[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 19 (Monday, January 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4077-4078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01514]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0061]


In the Matter of All Operating Reactor Licensees

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Revised director's decision under 10 CFR 2.206; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a 
revised director's decision in response to a petition dated February 
19, 2016, filed by Roy Mathew, Sheila Ray, Swagata Som, Gurcharan Singh 
Matharu, Tania Martinez Navedo, Thomas Koshy, and Kenneth Miller 
(Petitioners), requesting that the NRC take enforcement-related action 
with regard to all operating nuclear power plants. The petitioner's 
requests and the director's decision are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

DATES: The revised director's decision was issued on January 18, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0061 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 website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0061. 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 it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in 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: Tanya Mensah, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3610, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Director, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has issued a revised director's 
decision (ADAMS Accession No. ML18005A053) under section 2.206 of title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), on a petition filed by 
the Petitioners on February 19, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16050A223).
    The Petitioners requested that the NRC take enforcement action 
against all operating nuclear power plants. Specifically, the 
Petitioners requested that the NRC either: (1) Issue orders to require 
immediate corrective actions including compensatory measures to address 
the operability of electric power systems in accordance with their 
plant technical specifications, and to implement plant modifications in 
accordance with current NRC regulatory requirements and staff guidance 
provided in the references within the 2.206 petition; or (2) issue 
orders to immediately shut down the nuclear power plants that are 
operating without addressing the significant design deficiency 
identified in NRC Bulletin 2012-01, ``Design Vulnerability in Electric 
Power System,'' dated July 27, 2012, (ADAMS Accession No. ML12074A115) 
since the licensees are not in compliance with their technical 
specifications (typically Section 3.8.1) related to onsite and offsite 
power systems.
    On February 24, 2016, the NRC's petition manager acknowledged 
receipt of the petition and offered the Petitioners an opportunity to 
address the Petition Review Board (PRB). The Petitioners declined an 
opportunity to address the PRB on the basis that the petition already 
contained all of the

[[Page 4078]]

relevant facts to support the PRB's review.
    The NRC sent a copy of the proposed director's decision to the 
Petitioners and to the licensees for comment by letters dated September 
18, 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17156A197 and ML17156A214, 
respectively). The Petitioners and the licensees were provided the 
opportunity to provide comments 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. The Petitioners provided comments by 
letter dated October 11, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17291A040), and 
the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) provided comments, on behalf of 
licensees, by letter dated October 16, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML17291A846). No new information was provided. To enhance the clarity 
of the director's decision, the NRC staff revised the description of 
the NRC's accident sequence precursor (ASP) program provided in Section 
D of the director's decision, to differentiate between condition and 
event assessments. The comments from the Petitioners and NEI, along 
with the NRC staff's responses to the comments, are included as an 
attachment to the director's decision. The attachment identifies any 
updates to the director's decision, as a result of comments received 
from the Petitioners and NEI.
    On December 12, 2017, the NRC issued a final director's decision 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML17304A893). Subsequently, the NRC was informed 
of a minor error in the final director's decision. Specifically, 
Section D of the final director's decision refers to a December 2015 
open phase condition event at Oconee and states, ``Two separate 
transformers required for safe shutdown of the three operating Oconee 
nuclear units were identified with open phase conditions.'' This 
statement is in error because only one Oconee transformer experienced 
an open phase condition. Although this error does not change the 
decision in the director's decision, the NRC revised it, as 
appropriate, for accuracy.
    The Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has determined 
that the request(s) to issue orders to operating reactor licensees 
regarding an open phase condition be denied. The reasons for this 
decision are explained in the Director's Decision DD-17-04, pursuant to 
10 CFR 2.206.
    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.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of January, 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tanya M. Mensah,
Senior Project Manager, ROP Oversight and Generic Communications 
Branch, Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-01514 Filed 1-26-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P