Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Notices 8149 

that the NRC’s E–Filing system does not 

support unlisted software, and the NRC 

Meta System Help Desk will not be able 

to offer assistance in using unlisted 

software. 

If a participant is electronically 

submitting a document to the NRC in 

accordance with the E–Filing rule, the 

participant must file the document 

using the NRC’s online, Web-based 

submission form. In order to serve 

documents through EIE, users will be 

required to install a Web browser plugin from the NRC Web site. Further 

information on the Web-based 

submission form, including the 

installation of the Web browser plug-in, 

is available on the NRC’s public Web 

site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/esubmittals.html. 

Once a participant has obtained a 

digital ID certificate and a docket has 

been created, the participant can then 

submit a request for hearing or petition 

for leave to intervene. Submissions 

should be in Portable Document Format 

(PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance 

available on the NRC public Web site at 

http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/esubmittals.html. A filing is considered 

complete at the time the documents are 

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 e-mail notice 

confirming receipt of the document. The 

E–Filing system also distributes an email notice that provides access to the 

document to the NRC 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 documents on those 

participants separately. Therefore, 

applicants and other participants (or 

their counsel or representative) must 

apply for and receive a digital ID 

certificate before a hearing request/ 

petition to intervene is filed so that they 

can obtain access to the document via 

the E–Filing system. 

A person filing electronically using 

the agency’s adjudicatory E–Filing 

system may seek assistance by 

contacting the NRC Meta System Help 

Desk through the ‘‘Contact Us’’ link 

located on the NRC Web site at http:// 

www.nrc.gov/site-help/esubmittals.html, by e-mail at 

MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a tollfree call at (866) 672–7640. The NRC 

Meta System Help Desk is available 

between 8 a.m. and 8 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 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, 

Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland, 20852, Attention: 

Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. 

Participants filing a document in this 

manner are responsible for serving the 

document on all other participants. 

Filing is considered complete by firstclass 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 NRC’s 

electronic hearing docket which is 

available to the public at http:// 

ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, 

unless excluded pursuant to an order of 

the Commission, or the presiding 

officer. Participants are requested not to 

include personal privacy information, 

such as social security numbers, home 

addresses, or home phone numbers in 

their filings, unless an NRC regulation 

or other law requires submission of such 

information. 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. 

Petitions for leave to intervene must 

be filed no later than 60 days from 

February 23, 2010. Non-timely filings 

will not be entertained absent a 

determination by the presiding officer 

that the petition or request should be 

granted or the contentions should be 

admitted, based on a balancing of the 

factors specified in 10 CFR 

2.309(c)(1)(i)–(viii). 

Dated at Lisle, IL, this 9th day of February 

2010. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Christine A. Lipa, 

Chief, Materials Control, ISFSI, and 

Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear 

Materials Safety, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3351 Filed 2–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

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

STN 50–530; NRC–2010–0058] 

Arizona Public Service Company, et al. 

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, 

Units 1, 2, and 3 Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is considering 

issuance of an exemption from Title 10 

of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR) Part 50, Appendix G, ‘‘Fracture 

Toughness Requirements,’’ for Facility 

Operating License Nos. NPF–41, NPF– 

51, and NPF–74, issued to the Arizona 

Public Service Company (APS, or the 

licensee), for operation of the Palo 

Verde Nuclear Generating Station 

(PVNGS, the facility), Units 1, 2, and 3, 

respectively, located in Maricopa 

County, Arizona. Therefore, as required 

by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this 

environmental assessment and finding 

of no significant impact. 

Environmental Assessment 

Identification of the Proposed Action 

By letter dated February 19, 2009, as 

supplemented by letter dated December 

22, 2009, the licensee submitted a 

license amendment request where, 

among other changes, the licensee 

requested the use of an alternate 

methodology for calculating the stress 

intensity factor KIM due to internal 

pressure loading. As specified in the 

NRC safety evaluation approving 

Combustion Engineering (CE) Topical 

Report NPSD–683–A, Revision 6, 

‘‘Development of a RCS [Reactor Coolant 

System] Pressure and Temperature 

Limits Report (PTLR) for the removal of 

P–T [Pressure Temperature] Limits and 

LTOP [Low-Temperature Overpressure 

Protection] Requirements from the 

Technical Specifications,’’ dated March 

16, 2001, the licensee’s application 

included a request for an exemption 

from the requirements of 10 CFR Part 

50, Appendix G for pressure 

temperature (P–T) limits, since the 

alternate methodology applies the CE 

Nuclear Steam Supply System method 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

8150 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 35 / Tuesday, February 23, 2010 / Notices 

for calculating KIM stress intensity 

values. 

The proposed action would exempt 

the licensee from certain requirements 

of Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 50 to 

allow the application of the 

methodology in CE NPSD–683–A, 

Revision 6, for the calculation of flaw 

stress intensity factors due to internal 

pressure loadings (KIM). 

The Need for the Proposed Action 

The exemption is needed to allow the 

licensee to use an alternate methodology 

to meet the fracture toughness 

requirements for the reactor coolant 

pressure boundary. In the considering 

the exemption request, the staff has 

determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 

50.12(a)(2)(ii), the application of the 

regulation in the particular 

circumstances is not necessary to 

achieve the underlying purpose of the 

rule, based on the alternate 

methodology proposed by the licensee. 

The proposed action would revise the 

currently-approved methodology for P– 

T limit calculations to incorporate the 

methodology approved for use in CE 

NPSD–683–A, Revision 6. The topical 

report allows the use of an alternate 

methodology to calculate the flaw stress 

intensity factors due to internal pressure 

loadings (KIM). Specifically, the 

exemption is needed because the 

methodology in CE NPSD–683–A, 

Revision 6, could not be shown to be 

conservative with respect to the 

methodology for the determination of 

KIM provided in Editions and Addenda 

of the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel 

Code (ASME Code), Section XI, 

Appendix G, through the 1995 Edition 

and 1996 Addenda (the latest Edition 

and Addenda of the ASME Code which 

had been incorporated into 10 CFR 

50.55a at the time of the staff’s review 

of CE NPSD–683–A, Revision 6). 

Therefore, the licensee submitted an 

exemption request, consistent with the 

requirements of 10 CFR 50.60, to apply 

the KIM calculational methodology of CE 

NPSD–683–A, Revision 6, as part of the 

PVNGS, Units 1, 2, and 3, PTLR 

methodology. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The NRC has completed its evaluation 

of the proposed action and concludes 

that the use of the alternate 

methodology described above would 

provide an adequate margin of safety 

against brittle failure of the reactor 

pressure vessels at PVNGS, Units 1, 2 

and 3. The proposed change does not 

involve any replacement or 

modification of plant components and 

no changes are proposed in the 

operation of PVNGS. Therefore the staff 

concludes that the use of an alternate 

methodology as described in the 

licensee’s request would not 

significantly affect plant safety and 

would not have a significant adverse 

affect on the probability of an accident 

occurring. 

The proposed action will not result in 

any non-radiological impacts or 

radiological impacts. The proposed 

action does not result in changes to the 

operation of the plant and supporting 

facilities, land use, or water use, nor 

does it result in changes to the quality 

or quantity of non-radiological and 

radiological effluents. No impacts are 

expected to the air or ambient air 

quality. No impacts are expected to 

aquatic or terrestrial habitats or species, 

or to threatened, endangered, or 

protected species. No impacts are 

expected to historic and cultural 

resources, or to socioeconomic 

resources. Accordingly, the NRC 

concludes that there are no significant 

environmental impacts associated with 

the proposed action. 

The details of the staff’s safety 

evaluation will be provided in the 

exemption to 10 CFR 50, Appendix G, 

which will allow the use of the 

methodology in Topical Report CE 

NPSD–683–A, Revision 6, to calculate 

the flaw stress intensity factors due to 

internal pressure loadings (KIM). The 

exemption will be issued in a future 

letter to the licensee. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

As an alternative to the proposed 

action, the staff considered denial of the 

proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘no-action’’ 

alternative). Denial of the application 

would result in no change in current 

environmental impacts. The 

environmental impacts of the proposed 

action and the alternative action are 

similar. 

Alternative Use of Resources 

The action does not involve the use of 

any different resources than those 

previously considered in the Final 

Environmental Statement for the Palo 

Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 

1, 2, and 3, NUREG–0841, dated 

February 1982. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

In accordance with its stated policy, 

on February 12, 2010, the staff 

consulted with the Arizona State 

official, Mr. Aubrey Godwin of the 

Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency, 

regarding the environmental impact of 

the proposed action. The State official 

had no comments. 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

On the basis of the environmental 

assessment, the NRC concludes that the 

proposed action will not have a 

significant effect on the quality of the 

human environment. Accordingly, the 

NRC has determined not to prepare an 

environmental impact statement for the 

proposed action. 

For further details with respect to the 

proposed action, see the licensee’s 

letters dated February 19 and December 

22, 2009 (Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS) Accession Nos. ML090641014 

and ML10040069, respectively). 

Documents may be examined, and/or 

copied for a fee, at the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR), located at One 

White Flint North, Public File Area O1 

F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 

Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available 

records will be accessible electronically 

from the ADAMS Public Electronic 

Reading Room on the Internet at the 

NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who 

do not have access to ADAMS or who 

encounter problems in accessing the 

documents located in ADAMS should 

contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by 

telephone at 1–800–397–4209 or 301– 

415–4737, or send an e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day 

of February 2010. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

James R. Hall, 

Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing 

Branch IV, Division of Operating Reactor 

Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3496 Filed 2–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos. 50–498 and 50–499; NRC– 

2010–060] 

STP Nuclear Operating Company 

South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2 

Environmental Assessment and Finding 

of No Significant Impact 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is considering 

issuance of an exemption, pursuant to 

Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR) Section 73.5, 

‘‘Specific exemptions,’’ from the 

implementation date for certain new 

requirements of 10 CFR Part 73, 

‘‘Physical protection of plants and 

materials,’’ for Facility Operating 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES