken on 
this petition within a reasonable time. The petitioner requested an 
opportunity to address the NRR Petition Review Board (PRB). The PRB 
held recorded teleconferences with the petitioner during which the 
petitioner supplemented and clarified the petition. The PRB considered 
results of those discussions in its determination regarding the 
petitioner's request. As a result, the PRB acknowledged the 
petitioner's concerns about containment internal structures, electrical 
penetrations, and upstream dam failures. The NRC is currently reviewing 
the issues above related to containment internal structures, electrical 
penetrations, and upstream dam failures. Both the containment internal 
structures and electrical penetrations issues have been identified as 
issues that must be resolved before restart of the facility and have 
been added to the confirmatory action letter (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13057A287). Additionally, the PRB noted that natural disasters, such 
as flooding, are undergoing NRC review as part of the lessons learned 
from the Fukushima Dai-ichi event in Japan. The NRC staff is evaluating 
the effect of multiple upstream dam failures as a part of the Fukushima 
Dai-ichi reviews, as well as other processes. The PRB intends to use 
the results of the aforementioned reviews to inform its final decision 
on whether to implement the requested actions.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of June 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jennifer L. Uhle,
Deputy Director, Reactor Safety Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2013-15524 Filed 6-27-13; 8:45 am]
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