8902 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Notices 

the request. Requestors use NA Form 

13172, Selective Service Record Request 

to obtain information from SSS records 

stored at NARA facilities. 

Dated: February 6, 2012. 

Michael L. Wash, 

Executive for Information Services/CIO. 

[FR Doc. 2012–3494 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7515–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2012–0035] 

Draft Regulatory Guide: Issuance, 

Availability Decommissioning of 

Nuclear Power Reactors 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request 

for comment 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing for public 

comment draft regulatory guide (DG) 

DG–1271 ‘‘Decommissioning of Nuclear 

Power Reactors.’’ This guide describes a 

method NRC considers acceptable for 

use in decommissioning power reactors. 

DATES: Submit comments by April 16, 

2012. Comments received after this 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. 

ADDRESSES: You may access information 

and comment submissions related to 

this document, which the NRC 

possesses and is publicly-available, by 

searching on http://www.regulations.gov 

under Docket ID NRC–2012–0035. You 

may submit comments by the following 

methods: 

• Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2012–0035. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–492–3668; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. Mail 

comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, 

Rules, Announcements, and Directives 

Branch (RADB), Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05– 

B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

• Fax comments to: RADB at 301– 

492–3446. 

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: 

James C. Shepherd, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001, telephone: 301–415– 

6712 or email James.Shepherd@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Accessing Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2012– 

0035 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information regarding 

this document. You may access 

information related to this document, 

which the NRC possesses and is 

publicly available, by the following 

methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2012–0035. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may access publiclyavailable documents online in the NRC 

Library at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/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. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced in this notice (if 

that document is available in ADAMS) 

is provided the first time that a 

document is referenced. 

• 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. 

B. Submitting Comments 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2012– 

0035 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 in 

comment submissions that you do not 

want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC 

posts all comment submissions at 

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

entering the comment submissions into 

ADAMS, and the NRC does not 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 in 

their comment submissions that they do 

not want to be publicly disclosed. Your 

request should state that the NRC will 

not edit comment submissions to 

remove such information before making 

the comment submissions available to 

the public or entering the comment 

submissions into ADAMS. 

Further Information 

The NRC is issuing for public 

comment a draft guide in the agency’s 

‘‘Regulatory Guide’’ series. This series 

was developed to describe and make 

available to the public such information 

as methods that are acceptable to the 

NRC staff for implementing specific 

parts of the NRC’s regulations, 

techniques that the staff uses in 

evaluating specific problems or 

postulated accidents, and data that the 

staff needs in its review of applications 

for permits and licenses. 

DG–1271 is proposed Revision 1 of 

Regulatory Guide 1.184, 

‘‘Decommissioning of Nuclear Power 

Reactors,’’ dated July 2000. This 

proposed revision of Regulatory Guide 

1.184 describes a method that the staff 

of the NRC considers acceptable for use 

in complying with the NRC’s 

regulations relating to the 

decommissioning process for nuclear 

power reactors. 

Backfitting and Issue Finality 

As discussed in the ‘‘Implementation’’ 

section of DG–1271, the NRC has no 

current intention to impose this 

regulatory guide on holders of current 

operating licenses or combined licenses. 

Accordingly, the issuance of this 

regulatory guide would not constitute 

‘‘backfitting’’ as defined in Title 10 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR) 50.109(a)(1) of the Backfit Rule or 

be otherwise inconsistent with the 

applicable issue finality provisions in 

10 CFR part 52. 

This regulatory guide may be applied 

to applications for operating licenses 

and combined licenses docketed by the 

NRC as of the date of issuance of the 

final regulatory guide, as well as future 

applications for operating licenses and 

combined licenses submitted after the 

issuance of the regulatory guide. Such 

action would not constitute backfitting 

as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) or be 

otherwise inconsistent with the 

applicable issue finality provision in 10 

CFR part 52, inasmuch as such 

applicants or potential applicants are 

not within the scope of entities 

protected by the Backfit Rule or the 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Notices 8903 

relevant issue finality provisions in Part 

52. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day 

of February 2012. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Thomas H. Boyce, 

Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, 

Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear 

Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. 2012–3377 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–400, NRC–2012–0034] 

Environmental Assessment and 

Finding of No Significant Impact; 

Carolina Power and Light Company 

Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, 

Unit 1 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Araceli T. Billoch Colo ́n, Project 

Manager, Licensing Branch II–2, 

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Rockville, Maryland, 20822. Telephone: 

(301) 415–3302; fax number: (301) 415– 

1032; email: Araceli.Billoch@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

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) 50.46, 

‘‘Acceptance Criteria for Emergency 

Core Cooling Systems for Light-Water 

Nuclear Power Reactors,’’ and 10 CFR 

part 50, appendix K, ‘‘ECCS [Emergency 

Core Cooling System] Evaluation 

Models,’’ to allow for the use of M5TM

alloy fuel rod cladding for Renewed 

Facility Operating License No. NPF–63, 

issued to Carolina Power and Light 

Company (the licensee), doing business 

as Progress Energy Carolinas Inc., for 

operation of the Shearon Harris Nuclear 

Power Plant, Unit 1 (HNP), located in 

New Hill, North Carolina. In accordance 

with 10 CFR 51.21, ‘‘Criteria for and 

Identification of Licensing and 

Regulatory Actions Requiring 

Environmental Assessments,’’ the NRC 

staff prepared an environmental 

assessment documenting its finding. 

The NRC staff concluded that the 

proposed action will have no significant 

environmental impact. 

II. Environmental Assessment 

Summary 

Identification of the Proposed Action 

The proposed action would exempt 

the licensee from certain requirements 

of 10 CFR 50.46 and appendix K to 10 

CFR part 50. Specifically, 10 CFR 50.46, 

paragraph (a)(1)(i) provides 

requirements for reactors containing 

uranium oxide fuel pellets clad in either 

zircaloy or ZIRLO. Additionally, 

appendix K to 10 CFR part 50 presumes 

the use of zircaloy or ZIRLO fuel 

cladding when doing calculations for 

energy release, cladding oxidation, and 

hydrogen generation after a postulated 

loss-of-coolant accident. Therefore, both 

of these regulations state or assume that 

either zircaloy or ZIRLO is used as the 

fuel rod cladding material. The 

proposed exemption would allow the 

licensee use of M5TM cladding fuel 

assemblies into the core of HNP Unit 1. 

The proposed action is in accordance 

with the licensee’s application dated 

January 19, 2011. 

The Need for the Proposed Action 

The proposed exemption is needed to 

allow the licensee the use of M5TM alloy 

fuel rod cladding at HNP. The licensee 

has requested an exemption from the 

requirements of 10 CFR 50.46 and 

appendix K to 10 CFR part 50 to allow 

for loading of M5TM clad fuel 

assemblies, in lieu of zircaloy or ZIRLO, 

into the core during Refueling Outage 17 

that is currently scheduled for spring 

2012. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The NRC has completed its evaluation 

of the proposed action and concludes 

that there are no environmental impacts 

associated with the proposed 

exemption. The details of the NRC 

staff’s safety evaluation will be provided 

in the exemption that, if approved by 

the NRC, will be issued as part of the 

letter to the licensee approving the 

exemption to the regulation. 

The proposed action will not 

significantly increase the probability or 

consequences of accidents. No changes 

are being made in the types of effluents 

that may be released offsite. There is no 

significant increase in the amount of 

any effluent released offsite. There is no 

significant increase in occupational or 

public radiation exposure. Therefore, 

there are no significant radiological 

environmental impacts associated with 

the proposed action. 

With regard to potential 

nonradiological impacts, the proposed 

action does not result in changes to land 

use or water use, or result in changes to 

the quality or quantity of 

nonradiological effluents. No changes to 

the National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System permit are needed. 

No effects on the aquatic or terrestrial 

habitat in the vicinity of the plant, or to 

threatened, endangered, or protected 

species under the Endangered Species 

Act, or impacts to essential fish habitat 

covered by the Magnuson-Stevens Act 

are expected. No impacts to the air or 

ambient air quality are expected. There 

are no impacts to historic and cultural 

resources. In addition, there are also no 

known socioeconomic or environmental 

justice impacts associated with the 

proposed action. Therefore, there are no 

significant nonradiological 

environmental impacts associated with 

the proposed action. 

Accordingly, the NRC concludes that 

there are no significant environmental 

impacts associated with the proposed 

action. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

As an alternative to the proposed 

action, the NRC staff considered denial 

of the proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘no 

action’’ alternative). Denial of the 

exemption request would result in no 

change in current environmental 

impacts. If the proposed action was 

denied, the licensee would have to 

comply with the ECCS rules in 10 CFR 

50.46 and appendix K to 10 CFR part 50 

and would not be able to use M5TM clad 

fuel in the HNP core during the 

upcoming refueling outage. The 

environmental impacts of the proposed 

exemption and the ‘‘no action’’ 

alternative are similar. 

Alternative Use of Resources 

The action does not involve the use of 

any different resources than those 

considered in the Final Environmental 

Statement for HNP, NUREG–0972, dated 

October 31, 1983, as supplemented 

through the ‘‘Generic Environmental 

Impact Statement for License Renewal 

of Nuclear Plants: Regarding Shearon 

Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1— 

Final Report (NUREG–1437, 

Supplement 33).’’ 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

In accordance with its stated policy, 

on January 19, 2012 the NRC staff 

consulted with the North Carolina State 

official, Mr. Lee Cox of the Division of 

Radiation Protection, with the North 

Carolina Department of Environment 

and Natural Resources, regarding the 

environmental impact of the proposed 

action. The State official had no 

comments. 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES