[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 7 (Friday, January 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1900-1901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00249]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2014-0002]
Emergency Planning Exemption Requests for Decommissioning Nuclear
Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) NSIR/DPR-ISG-
02, ``Emergency Planning Exemption Requests for Decommissioning Nuclear
Power Plants.'' This document would provide guidance for NRC staff to
ensure clear and consistent reviews of requests for exemptions from
emergency preparedness regulations and license amendments for defueled
station emergency plans submitted by nuclear power plant licensees
after permanent cessation of plant operations. Nuclear power plants
that have ceased operating and are permanently defueled provide less
risk of radiological releases than operating nuclear power plants.
Licensees of these decommissioning plants have historically submitted
exemption requests based on this lower risk. The ISG also could be used
by nuclear power plant licensees when drafting these exemption
requests.
DATES: Submit comments by March 11, 2014. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comment by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0002. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules,
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
For additional direction on accessing information and submitting
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Wasem, telephone: 301-287-
3793, email: [email protected] or Michael Norris, telephone: 301-
287-3754, email: [email protected]. Both of the Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0002 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
access publicly-available information related to this action by the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0002.
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. In addition, for the convenience of the reader, the
[[Page 1901]]
ADAMS accession numbers are provided in a table in the section of this
notice entitled, Availability of Documents.
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.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0002 in the subject line of your
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.
II. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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ADAMS Accession No./web link/
Document Federal Register citation
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Draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) NSIR/ ADAMS Accession No.
DPR-ISG-02, ``Emergency Planning ML13304B442.
Exemption Requests for Decommissioning
Nuclear Power Plants''.
NUREG-1738 ``Technical Study of Spent Fuel ADAMS Accession No.
Pool Accident Risk at Decommissioning ML010430066.
Nuclear Power Plants''.
Draft Report, ``Consequence Study of a ADAMS Accession No.
Beyond-Design-Basis Earthquake Affecting ML13133A132.
the Spent Fuel Pool for a U.S. Mark I
Boiling Water Reactor''.
SECY-00-0145, ``Integrated Rulemaking Plan ADAMS Accession No.
for Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning''. ML003721626.
NUREG/CR-6451, ``A Safety and Regulatory ADAMS Accession No.
Assessment of Generic BWR and PWR ML082260098.
Permanently Shutdown Nuclear Power
Plants''.
NUREG-1864, ``A Pilot Probabilistic Risk ADAMS Accession No.
Assessment of a Dry Cask Storage System ML071340012.
at a Nuclear Power Plant''.
Memorandum dated August 16, 2002, ``Status ADAMS Accession No.
of Regulatory Exemptions for ML030550706.
Decommissioning Plants''.
SECY-97-120, ``Rulemaking Plan for http://www.nrc.gov/reading-
Emergency Planning Requirements for rm/doc-collections/
Permanently Shutdown Nuclear Power Plant commission/secys/1997/
Sites''. secy1997-120/1997-
120scy.pdf.
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III. Background
Currently, licensees of permanently defueled nuclear power plant
sites are required to maintain emergency plans meeting the same
requirements as emergency plans for operating nuclear power plants. The
NRC recognizes that in the plant's permanently defueled condition, the
risk of a radiation release to the public is much less than the risk of
a release from an operating plant and the consequences of a release
are, in most cases, significantly less than that of an operating
reactor. Rulemaking to address these differences, along with security
and insurance considerations was considered in the 1990's. The events
of September 11, 2001, and the fact that no plants were thought to be
entering decommissioning in the immediate future led the NRC to suspend
rulemaking activities. Licensees have historically used the exemption
process to decrease the burden of maintaining required parts of
emergency plans that are no longer necessary to contribute to the
safety of workers or the public. This ISG consolidates findings from
previous exemption request reviews and informs the justifications for
approving exemptions with the results of more recent and complete
studies. Use of this ISG should result in consistent and timely reviews
of requests for exemption from certain emergency preparedness
regulations.
The NRC staff is issuing this notice to solicit public comments on
the proposed NSIR/DPR-ISG-02. After the NRC considers any public
comments, it will issue a Federal Register notice making a
determination regarding a final NSIR/DPR-ISG-02.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of December, 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Lewis,
Director, Division of Preparedness and Response, Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response.
[FR Doc. 2014-00249 Filed 1-9-14; 8:45 am]
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