46196 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Notices 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos. 50–346, 50–440, 50–334 and 

50–412; NRC–2018–0187, NRC–2018–0192, 

and NRC–2018–0193] 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating 

Company (FENOC) and FirstEnergy 

Nuclear Generation, LLC, Beaver 

Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, 

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, 

Unit No. 1, Perry Nuclear Power Plant, 

Unit No. 1 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Exemption; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing an 

exemption in response to a July 19, 2017 

request from FirstEnergy Nuclear 

Operating Company (FENOC) and 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Generation, LLC 

(collectively, the licensee), as 

supplemented by letters dated March 

16, 2018, and May 2, 2018. The 

exemption is from the NRC definition 

for a physical barrier regarding the 

construction standards for the fence 

bracket angle. The exemption allows the 

licensee to apply a fence topper bracket 

angle of zero degrees (or vertical) at 

specific locations on the protected area 

fence at each facility, in lieu of the 30 

to 45 degree fence bracket angle 

required by Commission regulations. All 

other construction standards contained 

in the Commission regulations for a 

physical barrier fence topper remain 

applicable. 

DATES: The exemption was issued on 

September 6, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket IDs. 

NRC–2018–0187, NRC–2018–0192, and 

NRC–2018–0193 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 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2018–0187, NRC– 

2018–0192, and NRC–2018–0193. 

Address questions about dockets 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 publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

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, the ADAMS 

accession numbers are provided in a 

table in the ‘‘Availability of Documents’’ 

section of this document. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bhalchandra K. Vaidya, Office of 

Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–3308; email: 

Bhalchandra.Vaidya@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC 

is making the documents identified 

below available to interested persons 

through one or more of the following 

methods, as indicated. To access 

documents related to this action, see 

ADDRESSES section of this document. 

Document ADAMS 

Accession No. 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company—Exemption Request for a Physical Barrier Requirement. Dated July 19, 2017 ......... ML17200D139 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company—Response to Request For Additional Information Regarding Exemption Request for 

a Physical Barrier Requirement. Dated March 16, 2018.

ML18078A033 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company—Response to Request For Additional Information Regarding Exemption Request for 

a Physical Barrier Requirement. Dated May 2, 2018.

ML18122A133 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission—FENOC FLEET—Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 1; and Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1—Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact Related to Exemption Request for a Physical Barrier Requirement.

ML18130A760, 

ML18130A849, 

ML18130A820 

The text of the exemption is attached. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day 

of September 2018. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Bhalchandra K. Vaidya, 

Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch III, 

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. 

Attachment—Exemption 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Docket Nos. 50–334, 50–412, 50–346, 50–440 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company 

(FENOC) 

Exemption 

I. Background 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company 

(FENOC) and FirstEnergy Nuclear 

Generation, LLC (collectively, the licensee), 

are the holders of the following operating 

licenses: (1) Renewed Facility Operating 

License No. DPR–66, and No. NPF–73, at 

Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 

(BVPS), issued on November 5, 2009; (2) 

Renewed Facility Operating License No. 

NPF–3 at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station 

(DBNPS), Unit No. 1, issued on December 8, 

2015; and (3) Facility Operating License No. 

NPF–58 at Perry Nuclear Power Plant 

(PNPP), Unit No. 1, issued on November 13, 

1986. The licenses provide, among other 

things, that the facilities are subject to all 

rules, regulations, and orders of the NRC now 

or hereafter in effect. 

II. Request/Action 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ‘‘Specific 

exemptions,’’ by letter dated July 19, 2017 

(Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) Accession 

No. ML17200D139), FENOC requested a 

specific partial exemption from one physical 

barrier construction standard described in 10 

CFR 73.2, ‘‘Definitions’’ for fences. The 

Commission requirement for a protected area 

physical barrier is stated in 10 CFR 

73.55(e)(8)(i) which requires, in part, that: 

‘‘The protected area perimeter must be 

protected by physical barriers that are 

designed and constructed to . . . ’’ to limit 

access, etc. The construction standards for a 

physical barrier are defined in 10 CFR 73.2. 

The regulation in 10 CFR 73.2 requires, in 

part, that fences must be constructed of No. 

11 American wire gauge, or heavier wire 

fabric, topped by three strands or more of 

barbed wire or similar material on brackets 

angled inward or outward between 30 and 45 

degrees from the vertical. Currently, some of 

the barbed wire bracketing on top of the 

protected area physical barrier fencing does 

not meet this design criteria specified in 10 

CFR, Section 73.2. 

The requested partial exemption would 

allow the licensees to configure the bracket 

topper supporting three strands of barbedwire or similar material at the vertical 

orientation (or 0 degrees) only at specific 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Notices 46197 

locations along the protected area perimeter 

fence at each facility, as specified in the 

licensees’ supplemental letter dated March 

16, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML18078A033). 

III. Discussion 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ‘‘Specific 

exemptions,’’ the Commission may, upon 

application of any interested person or upon 

its own initiative, grant such exemptions 

from the requirements of the regulations in 

this part 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. 

In the request dated July 19, 2017, FENOC 

states, in part, that brackets on the top of 

physical barrier fencing are currently 

oriented vertically on gates, near gates, near 

interfaces with buildings, and on corners. 

BVPS, DBNPS, and PNPP have similar 

configurations while DBNPS has vertical 

brackets on top of fences near the intrusion 

detection system (lDS). The FENOC 

exemption request is limited to specific 

portions of the protected area perimeter fence 

where the licensee prefers to orient the 

bracket topper on the protected area fence at 

a vertical orientation, in lieu of the inward 

or outward, 45 to 30 degree angular 

construction standard stated in the 10 CFR 

73.2. 

In Section 4.0 of the submittal dated July 

19, 2017, FENOC states that the basis for this 

exemption is that the vertical configuration 

of the brackets on and near gates, near 

interfaces with buildings, on corners, and 

near the IDS, of the protected area fence does 

not have an adverse impact on the site 

protective strategies and will continue to 

protect against the design basis threat of 

radiological sabotage. FENOC further states 

that because the vertical barbed wire will 

maintain the plant’s physical security, the 

underlying purpose of the regulation is met. 

The limited protected area fence sections 

where the configuration does not meet the 

current regulatory requirement is a small 

portion of the entire protected area perimeter 

fence. Consultation of design drawings and 

protected area site walk-downs estimates this 

portion to be approximately 6 percent or less 

for each of the three sites. Finally, in Chapter 

6, Section 6.2, of the BVPS, DBNPS, and 

PNPP Physical Security Plans, the licensee 

states that the 45 to 30 degree angular 

requirement for the fence topping may not be 

met at locations such as gates and buildings. 

In the supplemental submission dated 

March 16, 2018, to NRC staff Request for 

Additional Information (RAI) No. 2, the 

licensee stated that the technical basis for the 

FENOC request for exemption from this 

requirement is that the vertical bracket 

configuration is limited to locations on gates, 

near gates, near interfaces with buildings, 

and on corners where the licensee prefers to 

increase the tension that can be applied to 

the three strands of barbed-wire. The licensee 

goes on to state that ‘‘DBNPS also has vertical 

brackets in two locations adjacent to the IDS 

where physical separation clearance is 

required.’’ In the supplemental submission 

dated May 2, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML18122A133), to NRC staff request for 

Follow-up RAI No. 1, the licensee stated that 

the outward angular fence bracket 

requirement would interfere with the 

effective operation of the IDS in that it would 

result in an unacceptable frequency of false 

alarms and would reduce the sensitivity of 

the detection capability to an unacceptable 

level. 

The licensee further states in the 

supplemental response dated March 16, 

2018, that ‘‘other than the DBNPS locations 

near the IDS, the vertical bracket 

configuration at the other locations described 

in the exemption request is preferred to 

maintain sufficient tension in the barbed 

wire strands.’’ The licensee goes on to state 

that the vertical bracket configuration is 

preferred because greater barbed wire tension 

can be applied when using vertical brackets 

as opposed to angular brackets on the end of 

fence runs (which includes on top of gates, 

adjacent to gates, and adjacent to buildings). 

Angular corner arms do not provide a good 

tension point in the barbed wire. 

In the supplemental submission dated 

March 16, 2018, in response to NRC staff RAI 

No. 3, the licensee stated that the vertical 

bracket configuration has no impact to 

adversary or responder timelines in the 

protective strategies for the FENOC fleet. 

This is due to site-specific evaluations that 

determined the limiting perimeter barrier 

fence scenarios are most similar to a 

configuration illustrated in Regulatory Issue 

Summary 2003–06, or the use of mechanical 

breaching utilizing the same configuration. 

The licensee also stated that whether or not 

the fence toppings are vertical or angled 

makes no difference to the protective strategy 

limiting timelines. 

A. The Exemption Is Authorized by Law 

This exemption would allow the 

application of a 0 degree (or vertical/upward) 

fence topper bracket angle at specific 

locations at BVPS Units 1 and 2, DBNPS, and 

PNPP. As stated above, 10 CFR 73.5 allows 

the NRC to grant exemptions from the 

requirements of 10 CFR part 73. The fence 

topper bracket angle that will be applied at 

BVPS, DBNPS, and PNPP does not conform 

to the fence topper bracket angle of inward 

or outward, between 30 and 45 degrees that 

is explicitly defined in 10 CFR 73.2; 

however, the NRC staff has determined that 

the construction standard applied at each of 

the three facilities and as described in the 

Chapter 6, Section 6.2 of the BVPS, DBNPS, 

and PNPP Physical Security Plans does not 

negatively impact the capability of the 

physical protection program at each facility 

meet the requirements of 10 CFR 73.55(b). 

Therefore, granting the licensee’s proposed 

exemption would not result in a violation of 

the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 

or the Commission’s regulations. 

Accordingly, the granting of the partial 

exemption request from the requirements of 

10 CFR 73.2 is authorized by law. 

B. The Exemption Will Not Endanger Life or 

Property 

The objectives of 10 CFR 73.55(e) for 

physical barriers and the construction 

standards for fences contained in the 10 CFR 

73.2 definition are to ensure that licensees 

provide physical barriers that are adequately 

designed and constructed to perform their 

intended physical protection program 

function. Further, all other construction 

materials and components required for a 

fence as defined in 10 CFR 73.2 are currently 

in place and are maintained at the affected 

FENOC facilities as stated. In addition, the 

level of protection offered by the requested 

bracket configuration has been accounted for 

by the licensee as part of the facility physical 

protection program. Finally, based on the 

above discussion, the NRC staff has 

concluded that the use of physical barriers as 

described in the BVPS, DBNPS, and PNPP 

security plans would provide adequate 

protection against the design basis threat of 

radiological sabotage, if effectively 

implemented. Therefore, the NRC staff has 

determined that this exemption would not 

endanger life or property. 

C. The Exemption Would Not Endanger 

Common Defense and Security 

The partial exemption would allow the 

licensee to apply a fence topper bracket angle 

of 0 degrees (or vertical) at specific locations 

in lieu of the required inward or outward 

angle of 30 to 45 degrees. In Section 4.0 of 

the submittal dated July 19, 2017, the 

licensee states that the vertical configuration 

of the brackets on and near gates, near 

interfaces with buildings, on corners, and 

near the IDS, of the protected area fence does 

not have an adverse impact on the site 

protective strategies and will continue to 

protect against the design basis threat of 

radiological sabotage. Because the vertical 

barbed wire will maintain the plant’s 

physical security, the NRC staff finds that the 

underlying purpose of the regulation is met. 

The licensee is required to develop and 

maintain a physical protection program that 

maintains the capability to detect, assess, 

interdict, and neutralize all threats up to and 

including the design basis threat of 

radiological sabotage. Therefore, the NRC 

staff has determined that this exemption 

would not endanger common defense and 

security. 

D. Exemption Is Otherwise in the Public 

Interest 

Based on its evaluation of licensee’s 

request for an exemption to allow vertical 

barbed wire fence toppings in limited 

protected area sections (on and near gates, 

near interfaces with buildings, on corners, 

and near the IDS) as described in the 

licensee’s submission dated March 16, 2018, 

the NRC staff has determined that the partial 

exemption would maintain the physical 

security of the sites and would not have an 

adverse effect on public interest. Therefore, 

the NRC staff has determined that this 

exemption is otherwise in the public interest. 

E. Environmental Considerations 

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.31(a), the 

Commission has determined that the granting 

of this exemption will not have a significant 

effect on the quality of the human 

environment as discussed in the NRC staff’s 

Finding of No Significant Impact and 

associated Environmental Assessment 

published in Federal Register on September 

4, 2018 (83 FR 44914, 83 FR 44923, and 83 


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46198 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Notices 

FR 44927), the NRC staff finds that the 

proposed exemption would not significantly 

affect plant safety, would not have a 

significant adverse effect on the probability 

of an accident occurring, and would not have 

any significant radiological and nonradiological impacts. Therefore, 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 

V. Conclusion 

Accordingly, the Commission has 

determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, the 

exemption is authorized by law, will not 

endanger life or property, is consistent with 

the common defense and security, and is 

otherwise in the public interest. Therefore, 

the Commission hereby grants FENOC a 

partial exemption from the requirements of 

10 CFR 73.2 for a fence bracket to be angled 

inward or outward between 30 and 45 

degrees, to allow the fence bracket angular 

orientation of 0 degrees (or vertical/upward) 

at BVPS, DBNPS, and PNPP at only those 

locations specifically identified by the 

licensee in the supplemental response dated 

March 16, 2018, to NRC staff RAI No.1, 

explicitly, ‘‘site layouts with the locations 

and descriptions of the protected area 

physical barrier fencing sections topped with 

vertically-oriented brackets containing 

barbed wire or similar material are provided 

in Figures 1, 2, and 3 for BVPS, DBNPS, and 

PNPP, respectively.’’ All other construction 

and design requirements apply to the 

specified locations as stated in 10 CFR 73.2. 

Additionally, all construction and design 

requirements for a physical barrier as stated 

in 10 CFR 73.2, remain applicable to all other 

facility locations not specified in Figures 1, 

2, and 3, for BVPS, DBNPS, and PNPP, 

respectively as specified in the supplemental 

response to NRC staff RAI No. 1, dated March 

16, 2018. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day 

of September, 2018. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Kathryn M. Brock, 

Acting Director, Division of Operating 

Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19848 Filed 9–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. NRC–2018–0093] 

Guidance About Administrative 

Licensing Procedures 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is revising its 

guidance about administrative licensing 

procedures and agency policies for 

reviewing nuclear materials licensing 

requests. The NRC is requesting public 

comment on draft NUREG–1556, 

Volume 20, ‘‘Consolidated Guidance 

About Materials Licenses: Guidance 

About Administrative Licensing 

Procedures.’’ The document has been 

updated from the original version to 

include information on updated 

regulatory requirements, safety culture, 

security of radioactive materials, 

protection of sensitive information, and 

changes in regulatory policies and 

practices. This document is intended for 

use by the NRC staff when reviewing 

NRC materials licensing requests. 

DATES: Submit comments by October 15, 

2018. Comments received after this date 

will be considered if it is practical to do 

so, but the NRC is only able to assure 

consideration of comments received on 

or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods (unless 

this document describes a different 

method for submitting comments on a 

specific subject): 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2018–0093. Address 

questions about NRC dockets 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. 

• Mail comments to: May Ma, 

Program Management, Announcements, 

and Editing (PMAE), Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7– 

A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

For additional direction on accessing 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Accessing Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony McMurtray, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards; U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–2746; email: 

Anthony.McMurtray@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Accessing Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2018– 

0093 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information regarding 

this document. You may access 

publicly-available information related to 

this action by the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2018–0093. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://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 draft NUREG–1556, 

Volume 20, Revision 1, is available in 

ADAMS under Accession Number 

ML18240A014. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

The draft NUREG–1556, Volume 20, 

Revision 1, is also available on the 

NRC’s public website at http://

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/nuregs/staff/sr1556/ under 

‘‘Consolidated Guidance About 

Materials Licenses (NUREG–1556).’’ 

B. Submitting Comments 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2018– 

0093 in the subject line of your 

comment submission, in order to ensure 

that the NRC is able to make your 

comment submission available to the 

public in this docket. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want publicly disclosed in 

your comment submission. The NRC 

will post all comment submissions at 

http://www.regulations.gov as well as 

enter the comment submissions into 

ADAMS, and the NRC does not 

routinely edit comment submissions to 

remove identifying or contact 

information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment submissions into 

ADAMS. 


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