[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 22 (Friday, February 1, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1240-1243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00734]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. STN 50-455; NRC-2018-0246]


Exelon Generation Company, LLC, Byron Station, Unit No. 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: License amendment application; opportunity to comment, request 
a hearing, and petition for leave to intervene.

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SUMMARY: The license amendment request was originally noticed in the 
Federal Register on November 6, 2018. The notice is being reissued in 
its entirety to include the revised scope, description of the amendment 
request, and proposed no significant hazards consideration 
determination. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is 
considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. 
NPF-66, issued to Exelon Generation Company, LLC, for operation of the 
Byron Station, Unit No. 2. The proposed amendment would revise 
technical specification 4.2.1 to authorize use of two lead test 
assemblies (LTAs) containing a limited number of accident tolerant fuel 
(ATF) lead test rods (LTRs) during Byron Station, Unit No. 2, refueling 
cycles 22, 23, and 24. The LTAs would be nonlimiting under steady state 
reactor conditions and will comply with fuel limits specified in the 
core operating limits report and technical specifications under all 
operational conditions.

DATES: Submit comments by March 4, 2019. Requests for a hearing or 
petition for leave to intervene must be filed by April 2, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0246. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Krupskaya Castellon; 
telephone: 301-287-9221; email: [email protected]. For 
technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joel S. Wiebe, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6606 or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0246 and NRC Docket No. STN 50-
455, when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for 
this action. You may obtain publicly-available information related to 
this action by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0246.
     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 ``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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0246, facility name, unit number, 
plant docket number, application date, and subject in your comment 
submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly

[[Page 1241]]

disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that 
the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of an amendment to Facility 
Operating License No. NPF-66, issued to Exelon Generation Company, LLC 
(EGC), for operation of the Byron Station, Unit No. 2, located in Ogle 
County, Illinois. The license amendment request, dated March 8, 2018 
(Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession 
No. ML18067A431), was originally noticed in the Federal Register on 
November 6, 2018 (83 FR 55573). Subsequently, EGC supplemented the 
request on July 2, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18184A270), December 18, 
2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18352B117), and January 16, 2019 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML19016A491). The January 16, 2019, supplement revised 
the scope of the request to eliminate the license condition and to 
include a revision to technical specification 4.2.1. The notice is 
being reissued in its entirety to include the revised scope, 
description of the amendment request, and proposed no significant 
hazards consideration determination. The proposed amendment would 
revise technical specification 4.2.1 to authorize use of two LTAs 
containing a limited number of ATF LTRs during Byron, Unit No. 2, 
refueling cycles 22, 23, and 24. The LTAs would be nonlimiting under 
steady state reactor conditions and will comply with fuel limits 
specified in the core operating limits report and technical 
specifications under all operational conditions.
    Before any issuance of the proposed license amendment, the NRC will 
need to make the findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended (the Act), and NRC's regulations.
    The NRC has made a proposed determination that the license 
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. Under 
the NRC's regulations in Sec.  50.92 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), this means that operation of the facility in 
accordance with the proposed amendment 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. As required 
by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue 
of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented below:

    1. Does the proposed change involve a significant increase in 
the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated?
    Response: No.
    The proposed change involves only a very small number of LTRs, 
which will be conservatively designed from a neutronic standpoint, 
and are thermal-hydraulically and mechanically compatible with all 
plant Systems, Structures and Components (SSCs). The fuel pellets 
and fuel rods themselves will have no impact on accident initiators 
or precursors. There will not be a significant impact on the 
operation of any plant SSC or on the progression of any operational 
transient or design basis accident. There will be no impact on any 
procedure or administrative control designed to prevent or mitigate 
any accident.
    The Westinghouse ADOPTTM and EnCore[supreg] (with and 
without chromium-coated cladding, respectively) LTAs are of the same 
design as the co-resident fuel in the core, with the exception of 
containing a limited number of LTRs in place of the standard fuel 
rods. The LTAs will be placed in core locations that assure that the 
LTRs containing uranium silicide fuel pellets and standard UO2 fuel 
pellets with coated Optimized ZIRLOTM cladding are 
nonlimiting. The rods containing ADOPTTM pellets meet the 
fuel licensing limits under all conditions but are only nonlimiting 
in steady-state conditions. The Byron Station, Unit 2, Cycle, 22, 23 
and 24 reload designs will meet all applicable design criteria. 
Evaluations of the LTAs will be performed as part of the cycle 
specific reload safety analysis to confirm that the acceptance 
criteria of the existing safety analyses will continue to be met. 
Operation of the Westinghouse EnCore[supreg] and ADOPTTM 
fuel will not significantly increase the predicted radiological 
consequences of accidents currently postulated in the Updated Final 
Safety Analysis Report.
    Based on the above discussion, the proposed changes do not 
involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of 
an accident previously evaluated.
    2. Does the proposed change create the possibility of a new or 
different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated?
    Response: No.
    The proposed change involves the use of a very small number of 
LTRs in two LTAs which are very similar in all aspects to the co-
resident fuel, as noted in Question 1. The proposed change does not 
change the design function or operation of any SSC, and does not 
introduce any new failure mechanism, malfunction, or accident 
initiator not considered in the current design and licensing bases.
    The Byron Station, Unit 2 reactor cores will be designed to meet 
all applicable design and licensing basis criteria. Demonstrated 
adherence to these standards and criteria precludes new challenges 
to components and systems that could introduce a new type of 
accident. The reload core designs for the cycles in which the 
Westinghouse LTAs will operate (i.e., Cycles 22, 23 and 24) will 
demonstrate that the use of the LTAs in the core is acceptable. The 
relevant design and performance criteria will continue to be met and 
no new single failure mechanisms will be created. The use of 
Westinghouse LTAs does not involve any alteration to plant equipment 
or procedures that would introduce any new or unique operational 
modes or accident precursors.
    Therefore, the proposed change will not create the possibility 
of a new or different kind of accident than those previously 
evaluated.
    3. Does the proposed change involve a significant reduction in a 
margin of safety?
    Response: No.
    Operation of Byron Station Unit 2 with two Westinghouse LTAs 
containing a limited number of LTRs does not change the performance 
requirements on any system or component such that any design 
criteria will be exceeded. The current limits on core operation 
defined in the Byron Station Technical Specifications will remain 
applicable to the subject LTAs during Cycles 22, 23, and 24. 
Westinghouse analytical codes and methods will be used, and 
supplemented as necessary using conservative assumptions, to confirm 
that all applicable limits associated with the LTAs (e.g., fuel 
thermal mechanical limits, core thermal hydraulic limits, Emergency 
Core Cooling Systems limits, nuclear limits such as Shutdown Margin, 
transient analysis limits, and accident analysis limits) remain 
bounded by the current analysis of record. With respect to non-fuel 
SSCs, there is no reduction in the margin of safety for any safety 
limit, limiting safety system setting, limiting condition of 
operation, instrument setpoint, or any other design parameter.
    Based on this evaluation, the proposed change does not involve a 
significant reduction in a margin of safety.

    The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on 
this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c) are 
satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to determine that the 
license amendment request involves no significant hazards 
consideration.
    The NRC is seeking public comments on this proposed determination 
that the license amendment request involves no significant hazards 
consideration. Any comments received within 30 days after the date of 
publication of this notice will be considered in making any final 
determination.
    Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the 
expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this notice. The 
Commission may issue the license amendment before expiration of the 60-
day notice period if the Commission concludes the amendment involves no

[[Page 1242]]

significant hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may 
issue the amendment prior to the expiration of the 30-day comment 
period if circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such 
that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example, in 
prevention of either resumption of operation or of increase in power 
output up to the plant's licensed power level. If the Commission takes 
action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or the 
notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a notice of 
issuance. If the Commission makes a final no significant hazards 
consideration determination, any hearing will take place after 
issuance. The Commission expects that the need to take this action will 
occur very infrequently.

III. Opportunity To Request a Hearing and Petition for Leave To 
Intervene

    Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, any 
persons (petitioner) whose interest may be affected by this action may 
file a request for a hearing and petition for leave to intervene 
(petition) with respect to the action. Petitions shall be filed in 
accordance with the Commission's ``Agency Rules of Practice and 
Procedure'' in 10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should consult a 
current copy of 10 CFR 2.309. The NRC's regulations are accessible 
electronically from the NRC Library on the NRC's website at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/. Alternatively, a copy of 
the regulations is available at the NRC's Public Document Room, located 
at One White Flint North, Room O1-F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (First 
Floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852. If a petition is filed, the 
Commission or a presiding officer will rule on the petition and, if 
appropriate, a notice of a hearing will be issued.
    As required by 10 CFR 2.309(d) the petition should specifically 
explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with 
particular reference to the following general requirements for 
standing: (1) The name, address, and telephone number of the 
petitioner; (2) the nature of the petitioner's right under the Act to 
be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the 
petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; 
and (4) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be 
entered in the proceeding on the petitioner's interest.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f), the petition must also set 
forth the specific contentions which the petitioner seeks to have 
litigated in the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific 
statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In 
addition, the petitioner must provide a brief explanation of the bases 
for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or 
expert opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner 
intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The 
petitioner must also provide references to the specific sources and 
documents on which the petitioner intends to rely to support its 
position on the issue. The petition must include sufficient information 
to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant or licensee on 
a material issue of law or fact. Contentions must be limited to matters 
within the scope of the proceeding. The contention must be one which, 
if proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner who 
fails to satisfy the requirements at 10 CFR 2.309(f) with respect to at 
least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
    Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene. 
Parties have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the 
hearing with respect to resolution of that party's admitted 
contentions, including the opportunity to present evidence, consistent 
with the NRC's regulations, policies, and procedures.
    Petitions must be filed no later than 60 days from the date of 
publication of this notice. Petitions and motions for leave to file new 
or amended contentions that are filed after the deadline will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the presiding officer that the 
filing demonstrates good cause by satisfying the three factors in 10 
CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i) through (iii). The petition must be filed in 
accordance with the filing instructions in the ``Electronic Submissions 
(E-Filing)'' section of this document.
    If a hearing is requested, and the Commission has not made a final 
determination on the issue of no significant hazards consideration, the 
Commission will make a final determination on the issue of no 
significant hazards consideration. The final determination will serve 
to establish when the hearing is held. If the final determination is 
that the amendment request involves no significant hazards 
consideration, the Commission may issue the amendment and make it 
immediately effective, notwithstanding the request for a hearing. Any 
hearing would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the final 
determination is that the amendment request involves a significant 
hazards consideration, then any hearing held would take place before 
the issuance of the amendment unless the Commission finds an imminent 
danger to the health or safety of the public, in which case it will 
issue an appropriate order or rule under 10 CFR part 2.
    A State, local governmental body, Federally-recognized Indian 
Tribe, or agency thereof, may submit a petition to the Commission to 
participate as a party under 10 CFR 2.309(h)(1). The petition should 
state the nature and extent of the petitioner's interest in the 
proceeding. The petition should be submitted to the Commission no later 
than 60 days from the date of publication of this notice. The petition 
must be filed in accordance with the filing instructions in the 
``Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)'' section of this document, and 
should meet the requirements for petitions set forth in this section, 
except that under 10 CFR 2.309(h)(2) a State, local governmental body, 
or Federally-recognized Indian Tribe, or agency thereof does not need 
to address the standing requirements in 10 CFR 2.309(d) if the facility 
is located within its boundaries. Alternatively, a State, local 
governmental body, Federally-recognized Indian Tribe, or agency thereof 
may participate as a non-party under 10 CFR 2.315(c).
    If a hearing is granted, any person who is not a party to the 
proceeding and is not affiliated with or represented by a party may, at 
the discretion of the presiding officer, be permitted to make a limited 
appearance pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.315(a). A person 
making a limited appearance may make an oral or written statement of 
his or her position on the issues but may not otherwise participate in 
the proceeding. A limited appearance may be made at any session of the 
hearing or at any prehearing conference, subject to the limits and 
conditions as may be imposed by the presiding officer. Details 
regarding the opportunity to make a limited appearance will be provided 
by the presiding officer if such sessions are scheduled.

IV. Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)

    All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a 
request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene (petition), any 
motion or other document filed in the proceeding prior to the 
submission of a request for hearing or petition to intervene, and 
documents filed by interested governmental entities that request to 
participate under 10 CFR 2.315(c), must be filed in accordance with the 
NRC's E-Filing rule (72 FR

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49139; August 28, 2007, as amended at 77 FR 46562; August 3, 2012). The 
E-Filing process requires participants to submit and serve all 
adjudicatory documents over the internet, or in some cases to mail 
copies on electronic storage media. Detailed guidance on making 
electronic submissions may be found in the Guidance for Electronic 
Submissions to the NRC and on the NRC website at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. Participants may not submit paper copies 
of their filings unless they seek an exemption in accordance with the 
procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 10 
days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact the 
Office of the Secretary by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at 301-415-1677, to (1) request a digital identification (ID) 
certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign submissions and access the E-Filing 
system for any proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise 
the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a petition or 
other adjudicatory document (even in instances in which the 
participant, or its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-
issued digital ID certificate). Based upon this information, the 
Secretary will establish an electronic docket for the hearing in this 
proceeding if the Secretary has not already established an electronic 
docket.
    Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is 
available on the NRC's public website at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/getting-started.html. Once a participant has obtained a 
digital ID certificate and a docket has been created, the participant 
can then submit adjudicatory documents. Submissions must be in Portable 
Document Format (PDF). Additional guidance on PDF submissions is 
available on the NRC's public website at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/electronic-sub-ref-mat.html. A filing is considered complete at the 
time the document is submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be 
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system 
no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of 
a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends 
the submitter an email notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
E-Filing system also distributes an email notice that provides access 
to the document to the NRC's Office of the General Counsel and any 
others who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to 
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the 
document on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before adjudicatory documents are 
filed so that they can obtain access to the documents via the E-Filing 
system.
    A person filing electronically using the NRC's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC's Electronic 
Filing Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC's 
public website at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by 
email to [email protected], or by a toll-free call at 1-866-672-
7640. The NRC Electronic Filing Help Desk is available between 9 a.m. 
and 6 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government 
holidays.
    Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, in 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing 
stating why there is good cause for not filing electronically and 
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper 
format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: 
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff. Participants filing adjudicatory documents in this 
manner are responsible for serving the document on all other 
participants. Filing is considered complete by first-class mail as of 
the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service upon depositing the document with the 
provider of the service. A presiding officer, having granted an 
exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a participant or 
party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer subsequently determines 
that the reason for granting the exemption from use of E-Filing no 
longer exists.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
https://adams.nrc.gov/ehd, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the 
Commission or the presiding officer. If you do not have an NRC-issued 
digital ID certificate as described above, click cancel when the link 
requests certificates and you will be automatically directed to the 
NRC's electronic hearing dockets where you will be able to access any 
publicly available documents in a particular hearing docket. 
Participants are requested not to include personal privacy information, 
such as social security numbers, home addresses, or personal phone 
numbers in their filings, unless an NRC regulation or other law 
requires submission of such information. For example, in some 
instances, individuals provide home addresses in order to demonstrate 
proximity to a facility or site. With respect to copyrighted works, 
except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory 
filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, participants are 
requested not to include copyrighted materials in their submission.
    For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for license amendment dated March 8, 2018, as supplemented 
on July 2, 2018, December 18, 2018, and January 16, 2019.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of January 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David J. Wrona,
Branch Chief, Plant Licensing Branch III, Division of Operating 
Reactors, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2019-00734 Filed 1-31-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P