78874 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 

Interagency Policy Statement on 

Funding and Liquidity Risk 

Management in March of 2010. 

In October 2013, to clarify NCUA’s 

expectation on the Interagency Policy 

Statement and to reduce the regulatory 

burden on small credit unions, NCUA 

codified the requirements for Liquidity 

and Contingency Funding Plans as 

§ 741.12. The rule establishes a three 

tier framework for federally insured 

credit unions, based on asset size. 

Federally insured credit union with 

assets under $50 million must maintain 

a basic policy, federally insured credit 

unions with assets of $50 million and 

over must maintain a contingency 

funding plan, and federally insured 

credit unions with assets over $250 

million must maintain a contingency 

funding plan and establish a federal 

liquidity contingency source. 

Affected Public: Private Sector: Notfor-profit institutions. 

Estimated No. of Respondents: 5,164. 

Estimated No. of Responses per 

Respondent: 1. 

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 

5,164. 

Estimated Burden Hours per 

Response: 0.82. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 4,247. 

Reason for Change: Adjustments are 

attributed to current updated data since 

the last previous submission. 

Request for Comments: Comments 

submitted in response to this notice will 

be summarized and included in the 

request for Office of Management and 

Budget approval. All comments will 

become a matter of public record. The 

public is invited to submit comments 

concerning: (a) Whether the collection 

of information is necessary for the 

proper execution of the function of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of the 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

By Melane Conyers-Ausbrooks, Secretary 

of the Board, the National Credit Union 

Administration, on December 1, 2020. 

Dated: December 1, 2020. 

Mackie I. Malaka, 

NCUA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26769 Filed 12–4–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7535–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos. 50–528, 50–529, 50–530, and 

72–044; NRC–2020–0260] 

In the Matter of Arizona Public Service 

Company; Palo Verde Nuclear 

Generating Station 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Confirmatory Order; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) issued a 

Confirmatory Order to Arizona Public 

Service Company (APS) on November 

17, 2020. The purpose of the 

Confirmatory Order was to document 

commitments made as part of a 

settlement agreement between the NRC 

and APS to address the licensee’s failure 

to: Perform a written evaluation for a 

change to the NAC MAGNASTOR spent 

fuel dry cask storage system and obtain 

a license amendment for a change in 

methodology for performing tip-over 

calculations, and (2) adequately analyze 

the consequences of a hypothetical 

MAGNASTOR CC5 spent fuel cask tipover accident on the independent spent 

fuel storage installation pad located at 

APS’ Palo Verde Nuclear Generating 

Station. 

DATES: The Confirmatory Order became 

effective on November 17, 2020. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2020–0260 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 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0260. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. 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 

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 pdr.resource@

nrc.gov. The Confirmatory Order to 

Arizona Public Service Company is 

available in ADAMS under Accession 

No. ML20323A035. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents is currently closed. You may 

submit your request to the PDR via 

email at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 

1–800–397–4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Jayroe, Region IV, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Arlington, TX 

76011–4511; telephone: 817–200–1174, 

email: peter.jayroe@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of 

the Order is attached. 

Dated: December 2, 2020. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Scott A. Morris, 

Regional Administrator, NRC Region IV. 

Attached—Confirmatory Order 

United States of America 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

In the Matter of: Arizona Public 

Service Company Palo Verde Nuclear 

Generating Station. 

Docket Nos. 50–528, 50–529, 50–530, 

72–044 

License Nos. NPF–41, NPF–51, NPF–74 

EA–20–054 

Confirmatory Order Modifying License 

(Effective Upon Issuance) 

I 

Arizona Public Service Company 

(APS or Licensee) is the holder of 

Renewed Facility Operating License 

Nos. NPF–41, NPF–51, and NPF–74 

issued on April 21, 2011, by the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC 

or Commission) pursuant to Part 50 of 

Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Domestic 

Licensing of Production and Utilization 

Facilities.’’ The license authorizes the 

operation of Palo Verde Nuclear 

Generating Station (facility) in 

accordance with conditions specified 

therein. The facility is located on the 

Licensee’s site in Tonopah, Arizona. 

This Confirmatory Order is the result 

of an agreement reached during an 

alternative dispute resolution (ADR) 

mediation session conducted on 

September 16, 2020. 

II 

On July 6, 2020, the NRC issued 

Inspection Report 05000528/2020010, 

05000529/2020010, 05000530/2020010, 

and 07200044/2020001 to APS which 

documented the identification of two 

apparent violations that were being 

considered for escalated enforcement 

action in accordance with the NRC 

Enforcement Policy. The apparent 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 78875 

violations included: (1) An apparent 

violation of 10 CFR 72.48(c)(2)(viii) for 

the failure to perform a written 

evaluation for a change to the NAC 

MAGNASTOR dry cask storage system 

and obtain a license amendment for a 

change in methodology for performing 

tip-over calculations; and (2) an 

apparent violation of 10 CFR 72.146(a) 

for the failure to adequately analyze the 

consequences of a hypothetical 

MAGNASTOR CC5 spent fuel cask tipover accident on the independent spent 

fuel storage installation pad. 

By letter dated July 6, 2020, the NRC 

notified APS of the results of the 

inspection with an opportunity to: (1) 

Provide a response in writing, (2) attend 

a predecisional enforcement conference; 

or (3) to participate in an ADR 

mediation session in an effort to resolve 

these concerns. 

In response to the NRC’s offer, APS 

requested the use of the NRC’s ADR 

process to resolve differences it had 

with the NRC. On September 16, 2020, 

the NRC and APS met in an ADR 

session mediated by a professional 

mediator, arranged through Cornell 

University’s Institute on Conflict 

Resolution. The ADR process is one in 

which a neutral mediator, with no 

decision-making authority, assists the 

parties in reaching an agreement on 

resolving any differences regarding the 

dispute. This Confirmatory Order is 

issued pursuant to the agreement 

reached during the ADR process. 

III 

During the ADR session, APS and the 

NRC reached a preliminary settlement 

agreement. The elements of the 

agreement include the following: 

APS acknowledged that it: (1) Failed 

to perform a written evaluation for a 

change to the NAC MAGNASTOR dry 

cask storage system and obtain a license 

amendment for a change in 

methodology for performing tip-over 

calculations; and (2) failed to adequately 

analyze the consequences of a 

hypothetical MAGNASTOR CC5 spent 

fuel cask tip over accident on the 

Independent Spent Fuel Storage 

Installation (ISFSI) pad. 

Corrective actions already 

implemented by APS included: 

A. Prior to loading fuel in the first 

MAGNASTOR cask at the Palo Verde 

Nuclear Generating Station (Palo Verde), 

APS directed NAC to perform a new tipover analysis of the Palo Verde plant 

specific vertical concrete MAGNASTOR 

CC5 cask on the Palo Verde ISFSI pad 

using the NAC final safety analysis 

report (FSAR) described method of 

evaluation, LS–DYNA. 

B. On February 28, 2020, APS revised 

10 CFR 72.48 screening 72.48 S–20–001 

to no longer accept the linear scaling 

method that was originally done for the 

MAGNASTOR tip-over analysis. The 

revision of the screening was done to 

review and accept the tip-over analysis 

using the NAC FSAR-described method 

of evaluation, LS–DYNA. 

C. On February 28, 2020, APS revised 

the Palo Verde ISFSI 10 CFR 72.212 

Evaluation Report for the MAGNASTOR 

System to incorporate the revised 10 

CFR 72.48 screening that accepted the 

tip-over analysis using the NAC FSARdescribed method of evaluation, LS– 

DYNA. 

D. APS completed a Level 1 Root 

Cause Analysis that was approved by 

the Palo Verde Corrective Action 

Review Board. The root cause analysis 

addressed the failure to identify a 

change in a MAGNASTOR FSAR 

required methodology resulting in APS 

not complying with 10 CFR 

72.48(c)(2)(viii) and 10 CFR 72.146(a). 

E. As part of the root cause analysis, 

APS performed a review of the tip-over 

analysis for the UMS dry cask system, 

used at Palo Verde prior to 

MAGNASTOR, and confirmed that the 

UMS tip-over analysis was performed 

using LS–DYNA as required by the NAC 

FSAR. 

F. As part of the root cause analysis, 

APS performed an extent of condition 

review of the 10 CFR 72.48 and 10 CFR 

50.59 screenings and evaluations 

performed over the last 5 years. Of the 

over 600 screenings and evaluations 

reviewed, APS identified three items of 

interest that required additional 

evaluation and were entered into the 

APS corrective action program. 

Additional commitments made in the 

preliminary settlement agreement, as 

signed by both parties, consist of the 

following: 

Communications 

A. Within 2 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a communication that will 

include: A summary of the ISFSI event 

that resulted in the Confirmatory Order, 

the root and contributing causes, the 

corrective actions from the root cause 

evaluation, and the additional corrective 

actions from the Confirmatory Order, 

and APS will submit the proposed 

communication to the NRC for its 

review. The NRC will provide any 

comments to APS on the 

communication within 1 month from 

the date of the submittal. APS will 

consider the NRC’s comments and 

incorporate those comments that APS 

agrees are appropriate. 

B. Within 4 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will issue the Condition A 

communication as a stand-alone 

communication from the Chief Nuclear 

Officer to all qualified personnel in the 

development, review, and approval of 

10 CFR 50.59/72.48 ‘‘Changes, test, and 

experiments’’ documents. APS will 

retain a copy of the communication 

presented and verifiable evidence of the 

personnel receiving the communication. 

APS will document the reason for any 

person not obtaining the 

communication and the additional 

efforts used to provide the 

communication. 

C. Within 6 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a presentation and will 

submit the proposed presentation to the 

NRC for its review. The NRC will 

provide any comments to APS on the 

presentation within 1 month from the 

date of the submittal. APS will consider 

the NRC’s comments and incorporate 

those comments that APS agrees are 

appropriate. The presentation will: 

1. Include a summary of the ISFSI 

event that resulted in the Confirmatory 

Order, the root and contributing causes, 

the corrective actions from the root 

cause evaluation, additional corrective 

actions from the Confirmatory Order, 

and a discussion on what a 

Methodology is and what are input 

parameters. 

2. Emphasize a General Licensee’s 

requirement to adequately review a 

vendor’s 10 CFR 72.48 analysis through 

its 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 program for 

acceptance prior to being implemented 

at the General Licensee’s site. 

D. Within 15 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will deliver the presentation to: (1) The 

INPO Engineering VP Forum, (2) the 

NEI Used Fuel Conference, and (3) the 

NEI High Level Waste Working Group 

(subject to acceptance of the forum or 

conference organizing committee) as 

allowed by current COVID–19 

considerations. 

Training 

E. Within 6 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a refresher training on 10 

CFR 50.59/72.48 requirements and 

processes and will submit the proposed 

training to the NRC for its review. The 

NRC will provide any comments to APS 

on the proposed training within 1 

month from the date of the submittal. 

APS will consider the NRC’s comments 

and incorporate those comments that 

APS agrees are appropriate. 

F. Within 9 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
78876 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 

will provide the training to all qualified 

personnel in the development, review, 

and approval of 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 

changes. APS will continue to provide 

the refresher training at intervals not to 

exceed 15 months until December 31, 

2024. APS will retain a copy of the 

training and verifiable evidence of the 

personnel receiving the training. APS 

will document the reason for any person 

not obtaining the training and the 

additional efforts used to provide the 

training. 

Reviews 

G. Within 4 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will create a challenge review board 

consisting of three 10 CFR 50.59 

program single point of contact (SPOC) 

members who will review 10 CFR 72.48 

screenings and evaluations prior to the 

change implementation until December 

31, 2024. By March 31 of the calendar 

year following the Condition G reviews, 

APS will send a copy of the previous 

calendar reviews and a copy of any 

additional corrective actions developed 

from the reviews to the NRC. 

H. APS will utilize a design review 

board to review NAC’s design changes 

with experienced qualified 10 CFR 

50.59/72.48 individuals on both NAC 

MAGNASTOR and NAC UMS systems, 

applicable to APS, prior to all loading 

campaigns through December 31, 2024. 

By March 31 of the calendar year 

following the Condition H reviews, APS 

will send a copy of the previous 

calendar year reviews and a copy of any 

additional corrective actions developed 

from the reviews to the NRC. 

Training Assessment 

I. Within 12 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will perform a training needs analysis to 

determine what training should be 

provided to engineering personnel 

relative to software quality assurance. 

The training needs analysis will 

consider procedures and processes 

related to the APS software quality 

assurance program and aspects of the 

Spent Fuel Project Office Interim Staff 

Guidance—21 (ISG–21), ‘‘Use of 

Computational Modeling Software,’’ 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS) 

Accession No. ML061080669. APS will 

send the results of the training needs 

analysis and proposed training to the 

NRC for its review. The NRC will 

provide any comments to APS on the 

training within 1 month from the date 

of the submittal. APS will consider the 

NRC’s comments and incorporate those 

comments that APS agrees are 

appropriate. 

J. Within 24 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will provide the training resulting from 

the training needs analysis discussed in 

Paragraph I to qualified personnel in the 

development, review, and approval of 

10 CFR 50.59/72.48 changes. 

Effectiveness Reviews 

K. By December 31 of calendar years 

2021 and 2023, APS will perform an 

effectiveness review of the implemented 

root cause evaluation corrective actions, 

and actions associated with the 

Confirmatory Order. The effectiveness 

review will include lessons learned 

from each action implementation or 

completion, new operating experience 

since issuance of the Confirmatory 

Order, and training feedback associated 

with 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 which 

occurred during the effectiveness review 

period. APS will modify its corrective 

actions, as needed and consistent with 

this Confirmatory Order, based on the 

results of the effectiveness review. By 

March 31 of each year following the 

effectiveness review, APS will send a 

copy of the effectiveness review and a 

copy of any additional corrective 

actions developed from the effectiveness 

review to the NRC. 

Administrative Items 

L. Until December 31, 2026, APS will 

retain a copy of all documentation 

created during the implementation of 

the Confirmatory Order Conditions. 

M. Documents that are required to be 

sent to the NRC as a result of the 

Confirmatory Order Conditions will be 

sent the Director, Division of Nuclear 

Materials Safety, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Region IV, 

1600 E Lamar Blvd., Arlington, TX 

76011–4511 and emailed to 

R4Enforcement@nrc.gov. 

N. In consideration of the Conditions 

delineated above, the NRC agrees that 

the issuance of this Confirmatory Order 

will not be considered as escalated 

enforcement. However, for any future 

escalated enforcement actions involving 

10 CFR 72.48 or 10 CFR 72.146, the NRC 

will consider this Confirmatory Order 

for the civil penalty assessment 

purposes as discussed in the NRC 

Enforcement Policy. 

O. In consideration of the Conditions 

delineated above, the NRC agrees not to 

issue a notice of violation and not 

impose a civil penalty for the apparent 

violations discussed in the NRC 

inspection report to APS dated July 6, 

2020. 

P. In the event of the transfer of the 

license of APS to another entity, the 

terms and conditions set forth 

hereunder shall continue to apply to the 

new entity and accordingly survive any 

transfer of ownership or license. 

Q. The NRC and APS agree that the 

above elements will be incorporated 

into a Confirmatory Order. 

Based on the completed actions 

described above, and the commitments 

described in Section V below, the NRC 

agrees to not pursue any further 

enforcement action based on the 

apparent violations identified in the 

NRC’s July 6, 2020, letter. 

On November 5, 2020, APS consented 

to issuing this Confirmatory Order with 

the commitments, as described in 

Section V below. APS further agreed 

that this Confirmatory Order is to be 

effective upon issuance, the agreement 

memorialized in this Confirmatory 

Order settles the matter between the 

parties, and that it has waived its right 

to a hearing. 

IV 

I find that APS’s actions completed, 

as described in Section III above, 

combined with the commitments as set 

forth in Section V are acceptable and 

necessary, and conclude that with these 

commitments the public health and 

safety are reasonably assured. In view of 

the foregoing, I have determined that 

public health and safety require that 

APS’s commitments be confirmed by 

this Confirmatory Order. Based on the 

above and APS’s consent, this 

Confirmatory Order is effective upon 

issuance. 

V 

Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 

103, 161b., 161i., 161o., 182, and 186 of 

the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 

amended, and the Commission’s 

regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR 

part 50, it is hereby ordered, effective 

upon issuance, that license Nos. NPF– 

41, NPF–51, and NPF–74 are modified 

as follows: 

Communications 

A. Within 2 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a communication that will 

include: A summary of the ISFSI event 

that resulted in the Confirmatory Order, 

the root and contributing causes, the 

corrective actions from the root cause 

evaluation, and the additional corrective 

actions from the Confirmatory Order, 

and APS will submit the proposed 

communication to the NRC for its 

review. The NRC will provide any 

comments to APS on the 

communication within 1 month from 

the date of the submittal. APS will 

consider the NRC’s comments and 

incorporate those comments that APS 

agrees are appropriate. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 78877 

B. Within 4 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will issue the Condition A 

communication as a stand-alone 

communication from the Chief Nuclear 

Officer to all qualified personnel in the 

development, review, and approval of 

10 CFR 50.59/72.48 ‘‘Changes, test, and 

experiments’’ documents. APS will 

retain a copy of the communication 

presented and verifiable evidence of the 

personnel receiving the communication. 

APS will document the reason for any 

person not obtaining the 

communication and the additional 

efforts used to provide the 

communication. 

C. Within 6 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a presentation and will 

submit the proposed presentation to the 

NRC for its review. The NRC will 

provide any comments to APS on the 

presentation within 1 month from the 

date of the submittal. APS will consider 

the NRC’s comments and incorporate 

those comments that APS agrees are 

appropriate. The presentation will: 

1. Include a summary of the ISFSI 

event that resulted in the Confirmatory 

Order, the root and contributing causes, 

the corrective actions from the root 

cause evaluation, additional corrective 

actions from the Confirmatory Order, 

and a discussion on what a 

Methodology is and what are input 

parameters. 

2. Emphasize a General Licensee’s 

requirement to adequately review a 

vendor’s 10 CFR 72.48 analysis through 

its 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 program for 

acceptance prior to being implemented 

at the General Licensee’s site. 

D. Within 15 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will deliver the presentation developed 

in Condition C to: (1) The INPO 

Engineering VP Forum, (2) the NEI Used 

Fuel Conference, and (3) the NEI High 

Level Waste Working Group (subject to 

acceptance of the forum or conference 

organizing committee) as allowed by 

current COVID–19 considerations. 

Training 

E. Within 6 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will develop a Systematic Approach to 

Training refresher training on 10 CFR 

50.59/72.48 requirements and processes 

and will submit proposed training to the 

NRC for its review. The NRC will 

provide any comments to APS on the 

training within 1 month from the date 

of the submittal. APS will consider the 

NRC’s comments and incorporate those 

comments that APS agrees are 

appropriate. 

F. Within 9 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will provide the training developed in 

Condition E above to all qualified 

personnel in the development, review, 

and approval of 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 

changes. APS will continue to provide 

the refresher training at intervals not to 

exceed 15 months until December 31, 

2024. APS will retain a copy of the 

training and verifiable evidence of the 

personnel receiving the training. APS 

will document the reason for any person 

not obtaining the training and the 

additional efforts used to provide the 

training. 

Reviews 

G. Within 4 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order and until 

December 31, 2024, APS will create a 

challenge review board consisting of 

three 10 CFR 50.59 program single point 

of contact (SPOC) members who will 

review 10 CFR 72.48 screenings and 

evaluations prior to the implementation 

of a design change. By March 31 of the 

calendar year following the Condition G 

reviews, APS will send a copy of the 

previous calendar year reviews and a 

copy of any additional corrective 

actions developed from the reviews to 

the NRC. 

H. Within 4 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order and until 

December 31, 2024, APS will utilize a 

design review board to review NAC’s 

design changes with experienced, 

qualified 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 

individuals on both NAC MAGNASTOR 

and NAC UMS systems applicable to 

APS prior to all loading campaigns. By 

March 31 of the calendar year following 

the Condition H reviews, APS will send 

a copy of the previous calendar year 

reviews and a copy of any additional 

corrective actions developed from the 

reviews to the NRC. 

Training Assessment 

I. Within 12 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will perform a training needs analysis to 

determine what training should be 

provided to engineering personnel 

relative to software quality assurance. 

The training needs analysis will 

consider procedures and processes 

related to the APS software quality 

assurance program and aspects of 

NUREG–2215, ‘‘Standard Review Plan 

for Spent Fuel Dry Storage Systems and 

Facilities,’’ Appendix 4A, 

‘‘Computational Modeling Software 

Technical Review Guidance,’’ NRC’s 

Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) 

Accession No. ML20121A190. APS will 

send the results of the training needs 

analysis and proposed training to the 

NRC for its review. The NRC will 

provide any comments to APS on the 

training within 1 month from the date 

of the submittal. APS will consider the 

NRC’s comments and incorporate those 

comments that APS agrees are 

appropriate. 

J. Within 24 months of the issuance 

date of the Confirmatory Order, APS 

will provide the training resulting from 

the training needs analysis discussed in 

Condition I to qualified personnel in the 

development, review, and approval of 

10 CFR 50.59/72.48 changes. 

Effectiveness Reviews 

K. By December 31 of calendar years 

2021 and 2023, APS will perform an 

effectiveness review of the implemented 

root cause evaluation corrective actions, 

and actions associated with the 

Confirmatory Order. The effectiveness 

review will include lessons learned 

from each action implementation or 

completion, new operating experience 

since issuance of the Confirmatory 

Order, and training feedback associated 

with 10 CFR 50.59/72.48 which 

occurred during the effectiveness review 

period. APS will modify its corrective 

actions, as needed and consistent with 

the Confirmatory Order, based on the 

results of the effectiveness review. By 

March 31 of each year following the 

effectiveness review, APS will send a 

copy of the effectiveness review and a 

copy of any additional corrective 

actions developed from the effectiveness 

review to the NRC. 

Administrative Items 

L. Until December 31, 2026, APS will 

retain a copy of all documentation 

created during the implementation of 

the Confirmatory Order Conditions. 

M. Documents that are required to be 

sent to the NRC as a result of the 

Confirmatory Order Conditions will be 

sent to the Director, Division of Nuclear 

Materials Safety, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Region IV, 

1600 E Lamar Blvd., Arlington, TX 

76011–4511 and emailed to 

R4Enforcement@nrc.gov. 

N. In consideration of the Conditions 

delineated above, the NRC agrees that 

the issuance of this Confirmatory Order 

will not be considered as escalated 

enforcement. However, for any future 

escalated enforcement actions involving 

10 CFR 72.48 or 10 CFR 72.146, the NRC 

will consider this Confirmatory Order 

for the civil penalty assessment 

purposes as discussed in the NRC 

Enforcement Policy. 

O. In consideration of the Conditions 

delineated above, the NRC agrees not to 

issue a notice of violation and not 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
78878 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 

impose a civil penalty for the apparent 

violations discussed in the NRC 

inspection report to APS dated July 6, 

2020. 

In the event of the transfer of the 

license of APS to another entity, the 

terms and conditions set forth 

hereunder shall continue to apply to the 

new entity and accordingly survive any 

transfer of ownership or license. The 

Regional Administrator, Region IV, may, 

in writing, relax, rescind, or withdraw 

any of the above conditions upon 

demonstration by APS or its successors 

of good cause. 

VI 

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202 and 

10 CFR 2.309, any person adversely 

affected by this Confirmatory Order, 

other than APS, may request a hearing 

within thirty (30) calendar days of the 

date of issuance of this Confirmatory 

Order. Where good cause is shown, 

consideration will be given to extending 

the time to request a hearing. A request 

for extension of time must be made in 

writing to the Director, Office of 

Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555, 

and include a statement of good cause 

for the extension. 

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 

49139; August 28, 2007, as amended at 

77 FR 46562; August 3, 2012). The EFiling 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 https://www.nrc.gov/sitehelp/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 

hearing.docket@nrc.gov, 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 EFiling 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 https:// 

www.nrc.gov/site-help/esubmittals.html, by email to 

MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a tollfree 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 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. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Notices 78879 

The Commission will issue a notice or 

order granting or denying a hearing 

request or intervention petition, 

designating the issues for any hearing 

that will be held and designating the 

Presiding Officer. A notice granting a 

hearing will be published in the Federal 

Register and served on the parties to the 

hearing. 

If a person (other than APS) requests 

a hearing, that person shall set forth 

with particularity the manner in which 

his interest is adversely affected by this 

Confirmatory Order and shall address 

the criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.309(d) 

and (f). 

If a hearing is requested by a person 

whose interest is adversely affected, the 

Commission will issue an order 

designating the time and place of any 

hearings. If a hearing is held, the issue 

to be considered at such hearing shall be 

whether this Confirmatory Order should 

be sustained. 

In the absence of any request for 

hearing, or written approval of an 

extension of time in which to request a 

hearing, the provisions specified in 

Section V above shall be final 30 days 

from the date of this Confirmatory Order 

without further order or proceedings. If 

an extension of time for requesting a 

hearing has been approved, the 

provisions specified in Section V shall 

be final when the extension expires if a 

hearing request has not been received. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

/RA/ 

Scott A. Morris, 

Regional Administrator, NRC Region IV. 

Dated this 17th day of November 2020. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26846 Filed 12–4–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2018–0137] 

Licensee Actions to Address 

Nonconservative Technical 

Specifications 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing Regulatory 

Guide (RG) 1.239, ‘‘Licensee Actions to 

Address Nonconservative Technical 

Specifications.’’ This RG endorses the 

guidance in NEI 15–03, Revision 3, 

‘‘Licensee Actions to Address 

Nonconservative Technical 

Specifications,’’ as a method acceptable 

to the NRC staff for licensee actions to 

address nonconservative technical 

specifications. 

DATES: RG 1.239 is available on 

December 7, 2020. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2018–0137 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 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2018–0137. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individuals 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 

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 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. For the 

convenience of the reader, instructions 

about obtaining materials referenced in 

this document are provided in the 

‘‘Availability of Documents’’ section. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents, is currently closed. You 

may submit your request to the PDR via 

email at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 

1–800–397–4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

RG 1.239 and the regulatory analysis 

may be found in ADAMS under 

Accession Nos. ML20294A510 and 

ML18086A685, respectively. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 

required to reproduce them. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shawn Williams, Office of Nuclear 

Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301– 

415–1009, email: Shawn.Williams@

nrc.gov and Robert Roche-Rivera, Office 

of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 

telephone: 301–415–8113, email: 

Robert.Roche-Rivera@nrc.gov. Both are 

staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion 

The NRC is issuing a new guide in the 

NRC’s ‘‘Regulatory Guide’’ series. This 

series was developed to describe and 

make available to the public information 

regarding methods that are acceptable to 

the NRC staff for implementing specific 

parts of the agency’s regulations, 

techniques that the NRC staff uses in 

evaluating specific issues or postulated 

events, and data that the NRC staff 

needs in its review of applications for 

permits and licenses. 

RG 1.239 was issued with a temporary 

identification of Draft Regulatory Guide, 

DG–1351 and related regulatory 

analysis. This RG provides guidance for 

licensee compliance with the technical 

specification requirements in section 

50.36 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Technical 

specifications,’’ the reporting 

requirements in 10 CFR 50.72, 

‘‘Immediate notification requirements 

for operating nuclear power reactors’’ 

and 10 CFR 50.73, ‘‘Licensee event 

report system,’’ and the quality 

assurance requirements in Criterion XVI 

of 10 CFR part 50, appendix B, 

‘‘Corrective Action’’. This RG endorses 

NEI 15–03, Revision 3. 

With the issuance of RG 1.239, the 

NRC is withdrawing Administrative 

Letter (AL) 98–10, ‘‘Dispositioning of 

Technical Specifications That Are 

Insufficient to Assure Plant Safety.’’ The 

information in AL 98–10 is 

encompassed in RG 1.239. 

II. Additional Information 

The NRC published a notice of the 

availability of DG–1351 in the Federal 

Register on July 5, 2018 (83 FR 31429) 

for a 60-day public comment period, 

and it proposed to endorse NEI 15–03, 

Revision 2, with exceptions and 

clarifications. The public comment 

period closed on September 4, 2018. 

Public comments on DG–1351 and the 

staff responses to the public comments 

are available in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML19267A108. 

On October 17, 2019, the NRC staff 

held a public meeting to discuss the 

staff’s disposition of public comments 

on DG–1351. Subsequently, by letter 

dated April 9, 2020, the NEI submitted 

Revision 3 of NEI 15–03 to address the 

exceptions and clarifications in DG– 

1351. The NRC review of the April 9, 

2020, submittal determined that NEI 15– 

03, as revised, is acceptable and 

addresses the exceptions and 

clarifications in DG–1351. As a result, 

the NRC revised DG–1351 to remove the 

exceptions and clarifications and 

published a notice of the availability of 

DG–1351, Revision 1 in the Federal 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES