Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 181 / Monday, September 21, 2009 / Notices 48103 

2. E-mail comments to: 

nrcrep.resource@nrc.gov. 

3. Fax comments to: Rulemaking and 

Directives Branch, Office of 

Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission at (301) 492–3446. 

Requests for technical information 

about DG–1225 may be directed to the 

NRC contact, Jerome Bettle at (301) 415– 

1314 or e-mail to Jerome.Bettle@nrc.gov. 

Comments would be most helpful if 

received by November 16, 2009. 

Comments received after that date will 

be considered if it is practical to do so, 

but the NRC is able to ensure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

Although a time limit is given, 

comments and suggestions in 

connection with items for inclusion in 

guides currently being developed or 

improvements in all published guides 

are encouraged at any time. 

Electronic copies of DG–1225 are 

available through the NRC’s public Web 

site under Draft Regulatory Guides in 

the ‘‘Regulatory Guides’’ collection of 

the NRC’s Electronic Reading Room at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/. Electronic copies are also 

available in ADAMS (http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html), 

under Accession No. ML090970530. 

In addition, regulatory guides are 

available for inspection at the NRC’s 

Public Document Room (PDR), which is 

located at 11555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland. The PDR’s mailing 

address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 

20555–0001. The PDR can also be 

reached by telephone at (301) 415–4737 

or (800) 397–4205, by fax at (301) 415– 

3548, and by e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and Commission approval 

is not required to reproduce them. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day 

of September, 2009. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Andrea D. Valentin, 

Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, 

Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear 

Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. E9–22601 Filed 9–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–298; NRC–2009–0398] 

Nebraska Public Power District; 

Cooper Nuclear Station; Exemption 

1.0 Background 

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD 

or the licensee) is the holder of Facility 

Operating License No. DPR–46 which 

authorizes operation of the Cooper 

Nuclear Station (CNS). The license 

provides, among other things, that the 

facility is subject to the rules, 

regulations, and orders of the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC, the 

Commission) now or hereafter in effect. 

The facility consists of a boiling-water 

reactor located in Nemaha County, 

Nebraska. 

2.0 Request/Action 

Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR), Part 50, paragraph 

50.54(o), requires primary reactor 

containments for water-cooled power 

reactors to be subject to the 

requirements of Appendix J to 10 CFR 

Part 50. Appendix J specifies the leakage 

test requirements, schedules, and 

acceptance criteria for tests of the leaktight integrity of the primary reactor 

containment and systems and 

components that penetrate the 

containment. Appendix J, Option B, 

‘‘Performance-Based Requirements,’’ 

Section III.A., ‘‘Type A Test,’’ requires, 

among other things, that the overall 

integrated leakage rate must not exceed 

the allowable leakage rate (La) with 

margin, as specified in the Technical 

Specifications (TSs). The overall 

integrated leakage rate is defined in 10 

CFR Part 50, Appendix J as ‘‘the total 

leakage rate through all tested leakage 

paths, including containment welds, 

valves, fittings, and components that 

penetrate the containment system.’’ This 

includes the contribution through the 

four main steam (MS) lines and the MS 

inboard drain line (penetration X–8). 

The MS Pathway includes leakage from 

the MS line penetrations plus the MS 

inboard drain line. 

Option B, Section III.B of 10 CFR Part 

50, Appendix J, ‘‘Type B and C Tests,’’ 

requires, among other things, that the 

sum of the leakage rates at accident 

pressure of Type B tests and pathway 

leakage rates from Type C tests be less 

than the performance criterion (La) with 

margin, as specified in the TSs. 

By application dated October 13, 

2008, as supplemented by letters dated 

April 8, May 29, June 12, and September 

1, 2009, the licensee requested 

exemption from Option B, Section III.A 

requirements in order to permit 

exclusion of MS Pathway leakage from 

the overall integrated leak rate test 

measurement. The licensee also 

requested exemption from Option B, 

Section III.B requirements in order to 

permit exclusion of the MS Pathway 

leakage contributions from the sum of 

the leakage rates from Type B and Type 

C tests. The licensee’s application 

included a license amendment request 

to revise the radiological assessment 

calculation methodology for the design 

basis loss-of-coolant accident at CNS 

through application of the alternative 

source term, in accordance with the 

provisions of 10 CFR 50.67 and 50.90, 

and to revise the TSs accordingly. 

The NRC previously granted a license 

amendment (Amendment No. 226, 

dated October 31, 2006) and an 

exemption (letter to licensee dated 

October 30, 2006) from (1) Option B, 

Section III.A requirements in order to 

permit exclusion of MS isolation valve 

(MSIV) leakage from the overall 

integrated leakage rate measured when 

performing a Type A test, and (2) 

Option B, Section III.B requirements in 

order to permit exclusion of the MSIV 

leakage from the combined leakage rate 

of the penetrations and valves subject to 

Type B and Type C tests. The only 

difference in the current exemption 

request is the inclusion of the leakage 

contribution from the MS inboard drain 

line with the MSIV leakage in the MS 

Pathway. 

The MS leakage effluent has a 

different pathway to the environment, 

when compared to a typical 

containment penetration. It is not 

directed into the secondary containment 

and filtered through the standby gas 

treatment system as is other 

containment leakage. Instead, the MS 

leakage is collected and treated via an 

alternative leakage treatment (ALT) path 

having different mitigation 

characteristics. 

In performing accident analyses, it is 

appropriate to group various leakage 

effluents according to the treatment they 

receive before being released to the 

environment (e.g., from MS pathways). 

The proposed exemption would more 

appropriately permit ALT pathway 

leakage to be independently grouped 

with its unique leakage limits. In this 

manner, the CNS containment leakage 

testing program will be more consistent 

with the limiting assumptions used in 

the associated accident consequence 

analyses. 

The licensee has analyzed the MS 

Pathway leakage separately from the 

overall containment integrated leakage, 

local leakage across pressure retaining, 

leakage limiting boundaries, and 

containment isolation valve leakage in 

its dose consequence analyses. 

Specifically, the alternative source term 

design-basis accident analyses use the 

MS piping, MS drain lines, and main 

condenser as an alternate means for MS 

Pathway leakage treatment. The dose 

consequences were found to be within 

the acceptance criteria of 10 CFR 50.67, 

‘‘Accident source term,’’ and the 

guidance of NRC Regulatory Guide 

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48104 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 181 / Monday, September 21, 2009 / Notices 

1.183, ‘‘Alternative Radiological Source 

Terms for Evaluating Design Basis 

Accidents at Nuclear Power Reactors,’’ 

dated July 2000. 

Therefore, the separation of the MS 

Pathway from the other containment 

leakage pathways is warranted because 

a separate radiological consequence 

term has been provided for these 

pathways. The revised design-basis 

radiological consequences analyses 

address these pathways as individual 

factors, exclusive of the primary 

containment leakage. Therefore, the 

NRC staff finds the proposed exemption 

from Appendix J, to separate MS leakage 

from other containment leakage, to be 

acceptable. 

3.0 Discussion 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the 

Commission may, upon application by 

any interested person or upon its own 

initiative, grant exemptions from the 

requirements of 10 CFR Part 50 when (1) 

the exemptions are authorized by law, 

will not present an undue risk to public 

health or safety, and are consistent with 

the common defense and security; and 

(2) when special circumstances are 

present. The licensee’s exemption 

request was submitted with a license 

amendment request to use the 

alternative source term methodology for 

use in calculating the dose 

consequences of the design-basis lossof-coolant accident analysis. The NRC 

staff will issue the proposed amendment 

in conjunction with the exemption. The 

exemption and amendment together 

would implement the alternative source 

term methodology. The special 

circumstances associated with the MS 

Pathway leakage testing are fully 

described in the licensee’s application 

dated October 13, 2008, as 

supplemented by letters dated April 8, 

May 29, June 12, and September 1, 

2009, and discussed below. 

Authorized by Law 

This exemption would permit 

exclusion of the MS Pathway leakage 

contribution from the overall integrated 

leakage rate Type A test measurement 

and from the sum of the leakage rates 

from Type B and Type C tests. As stated 

above, 10 CFR 50.12 allows the NRC to 

grant exemptions from the requirements 

of 10 CFR Part 50. The NRC staff has 

determined that granting of the 

licensee’s proposed exemption will not 

result in a violation of the Atomic 

Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the 

Commission’s regulations. Therefore, 

the exemption is authorized by law. 

No Undue Risk to Public Health and 

Safety 

The underlying purposes of 10 CFR 

Part 50, Appendix J, Option B, Sections 

III.A and III.B are to ensure that 

containment leak-tight integrity is 

maintained (a) as tight as reasonably 

achievable and (b) sufficiently tight so 

as to limit effluent release to values 

bounded by the analyses of radiological 

consequences of design-basis accidents. 

Based on the above, no new accident 

precursors are created by exclusion of 

the MS Pathway leakage contribution 

from the overall integrated leakage rate 

Type A test measurement and from the 

sum of the leakage rates from Type B 

and Type C tests, thus, the probability 

of postulated accidents is not increased. 

Also, based on the above, the 

consequences of postulated accidents 

are not increased. Therefore, there is no 

undue risk to public health and safety. 

Consistent With Common Defense and 

Security 

The proposed exemption would 

exclude the MS Pathway leakage 

contribution from the overall integrated 

leakage rate Type A test measurement 

and from the sum of the leakage rates 

from Type B and Type C tests. This 

change to the operation of the plant has 

no relation to security issues. Therefore, 

the common defense and security is not 

impacted by this exemption. 

Special Circumstances 

Special circumstances include, in 

part, the special circumstances defined 

in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), which states, 

‘‘Application of the regulation in the 

particular circumstances would not 

serve the underlying purpose of the rule 

or is not necessary to achieve the 

underlying purpose of the rule.’’ 

The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 

Part 50, Appendix J, is to ensure that 

containment leak-tight integrity is 

maintained as tight as reasonably 

achievable and sufficiently tight so as to 

limit effluent release to values bounded 

by the analyses of radiological 

consequences of design-basis accidents. 

The intent of the rule is not 

compromised by the licensee’s proposed 

action because the containment leak 

rates will continue to be limited by 

CNS’s TSs. The proposed action will 

appropriately permit ALT pathway 

leakage to be independently grouped 

with its unique leakage limits and 

maintain the accident dose analyses 

consequences within the acceptance 

criteria of 10 CFR 50.67. 

Therefore, since the underlying 

purposes of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix 

J, is achieved, the special circumstances 

required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) for the 

granting of an exemption from 10 CFR 

Part 50, Appendix J, Option B, Sections 

III.A and III.B exist. 

4.0 Conclusion 

Accordingly, the Commission has 

determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 

50.12, the exemption is authorized by 

law, will not present an undue risk to 

the public health and safety, and is 

consistent with the common defense 

and security. Also, special 

circumstances are present. Therefore, 

the Commission hereby grants NPPD an 

exemption (1) from the requirements of 

10 CFR Part 50, Appendix J, Option B, 

Section III.A, to allow exclusion of the 

MS Pathway leakage from the overall 

integrated leakage rate measured when 

performing a Type A test; and (2) from 

the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, 

Appendix J, Option B, Section III.B, to 

allow exclusion of the MS Pathway 

leakage from the combined leakage rate 

of all penetrations and valves subject to 

Type B and C tests for CNS. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the 

Commission has determined that the 

granting of this exemption will not have 

a significant effect on the quality of the 

human environment (74 FR 47030; 

September 14, 2009). 

This exemption is effective upon 

issuance. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day 

of September 2009. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Joseph G. Giitter, 

Director, Division of Operating Reactor 

Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. E9–22600 Filed 9–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

Advisory Committee on the Medical 

Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice 

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: NRC will convene a meeting 

of the Advisory Committee on the 

Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) on 

October 19–20, 2009. A sample of 

agenda items to be discussed during the 

public session includes: (1) 

International Commission on 

Radiological Protection (ICRP) 

Publication103 subcommittee report 

and discussion; (2) update on 

permanent prostate brachytherapy 

medical events; (3) update on results 

from the Society of Nuclear Medicine 

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