November 19, 2003

MEMORANDUM TO: William D. Travers

Executive Director for Operations

FROM: Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director /RA/

 for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT: OCTOBER 2003 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF PUBLIC PETITIONS

UNDER TITLE 10 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS,

SECTION 2.206

The attached reports give the status of petitions submitted under Title 10 of the Code of Federal

Regulations, Section 2.206. As of October 31, 2003, there were three open petitions, which

were accepted for review under the 2.206 process in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. 

Attachment 1 provides a detailed status of the open petitions.

Attachment 2 provides the status of incoming letters that the staff has been reviewing to

determine if they meet the criteria for review under the 2.206 process. 

Attachment 3 shows the age statistics for the open 2.206 petitions as of October 31, 2003.

Attachment 4 shows the age trend of closed petitions for the last 3 years. 

This report, Director’s Decisions, and other 2.206-related documents are placed in the

Agencywide Documents Access and Management System. In making these readily accessible

to the public, the staff has identified another vehicle to address one of our performance goals,

i.e., to enhance public confidence.

Attachments: As stated

CONTACT: Donna Skay, NRR

415-1322
November 19, 2003

MEMORANDUM TO: William D. Travers

Executive Director for Operations

FROM: Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director /RA/

 for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT: OCTOBER 2003 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF PUBLIC PETITIONS

UNDER TITLE 10 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS,

SECTION 2.206

The attached reports give the status of petitions submitted under Title 10 of the Code of Federal

Regulations, Section 2.206. As of October 31, 2003, there were three open petitions, which

were accepted for review under the 2.206 process in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. 

Attachment 1 provides a detailed status of the open petitions.

Attachment 2 provides the status of incoming letters that the staff has been reviewing to

determine if they meet the criteria for review under the 2.206 process. 

Attachment 3 shows the age statistics for the open 2.206 petitions as of October 31, 2003.

Attachment 4 shows the age trend of closed petitions for the last 3 years. 

This report, Director’s Decisions, and other 2.206-related documents are placed in the

Agencywide Documents Access and Management System. In making these readily accessible

to the public, the staff has identified another vehicle to address one of our performance goals,

i.e., to enhance public confidence.

Attachments: As stated

CONTACT: Donna Skay, NRR

415-1322

DISTRIBUTION: See next page

Accession No.: ML033110334

OFFICE PM:PDI-1 LA:PDI-1 D:PDII D:DLPM NMSS ADPT:NRR

NAME DSkay SLittle HBerkow TMarsh PGoldberg BSheron

DATE 11/10/03 11/10/03 11/12/03 11/14/03 11/18/03

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
DISTRIBUTION FOR JULY 2003 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF PUBLIC PETITIONS UNDER

TITLE 10 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, SECTION 2.206

Dated: November 19, 2003 

PUBLIC

SCollins, DEDR/OEDO

CPaperillo, DEDMRS/OEDO

PNorry, DEDM/OEDO

WKane, DEDH/OEDO

WDean, AO/OEDO

JShea, ODEO

PAnderson, OEDO (Email after this document has been put into ADAMS)

EJulian

RLaufer

CHolden

JDyer, NRR

RBorchardt, NRR

JCraig, NRR

BSheron, NRR

CMohrwinkel, NRR

KCyr, OGC

LChandler, OGC

JGoldberg, OGC

JCordes, Jr., OCAA

FCongel, OE

PLohaus, STP

MVirgilio, NMSS

PGoldberg, NMSS

CAbrams, NMSS

BBoger, NRR

GCaputo, OI

LMarsh, NRR

HBerkow, NRR

RClark, NRR

DSkay, NRR

OCA

OPA

Regional Administrators

PDI-1 Reading 

SLittle
Attachment 1

Status of Open Petitions

Page

Facility Petitioner/EDO No. No.

Indian Point Units 2 and 3 Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General

of the State of Connecticut

G20030216.................................................... 1

Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned

Scientists

G20030298.................................................... 3

Indian Point Units 2 and 3 Riverkeeper

G20030545.......................................................5
Attachment 1

Report on Status of Public Petitions Under 10 CFR 2.206

Facility: Indian Point Units 2 and 3

Petitioner: Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General of the State of

Connecticut

Date of Petition: April 23, 2003, as supplemented on June 3, 2003, and

October 15, 2003

Director’s Decision to be Issued by: NRR

EDO Number: G20030216

Proposed DD Issuance: 01/09/04

Final DD Issuance TBD

Last Contact with Petitioner: 11/05/03

Petition Manager: Harold Chernoff

Case Attorney: Jack Goldberg

Issues/Actions requested:

That the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

a. Order the licensee to conduct full review of vulnerabilities, security measures, and

evacuation plans and to suspend operations, revoke the operating license, or adopt

other measures resulting in temporary shutdown of Indian Point Units 2 and 3.

b. Require the licensee to provide sufficient information to document the existing

security measures which provide protection against terrorist attacks.

c. Modify the licensee’s operating license to mandate specifically a defense and

security system sufficient to protect the entire facility, including electric equipment,

containment, spent fuel storage, and the control room from a land or water based

terrorist attack.

d. Order the revision of the licensee’s Emergency Response Plan and the Radiological

Emergency Response Plans of the State of New York and nearby counties to

account and prepare for terrorist attacks. These revisions must contemplate not

only the full range of realistic effects of a terrorist attack on the Indian Point facility,

but also a comprehensive response to multiple attacks on the region’s infrastructure

that could affect execution of the evacuation plans.

e. If, after taking the above actions, the NRC cannot adequately ensure the security of

the Indian Point facility against terrorist threats, or cannot ensure the safety of New

York and Connecticut citizens from terrorist attacks, that it take prompt action to

permanently retire the facility.
-2-

Background:

A closed PRB meeting was held on May 8, 2003, to discuss whether the petition

satisfies the criteria for review under 10 CFR 2.206. During this meeting the PRB

decided that no immediate action was necessary. 

By letter dated June 3, 2003, the Petitioner filed a Supplement to his original 2.206

Petition. The supplement provided additional information in support of the petition in

three major areas: (1) shadow evacuation effects, (2) family separation, and (3) recent

design basis threat changes.

On June 19, 2003, the PRB held a conference call with the petitioner’s representative

(Assistant Attorney General, Robert Snook) to afford the petitioner the opportunity to

provide additional information or clarification with regards to the original petition and the

recently submitted supplement.

Following the conference call, the PRB determined that the petition satisfied the criteria

for review under 10 CFR 2.206. An acknowledgment letter was sent to the petitioner on

July 3, 2003, stating that the petition has met the criteria for evaluation under 10 CFR

2.206

Current Status:

The licensee submitted a response to the petitioner’s first supplement (dated June 3,

2003) on October 15, 2003. 

The petitioner filed a second supplement to his petition on October 16, 2003.

Based on the significant additional amount of information contained in the licensee’s

response and the supplement to the petition, the staff requested and was granted an

extension of time to respond to the petition. The staff now plans to issue the proposed

Director’s Decision on January 9, 2004. The petition manager contacted the attorney

general’s staff on November 5, 2003, and offered him an opportunity to discuss the

supplement with the PRB. This request was declined.
-3-

Facility: Davis Besse

Petitioner: David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists

James Riccio, Greenpeace

Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information & Resource

Service

Date of Letter: August 25, 2003

EDO Number: G20030508

Proposed DD Issuance: February 3, 2004

Final DD Issuance TBD

Last Contact with Petitioner: October 7, 2003

Petition Manager: Mel Fields

Case Attorney: Antonio Fernandez

Issues/Actions requested:

That the NRC:

(1) take enforcement action against FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company for failure

to live up to its commitments made in response to the NRC’s October 1996 10 CFR

50.54(f) letter. Since the 50.54(f) letter was issued in direct response to the problems at

Millstone that netted its owner a record $2.1 million fine from the NRC, failure to heed

the Millstone warning should carry at least an equivalent sanction.

(2) take enforcement action against First Energy for the numerous design basis

violations dating back to the date of licensing with penalties for each day that the

licensee was out of compliance with NRC regulations.

(3) suspend the license and prohibit restart of the Davis-Besse reactor unless and until

FirstEnergy has adequately addressed all 1,000 design basis deficiencies identified in

1997,

(4) suspend the license and prohibit restart of the Davis-Besse reactor unless and until

FirstEnergy has updated its Probablisitic Risk Assessment to reflect the flaws in its

design and licensing basis, and 

(5) suspend the license and prohibit restart of the Davis-Besse reactor with any systems

in a “degraded but operable” condition.

Background:

A public meeting was held between the petitioners and the Petition Review Board on

September 17, 2003. The transcript from the meeting will also be treated as a

supplement to the petition. Following the conference call, the PRB determined that the

petition satisfied the criteria for review under 10 CFR 2.206.
-4-

Current Status:

The staff issued a letter to the petitioner on October 7, 2003, acknowledging receipt of

the petition. The staff will supplement the acknowledgment letter to address the

requests for immediate action prior to the NRC granting approval for restart.

By letter dated October 20, 2003, the licensee provided its response to the petition.
-5-

Facility: Indian Point Units 2 and 3

Petitioner: Alex Matthiessen, Riverkeeper

David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists

Date of Petition: September 8, 2003, as supplemented on

September 22, 2003

Director’s Decision to be Issued by: NRR

EDO Number: G20030545

Proposed DD Issuance: February 18, 2004

Final DD Issuance TBD

Last Contact with Petitioner: October 22, 2003

Petition Manager: Brian Benney

Case Attorney: Antonio Fernandez

Issues/Actions requested:

That the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

1. Issue an Order requiring Entergy to immediately shut down Indian Point Units 2

and 3 and maintain the reactors shut down until such time that the containment

sumps are modified to resolve the Generic Safety Issue 191 problem; or 

2. Issue an Order requiring Entergy to prevent restart of Indian Point Units 2 and 3

from their next scheduled refueling outages until such time that the containment

sumps are modified to resolve the GSI-191 problem, and

Require Entergy to (a) maintain all equipment needed for monitoring leak-beforebreak of reactor coolant pressure boundary components within containment fully

functional and immediately shutdown the affected reactor uon any functional

impairment to monitoring equipment, and (b) refrain from any activity under 10

cFR 50.59, 10 CFR 50.90, Section VII.C, or GL 91-18 Revision 1 that increases

or could increase the probability that a loss of coolant accident occurs.

Background:

A public PRB meeting was held with the petitioners on September 24, 2003. The

petitioners presented the staff with a supplement to their petition dated September 22,

2003. The transcript from the meeting will also be treated as a supplement to the

petition. The licensee stated that it would be submitting a response to the petition. 

Following the conference call, the PRB determined that the petition satisfied the criteria

for review under 10 CFR 2.206.

Several letters have been received by the NRC seperately in support of the Riverkeeper

petition. The NRC staff will inform the authors of those letters of the status of its review

of the Riverkeeper petition but will not open separate 2.206 reviews for the additional

letters.

Current Status:
-6-

The staff issued a letter to the petitioner on October 22, 2003, acknowledging receipt of

the petition and addressing the need for immediate action. The staff concluded that

there is no need to take immediate action. By letter dated October 29, 2003, the

petitioner responded to the acknowledgment letter. The October 29, 2003, letter

included an additional assertion that the licensee is not complying with 10 CFR 50.46

regarding analysis and reporting of emergency core cooling system performance. The

staff is reviewing this response.
Attachment 2

Status of Potential Petitions Under Consideration

Facility: Seabrook

Petitioner: Debbie Grinnell, C-10 Research and Education Foundation

Date of Letter: October 7, 2003

Responsible Office: NRR

PRB meeting: October 15, 2003 

Issues/Actions requested:

That the NRC modify the license to include a thorough inspection of Seabrook’s S/Gs

during the plant’s 2003 refueling outage and that restart only be permitted on the basis

of a new license condition calling for quarterly inspections.

Resolution:

The petitioner declined an opportunity to address the PRB. The PRB evaluated the

incoming request and determined that it does not meet the criteria for review under

2.206 because the facts that constitute the basis for taking the requested actions are

not specified or are insufficient. In addition, the petition raises issues that have already

been the subject of NRC staff review and the staff resolutions are documented. The

petitioner’s concerns will be addressed as controlled correspondence.

Facility: Maine Yankee

Petitioner: Randall Speck, Special Counsel for the State of Maine

Date of Letter: November 15, 2002

Responsible Office: NMSS

PRB meeting: To be scheduled 

Issues/Actions requested:

That the NRC conduct a hearing on the efficacy of indefinite, long-term spent fuel

storage at Maine Yankee.

Resolution:

The petitioner has also requested a hearing, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202, regarding the

October 16, 2002, safeguards order and interim compensatory measures. On

December 10, 2002, the staff sent a letter to the petitioner stating that a decision on the

acceptability of the 2.206 petition will be held in abeyance until the staff makes a

determination on the hearing request. This letter remains as a potential 2.206 petition

but the staff cannot consider whether it will be treated as a 2.206 petition until the

Licensing Board settles the issues before it.
Attachment 3

AGE STATISTICS FOR AGENCY 2.206 PETITIONS

ASSIGNED

ACTION

OFFICE

FACILITY Incoming 

petition

PRBmeeting1

Acknowledgment 

letter / 

days from

incoming2

Proposed DDissuanceDate/ age3

Scheduled

date for

final DD/

age 4

Comments if no

Com

NRR Indian Point 04/23/03 05/08/03 07/03/03

70

01/09/04 TBD 2Staff delayed iss

pending submit

petitioner (rece

scheduling conflic

petitioner was n

3Proposed DD issu

to a supplement to 

from the licensee 

weeks of t

NRR Davis Besse 08/25/03 9/17/03 10/07/03

43

2/03/04 TBD

NRR Indian Point 09/08/03 9/24/03 10/22/03

37

2/18/04 TBD

1) Goal is to hold a PRB meeting, which the petitioner is invited to participate in, within 2 weeks of receipt o

often a delay of up two weeks from the date that the letter is issued until it is received by the reviewing o

2) Goal is to issue acknowledgment letter within 5 weeks of the date of incoming petition.3) Goal is to issue proposed DD within 120 days of the acknowledgment letter.4) Goal is to issue final DD within 45 days of the end of the comment period.
Attachment 4