[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 125 (Thursday, June 28, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30462-30464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13892]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 52-025 and 52-026; NRC-2008-0252]
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.; Vogtle Electric
Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4; Technical Specifications for Reactor
Coolant System Vacuum Fill and Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and
Acceptance Criteria for Containment Floodup
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Exemption and combined license amendment; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is granting an
exemption to allow a departure from the certification information of
Tier 1 of the generic design control document (DCD) and is issuing
License Amendment Nos. 118 and 117 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-91
and NPF-92, respectively. The COLs were issued to Southern Nuclear
Operating Company, Inc., and Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power
Corporation, MEAG Power SPVM, LLC, MEAG Power SPVJ, LLC, MEAG Power
SPVP, LLC, and the City of Dalton, Georgia (the licensee); for
construction and operation of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant
(VEGP) Units 3 and 4, located in Burke County, Georgia.
The granting of the exemption allows the changes to Tier 1
information asked for in the amendment. Because the acceptability of
the exemption was determined in part by the acceptability of the
amendment, the exemption and amendment are being issued concurrently.
[[Page 30463]]
DATES: The exemption and amendment were issued on March 29, 2018.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0252 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-2008-0252. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges telephone: 301-287-9127;
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. The request for the amendment and exemption was submitted by
letter dated by September 25, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17268A188),
as supplemented by letters dated November 16, 2017, December 18, 2017,
and February 14, 2018 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17320A808, ML17352B003
and ML18045A082, 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: Chandu Patel, Office of New Reactors,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-3025; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is granting an exemption from paragraph B of section III,
``Scope and Contents,'' of appendix D, ``Design Certification Rule for
the AP1000,'' to part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), and issuing License Amendment Nos. 118 and 117 to COLs, NPF-
91 and NPF-92, respectively, to the licensee. The exemption is required
by paragraph A.4 of section VIII, ``Processes for Changes and
Departures,'' appendix D, to 10 CFR part 52 to allow the licensee to
depart from Tier 1 information. With the requested amendment, the
licensee proposed changes to COL Appendix A, Technical Specifications,
and plant-specific DCD Tier 2 information, as well as departures from
plant specific Tier 1 information (and associated COL Appendix C
information). The requested amendment proposed changes to Technical
Specifications to allow Reactor Coolant System vacuum fill operations
in cold shutdown (i.e., Mode 5) conditions, and proposes conforming
consistency changes to plant-specific DCD information in the form of
departures from DCD Tier 2 information, as incorporated into the
Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR).
The amendment request also requested a departure from Tier 1 Design
Descriptions and Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria
related to inspecting the volume in the containment that allows for
floodup to support long-term core cooling for postulated loss-of-
coolant accidents and proposed corresponding changes to plant-specific
AP1000 DCD Tier 2 information in the UFSAR.
Part of the justification for granting the exemption was provided
by the review of the amendment. Because the exemption is necessary in
order to issue the requested license amendment, the NRC granted the
exemption and issued the amendment concurrently, rather than in
sequence. This included issuing a combined safety evaluation containing
the NRC staff's review of both the exemption request and the license
amendment. The exemption met all applicable regulatory criteria set
forth in 10 CFR 50.12, 10 CFR 52.7, and section VIII.A.4 of appendix D
to 10 CFR part 52. The license amendment was found to be acceptable as
well. The combined safety evaluation is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML18075A104.
Identical exemption documents (except for referenced unit numbers
and license numbers) were issued to the licensee for VEGP Units 3 and 4
(COLs, NPF-91 and NPF-92). The exemption documents for VEGP Units 3 and
4 can be found in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML18075A097 and
ML18075A099, respectively. The exemption is reproduced (with the
exception of abbreviated titles and additional citations) in Section II
of this document. The amendment documents for COLs, NPF-91 and NPF-92
are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML18075A100 and
ML18075A102, respectively. A summary of the amendment documents is
provided in Section III of this document.
II. Exemption
Reproduced below is the exemption document issued to VEGP Units 3
and 4. It makes reference to the combined safety evaluation that
provides the reasoning for the findings made by the NRC (and listed
under Item 1) in order to grant the exemption:
1. In a letter dated September 25, 2017, as supplemented by letters
dated November 16, 2017, December 18, 2017, and February 14, 2018,
Southern Nuclear Operating Company requested from the Commission an
exemption to allow departures from Tier 1 information in the certified
DCD incorporated by reference in 10 CFR part 52, appendix D, as part of
license amendment request 17-027, ``Technical Specifications for
Reactor Coolant System Vacuum Fill and Inspections, Tests, Analyses,
and Acceptance Criteria for Containment Floodup.''
For the reasons set forth in Section 3.1 of the NRC staff's Safety
Evaluation, which can be found in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML18075A104, the Commission finds that:
A. The exemption is authorized by law;
B. the exemption presents no undue risk to public health and
safety;
C. the exemption is consistent with the common defense and
security;
D. special circumstances are present in that the application of the
rule in this circumstance is not necessary to serve the underlying
purpose of the rule;
E. the special circumstances outweigh any decrease in safety that
may result from the reduction in standardization caused by the
exemption; and
F. the exemption will not result in a significant decrease in the
level of safety otherwise provided by the design.
2. Accordingly, the licensee is granted an exemption from the
certified DCD Tier 1 information, with corresponding changes to
Appendix C of the Facility Combined License, as described in the
request dated September 25, 2017, as supplemented by letters dated
November 16, 2017, December 18, 2017, and February 14, 2018. This
exemption is related to, and necessary for the granting of License
Amendment No. 118 [for Unit 3, 117 for Unit 4], which is being issued
concurrently with this exemption.
3. As explained in Section 5.0 of the NRC staff's Safety Evaluation
(ADAMS Accession No. ML18075A104), this exemption meets the eligibility
criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10
[[Page 30464]]
CFR 51.22(c)(9). Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no
environmental impact statement or environmental assessment needs to be
prepared in connection with the issuance of the exemption.
4. This exemption is effective as of the date of its issuance.
III. License Amendment Request
By letter dated September 25, 2017, as supplemented by letters
dated November 16, 2017, December 18, 2017, and February 14, 2018,
(ADAMS Accession No. ML17268A188, ML17320A808, ML17352B003 and
ML18045A082, respectively), the licensee requested that the NRC amend
the COLs for VEGP, Units 3 and 4, COLs, NPF-91 and NPF-92. The proposed
amendment is described in Section I of this Federal Register notice.
The Commission has determined for these amendments that the
application complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules
and regulations. The Commission has made appropriate findings as
required by the Act and the Commission's rules and regulations in 10
CFR chapter I, which are set forth in the license amendment.
A notice of consideration of issuance of amendment to facility
operating license or COL, as applicable, proposed no significant
hazards consideration determination, and opportunity for a hearing in
connection with these actions, was published in the Federal Register on
December 19, 2017 (82 FR 60229). No comments were received during the
30-day comment period.
The Commission has determined that these amendments satisfy the
criteria for categorical exclusion in accordance with 10 CFR 51.22.
Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact
statement or environmental assessment need be prepared for these
amendments.
IV. Conclusion
Using the reasons set forth in the combined safety evaluation, the
staff granted the exemptions and issued the amendments that the
licensee requested on September 25, 2017, as supplemented by letters
dated November 16, 2017, December 18, 2017, and February 14, 2018.
The exemptions and amendments were issued on March 29, 2018, as
part of a combined package to the licensee (ADAMS Accession No.
ML18075A094).
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, on June 22, 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jennifer L. Dixon-Herrity,
Chief, Licensing Branch 4, Division of Licensing, Siting, and
Environmental Analysis, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2018-13892 Filed 6-27-18; 8:45 am]
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