[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61400-61401]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-24272]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0186; Docket No. 50-293; License No. DPR-35]


Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, 
Issuance of Director's Decision

    Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a 
Director's Decision on a petition filed by Pilgrim Watch (hereafter 
referred to as ``the petitioner''). The petition, dated July 19, 2010, 
as supplemented by letter dated August 6, 2010 (available as Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. 
ML102090024 and ML102210411, respectively), concerns the operation of 
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim), owned by Entergy Nuclear 
Generation Company and operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. 
(Entergy, the licensee).
    The Petitioner requested that the NRC issue a Demand for 
Information requiring Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the 
Licensee) to demonstrate that all non-environmentally qualified (non-
EQ) inaccessible cables at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim) are 
capable of performing their required function, be it safety or 
nonsafety-related. The Petitioner further requested that the NRC: (i) 
Certify that the location, age, and repair history of all cables 
(accessible and inaccessible) have been identified, (ii) ensure that 
the Licensee monitors all cables before continued operation to 
demonstrate that the cables can perform their design functions, and 
(iii) ensure that the Licensee incorporates in its monitoring program, 
at a minimum, recommendations from certain aging management guidelines 
and NRC generic guidance. The

[[Page 61401]]

Petitioner also asked that the NRC commit to verifying, during the 
license renewal period, Entergy's implementation through routine 
baseline inspections and to a timely upgrade of the regulatory guidance 
for maintaining cable qualification and the verification that the 
cables can perform their design functions.
    As the basis of the request, the Petitioner asserted, in part, the 
following concerns:
     The NRC regulations require that plant owners ensure that 
electrical wiring is qualified to perform in the environmental 
conditions experienced during normal operation and during accidents. 
Pilgrim has no program today, as required by NRC regulations, to ensure 
operability of the submerged and/or wetted wires.
     Most electrical cables at Pilgrim have been exposed to 
significant moisture over the 40 years since their initial 
construction. The wires, and possibly the connections and splices 
inside conduits, are designed to operate properly only in a dry 
environment and are not designed to operate in a moist or wet 
environment. Thus, there is no assurance that these electrical cables 
will not fail if they are wet, submerged, or previously exposed to 
moisture.
     Wires degrade with age, and the oldest wires are most 
susceptible to degradation. Pilgrim is one of the oldest operating 
commercial reactors in the country, and the majority of the conduits 
and wires at Pilgrim were installed during the initial construction. 
There are no existing methods to ensure operability, short of visual 
inspection or replacing cables with ones designed to operate in a wet 
or submerged environment.
     As identified in several pertinent sections of Pilgrim's 
license renewal application and safety evaluation report, Pilgrim's 
aging management program, for the period 2012-2032, is insufficient and 
does not provide reasonable assurance to the public. The Petitioner 
further stated that compliance with the NRC's regulations is intended 
to provide reasonable assurance that an electrical wire failure will 
neither initiate an accident nor make an accident more severe. The 
Petitioner also noted that Pilgrim has a long history of cables being 
submerged and/or wetted with no verification of the long-term 
operability that provides reasonable assurance of continued operation 
of these cables.
    The NRC sent a copy of the proposed Director's Decision to the 
petitioner and the licensee for comment on March 20, 2013. The 
Petitioner and the licensee were asked to provide comments within 30 
days on any part of the proposed Director's Decision that was 
considered to be erroneous or any issues in the petition that were not 
addressed. Comments were received from the Petitioner and are addressed 
in an attachment to the final Director's Decision.
    The Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation denied the 
petitioner's request to issue a Demand for Information to require 
Entergy to demonstrate that all inaccessible cables at Pilgrim are 
capable of performing their functions. The Office has also denied the 
Petitioner's request for the NRC to take certain actions to demonstrate 
that accessible and inaccessible cables can perform their design 
functions. These actions included requests for NRC to certify that (1) 
All cables have been identified as to their location, age, and repair 
history, (2) all cables are monitored by the Licensee prior to 
continued operation, and (3) the Licensee's monitoring program 
incorporates at a minimum, recommendations for certain aging management 
guidelines and NRC generic guidance. The NRC staff has determined that 
the Licensee's programs for cable condition monitoring and managing 
aging effects of inaccessible power cables have been adequately 
implemented, to the extent that there is reasonable assurance that 
cables subject to moisture will be adequately managed during the period 
of extended operation. The Director's Decision (DD-13-02) under part 
2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Requests for 
Action under This Subpart,'' explains the reasons for this decision. 
The complete text is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML13255A189 
for inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room located at One 
White Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland, and online in the NRC library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html.
    The NRC will file a copy of the Director's Decision with the 
Secretary of the Commission for the Commission's review in accordance 
with 10 CFR 2.206. As a provision of this regulation, the Director's 
Decision will constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days 
after the date of the Decision unless the Commission, on its own 
motion, institutes a review of the Director's Decision in that time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September 2013.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2013-24272 Filed 10-2-13; 8:45 am]
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