[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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