[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 231 (Wednesday, December 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75480-75483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30536]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-016; NRC-2008-0066]


Dominion Virginia Power Combined License Application for North 
Anna, Unit 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Exemption; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
exemption in a response to a September 23, 2015, letter from Dominion 
Virginia Power (Dominion or applicant), which requested an exemption 
from the requirement to submit an annual update of the Final Safety 
Analysis Report (FSAR) included in Dominion's Combined License (COL) 
application for calendar year 2015. The NRC staff reviewed this request 
and determined that it is appropriate to grant the exemption based on 
the schedule for completion of the applicant's seismic closure plan 
(SCP) submitted on October 22, 2014, which outlined a revised approach 
to performing certain aspects of the seismic analysis for the North 
Anna 3 COL application (COLA) as well as use of the most current NRC-
approved ground motion model.

DATES: The effective date of the Dominion FSAR exemption issuance is 
December 2, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0066 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-2008-0066. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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

[[Page 75481]]

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 document (if that document is available in 
ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced.
     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: James Shea, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-1388; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    By letter dated November 26, 2007 (ADAMS accession number 
ML073320913), Dominion submitted its application to the NRC for a COL 
to construct and operate a General Electric-Hitachi Economic Simplified 
Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR) at North Anna Power Station (North Anna), 
Unit 3 site pursuant to part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for 
Nuclear Power Plants.'' By letter dated June 28, 2010, Dominion revised 
its application to incorporate by reference the Mitsubishi Heavy 
Industries, Ltd. United States-Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor 
technology to construct and operate at the North Anna, Unit 3 site.
    On August 23, 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred near 
Mineral, Virginia, which is approximately 11 miles from the North Anna 
Unit 3 site. In view of the earthquake, the NRC staff requested 
additional analysis of the proposed reactor design to verify that the 
design, if built at the North Anna site, would satisfy the requirements 
of 10 CFR part 50, Appendix A, ``General Design Criteria,'' Criterion 
2, ``Design Bases for Protection Against Natural Phenomena,'' and 10 
CFR part 50, Appendix S, ``Earthquake Engineering Criteria for Nuclear 
Power Plants.'' During the applicant's seismic evaluation, the NRC 
staff had requests for additional information and had held public 
meetings with the applicant to provide staff feedback on the North Anna 
3 site seismic analyses.
    By letter dated April 25, 2013, Dominion notified the NRC staff 
that it planned to revert back to ESBWR reactor technology for its 
North Anna Unit 3 COLA. Dominion then submitted a revised application 
that incorporated by reference the ESBWR Design Control Document (DCD), 
Revision 9, by letter dated December 18, 2013. After meeting with the 
NRC staff in 2014 and performing seismic sensitivity analyses, Dominion 
modified its site-specific seismic analyses approach intended to 
simplify it and make it more consistent with the seismic analyses 
presented in the ESBWR DCD. Therefore, in its SCP submitted on October 
22, 2014 (ADAMS accession number ML14297A199), Dominion outlined a 
schedule for completing all technical reports, analyses, and COLA 
changes needed to address seismic issues by December 31, 2015.

II. Request/Action

    The regulations specified in 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) require that 
an applicant for a COL under 10 CFR part 52 shall, during the period 
from docketing of a COL application until the NRC makes a finding under 
10 CFR 52.103(g) pertaining to facility operation, submit an annual 
update to the application's FSAR, which is a part of the application.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii), the next annual update of the 
North Anna, Unit 3, COL application FSAR would be due on or before 
December 31, 2015. By letter to the NRC dated September 23, 2015, 
Dominion requested a one-time exemption from the 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii) requirement to submit the scheduled 2015 COL 
application FSAR update, and proposed a new submission deadline of June 
30, 2016, for the next FSAR update (ADAMS Accession Number 
ML15268A039). Dominion then proposes to submit the next annual FSAR 
update required by 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3) in 2017.
    Dominion's requested exemption is a one-time schedule change from 
the requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption, as 
requested, would allow Dominion to submit the next FSAR update no later 
than June 30, 2016. Dominion states that the FSAR, if submitted as 
requested, would include all the FSAR changes based on the Dominion SCP 
to allow a more efficient and effective submittal of an updated FSAR 
reflecting all changes associated with the site-specific seismic 
analyses.

III. Discussion

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the NRC may, upon application by any 
interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the 
requirements of 10 CFR part 50, including section 50.71(e)(3)(iii) 
when: (1) The exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an 
undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the 
common defense and security; and (2) special circumstances are present. 
As relevant to the requested exemption, special circumstances exist if: 
(1) ``Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances 
would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary 
to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); or (2) ``The exemption would provide only temporary 
relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee or applicant has 
made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(v)).
    The review of the North Anna, Unit 3, ESBWR COL application has 
been ongoing since Dominion submitted the revised COL application dated 
December 18, 2013. The technical issues currently under consideration 
by the NRC staff are primarily associated with the revised North Anna, 
Unit 3 seismic analyses, which Dominion has been addressing since it 
submitted the revised COL application, as described in detail in the 
2014 SCP. According to the SCP, in December 2015, Dominion is scheduled 
to submit to the NRC technical reports and COL application markups that 
incorporate the results of analyses of seismic design capacities of 
certain structures, systems, and components. In addition, during the 
week of September 28, 2015, the NRC staff completed an audit associated 
with the proposed North Anna, Unit 3 site-specific seismic issues. The 
NRC staff plans to conduct a second audit in the first or second 
quarter of 2016 relating to the capacities of the systems structures 
and components to withstand the site-specific seismic ground motion. 
Therefore, the NRC staff may identify additional requests for 
information regarding seismic issues in the course of its review 
through the end of December 2015; as a result of the technical reports 
and COL application markups due to be submitted in December 2015; and 
as a result of the second technical audit planned for spring 2016. The 
COL application markups due in December 2015, together with any NRC 
staff requests for additional information, will likely result in the 
need to change the FSAR. These changes could not be completed before 
the current FSAR update is due at the end of calendar year 2015.

[[Page 75482]]

Authorized by Law

    The exemption is a one-time schedule exemption from the 
requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). The exemption, as requested, 
would allow Dominion to submit the next North Anna, Unit 3, COL 
application FSAR update on or before June 30, 2016, in lieu of the 
required scheduled submittal on or before December 31, 2015. As stated 
above, 10 CFR 50.12 allows the NRC to grant such an exemption. The NRC 
staff has determined that granting Dominion a one-time exemption from 
the requirements of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) with updates to the FSAR to 
be submitted on or before June 30, 2016, will provide only temporary 
relief from this regulation and will not result in a violation of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or NRC regulations. Therefore, 
the exemption is authorized by law.

No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety

    The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) is to provide for 
a timely and comprehensive update of the FSAR associated with a COL 
application in order to support an effective and efficient review by 
the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC staff's safety evaluation report. 
The requested exemption is solely administrative in nature, in that it 
pertains to the schedule for submission to the NRC of revisions to an 
application under 10 CFR part 52, for which a license has not been 
granted. Based on the nature of the requested exemption as described 
above, no new accident precursors are created by the exemption; thus, 
neither the probability, nor the consequences of postulated accidents 
are increased. Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and 
safety.

Consistent With Common Defense and Security

    The exemption would allow Dominion to submit the next FSAR update 
prior to final North Anna, Unit 3 NRC staff safety evaluation. This 
schedule change has no relation to security issues. Therefore, the 
common defense and security is not impacted by this exemption.

Special Circumstances

    Special circumstances, in accordance with 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), are 
present whenever: (1) Application of the regulation in the particular 
circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is 
not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule'' (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii)); or (2) The exemption would provide only temporary 
relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee or applicant has 
made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation (10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(v)).
    The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) in the context of 
a COL application is to provide for a timely and comprehensive update 
of the FSAR associated with a COL application in order to support an 
effective and efficient review by the NRC staff and issuance of the NRC 
staff's safety evaluation report. As discussed above, the requested 
one-time exemption is solely administrative in nature, in that it 
pertains to a one-time schedule change for submittal of revisions to an 
application under 10 CFR part 52, for which a license has not been 
granted. In addition, since the remaining review of the application 
primarily relates to the issues discussed in the Dominion SCP, there 
will not likely be any significant FSAR updates until the elements of 
the SCP and the NRC staff seismic audits are completed. Completion of 
the SCP (through submission of technical reports and COL application 
markups) in December 2015 and the additional information submitted as a 
result of NRC staff audits scheduled for spring of 2016 cannot be 
reflected in a December 2015 FSAR update, but will be reflected in an 
FSAR update scheduled for June 2016. At that time, the revised FSAR 
update submitted by Dominion will be reviewed by the NRC to confirm 
that COL markups and changes identified in requests for additional 
information responses will be reflected in the FSAR prior to completion 
of the final North Anna, Unit 3 NRC staff safety evaluation. The 
requested one-time exemption would permit Dominion time to submit all 
the necessary technical information for NRC staff review and the 
updated COL markups associated with the revised North Anna, Unit 3, 
seismic analyses in accordance with the submitted Dominion SCP. The NRC 
staff has determined that this one-time exemption will support the 
staff's effective and efficient review of the COL application, as well 
as issuance of the safety evaluation report, and, therefore, submission 
of an FSAR update in December 2015 is not necessary to achieve the 
underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii). Accordingly, the NRC 
staff finds that special circumstances are present under 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii) in connection with Dominion's requested exemption.
    Further, the NRC staff finds that granting a one-time exemption 
from 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) would provide only temporary relief, since 
Dominion would update the FSAR in June 2016. The 2014 Dominion SCP 
outlined the approach to meet NRC regulatory requirements and address 
requests for additional information as a result of NRC staff technical 
review. Under the Dominion SCP for the proposed North Anna, Unit 3, 
technical reports and analyses have been submitted as they have been 
completed to date, and two sets of COLA markups (the first revising 
geotechnical information and the second incorporating the results of 
soil-structure interaction analyses, structure-soil-structure 
interaction analyses, and stability analyses) have been completed and 
submitted for NRC staff review. As described in the Dominion SCP, the 
last technical reports and a third set of COLA markups, which 
incorporate the results of the analyses of the design capacities of 
certain structures, systems, and components (SSCs), are scheduled in 
the SCP to be submitted in December 2015. Accordingly, the NRC staff 
finds that Dominion has made good faith efforts to comply with the 
regulation, and the special circumstances defined by 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(v) are present.
    Therefore, the special circumstances required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) 
for the granting of an exemption from 10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii) exist.

Eligibility for Categorical Exclusion From Environmental Review

    With respect to the exemption's impact on the quality of the human 
environment, the NRC has determined that this specific exemption 
request is eligible for categorical exclusion as identified in 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(25). Under 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25), granting of an exemption from 
the requirements of any regulation of 10 CFR Chapter 1 (which includes 
10 CFR 50.71(e)(3)(iii)) is an action that is a categorical exclusion, 
provided that:
    (i) There is no significant hazards consideration;
    (ii) There is no significant change in the types or significant 
increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be released offsite;
    (iii) There is no significant increase in individual or cumulative 
public or occupational radiation exposure;
    (iv) There is no significant construction impact;
    (v) There is no significant increase in the potential for or 
consequences from radiological accidents; and
    (vi) The requirements from which an exemption is sought involve:
    (A) Recordkeeping requirements;
    (B) Reporting requirements;
    (C) Inspection or surveillance requirements;
    (D) Equipment servicing or maintenance scheduling requirements;

[[Page 75483]]

    (E) Education, training, experience, qualification, requalification 
or other employment suitability requirements;
    (F) Safeguard plans, and materials control and accounting inventory 
scheduling requirements;
    (G) Scheduling requirements;
    (H) Surety, insurance or indemnity requirements; or
    (I) Other requirements of an administrative, managerial, or 
organizational nature.
    The requirements from which this exemption is sought involve only 
``(B) Reporting requirements'' or ``(G) Scheduling requirements'' of 
those required by 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi).
    The NRC staff's determination that each of the applicable criteria 
for this categorical exclusion is met as follows:
    I. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(i): There is no significant hazards 
consideration.
    Staff Analysis: The criteria for determining if an exemption 
involves a significant hazards consideration are found in 10 CFR 50.92. 
The proposed action involves only a schedule change regarding the 
submission of an update to the application for which the licensing 
review is ongoing. Therefore, there is no significant hazard 
consideration because granting the proposed exemption would not:
    (1) Involve a significant increase in the probability or 
consequences of an accident previously evaluated; or
    (2) Create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident 
from any accident previously evaluated; or
    (3) Involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety.
    II. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(ii): There is no significant change in the 
types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may 
be released offsite.
    Staff Analysis: The proposed action involves only a schedule 
change, which is administrative in nature, and does not involve any 
changes in the types or significant increase in the amounts of 
effluents that may be released offsite.
    III. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(iii): There is no significant increase in 
individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure.
    Staff Analysis: Since the proposed action involves only a schedule 
change, which is administrative in nature, it does not contribute to 
any significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure.
    IV. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(iv): There is no significant construction 
impact.
    Staff Analysis: The proposed action involves only a schedule 
change, which is administrative in nature. The NRC has not granted the 
COL application, and the requested exemption will not allow 
construction at the North Anna site; therefore, the proposed action 
does not involve any construction impact.
    V. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(v): There is no significant increase in the 
potential for or consequences from radiological accidents.
    Staff Analysis: The proposed action involves only a schedule change 
which is administrative in nature and does not impact the probability 
or consequences of accidents.
    VI. 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi): The requirements from which this 
exemption is sought involve only ``(B) Reporting requirements'' or 
``(G) Scheduling requirements.''
    Staff Analysis: The exemption request involves requirements in both 
of these categories because it involves submitting an updated FSAR by 
Dominion, and also relates to the schedule for submitting FSAR updates 
to the NRC.
    Accordingly, Dominion's exemption requests satisfies the criteria 
of 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25) for categorical exclusion from environmental 
review, and the granting of this exemption will not have a significant 
effect on the quality of the human environment.

IV. Conclusion

    The NRC has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the 
exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the 
public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and 
security. Also, special circumstances as described in 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii) and (v) are present. Therefore, the NRC hereby grants 
Dominion a one-time exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 
50.71(e)(3)(iii) pertaining to the North Anna, Unit 3, COL application 
to allow submission of the next North Anna 3 FSAR update no later than 
June 30, 2016.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22, the NRC has determined that the exemption 
request meets the applicable categorical exclusion criteria set forth 
in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25), and the granting of this exemption will not 
have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment.
    This exemption is effective upon issuance.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day November 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Francis M. Akstulewicz,
Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-30536 Filed 12-1-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P