[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 182 (Thursday, September 19, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 76750-76751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20936]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[Docket No. PRM-50-125; NRC-2024-0135]
Returning a Decommissioning Plant to Operating Status
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing and request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a
petition for rulemaking from Alan Blind and Roger Rapoport, dated July
1, 2024, requesting that the NRC revise its regulations to include a
Commission-approved process for returning a decommissioning plant to
operational status. The petition was docketed by the NRC on July 23,
2024, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-125. The NRC is examining
the issues raised in PRM-50-125 to determine whether they should be
considered in rulemaking. The NRC is requesting public comment on this
petition at this time.
DATES: Submit comments by December 3, 2024. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0135. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Helen Chang; telephone: 301-415-3228;
email: [email protected]. For technical questions contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact
us at 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at 301-415-1101.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. eastern time, Federal
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
You can read a plain language description of this petition for
rulemaking at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NRC-2024-0135. 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: Soly Soto Lugo, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
7528, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0135 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0135.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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: The NRC Public Document Room (PDR), where you
may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open
by appointment. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an
email to [email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737,
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2024-0135 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
https://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 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. The Petitioner and Petition
The petition for rulemaking (PRM) was filed by Alan Blind and Roger
Rapoport. Subsequently, the petitioner submitted additional signatures
of community members near the Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades) in
support of the petition. The PRM requests that the NRC revise its
regulations at 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to include a Commission-approved
process for returning a decommissioning plant to operational status.
The NRC understands the petition, based on the context and references
within, to mean plants currently in the decommissioning process rather
than fully decommissioned plants and to be requesting a revision of the
part 50 regulations rather than part 52 regulations. The petition may
be found in ADAMS at Accession No. ML24205A122.
III. Discussion of the Petition
The petition states that the NRC staff lack a specific NRC
Commission-approved and codified process for licensing, inspecting, and
approving the return to service of a power reactor that has entered
decommissioning. The petitioner requests that the NRC conduct
rulemaking to include a codified process for returning a
decommissioning plant to operational status. The petitioner points to
the ongoing Palisades proceedings as examples for where new, codified
processes are needed.
The petition states that the NRC received a proposal for a
regulatory path to the reauthorization of power operations at the
Palisades plant using the current regulatory framework. The petition
also states that the proposed framework is based on a denial of PRM-50-
117, ``Criteria to Return Retired Nuclear Power Reactors to
Operations'' (86 FR 24362), which the petitioner
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states is taken out of context by Holtec/Palisades. The petitioner
contends that returning a plant that has entered the decommissioning
process to an operational status does not meet the applicability
requirements of 10 CFR 50.12, ``Specific exemptions;'' 50.59,
``Changes, tests and experiments'' and 50.90, ``Application for
amendment of license, construction permit, or early site permit.'' The
petitioner also states that a generic rulemaking to establish a
Commission-approved process for returning a decommissioning plant to
operational status is necessary as Palisades is the first plant seeking
NRC approval to transition from a decommissioning status back to
operations.
The petitioner did not provide proposed regulatory language but
rather proposed elements that should be included in the rulemaking.
These elements include decommissioning status and configuration
verification, aging management, quality assurance during restart and
operations, equipment maintenance, personnel qualifications, license
expirations, hearing process, appropriate licensing basis, startup
testing, and NRC catchup review, as well as completion of past, open
commitments.
In addition, the petitioner requests that the NRC revise its
regulations to require the NRC to review all materials associated with
license transfers to new entities for the purpose of completion of
decommissioning. The petitioner also requests that the NRC revise its
regulations to require that entities previously approved primarily for
decommissioning activities submit a new license transfer application in
accordance with 10 CFR 50.80, ``Transfer of licenses,'' before that
entity can be qualified to engage in activities associated with power
operations. The petitioner contends that this requirement would ensure
that the NRC assesses the qualifications of the requesting entity based
on evidence of its operational capabilities and not evidence of its
decommissioning qualifications.
Only public comments responsive to PRM-50-125 regarding the request
that the NRC revise its regulations to include a Commission-approved
process for returning a decommissioning plant to an operational status
will be considered. Note that this is a separate process from the
ongoing NRC consideration of requested actions related to the potential
restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant, which has separate Docket IDs,
and can be found at NRC-2024-0128 and NRC-2024-0130.
IV. Conclusion
The NRC has determined that the petition meets the sufficiency
requirements for docketing a PRM under 10 CFR 2.803, ``Petition for
rulemaking-NRC action.'' The NRC will examine the issues raised in PRM-
50-125 and any comments received in response to this comment request to
determine whether these issues should be considered in rulemaking.
While the petition is being evaluated, the NRC staff will continue to
follow existing regulations for its regulatory activities.
The public can monitor further action on the rulemaking that will
address this petition by searching Docket ID NRC-2024-0135 on the
Federal rulemaking website, https://www.regulations.gov. The site
allows members of the public to receive alerts when changes or
additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) navigate to the
docket folder (NRC-2024-0135); (2) click the ``Subscribe'' link; and
(3) enter an email address and click on the ``Subscribe'' link. The NRC
also tracks the status of all NRC rules and PRMs on its website at
https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/rules-petitions.html.
Dated: September 10, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Carrie Safford,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-20936 Filed 9-18-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P