Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 93 / Monday, May 14, 2001 / Notices 24409

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH

REVIEW COMMISSION

Sunshine Act Meeting

May 8, 2001.

TIME AND DATE: 10 a.m., Wednesday,

May 16, 2001.

PLACE: Room 6005, 6th Floor, 1730 K

Street, NW., Washington, DC.

STATUS: Open.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The

Commission will consider and act upon

the following:

1. Alan Good, Docket Nos. WEST

2000–44–M, etc. (Issues include

whether the judge erred when he found

that Alan Good violated (1) 30 CFR

56.11002 for failure to provide handrails

on elevated platforms, (2) 30 CFR

56.14101(a)(3) for an inoperative

parking brake on a front-end loader, and

(3) 30 CFR 56.14107(a) for inadequate

guards on moving machine parts).

TIME AND DATE: 2 p.m., Thursday, May

17, 2001.

PLACE: Room 6005, 6th Floor, 1730 K

Street, NW., Washington, DC.

STATUS: Open.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The

Commission will consider and act upon

the following:

1. Sec’y of Labor on behalf of

Bernardyn v. Reading Anthracite Co.,

Docket Nos. PENN 99–129–D, etc.

(Issues include whether substantial

evidence supports the judge’s finding

that the operator’s discharge of the

complainant did not violate section

105(c) of the Mine Act).

Any person attending an open

meeting who requires special

accessibility features and/or auxiliary

aids, such as sign language interpreters,

must inform the Commission in advance

of those needs. Subject to 29 CFR

2706.150(a)(3) and 2706.160(d).

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jean Ellen (202) 653–5629/(202) 708–

9300 for TDD Relay/1–800–877–8339

for toll free.

Sandra G. Farrow,

Acting Chief Docket Clerk.

[FR Doc. 01–12195 Filed 5–10–01; 12:15 pm]

BILLING CODE 6735–01–M

NATIONAL CREDIT UNION

ADMINISTRATION

Notice of Meetings

TIME AND DATE: 10 a.m., Thursday, May

17, 2001.

PLACE: Board Room, 7th Floor, Room

7047, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA

22314–3428.

STATUS: Open.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:

1. Request from a Federal Credit

Union to Convert to a Community

Charter.

2. Request from a Corporate Federal

Credit Union for a National Field of

Membership.

RECESS: 11:15 a.m.

TIME AND DATE: 11:30 a.m., Thursday,

May 17, 2001.

PLACE: Board Room, 7th Floor, Room

7047, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA

22314–3428.

STATUS: Closed.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:

1. Administrative Action under Part

704 of NCUA’s Rules and Regulations.

Closed pursuant to exemption (8).

2. Two (2) Personnel Matters. Closed

pursuant to exemptions (2) and (6).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Becky Baker, Secretary of the Board,

Telephone 703–518–6304.

Becky Baker,

Secretary of the Board.

[FR Doc. 01–12230 Filed 5–10–01; 2:48 pm]

BILLING CODE 7535–01–M

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE

ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

National Endowment for the Arts;

Combined Arts Advisory Panel

Pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the

Federal Advisory Committee Act (Public

Law 92–463, as amended, notice is

hereby given that a meeting of the

Combined Arts Advisory Panel, Folk

Arts Section (Creativity and

Organizational Capacity categories) will

be held from 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. on

Friday, June 8, 2001 in Room 716 at the

Nancy Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20506.

This meeting is for the purpose of

Panel review, discussion, evaluation,

and recommendations on financial

assistance under the National

Foundation on the Arts and the

Humanities Act of 1965, as amended,

including information given in

confidence to the agency. In accordance

with the determination of the Chairman

of May 12, 2000, these sessions will be

closed to the public pursuant to

subsection (c)(4), (6) and (9)(B) of

section 552b of Title 5, United States

Code.

Further information with reference to

this meeting can be obtained from Ms.

Kathy Plowitz-Worden, Panel

Coordinator, National Endowment for

the Arts, Washington, DC 20506, or call

202/682–5691.

Dated: August 4, 2001.

Kathy Plowitz-Worden,

Panel Coordinator, Panel Operations,

National Endowment for the Arts.

[FR Doc. 01–12052 Filed 5–11–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7537–01–M

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50–289]

Amergen Energy Company, LLC, Three

Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1;

Exemption

1.0 Background

AmerGen Energy Company, LLC (the

licensee or AmerGen) is the holder of

Facility Operating License No. DPR–50

which authorizes operation of the Three

Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1

(TMI–1). The license provides, among

other things, that the facility is subject

to all rules, regulations, and orders of

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC, the Commission)

now or hereafter in effect.

The facility consists of a pressurizedwater reactor located in Dauphin

County in Pennsylvania.

2.0 Purpose

Title 10 of the Code of Federal

Regulations (10 CFR), Part 50, Section

50.44, ‘‘Standards for combustible gas

control system in light-water-cooled

power reactors,’’ requires, among other

items, that each boiling or pressurized

light-water nuclear power reactor fueled

with oxide pellets within cylindrical

zircaloy or ZIRLO cladding must, as

provided in paragraphs (b) through (d)

of that section, include means for

control of hydrogen gas that may be

generated, following a postulated lossof-coolant accident (LOCA) by—(1)

Metal-water reaction involving the fuel

cladding and the reactor coolant, (2)

Radiolytic decomposition of the reactor

coolant, and (3) Corrosion of metals.

Section 50.46, ‘‘Acceptance criteria

for emergency core cooling systems for

light-water nuclear power reactors,’’

requires, among other items, that each

boiling or pressurized light-water

nuclear power reactor fueled with

uranium oxide pellets within

cylindrical zircaloy or ZIRLO cladding

must be provided with an emergency

core cooling system (ECCS) that must be

designed so that its calculated cooling

performance following postulated

LOCAs conform to the criteria set forth

in paragraph (b) of that section. ECCS

cooling performance must be calculated

in accordance with an acceptable

evaluation model and must be

24410 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 93 / Monday, May 14, 2001 / Notices

calculated for a number of postulated

LOCAs of different sizes, locations, and

other properties sufficient to provide

assurance that the most severe

postulated LOCAs are calculated.

Appendix K of Part 50, ‘‘ECCS

Evaluation Models,’’ requires, among

other items, that the rate of energy

release, hydrogen generation, and

cladding oxidation from the metal/water

reaction shall be calculated using the

Baker-Just equation (Baker, L., Just, L.C.,

‘‘Studies of Metal Water Reactions at

High Temperatures, III. Experimental

and Theoretical Studies of the

Zirconium-Water Reaction,’’ ANL–6548,

page 7, May 1962) and implicitly

assumes that either zircaloy or ZIRLO

shall be used as the fuel rod cladding

material.

Sections 50.44, and 50.46, and

Appendix K of 10 CFR Part 50, make no

provisions for use of fuel rods clad with

other than zircaloy or ZIRLO. The

licensee has requested the use of

Framatome Cogema Fuels (FCF) ‘‘M5’’

advanced alloy for fuel rod cladding for

the TMI–1 Cycle 14 operation. In order

to accommodate the high fuel rod

burnups that are required for today’s

modern fuel management schemes and

core designs, FCF developed the M5

advanced fuel rod cladding and fuel

assembly structural material. The M5

alloy is a proprietary zirconium-based

alloy comprised of primarily zirconium

(∼99 percent) and niobium (∼1 percent).

The elimination of tin has resulted in

superior corrosion resistence and

reduced irradiation induced growth

relative to both standard Zircaloy and

low-tin Zircaloy. The addition of

niobium increases ductility. Since the

chemical composition of the M5 alloy

differs from the specifications of

Zircaloy or ZIRLO, a plant-specific

exemption is required to allow the use

of the M5 alloy as a fuel rod cladding

material at TMI–1. The M5 would also

be used for fuel assembly spacer grids,

fuel rod end plugs and fuel assembly

guide and instrument tubes.

3.0 Discussion

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the

Commission may, upon application by

any interested person or upon its own

initiative, grant exemptions from the

requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, when

(1) the exemptions are authorized by

law, will not present an undue risk to

public health or safety, and are

consistent with the common defense

and security; and (2) when special

circumstances are present. Special

circumstances are present whenever

application of the regulations in the

particular circumstances would not

serve the underlying purpose of the rule

or is not necessary to achieve the

underlying purpose of the rule.

The underlying purpose of Section

50.46 is to ensure that facilities have

adequate acceptance criteria for ECCS.

FCF demonstrated in its topical report,

BAW–10227P–A, ‘‘Evaluation of

Advanced Cladding and Structural

Material (M5) in PWR Reactor Fuel,’’

dated September 30, 1997, and

approved on February 4, 2000, that the

effectiveness of the ECCS will not be

affected by a change from zircaloy fuel

rod cladding to M5 fuel rod cladding.

The analysis described in BAW–

10227P–A also concludes that the ECCS

acceptance criteria applied to reactors

fueled with zircaloy fuel are also

applicable to reactors fueled with M5

fuel rod cladding.

The underlying purposes of Section

50.44 and Appendix K, paragraph I.A.5,

are to ensure that cladding oxidation

and hydrogen generation are

appropriately limited during a LOCA

and conservatively accounted for in the

ECCS evaluation model. Specifically,

Appendix K requires that the Baker-Just

equation be used in the ECCS evaluation

model to determine the rate of energy

release, cladding oxidation, and

hydrogen generation. In BAW–10227P–

A, FCF demonstrated that the Baker-Just

model is conservative in all post-LOCA

scenarios with respect to the use of M5

advanced alloy as fuel rod cladding

material. The licensee has stated that

the amount of hydrogen generated in an

M5-clad core will remain within the

TMI–1 design basis. The NRC staff has

reviewed the FCF’s advanced cladding

and structural material, M5, for

pressurized water reactor fuel

mechanical designs as described in

BAW–10227P–A. In its February 4,

2000, safety evaluation, the NRC staff

concluded that, to the extent specified

and with limitations noted in the NRC

staff’s evaluation, the assumptions

related to M5 material properties and

mechanical design methodology are

acceptable for referencing in fuel reload

licensing applications. The NRC staff

has determined that since the licensee

and FCF have ongoing processes which

assure that LOCA analysis input values

for peak cladding temperature-sensitive

parameters bound the as-operated plant

values for those parameters at TMI–1

and also have ongoing processes to

determine mixed-core penalties as

needed, the methodologies and analyses

described in BAW–10227P–A apply to

TMI–1 and the plant can be safely

operated within the bounds of those

analyses with mixed- and full-core

loadings of M5 clad fuel and other M5

core structures. The NRC staff further

concluded that since fuel assemblies

which utilize the two different alloys

(M5 and zircaloy) and which will be coresident in the core have only slight

geometry differences, there will be

virtually no thermal-hydraulic effect,

and a mixed core penalty in LOCA

evaluations would not have to be

assessed to compensate for the material

differences. Therefore, based on the

information described above, the NRC

staff has determined that the underlying

purposes of Section 50.44, and 50.46,

and Appendix K of 10 CFR Part 50 have

been achieved through the use of M5

advanced alloy as fuel rod cladding

material and core structure material,

and that the special circumstances

required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) for

granting exemptions from 50.44, and

50.46, and Appendix K of 10 CFR Part

50 exist.

4.0 Conclusion

Accordingly, the Commission has

determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR

50.12(a)(ii), the exemption is authorized

by law, will not endanger life or

property or common defense and

security, and is, otherwise, in the public

interest. Also, special circumstances are

present. Therefore, the Commission

hereby grants AmerGen Energy

Company, LLC, an exemption from the

requirements of 10 CFR 50.44, 10 CFR

50.46, and Appendix K to 10 CFR Part

50, for Three Mile Island Nuclear

Station, Unit 1, as to the use of M5

cladding and core structures in lieu of

Zircaloy or ZIRLO as currently specified

or implied in those regulations.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the

Commission has determined that the

granting of this exemption will not have

a significant effect on the quality of the

human environment (66 FR 23279).

This exemption is effective upon

issuance.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day

of May 2001.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

John A. Zwolinski,

Director, Division of Licensing Project

Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 01–12035 Filed 5–11–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50–272 and 50–311]

PSEG Nuclear LLC, Salem Nuclear

Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2;

Environmental Assessment and

Finding of No Significant Impact

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) is considering