25932 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 93 / Monday, May 15, 1995 / Notices

present evidence and cross-examine

witnesses.

A request for a hearing or a petition

for leave to intervene must be filed with

the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555, Attention:

Docketing and Services Branch, or may

be delivered to the Commission’s Public

Document Room, the Gelman Building,

2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC by

the above date. Where petitions are filed

during the last ten (10) days of the

notice period, it is requested that the

petitioner or representative for the

petitioner promptly so inform the

Commission by a toll-free telephone call

to Western Union at 1–(800) 248–5100

(in Missouri 1–(800) 342–6700). The

Western Union operator should be given

Dataram Identification Number N1023

and the following message addressed to

Seymour H. Weiss: petitioner’s name

and telephone number; date petition

was mailed; the University of Illinois

LOPRA; and publication date and page

number of this Federal Register notice.

A copy of the petition should also be

sent to the Office of the General

Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555,

and to Mr. Byron H. Higgins, University

Legal Counsel, 258 Henry

Administration Building, 506 South

Wright Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801,

attorney for the licensee.

Nontimely filings of petitions for

leave to intervene, amended petitions,

supplemental petitions and/or requests

for a hearing will not be entertained

absent a determination by the

Commission, the presiding officer or the

presiding Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board that the petition and/or request

should be granted based upon a

balancing of the factors specified in 10

CFR 2.714(a)(1)(i)–(v) and 2.714(d).

For further details with respect to this

action, see the licensee’s application

dated February 10, 1995, which is

available for public inspection at the

Commission’s Public Document Room,

the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street,

NW, Washington, DC.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 9th day

of May 1995.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Seymour H. Weiss,

Director, Non-Power Reactors and

Decommissioning Project Directorate,

Division of Project Support, Office of Nuclear

Reactor Regulation.

[FR Doc. 95–11859 Filed 5–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–M

[Docket No. 50–245]

Exemption

In the Matter of Northeast Nuclear Energy

Company (Millstone Nuclear Power Station,

Unit No. 3).

I

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company,

(NNECO, the licensee) is the holder of

Facility Operating License No. NPF–49,

which authorizes operation of Millstone

Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 3 (the

facility). The license provides, among

other things, that Millstone Unit 3 is

subject to all rules, regulations, and

Orders of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (the Commission or NRC)

now or hereafter in effect.

The facility is a pressurized water

reactor located at the licensee’s site in

New London County, Connecticut.

II

Section III.D.1.(a) of Appendix J to 10

CFR part 50 requires the performance of

three Type A containment integrated

leakage rate tests (ILRTs), at

approximately equal intervals during

each 10-year service period of the

primary containment. The third test of

each set shall be conducted when the

plant is shut down for the 10-year

inservice inspection of the primary

containment.

III

By letter dated September 28, 1994, as

supplemented February 24, 1995,

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company

requested exemptions from 10 CFR part

50, Appendix J, Section III.D.1.(a) for

Millstone Unit 3 (1) to eliminate the

requirement to perform the third Type

A test coincident with the 10-year

American Society of Mechanical

Engineers (ASME) inservice inspections,

and (2) to extend the 10-year Appendix

J test until refueling outage 6, a nominal

increase of 12 months. These

exemptions would permit the licensee

to perform the third Type A test of the

first 10-year period during refueling

outage 6 scheduled for April 1997 rather

than during the refueling outage 5.

The licensee’s request cites the

special circumstance of 10 CFR

50.12(a)(2)(ii), as the basis for these

exemptions. This special circumstance

states that the application of the

regulation in this particular

circumstance is not necessary to achieve

the underlying purpose of the rule.

IV

Section III.D.1.(a) of Appendix J to 10

CFR part 50 states that a set of three

Type A leakage rate tests shall be

performed at approximately equal

intervals during each 10-year service

period. Section III.D.1.(a) also requires

that the third Type A test of each 10-

year service period be conducted when

the plant is shut down for the 10-year

plant inservice inspections.

The licensee proposes two

exemptions to this section. These

exemptions would (1) extend the 10-

year Appendix J test interval to

refueling outage 6, a nominal increase of

12 months, and (2) eliminate the

requirement to perform the third Type

A test coincident with the 10-year

ASME inservice inspections.

The Commission has determined, for

the reasons discussed below, that

pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(1) this

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. The

Commission further determines that

special circumstances, as provided in 10

CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), are present justifying

the exemption; namely, that application

of the regulation in the particular

circumstances is not necessary to

achieve the underlying purpose of the

rule. The underlying purpose of the

requirement to perform Type A

containment leak rate tests at intervals

during the 10-year service period is to

ensure that any leakage through the

containment boundary is identified

within a limited time span that prevents

significant degradation from continuing

or becoming unknown.

The NRC staff has reviewed the basis

and supporting information provided by

the licensee in the exemption request.

The NRC staff notes that the licensee

has a good record of ensuring a leaktight containment. All Type A tests have

passed with significant margin and the

licensee has noted that the results of the

Type A testing have been confirmatory

of the Type B and C tests which will

continue to be performed. The licensee

has stated to the NRC Project Manager

that the general containment inspection

will be performed during refueling

outage 5 although it is only required by

Appendix J (Section V.A.) to be

performed in conjunction with Type A

tests. The NRC staff considers that these

inspections, though limited in scope,

provide an important added level of

confidence in the continued integrity of

the containment boundary.

The NRC staff has also made use of

the information in a draft staff report,

NUREG–1493 ‘‘Performance-Based

Containment Leak-Test Program,’’

which provides the technical

justification for the present Appendix J

rulemaking results of the effort which

includes a 10-year test interval for Type

A tests. The integrated leakage rate test,
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 93 / Monday, May 15, 1995 / Notices 25933

or Type A test, measures overall

containment leakage. However,

operating experience with all types of

containments used in this country

demonstrates that essentially all

containment leakage can be detected by

local leakage rate tests (Types B and C).

According to results given in NUREG–

1493, out of 180 ILRT reports covering

110 individual reactors and

approximately 770 years of operating

history, only 5 ILRT failures were found

which local leakage rate testing could

not detect. This is 3% of all failures.

This study agrees well with previous

NRC staff studies which show that

Types B and C testing can detect a very

large percentage of containment leaks.

The Millstone Unit 3 experience has

also been consistent with these results.

The Nuclear Management and

Resources Council (NUMARC), now the

Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), collected

and provided the NRC staff with

summaries of data to assist in the

Appendix J rulemaking effort. NUMARC

collected results of 144 ILRTs from 33

units; 23 ILRTs exceeded 1.0La. Of

these, only nine were not due to Type

B or C leakage penalties. The NEI data

also added another perspective. The NEI

data show that in about one-third of the

cases exceeding allowable leakage, the

as-found leakage was less than 2La; in

one case the leakage was found to be

approximately 2La; in one case the asfound leakage was less than 3La; one

case approached 10La; and in one case

the leakage was found to be

approximately 21La. For about half of

the failed ILRTs the as-found leakage

was not quantified. These data show

that, for those ILRTs for which the

leakage was quantified, the leakage

values are small in comparison to the

leakage value at which the risk to the

public starts to increase over the value

of risk corresponding to La

(approximately 200La, as discussed in

NUREG–1493).

The licensee also addressed the

possible increase in risk due to

extending this test interval. The licensee

concluded that any increase in risk

would be negligible. This is consistent

with independent staff studies

documented in NUREG–1493.

Therefore, based on these

considerations, it is unlikely that an

extension of one cycle for the

performance of the Appendix J, Type A

test at Millstone Unit 3 would result in

significant degradation of the overall

containment integrity. Likewise,

performance of the third test in a

refueling outage other than when the

plant is shut down for the 10-year plant

inservice inspections has no connection

to the detection of overall containment

degradation. As a result, the application

of the regulation in these particular

circumstances is not necessary to

achieve the underlying purpose of the

rule.

The preoperational Type A test

required by Appendix J was performed

in July 1985. Millstone Unit 3 started

commercial operation on April 23, 1986.

The staff considers this date to also be

the start of the licensee’s first 10-year

Type A test period. The extension of the

Type A test interval for Millstone Unit

3 discussed in this document is

referenced to this starting date. Based on

generic and plant specific data, the NRC

staff finds the basis for the licensee’s

proposed exemptions to be acceptable.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the

Commission has determined that

granting this Exemption will have no

significant impact on the quality of the

human environment (60 FR 22415).

This Exemption is effective upon

issuance and shall expire at the

completion of the 1997 refueling outage.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day

of May 1995.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Steven A. Varga,

Director, Division of Reactor Projects—I/II,

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

[FR Doc. 95–11860 Filed 5–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–M

Advisory Committee on Reactor

Safeguards Subcommittee Meeting on

Planning and Procedures; Notice of

Meeting

The ACRS Subcommittee on Planning

and Procedures will hold a meeting on

June 7, 1995, Room T–2B1, 11545

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.

The entire meeting will be open to

public attendance, with the exception of

a portion that may be closed pursuant

to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) (2) and (6) to discuss

organizational and personnel matters

that relate solely to internal personnel

rules and practices of ACRS, and

matters the release of which would

constitute a clearly unwarranted

invasion of personal privacy.

The agenda for the subject meeting

shall be as follows:

Wednesday, June 7, 1995—2 p.m. Until

the Conclusion of Business

The Subcommittee will discuss

proposed ACRS activities and related

matters. The purpose of this meeting is

to gather information, analyze relevant

issues and facts, and to formulate

proposed positions and actions, as

appropriate, for deliberation by the full

Committee.

Oral statements may be presented by

members of the public with the

concurrence of the Subcommittee

Chairman; written statements will be

accepted and made available to the

Committee. Electronic recordings will

be permitted only during those portions

of the meeting that are open to the

public, and questions may be asked only

by members of the Subcommittee, its

consultants, and staff. Persons desiring

to make oral statements should notify

the cognizant ACRS staff person named

below five days prior to the meeting, if

possible, so that appropriate

arrangements can be made.

Further information regarding topics

to be discussed, the scheduling of

sessions open to the public, whether the

meeting has been cancelled or

rescheduled, the Chairman’s ruling on

requests for the opportunity to present

oral statements, and the time allotted

therefore can be obtained by contacting

the cognizant ACRS staff person, Dr.

John T. Larkins (telephone: 301/415–

7360) between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.

(EDT). Persons planning to attend this

meeting are urged to contact the above

named individual one or two working

days prior to the meeting to be advised

of any changes in schedule, etc., that

may have occurred.

Dated: May 9, 1995.

Sam Duraiswamy,

Chief, Nuclear Reactors Branch.

[FR Doc. 95–11857 Filed 5–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–M

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY

CORPORATION

Request for Approval of a Modification

in an Approved Collection of

Information; PBGC Form 10–SP,

Optional Reportable Event Form for

Small Plans

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of Request for OMB

approval.

SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation has requested that the

Office of Management and Budget

approve, under the Paperwork

Reduction Act, a modification in its

currently approved collection of

information for the reporting

requirements under section 4043 of the

Employee Retirement Income Security

Act of 1974 (OMB control number

1212–0013; expires February 28, 1996).

This modification would simplify

compliance for small plans by providing

the plan administrator and contributing