[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 160 (Thursday, August 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55237-55240]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19730]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 52-027 and 52-028; NRC-2008-0441]
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company and South Carolina Public
Service Authority; Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Exemption; issuance.
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SUMMARY: South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) and South
Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) are the holders of
Combined License (COL) Nos. NPF-93 and NPF-94, which authorize the
construction and operation of Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Units 2
and 3 (VCSNS 2 & 3), respectively.\1\ The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption from the requirement that
applicants for an operator license at VCSNS 2 & 3 provide evidence that
the applicant, as a trainee, has successfully manipulated the controls
of either the facility for which the license is sought or a plant-
referenced simulator (PRS). Applicants will instead use a Commission-
approved simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3.
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\1\ SCE&G is authorized by the VCSNS Owners to exercise
responsibility and control over the physical construction,
operation, and maintenance of the facility, and will be referred to
as ``facility licensee.''
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DATES: This exemption is effective as of August 18, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0441 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-2008-0441. 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 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 (if that document
is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced. The facility licensee's Commission-Approved Simulation
Facility application and exemption request was submitted to the NRC by
letters dated April 21, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16112A256) and June
8, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16161A030), respectively.
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: Paul Kallan, Office of New Reactors,
U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-2809; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 comprises two AP1000 full
scope simulators, which are designated ``2A'' and ``2B''. Both
simulators are referenced to VCSNS Unit 2 and are intended to be
maintained functionally identical. The simulators are licensed to
conform to the requirements of ANSI/ANS-3.5-1998, ``Nuclear Power Plant
Simulation Facilities for Use in Operator Training and License
Examination,'' as endorsed by Revision 3 of NRC Regulatory Guide 1.149,
``Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Facilities for Use in Operator
Training and License Examinations.''
On August 3, 2016, the Commission-approved the simulation facility
under Sec. 55.46(b) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR) for use in the administration of operating tests after finding
that the simulation facility and its proposed use are suitable for the
conduct of operating tests for the facility licensee's reference plant
under 10 CFR 55.45(a). The safety evaluation is available in ADAMS
under Accession No. ML16203A116.
II. Request/Action
Section 55.31(a)(5) states that to apply for an operator's or
senior operator's license the applicant shall provide evidence that the
applicant, as a trainee, has successfully manipulated the controls of
either the facility for which a license is sought or a PRS that meets
the requirements of 10 CFR 55.46(c). However, the VCSNS 2 & 3
simulators have not yet been found to meet the NRC's requirements for
PRSs at 10 CFR 55.46(c) because the design activities required by the
AP1000 design certification to establish the human factors engineering
design for the main control room are incomplete.
The SCE&G requested an exemption from 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5) on June 8,
2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16161A030), requesting that the Commission-
approved simulation facility be approved in lieu of a PRS for the
performance of significant control manipulations. The Commission has
determined that an exemption is warranted from the requirement in 10
CFR 55.31(a)(5) that the applicant for a VCSNS 2 & 3 operator's license
use a PRS or the facility to provide evidence of having successfully
manipulated the controls of the facility. In lieu of that requirement,
the Commission will accept evidence that the applicant, as a trainee,
has successfully manipulated the controls of the VCSNS 2 & 3
Commission-approved simulation facility meeting the requirements of 10
CFR 55.46(b).
The staff's evaluation of this action follows.
III. Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 55.11, the Commission may, upon application by
an interested person, or upon its own
[[Page 55238]]
initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR part 55 as
it determines are (1) authorized by law, (2) will not endanger life or
property, and (3) are otherwise in the public interest.
1. The exemption is authorized by law.
Exemptions are authorized by law where they are not expressly
prohibited by statute or regulation. A proposed exemption is implicitly
``authorized by law'' if all of the conditions listed therein are met
(i.e., will not endanger life or property and is otherwise in the
public interest) and no other provision prohibits, or otherwise
restricts, its application. As discussed in this section of the
evaluation, no provisions in law restrict or prohibit an exemption to
the requirements concerning control manipulations.
The regulations in 10 CFR part 55 implement Section 107 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA), which sets requirements
upon the Commission concerning operators' licenses and states, in part,
that the Commission shall (1) ``prescribe uniform conditions for
licensing individuals as operators of any of the various classes of . .
. utilization facilities licensed'' by the NRC and (2) ``determine the
qualifications of such individuals.''
These requirements in the AEA do not expressly prohibit exemptions
to the portion of 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5) that requires the use of a PRS or
the facility for control manipulations. Further, as explained below,
the exemption has little impact on the uniformity of licensing
conditions, and little impact on the determinations of qualifications.
In a letter from Ronald A. Jones, Vice President, New Nuclear
Operations, SCE&G to the NRC dated April 21, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML16112A256), the facility licensee requested Commission approval of
the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 to support the administration
of operator licensing examinations.
The staff's evaluation of the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3
concluded that the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 provides the
necessary reactor physics, thermal hydraulic, and integrated system
modeling of the reference plant (i.e., the AP1000 plant as described in
the design certification) necessary to perform operator license
examinations. This modeling includes the predicted core performance
instead of the most recent core load. Because VCSNS 2 & 3 is under
construction, plant experience from the most recent core load is not
available. Predicted core performance is acceptable because operating
experience with core design has demonstrated that the reactor physics
and thermal hydraulic characteristics associated with a core design can
be accurately predicted. As described in the staff's evaluation of the
simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3, simulator performance testing has
demonstrated that the core performance predictions have been accurately
modeled.
The staff's evaluation of the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3
concluded that the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 is capable of
providing a wide range of scenarios that address the 13 items in 10 CFR
55.45(a) without procedural exceptions, simulator performance
exceptions, or deviation from the approved examination scenario
sequence. Control manipulations are a subset of actions included in
these scenarios and have a defined scope that is significantly less
than an examination scenario. Because of the reduced scope, the
presence of existing simulator discrepancies in any training scenarios
that provide applicants with the opportunity to provide the required
control manipulations is even less likely as compared to operating
tests. Therefore, there exists a large variety of control manipulations
that can be completed without procedural exceptions, simulator
performance exceptions, or deviation from the approved training
scenario sequence.
Further, the conditions under which the applicants are licensed
will be essentially unchanged, and the usage of the VCSNS 2 & 3
Commission-approved simulation facility in place of a PRS will not
significantly change how the Commission determines the qualifications
of applicants. Under the exemption, 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5) will continue to
require the applicant to perform, at a minimum, five significant
control manipulations that affect reactivity or power level.
For purposes of control manipulations, the staff has already
determined in its safety evaluation documenting Commission-approval of
the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML16203A116) that the facility sufficiently models the systems of the
reference plant, including the operating consoles, and permits use of
the reference plant's procedures. Facility licensees that propose to
use a PRS to meet the control manipulation requirements in 10 CFR
55.31(a)(5) must ensure that:
(i) The plant-referenced simulator utilizes models relating to
nuclear and thermal-hydraulic characteristics that replicate the
most recent core load in the nuclear power reference plant for which
a license is being sought; and
(ii) Simulator fidelity has been demonstrated so that
significant control manipulations are completed without procedural
exceptions, simulator performance exceptions, or deviation from the
approved training scenario sequence.
In its safety evaluation documenting Commission approval of the VCSNS 2
& 3 simulation facility, the staff found that the VCSNS 2 & 3
Commission-approved simulation facility meets these criteria and,
therefore, is equivalent to a PRS with respect to performing control
manipulations. Thus, the simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 is an
acceptable simulation facility for meeting the experience requirements
in 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5).
Accordingly, because a PRS and the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved
simulation facility are essentially the same with respect to control
manipulations, an exemption from 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5) allowing the use of
the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility in lieu of a
PRS or the facility for control manipulations will still satisfy the
applicable statutory requirements of the AEA that the Commission
prescribe uniform conditions for licensing individuals as operators and
determine the qualifications of operators.
The acceptability of the VCSNS 2 & 3 simulation facility with
respect to the significant control manipulations required by 10 CFR
55.31(a)(5) is additionally assured by the fact that SCE&G performs
scenario-based testing (SBT) for scenarios used to satisfy the control
manipulation requirement. To ensure that simulator discrepancies and/or
procedure issues do not affect control manipulations, SCE&G, as a
standard practice in accordance with its licensing basis, implements
SBT in accordance with Revision 1 of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 09-
09, ``Nuclear Power Plant-Referenced Simulator Scenario Based Testing
Methodology.'' \2\ The NRC staff endorsed NEI 09-09 in Regulatory Guide
1.149, Revision 4. NEI 09-09 describes SBT as follows:
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\2\ By letter dated April 21, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML16112A256), SCE&G stated that it conforms to Revision 1 of NEI 09-
09.
Key to the SBT Methodology is parallel testing and evaluation of
simulator performance while instructors validate simulator training
and evaluation scenarios. As instructors validate satisfactory
completion of training or evaluation objectives, procedure steps and
scenario content, they are also ensuring satisfactory simulator
performance in parallel, not series, making the process an
``online'' method of evaluating simulator performance. Also critical
is the assembly of the SBT package--the collection of a marked-up
scenario,
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appropriate procedures, monitored parameters, an alarm summary and
an affirmation checklist that serves as the proof of the robust
nature of this method of performance testing. Proper conduct of the
SBT Methodology is intended to alleviate the need for post-scenario
evaluation of simulator performance since the performance of the
simulator is being evaluated (i.e., compared to actual or predicted
reference plant performance) during the parallel conduct of SBT and
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scenario validation.
Therefore, since the Commission-approved simulation facility for
VCSNS 2 & 3 conforms to the same control manipulation requirements as a
PRS, the NRC staff will continue to comply with its requirements
governing uniformity and operator qualifications.
Accordingly, for the reasons above, and in light of the reasons
discussed in Sections 2 and 3 below, the Commission concludes that the
exemption is authorized by law.
2. The exemption will not endanger life or property.
As discussed above, as part of its review and approval of SCE&G's
request for a VCSNS 2 & 3, Commission-approved simulation facility the
staff found that the simulator demonstrates expected plant response to
operator input and to normal, transient, and accident conditions to
which the simulator has been designed to respond. Further, the staff
found that the simulator is designed and implemented so that (i) it is
sufficient in scope and fidelity to allow conduct of the evolutions
listed in 10 CFR 55.45(a)(1) through (13), and 10 CFR 55.59(c)(3)(i)(A)
through (AA), as applicable to the design of the reference plant and
(ii) it allows for the completion of control manipulations for operator
license applicants. Accordingly, the staff concludes that the
Commission-approved simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 will replicate
reference plant performance for the significant control manipulations
required by 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5).
Because the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility
satisfactorily replicates reference plant performance with respect to
control manipulations, the staff concludes that there is no basis to
find endangerment of life or property as a consequence of the
exemption.
3. The exemption is otherwise in the public interest.
The Commission's values guide the NRC in maintaining certain
principles as it carries out regulatory activities in furtherance of
its safety and security mission. These principles focus the NRC on
ensuring safety and security while appropriately considering the
interests of the NRC's stakeholders, including the public and
licensees. These principles include Independence, Openness, Efficiency,
Clarity, and Reliability. Whether granting an exemption to the
requirement to use a PRS or the facility and allowing use of a
Commission-approved simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 would be in the
public interest depends on the consideration and balancing of the
foregoing factors.
Concerning Efficiency, the public has an interest in the best
possible management and administration of regulatory activities.
Regulatory activities should be consistent with the degree of risk
reduction they achieve. Where several effective alternatives are
available, the option which minimizes the use of resources should be
adopted. Regulatory decisions should be made without undue delay. As
applied to using a Commission-approved simulation facility rather than
a PRS or the facility, in light of the Commission's findings that the
capabilities of the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility
are equivalent to those of a PRS for control manipulations, the use of
the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility provides both
an effective and an efficient alternative for the VCSNS 2 & 3 operator
license applicant to gain the required experience.
Concerning Reliability, once established, regulations should be
perceived to be reliable and not unjustifiably in a state of
transition. Regulatory actions should always be fully consistent with
written regulations and should be promptly, fairly, and decisively
administered so as to lend stability to the nuclear operational and
planning processes. Here, where the staff has already found that the
VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility is equivalent to a
PRS with respect to control manipulations, the substantive requirements
upon the operator license applicant are unchanged with the granting of
the exemption. Further, the public has an interest in reliability in
terms of the stability of the nuclear planning process. This exemption
aids planning by allowing operator license applicants to complete their
applications sooner, with the underlying requirements essentially
unchanged, and could result in licensing decisions being made earlier
than would be possible if the applicants had to wait for a PRS to be
available.
Concerning Clarity, there should be a clear nexus between
regulations and agency goals and objectives whether explicitly or
implicitly stated. Agency positions should be readily understood and
easily applied. For the reasons explained in the NRC's evaluation of
the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation facility, the
Commission-approved simulation facility is sufficient for administering
operating tests, and is able to meet the requirements of a PRS with
respect to control manipulations. The exemption accordingly recognizes
that the capabilities of the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation
facility are suitable to accomplish the regulatory purpose underlying
the requirements of 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5).
The exemption is also consistent with the principles of
Independence and Openness; the Commission has independently and
objectively considered the regulatory interests involved and has
explicitly documented its reasons for issuing the exemption.
Accordingly, on balance the Commission concludes that the exemption
is in the public interest.
Conclusion
The Commission concludes that the exemption is (1) authorized by
law, and (2) will not endanger life or property, and (3) is otherwise
in the public interest. Therefore, in lieu of the requirements of 10
CFR 55.31(a)(5), the Commission will accept evidence that the applicant
for a VCSNS 2 & 3 operator license has completed the required
manipulations on the VCSNS 2 & 3 Commission-approved simulation
facility that meets the requirements of 10 CFR 55.46(b), rather than on
a PRS or the facility.
Expiration and Limitation
This exemption will expire when a VCSNS 2 & 3 PRS that meets the
requirements in 10 CFR 55.46(c) is available. Furthermore, this
exemption is subject to the condition that the Commission-approved
simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3 continues to model the reference
plant with sufficient scope and fidelity, in accordance with 10 CFR
55.46(c) and (d).
Environmental Consideration
This exemption allows the five significant control manipulations
required by 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5) to be performed on the VCSNS 2 & 3
Commission-approved simulation facility that has been approved for the
administration of operating tests instead of on the VCSNS 2 & 3
facility or a PRS.
For the following reasons, this exemption meets the eligibility
criteria of 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25) for a categorical exclusion. There is
no significant hazards consideration related to this
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exemption. The staff has also determined that the exemption involves no
significant increase in the amounts, and no significant change in the
types, of any effluents that may be released offsite; that there is no
significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational
radiation exposure; that there is no significant construction impact;
and that there is no significant increase in the potential for or
consequences from radiological accidents. Finally, the requirements to
which the exemption applies involve qualification requirements.
Accordingly, the exemption meets the eligibility criteria for
categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25). Pursuant to 10
CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact statement or environmental
assessment need be prepared in connection with the issuance of the
exemption.
4. This exemption is effective as of August 18, 2016.
IV. Conclusion
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
55.11, issuing this exemption from the requirements in 10 CFR
55.31(a)(5) is authorized by law and will not endanger life or property
and is otherwise in the public interest. The Commission will accept
evidence of control manipulations performed on the VCSNS 2 & 3
Commission-approved simulation facility instead of on the VCSNS 2 & 3
facility or a PRS.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of August 2016.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Francis M. Akstulewicz,
Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2016-19730 Filed 8-17-16; 8:45 am]
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