[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 152 (Monday, August 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48184-48186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-20016]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-171; NRC-2011-0141]


Exelon Nuclear, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Unit 1; 
Exemption From Certain Security Requirements

1.0 Background

    Exelon Nuclear is the licensee and holder of Facility Operating 
License No. DPR-12 issued for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station 
(PBAPS), Unit 1, located in York County, PA. PBAPS Unit 1 is a 
permanently shut down nuclear reactor facility. PBAPS Unit 1 was a 
high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor that was operated from June of 
1967 to its final shutdown on October 31, 1974. All spent fuel has been 
removed from the site, and the spent fuel pool is drained and 
decontaminated. The reactor vessel, primary system piping, and steam 
generators remain in place. The facility is permanently shut down in a 
SAFSTOR condition, defueled and Exelon is no longer authorized to 
operate or place fuel in the reactor. PBAPS Unit 1 is currently 
licensed pursuant to Section 104(b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 
as amended, and 10 CFR part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' to possess but not operate the facility.
    All residual radioactivity from the final decommissioned plant 
configuration is contained within the PBAPS Unit 1 Containment and 
Spent Fuel Pool Buildings. Within the Containment Building, more than 
99.9 percent of the estimated 0.2 megacuries of radioactivity is 
contained inside the reactor vessel in the form of induced activity in 
the vessel walls, reactor internals and control rod couplings 
(Reference 4). The reactor vessel is contained inside the reactor 
vessel cavity and is accessible only by removing the concrete missile 
shields, the refueling port flanges and the refueling port shield 
plugs. The missile shields can only be removed with the building crane 
which is electrically deactivated.

2.0 Action

    Section 50.54(p)(1) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) states in part, ``The licensee shall prepare and maintain 
safeguards contingency plan procedures in accordance with Appendix C of 
Part 73 of this chapter for affecting the actions and decisions 
contained in the Responsibility Matrix of the safeguards contingency 
plan.''
    Part 73 of 10 CFR, ``Physical Protection of Plant and Materials,'' 
provides in part in 73.1(a), ``This part prescribes requirements for 
the establishment and maintenance of a physical protection system which 
will have capabilities for the protection of special nuclear material 
at fixed sites and in transit and of plants in which special nuclear 
material is used.'' In Section 73.55, entitled ``Requirements for 
physical protection of licensed activities in nuclear power reactors 
against radiological sabotage,'' paragraph (b)(1) states, ``The 
licensee shall establish and maintain a physical protection program, to 
include a security organization, which will have as its objective to 
provide high assurance that activities involving special nuclear 
material are not inimical to the common defense and security and do not 
constitute an unreasonable risk to the public health and safety.''

[[Page 48185]]

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
revised 10 CFR 73.55, in part, to include the preceding language, 
through the issuance of a final rule on March 27, 2009. The revised 
regulation stated that it was applicable to all Part 50 licensees. The 
NRC became aware that many Part 50 licensees with facilities in 
decommissioning status did not recognize the applicability of this 
regulation to their facility. Accordingly, the NRC informed licensees 
with facilities in decommissioning status and other stakeholders that 
the requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 were applicable to all Part 50 
licensees. By letter dated August 2, 2010, the NRC informed Exelon 
Nuclear of the applicability of the revised rule and stated that it 
would have to evaluate the applicability of the regulation to its 
facility and either make appropriate changes or request an exemption.
    By letter dated November 18, 2010, Exelon Nuclear responded to the 
NRC's letter and requested exemptions from the security requirements in 
10 CFR part 73 and 10 CFR 50.54(p).

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. Special circumstances are 
present, for example, when application of the regulation in the 
particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the 
rule or when compliance would result in costs significantly in excess 
of those incurred by others similarly situated. Also, pursuant to 10 
CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission may, upon application 
of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions 
from the regulations in Part 73 as it determines are authorized by law 
and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and 
security, and are otherwise in the public interest.
    The purpose of the security requirements of 10 CFR part 73, as 
applicable to a 10 CFR part 50 licensed facility, is to prescribe 
requirements for a facility that possesses and utilizes special nuclear 
material (SNM). The transfer of the PBAPS Unit 1 spent nuclear fuel to 
the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) for 
reprocessing was completed on February 17, 1977. With the completion of 
the fuel transfer, there is no longer any SNM located within PBAPS Unit 
1 other than that contained in plant systems as residual contamination.
    The remaining radioactive material is in a form that does not pose 
a risk of removal (i.e., an intact reactor pressure vessel) and is well 
dispersed and is not easily aggregated. With the removal of the fuel 
containing SNM, the potential for radiological sabotage or diversion of 
SNM at the 10 CFR part 50 licensed site was eliminated. Therefore, the 
continued application of the 10 CFR part 73 requirements to PBAPS Unit 
1 would no longer be necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the 
rule. Additionally, as has been noted at other decommissioning nuclear 
power facilities, with the removal of the spent nuclear fuel from the 
site, the 10 CFR part 50 licensed site would be comparable to a source 
and byproduct licensee that uses general industrial security (i.e. 
locks and barriers) to protect the public health and safety. The 
continued application of 10 CFR part 73 security requirements would 
cause the licensee to expend significantly more funds for security 
requirements than other source and byproduct facilities. Therefore, 
compliance with 10 CFR part 73 would result in costs significantly in 
excess of those incurred by others similarly situated. Based on the 
above, the NRC has determined that the removal of the fuel containing 
SNM at the 10 CFR part 50 licensed site constitutes special 
circumstances. The possession and responsibility for the security of 
the SNM was transferred to INEEL and is no longer the responsibility of 
the licensee. Therefore, protection of the SNM is no longer a 
requirement of the licensee's 10 CFR part 50 license. With no SNM to 
protect, there is no need for a safeguards contingency plan or 
procedures, physical security plan, guard training and qualification 
plan, or cyber security plan for the PBAPS Unit 1, 10 CFR part 50 
licensed site.

4.0 Conclusion

    Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.12(a), an 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 based on the continued maintenance of appropriate 
security requirements for the remaining SNM contained in plant systems 
as residual contamination. Additionally, special circumstances are 
present based on the removal of the spent nuclear fuel from the 10 CFR 
part 50 licensed site. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Exelon 
Nuclear an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(p) at PBAPS 
Unit 1.
    The Commission has also determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, 
an exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or property 
or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public 
interest because the security requirements for the spent fuel 
containing SNM are no longer the responsibility of the licensee. 
Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Exelon Nuclear an exemption 
from the fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 CFR part 73 
at PBAPS Unit 1. The fixed site physical protection requirements of 10 
CFR part 73 are delineated in Sec. Sec.  73.20, 74.40, 73.45, 73.46, 
73.50, 73.51, 73.54, 73.55, 73.56, 73.57, 73.58, 73.59, 73.60, 73.61, 
73.67, Appendix B and Appendix C. The requirements for protection of 
safeguards information, physical protection of SNM in transit, and 
records and reports, contained in these or other sections of Part 73 
continue to apply. To the extent that the licensee's request for an 
exemption from 10 CFR part 73 included the requirements other than for 
the fixed site physical protection requirements, that request is 
denied.
    Part of this licensing action meets the categorical exclusion 
provision in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25), as part of this action is an 
exemption from the requirements of the Commission's regulations and (i) 
there is no significant hazards consideration; (ii) there is no 
significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts 
of any effluents that may be released offsite; (iii) there is no 
significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational 
radiation exposure; (iv) there is no significant construction impact; 
(v) there is no significant increase in the potential for or 
consequences from radiological accidents; and (vi) the requirements 
from which an exemption is sought involve safeguard plans. Therefore, 
this part of the action does not require either an environmental 
assessment or an environmental impact statement.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, 51.32, and 51.35, an environmental 
assessment and finding of no significant impact related to part of this 
exemption was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2011 (76 FR 
37842). Based upon the environmental assessment, the Commission has 
determined that issuance of this exemption will not have a significant 
effect on the quality of the human environment.

[[Page 48186]]

    These exemptions are effective immediately.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of August 2011.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-20016 Filed 8-5-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P