18400 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 61 / Wednesday, March 30, 2022 / Notices 

of the information on respondents, 

including through the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Dated: March 25, 2022. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06725 Filed 3–29–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

The National Science Board hereby 

gives notice of the scheduling of a 

teleconference of the Committee on 

Oversight for the transaction of National 

Science Board business pursuant to the 

NSF Act and the Government in the 

Sunshine Act. 

TIME AND DATE: Monday, April 4, 2022, 

from 2:00–3:00 p.m. EDT. 

PLACE: This meeting will be held by 

teleconference organized through the 

National Science Foundation. 

STATUS: Open. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The agenda 

is: Committee Chair’s Opening Remarks; 

Discussion of Vision for Facilitating the 

Broader Impacts of the Cutting-Edge 

Science and Engineering Funded by 

NSF. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Point of contact for this meeting is: 

Chris Blair, cblair@nsf.gov, 703/292– 

7000. Members of the public can 

observe this meeting through a You 

Tube livestream. The link is https://

youtu.be/sWEkXQX-da8. 

Meeting information is available from 

the NSB website at https://www.nsf.gov/ 

nsb/meetings/index.jsp#up. 

Chris Blair, 

Executive Assistant to the National Science 

Board Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06822 Filed 3–28–22; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Advisory Committee for 

Cyberinfrastructure; Notice of Meeting 

In accordance with the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92– 

463, as amended), the National Science 

Foundation (NSF) announces the 

following meeting: 

Name and Committee Code: Advisory 

Committee for Cyberinfrastructure 

(25150). 

Date and Time: April 28, 2022; 10 

a.m.–5 p.m., April 29, 2022; 10 a.m.–5 

p.m. 

Place: Virtual Meeting, National 

Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower 

Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314. 

This meeting will be held virtually. 

The final meeting agenda and 

instructions to register will be posted on 

the ACCI website: https://www.nsf.gov/ 

cise/oac/advisory.jsp. 

Type of Meeting: Open. 

Contact Person for More Information: 

Dr. Kevin Thompson, CISE, Office of 

Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, National 

Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower 

Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314; 

Telephone: 703–292–8970. 

Minutes: May be obtained from the 

contact person listed above and will be 

posted within 90-days after the meeting 

end date to the ACCI website: https://

www.nsf.gov/cise/oac/advisory.jsp. 

Purpose of Meeting: To advise NSF on 

the impact of its policies, programs and 

activities in the OAC community. To 

provide advice to the Director/NSF on 

issues related to long-range planning. 

Agenda: Updates on NSF wide OAC 

activities. 

Dated: March 24, 2022. 

Crystal Robinson, 

Committee Management Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06641 Filed 3–29–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos. STN 50–528, STN 50–529, and 

STN 50–530; NRC–2022–0058] 

Arizona Public Service Company; Palo 

Verde Nuclear Generating Station, 

Units 1, 2, and 3 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Exemption; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing an 

exemption in response to a January 14, 

2022, request from Arizona Public 

Service Company (the licensee), as 

supplemented by letter dated February 

22, 2022. The licensee requested an 

exemption from NRC regulations to 

remove the diverse auxiliary feedwater 

actuation system using the riskinformed process for evaluations for 

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, 

Units 1, 2, and 3. 

DATES: The exemption was issued on 

March 23, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2022–0058 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 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2022–0058. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 

telephone: 301–415–0624; email: 

Stacy.Schumann@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 publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://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 request for 

the exemption was submitted by letter 

dated January 14, 2022, as 

supplemented by letter dated February 

22, 2022, and are available in ADAMS 

under Accession Nos. ML22014A415 

and ML22053A212, respectively. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents, 

by appointment, at the NRC’s PDR, 

Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland 20852. To make an 

appointment to visit the PDR, please 

send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 

or call 1–800–397–4209 or 301–415– 

4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. 

(ET), Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Siva 

P. Lingam, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001; telephone: 301–415–1564, email: 

Siva.Lingam@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of 

the exemption is attached. 

Dated: March 24, 2022. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 61 / Wednesday, March 30, 2022 / Notices 18401 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Siva P. Lingam, 

Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, 

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. 

Attachment: Exemption 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

Docket Nos. STN 50–528, STN 50–529, 

and STN 50–530 

Arizona Public Service Company, Palo 

Verde Nuclear Generating Station, 

Units 1, 2, and 3 Exemption 

I. Background 

Arizona Public Service Company 

(APS, the licensee) is the holder of 

Renewed Facility Operating License 

Nos. NPF–41, NPF–51, and NPF–74, 

which authorize operation of Palo Verde 

Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, 

and 3 (Palo Verde), respectively. The 

licenses provide, among other things, 

that the facility is subject to all rules, 

regulations, and orders of the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 

now or hereafter in effect. The facility 

consists of pressurized-water reactors 

(PWRs) located in Maricopa County, 

Arizona. 

II. Request/Action 

By application dated January 14, 

2022, as supplemented by letter dated 

February 22, 2022 (Agencywide 

Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS) Accession Nos. 

ML22014A415 and ML22053A212, 

respectively), APS, pursuant to Title 10 

of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR) Section 50.12, ‘‘Specific 

exemptions,’’ requested an exemption 

from certain requirements of 10 CFR 

50.62, ‘‘Requirements for reduction of 

risk from anticipated transients without 

scram (ATWS) events for light-watercooled nuclear power plants,’’ for Palo 

Verde. Specifically, the proposed 

exemption request would permit Palo 

Verde Units 1, 2, and 3 to eliminate the 

specific requirement of 10 CFR 

50.62(c)(1) to provide equipment that is 

diverse from the reactor trip system to 

automatically initiate the auxiliary (or 

emergency) feedwater system under 

conditions indicative of an ATWS. The 

Palo Verde diverse auxiliary feedwater 

actuation system (DAFAS) fulfills this 

requirement in 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1), and 

APS has requested approval to allow 

elimination of DAFAS from the current 

licensing basis for Units 1, 2, and 3 

consistent with the proposed 

exemption. Palo Verde will continue to 

comply with the additional requirement 

in 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1) to provide a 

diverse turbine trip under ATWS 

conditions. 

III. Discussion 

The regulation in 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1) 

states: 

Each pressurized water reactor must have 

equipment from sensor output to final 

actuation device, that is diverse from the 

reactor trip system, to automatically initiate 

the auxiliary (or emergency) feedwater 

system and initiate a turbine trip under 

conditions indicative of an ATWS. This 

equipment must be designed to perform its 

function in a reliable manner and be 

independent (from sensor output to the final 

actuation device) from the existing reactor 

trip system. 

The regulation in 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1) 

specifically includes the requirement to 

provide equipment that is diverse from 

the reactor trip system to automatically 

initiate the auxiliary (or emergency) 

feedwater system under the conditions 

of an ATWS. The Palo Verde DAFAS 

fulfills this requirement. Therefore, the 

proposed removal of the DAFAS from 

the Palo Verde licensing basis requires 

an exemption from this section of the 

regulations. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the NRC 

may, upon application by any interested 

person or upon its own initiative, grant 

exemptions from requirements of 10 

CFR part 50 when: (1) The exemptions 

are authorized by law, will not present 

an undue risk to the public health and 

safety, and are consistent with the 

common defense and security, and (2) 

special circumstances, as defined in 10 

CFR 50.12(a)(2), are present. The 

licensee’s submittal identifies in 

particular that the special circumstance 

associated with this exemption request 

is that continuing to maintain the 

DAFAS in the licensing basis for Palo 

Verde Units 1, 2, and 3 represents an 

undue hardship in accordance with 10 

CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii) due to DAFAS’ 

obsolescence. 

A. The Exemption Is Authorized by Law 

The NRC has the authority under 10 

CFR 50.12 to grant exemptions from the 

requirements of 10 CFR part 50 upon 

demonstration of proper justification. 

The licensee has requested a partial 

exemption to the requirement in 10 CFR 

50.62(c)(1) to provide equipment to 

automatically initiate the auxiliary (or 

emergency) feedwater system under 

ATWS conditions that is diverse from 

the reactor trip system. The licensee 

will continue to meet all other 

requirements in 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1). As 

discussed below, the NRC staff 

determined that special circumstances 

exist, which support granting the 

proposed exemption. Furthermore, 

granting the exemption would not result 

in a violation of the Atomic Energy Act 

of 1954, as amended, or the NRC’s 

regulations. Therefore, the exemption is 

authorized by law. 

B. The Exemption Presents No Undue 

Risk to Public Health and Safety 

The NRC staff has concluded in the 

safety evaluation associated with this 

exemption under ADAMS Accession 

No. ML22054A005 (Enclosure 2) that 

the exemption represents low risk, is of 

minimal safety impact, and that 

adequate defense-in-depth and safety 

margins are preserved. DAFAS is not 

credited in the Palo Verde UFSAR 

Chapters 6 and 15 accident analyses for 

actuating AFS to remove residual heat. 

AFAS is the credited means for 

initiating AFS in the UFSAR analyses as 

well as in the Palo Verde PRA model 

and will be unaffected by the proposed 

removal of DAFAS. In addition, the 

NRC staff has concluded that it is 

acceptable for the licensee to credit 

existing operator manual actions within 

the emergency operating procedures to 

initiate AFS under ATWS conditions as 

defense-in-depth in support of the 

requested exemption. Thus, granting 

this exemption request will not pose 

undue risk to public health and safety. 

C. The Exemption Is Consistent With the 

Common Defense and Security 

The proposed exemption will allow 

the removal of DAFAS from the 

licensing basis for Palo Verde Units 1, 

2, and 3 as a diverse automatic actuation 

of AFS under ATWS conditions 

satisfying partial requirements of 10 

CFR 50.62(c)(1). The NRC staff has 

reviewed the exemption request in the 

SE associated with this exemption. The 

NRC concluded in the associated SE 

that the licensee’s submittal 

demonstrates that the reactor protection 

system, the engineered safety features 

actuation system (ESFAS) and AFAS, 

and the supplemental protection system 

(SPS) are designed and maintained with 

high reliability to preclude ATWS 

conditions and are monitored under 10 

CFR 50.65, ‘‘Requirements for 

monitoring the effectiveness of 

maintenance at nuclear power plants.’’ 

The NRC staff also concluded that 

adequate defense-in-depth and safety 

margins will be preserved with the 

removal of DAFAS from the licensing 

basis for Palo Verde Units 1, 2, and 3. 

The licensee will continue to meet all 

other requirements in 10 CFR 

50.62(c)(1). Further, the exemption does 

not involve security requirements and 

does not create a security risk. 

Therefore, the exemption is consistent 

with the common defense and security. 


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18402 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 61 / Wednesday, March 30, 2022 / Notices 

D. Special Circumstances 

The licensee has asserted that 

continuing to maintain DAFAS in the 

plant licensing basis represents an 

undue hardship in accordance with 10 

CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii) due to its 

obsolescence. DAFAS is no longer 

supported by the vendor and spare parts 

are not readily available for the system. 

Significant engineering resources are 

required to reverse-engineer parts and 

frequent fiber optic communications 

problems often affect DAFAS system 

reliability. DAFAS operates on a 

vendor-supplied proprietary platform 

that is unique to Palo Verde. The vendor 

is no longer in business and Palo Verde 

can no longer obtain the Modicon 

programmable logic controllers, 

displays and associated equipment to 

maintain DAFAS. Since these 

replacement parts can no longer be 

obtained through generally available 

sources, the licensee has established 

that maintaining or replacing DAFAS in 

the given circumstances is a hardship. 

Furthermore, the Statement of 

Considerations associated with 10 CFR 

50.62(c)(1) (49 FR 26038, dated June 26, 

1984) state that the installation of 

diverse equipment to trip the turbine 

and initiate auxiliary feedwater have 

only a marginally favorable value/ 

impact for Combustion Engineering 

plants such as Palo Verde. The NRC 

staff has concluded that the licensee has 

demonstrated that removal of DAFAS 

from the Palo Verde licensing basis 

represents low risk and only a minimal 

safety impact. Therefore, the 

maintaining or replacing of DAFAS in 

the given circumstances is an undue 

hardship on the licensee. For these 

reasons, granting an exemption to allow 

removal of DAFAS from the Palo Verde 

licensing basis supports the claimed 

special circumstance of undue hardship. 

E. Supplemental Information 

For more technical details, refer to the 

SE associated with this exemption 

under ADAMS Accession No. 

ML22054A005 (Enclosure 2). 

F. Environmental Considerations 

The NRC staff determined in the 

associated SE that the exemption 

discussed herein meets the eligibility 

criteria for the categorical exclusion set 

forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(9) because the 

granting of this exemption involves: (i) 

No significant hazards consideration, 

(ii) no significant change in the types or 

a significant increase in the amounts of 

any effluents that may be released 

offsite, and (iii) no significant increase 

in individual or cumulative 

occupational radiation exposure. 

Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 

51.22(b), no environmental impact 

statement or environmental assessment 

need be prepared in connection with the 

NRC’s consideration of this exemption 

request. 

IV. Conclusions 

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 APS an 

exemption from the specific 

requirement of 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1) to 

provide equipment that is diverse from 

the reactor trip system to automatically 

initiate the auxiliary (or emergency) 

feedwater system under conditions 

indicative of an ATWS. As stated above, 

APS will continue to meet all other 

requirements of 10 CFR 50.62(c)(1) at 

Palo Verde Units 1, 2, and 3. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day 

of March 2022. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

/RA/ 

Gregory F. Suber, 

Deputy Director, Division of Operating 

Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06619 Filed 3–29–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY 

CORPORATION 

Proposed Submission of Information 

Collection for OMB Review; Comment 

Request; Administrative Appeals 

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

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ACTION: Notice of intent to request 

extension of OMB approval of 

information collection. 

SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty 

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that the Office of Management and 

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the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a 

collection of information contained its 

regulation on Rules for Administrative 

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the collection of information. 

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ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

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instructions for submitting comments. 

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1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 

20005–4026; 202–229–6563. If you are 

deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability, please dial 7–1–1 to access 

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of Management and Budget (OMB) 

extend approval, under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, of a collection of 

information contained in its regulation 

on Rules for Administrative Review of 

Agency Decisions (29 CFR part 4003) 

(OMB control number 1212–0061; 


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