[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 214 (Wednesday, November 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65729-65730]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26308]
[[Page 65729]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-333; NRC-2014-0034]
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear
Power Plant
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Director's Decision under 10 CFR 2.206; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a
director's decision with regard to a petition dated July 25, 2013, as
supplemented on November 13, 2013, filed by Mr. David Lochbaum, (the
petitioner), on behalf of Alliance for Green Economy, Beyond Nuclear,
Citizens Awareness Network, and Union of Concerned Scientists,
requesting that the NRC take action with regard to concerns with the
operation of James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant (FitzPatrick),
owned by Entergy Nuclear Generation Company and operated by Entergy
Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy, the licensee). The petitioner's
requests and the director's decision are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0034 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0034. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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]. For
the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided
in a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this
document.
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mohan Thadani, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1476, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Director,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has issued a director's decision
(ADAMS Accession No. ML14247A306) on a petition filed by the petitioner
on July 25, 2013, (ADAMS Accession No. ML13217A061). The petition was
supplemented by letter dated November 13, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML13347B133). The petitioner requested that the NRC take enforcement
action by imposing a regulatory requirement that all the condenser
tubes be replaced at FitzPatrick prior to the reactor restarting from
its fall 2014 refueling outage.
On November 13, 2013, the petitioner and the licensee met with the
NRC's Petition Review Board. The meeting provided the petitioner and
the licensee an opportunity to provide additional information and to
clarify issues cited in the petition. The transcript for that meeting
is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14036A234.
As a basis of the request, the petitioners asserted that
FitzPatrick is experiencing abnormally high occurrences of condenser
tube failures. To repair these leaks, Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc.
(Entergy) routinely reduces power, makes the repairs needed, and
returns to full power. The petitioners state that these power
excursions constitute a risk to public health and safety. The NRC's
Reactor Oversight Process also recognizes the elevated risk associated
with unplanned power changes.
The petitioner also asserts that operating experience indicates
that condenser-tube leaks have contaminated the reactor coolant water
with impurities from the condenser cooling water and have caused
extensive damage to nuclear power plant components. Appendix B,
``Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel
Reprocessing Plants,'' to part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities'' (see http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part050/part050-appb.html), requires that plant owners
develop and maintain quality-assurance programs.
The NRC observed that Entergy did not properly consider
FitzPatrick's operating history, specifically the 4 years of outages,
when projecting the expected condenser-tube life. Consequently, Entergy
did not properly plan and design for condenser tube replacement before
tube leakage, which has necessitated frequent downpowers for repair.
Corrective actions include condenser-tube sleeving during the fall 2012
refueling outage and a planned complete replacement of all condenser
tubes in the fall 2014 refueling outage.
The NRC sent a copy of the Proposed Director's Decision to the
petitioner and the licensee for comments on June 27, 2014. 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 has
determined that the request, to require the NRC to issue an Order
requiring the licensee to replace all the condenser tubes prior to
restart from FitzPatrick's fall 2014 refueling outage, be denied. The
reasons for this decision are explained in the director's decision
dated October 17, 2014, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of the Commission's
regulations.
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 provided by 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.
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.
[[Page 65730]]
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Document ADAMS Accession No./web link/Federal Register citation
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G20130561--David Lochbaum E-mail re Tanya ML13217A061, July 25, 2013.
Mensah, NRR, Merrilee Banic, NRR; Andrea
Russell, NRR, David Pelton, NRR; Mary Spencer;
OGC.
2013/12/12 NRR E-mail Capture--Attached please ML14036A234, November 13, 2013.
find the transcript for PRB telecon with
petitioner Lochbaum ``10 CFR 2.206 Petition
Review Board re: Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power
Plant'' dated November 13, 2013.
G20130561--James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power ML14034A028 and ML14034A071, February 12, 2014.
Plant--Petition Pursuant to Section 2.206 of
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(Acknowledgement Letter and Federal Register
Notice).
IR 05000333-14-007; 01/20/2014--01/24/2014; ML14133A051, May 12, 2014.
James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant
(FitzPatrick); Supplemental Inspection--
Inspection Procedure (IP) 95001.
G20130561--James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power ML13217A059.
Plant--Petition Pursuant to Section 2.206 of
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
G20130561--Letter to Licensee Re: David Lochbaum ML14127A323, June 27, 2014.
ltr dtd 07/25/13 Concerning the 2.206 Petition
on the Recurring Condenser Tube Leaks at the
James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant (TAC
No. MF2521).
G20130561--Letter to Petitioner Re: David ML14127A335, June 27, 2014.
Lochbaum Ltr dtd 07/25/13 Concerning the 2.206
Petition on the Recurring Condenser Tube Leaks
at the James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant
(TAC No. MF2521).
G20130561--2.206 Proposed Director's Decision ML14127A338, June 27, 2014.
Re: David Lochbaum Ltr dtd 07/25/13 Concerning
the Recurring Condenser Tube Leaks at the James
A Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant (TAC No.
MF2521).
2014/07/09 NRR E-mail Capture--Comments on Draft ML14251A270, July 09, 2014.
Director's Decision on FitzPatrick. (From
Petitioner).
James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant-- ML14204A819, July 23, 2014.
Comments to Proposed Director's Decision Under
10 CFR 2.206. (From Licensee).
Letter to David Lochbaum: Response to petition ML14247A311.
filed on July 25, 2013.
Final Director's Decision: Petition filed on ML14247A306.
July 25, 2013.
James A. FitzPatrick Final Federal Register ML14303A178.
Notice--Issuance of Director's Decision 2.206
Petition Re: Condenser Tubes.
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Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of October 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William M. Dean,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2014-26308 Filed 11-4-14; 8:45 am]
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