[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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