38196 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 135 /Wednesday, July 15, 1998 / Notices

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50–280 and 50–281]

Virginia Electric and Power Company,

Surry Nuclear Power Station, Units 1

and 2; Confirmatory Order Modifying

License Effective Immediately

I

Virginia Electric and Power Company

(VEPCO, the Licensee) is the holder of

Facility Operating License No. DPR–32,

which authorizes operation of Surry

Nuclear Power Station (SNPS), Unit 1,

and Facility Operating License No.

DPR–37, which authorizes operation of

SNPS, Unit 2, located in Surry County,

Viginia.

II

The staff of the U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been

concerned that Thermo-Lag 330–1 fire

barrier systems installed by licensees

may not provide the level of fire

endurance intended and that licensees

that use Thermo-Lag 330–1 fire barriers

may not be meeting regulatory

requirements. During the 1992 to 1994

timeframe, the NRC staff issued Generic

Letter (GL) 92–08, ‘‘Thermo-Lag 330–1

Fire Barriers’’ and subsequent requests

for additional information that

requested licensees to submit plans and

schedules for resolving the Thermo-Lag

issue. The NRC staff has obtained and

reviewed all licensees’ corrective plans

and schedules. The staff is concerned

that some licensees may not be making

adequate progress toward resolving the

plant-specific issues, and that some

implementation schedules may be either

too tenuous or too protracted. For

example, several licensees informed the

NRC staff that their completion dates

had slipped by 6 months to as much as

3 years. For SNPS, Units 1 and 2, which

had corrective action scheduled beyond

1997, the NRC reviewed with VEPCO

the schedule of Thermo-Lag corrective

actions described in the VEPCO

submittal to the NRC dated December

18, 1997. Based on the information

submitted by VEPCO, the NRC staff has

concluded that the schedules presented

are reasonable. This conclusion is based

on the need to perform certain plant

modifications during outages as

opposed to those that can be performed

while the plant is at power. In order to

remove compensatory measures such as

fire watches, it has been determined that

resolution of the Thermo-Lag corrective

actions by VEPCO must be completed in

accordance with current VEPCO

schedules. By letter dated May 14, 1998,

the NRC staff notified VEPCO of its plan

to incorporate VEPCO’s schedule

commitment into a requirement by

issuance of an Order and requested

consent from the Licensee. By letter

dated May 22, 1998, VEPCO provided

its consent to issuance of a Confirmatory

Order.

III

The Licensee’s commitment as set

forth in its letter of December 18, 1997,

is acceptable and is necessary for the

NRC to conclude that public health and

safety are reasonably assured. To

preclude any schedule slippage and to

assure public health and safety, the NRC

staff has determined that the Licensee’s

commitment in its December 18, 1997,

letter be confirmed by this Order. The

Licensee has agreed to this action. Based

on the above, and the Licensee’s

consent, this Order is immediately

effective upon issuance.

IV

Accordingly, pursuant to sections

103, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and 186 of

the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as

amended, and the Commission’s

regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR

Part 50, It is hereby ordered, effective

immediately, that:

Virginia Electric and Power Company shall

complete final implementation of ThermoLag 330–1 radiant energy shields corrective

actions at Surry Units 1 and 2, described in

the VEPCO submittal to the NRC dated

December 18, 1997, by the completion of the

next refueling outage scheduled to begin in

October 1998 for Unit 1, and scheduled to

begin in April 1999 for Unit 2.

The Director, Office of Nuclear

Reactor Regulation, may relax or

rescind, in writing, any provisions of

this Confirmatory Order upon a showing

by the Licensee of good cause.

V

Any person adversely affected by this

Confirmatory Order, other than the

Licensee, may request a hearing within

20 days of its issuance. Where good

cause is shown, consideration will be

given to extending the time to request a

hearing. A request for extension of time

must be made in writing to the Director,

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555, and include a

statement of good cause for the

extension. Any request for a hearing

shall be submitted to the Secretary, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Attention: Chief, Rulemakings and

Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC

20555. Copies of the hearing request

shall also be sent to the Director, Office

of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555, to the Deputy

Assistant General Counsel for

Enforcement at the same address, to the

Regional Administrator, NRC Region II,

Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth

Street, SW., Suite 23T85, Atlanta,

Georgia 30303, and to the Licensee. If

such a person requests a hearing, that

person shall set forth with particularity

the manner in which his/her interest is

adversely affected by this Order and

shall address criteria set forth in 10 CFR

2.714(d).

If a hearing is requested by a person

whose interest is adversely affected, the

Commission will issue an Order

designating the time and place of any

such hearing. If a hearing is held, the

issue to be considered at such hearing

shall be whether this Confirmatory

Order should be sustained.

In the absence of any request for

hearing, or written approval of an

extension of time in which to request a

hearing, the provisions specified in

Section IV above shall be final 20 days

from the date of this Order without

further order or proceedings. If an

extension of time for requesting a

hearing has been approved, the

provisions specified in Section IV shall

be final when the extension expires if a

hearing request has not been received.

An answer or a request for hearing shall

not stay the immediate effectiveness of

this Order.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 9th day

of July 1998.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Samuel J. Collins,

Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 98–18835 Filed 7–14–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50–280 and 50–281]

Virginia Electric and Power Company;

Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2;

Environmental Assessment and

Finding of No Significant Impact

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (the Commission) is

considering issuance of a revised

exemption from certain requirements of

its regulations for Facility Operating

License No. DPR–32 and Facility

Operating License No. DPR–37, issued

to Virginia Electric and Power Company

(the licensee), for operation of the Surry

Power Station, Units 1 and 2, located in

Surry County, Virginia.