7036 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 26 / Monday, February 9, 2015 / Notices 

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available 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. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced in this document 

(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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

B. Hickman, Office of Nuclear Material 

Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 

3017, email: John.Hickman@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The ZNPS facility was shut down on 

February 21, 1997, and is currently in a 

permanently shut-down and defueled 

condition. ZionSolutions is the current 

holder of Facility Operating License 

Nos. DPR–39 and DPR–48, for ZNPS 

Units 1 and 2. The license, pursuant to 

the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and 10 

CFR part 50, allows ZS to possess but 

not operate the defueled ZNPS facility. 

ZionSolutions is currently in the 

process of decommissioning the ZNPS. 

II. Request/Action 

By letter dated October 27, 2014, 

(ADAMS Accession Number 

ML14309A197) ZS requested an 

exemption from Part 20 of Title 10 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR), appendix G, ‘‘Requirements for 

Transfers of Low-Level Radioactive 

Waste Intended for Disposal at Licensed 

Land Disposal Facilities and Manifests,’’ 

Section III. E. for ZNPS. Specifically, ZS 

is requesting that the time period for ZS 

to receive acknowledgement that the 

shipment has been received by the 

intended recipient be extended from 20 

to 45 days for rail shipments from 

ZNPS. The NRC’s regulations in 10 CFR 

20.2301 allow the Commission to grant 

exemptions if it determines the 

exemption would be lawful and would 

not result in undue hazard to life or 

property. Inherent to the 

decommissioning process, large 

volumes of slightly contaminated debris 

are generated and require disposal. The 

licensee transports low-level radioactive 

waste from ZNPS Units 1 and 2 to 

distant locations such as a waste 

disposal facility operated by 

EnergySolutions in Clive, Utah, and 

waste processors in Texas. Experience 

with waste shipments from ZNPS and at 

other decommissioning reactor sites 

indicates that rail transportation time to 

waste disposal facilities frequently 

exceeds the 20-day reporting 

requirement. 

III. Discussion 

The Exemption Is Authorized by Law 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2301, the 

Commission may, upon application by a 

licensee or upon its own initiative, grant 

an exemption from the requirements of 

regulations in 10 CFR part 20 if it 

determines the exemption is authorized 

by law and would not result in undue 

hazard to life or property. There are no 

provisions in the Atomic Energy Act of 

1954, as amended (or in any other 

Federal statute) that impose a 

requirement to investigate and report on 

low-level radioactive waste shipments 

that have not been acknowledged by the 

recipient within 20 days of transfer. 

Therefore, the NRC concludes that there 

is no statutory prohibition on the 

issuance of the requested exemption 

and the NRC is authorized to grant the 

exemption by law. 

The Exemption Would Not Result in 

Undue Hazard to Life or Property 

The NRC finds that the underlying 

purpose of 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G, 

Section III.E is to require licensees to 

investigate, report, and trace radioactive 

shipments that have not reached their 

destination, as scheduled, for unknown 

reasons. Data from San Onofre Nuclear 

Generating Station found that rail 

shipments took over 16 days on average, 

and on occasion, took up to 57 days. 

The NRC acknowledges that, based on 

the history of low-level radioactive 

waste shipments from the San Onofre 

Nuclear Generating Station and 

Humboldt Bay Power Plant sites, the 

need to investigate and report on 

shipments that take longer than 20 days 

could result in an excessive 

administrative burden on the licensee. 

For rail shipments, ZS will require 

electronic data tracking system 

interchange, or similar tracking systems 

that allow monitoring the progress of 

the shipments by the rail carrier on a 

daily basis. Because of the oversight and 

monitoring of radioactive waste 

shipments throughout the entire journey 

from ZNPS to the disposal site, it is 

unlikely that a shipment could be lost, 

misdirected, or diverted without the 

knowledge of the carrier or ZS. 

Furthermore, by extending the elapsed 

time for receipt acknowledgment to 45 

days before requiring investigations and 

reporting, a reasonable upper limit on 

shipment duration (based on historical 

analysis) is still maintained if a 

breakdown of normal tracking systems 

were to occur. Consequently, the NRC 

finds that there is no hazard to life or 

property by extending the investigation 

and reporting time for low-level 

radioactive waste shipments from 20 to 

45 days for rail shipments. The NRC 

also finds that the underlying purpose 

of 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G, Section 

III.E will be met. 

IV. Conclusions 

Accordingly, the NRC has determined 

that, pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2301, the 

exemption is authorized by law and will 

not result in undue hazard to life or 

property. Therefore, the NRC hereby 

grants ZionSolutions, LLC an exemption 

from 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G. 

Section III.E to extend the requirement 

to investigate, trace, and report on rail 

shipments of low-level radioactive 

waste intended for disposal at a licensed 

land disposal facility that have not been 

received at the disposal facility within 

20 days to 45 days after transfer. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day 

of January 2015. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Larry W. Camper, 

Director, Division of Decommissioning, 

Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02606 Filed 2–6–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2014–0256] 

Aquatic Environmental Studies for 

Nuclear Power Stations 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request 

for comment and extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: On December 11, 2014, the 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

(NRC) solicited comments on draft 

regulatory guide (DG), DG–4023, 

‘‘Aquatic Environmental Studies for 

Nuclear Power Stations.’’ The public 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 26 / Monday, February 9, 2015 / Notices 7037 

comment period was originally 

scheduled to close on February 9, 2015. 

The NRC has decided to extend the 

public comment period to allow more 

time for members of the public to 

develop and submit their comments. 

DATES: The due date of comments 

requested in the document published on 

December 11, 2014 (79 FR 73646) is 

extended. Comments should be filed no 

later than March 11, 2015. Comments 

received after this date will be 

considered, if it is practical to do so, but 

the Commission is able to ensure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment 

by any of the following methods (unless 

this document describes a different 

method for submitting comments on a 

specific subject): 

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2014–0256. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–287–3422; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, 

Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 

OWFN–12 H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

For additional direction on accessing 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ryan Whited, Office of New Reactors, 

telephone: 301–415–1154, email: 

Ryan.Whited@nrc.gov and Edward 

O’Donnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 

Research, telephone: 301–251–7455, 

email: Edward.ODonnell@nrc.gov. Both 

are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2014– 

0256 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information regarding 

this document. You may obtain 

publicly-available information related to 

this action by the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2014–0256. 

• 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. The DG 

is electronically available in ADAMS 

under Accession No. ML13186A085. 

• 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–2014– 

0256 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 to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC posts all comment 

submissions at http://

www.regulations.gov as well as entering 

the comment submissions into ADAMS. 

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. 

II. Discussion 

On December 11, 2014, the NRC 

solicited comments on draft regulatory 

guide, DG–4023, ‘‘Aquatic 

Environmental Studies for Nuclear 

Power Stations.’’ It is a proposed new 

regulatory guide, and it is temporarily 

identified by its task number, DG–4023. 

The draft guide provides technical 

guidance for aquatic environmental 

studies and analyses supporting 

decisions related to nuclear power 

stations by the NRC. For purposes of 

DG–4023, the term ‘‘aquatic’’ 

encompasses freshwater, estuarine, and 

marine environments. The draft guide 

addresses wetlands containing 

submerged aquatic vegetation but does 

not address wetlands also containing 

emergent vegetation. Instead, NRC’s 

Regulatory Guide 4.11, ‘‘Terrestrial 

Environmental Studies for Nuclear 

Power Stations,’’ addresses such 

wetland features, along with the 

terrestrial environment. Although the 

NRC is issuing separate regulatory 

guides addressing terrestrial and aquatic 

environmental studies, it recognizes that 

aquatic and terrestrial ecological issues 

often overlap and are often interrelated. 

The public comment period was 

originally scheduled to close on 

February 9, 2015. The NRC has decided 

to extend the public comment period on 

this document until March 11, 2015, to 

allow more time for members of the 

public to submit their comments. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day 

of February, 2015. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Thomas H. Boyce, 

Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic 

Issues Branch, Division of Engineering, Office 

of Nuclear Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02571 Filed 2–6–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2015–0001] 

Sunshine Act Meeting Notice 

DATE: 9, 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 2015. 

PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference 

Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

STATUS: Public and Closed. 

Week of February 9, 2015 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of February 9, 2015. 

Week of February 16, 2015—Tentative 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015 

9:30 a.m. Briefing on NRC 

International Activities (Closed— 

Ex.9) 

Week of February 23, 2015—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of February 23, 2015. 

Week of March 2, 2015—Tentative 

Thursday, March 5, 2015 

10:00 a.m. Meeting with Advisory 

Committee on Reactor Safeguards 

(Public Meeting); (Contact: Edwin 

Hackett, 301–415–7360) 

This meeting will be webcast live at 

the Web address—http://www.nrc.gov/. 

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