Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 27 / Thursday, February 9, 1995 / Notices 7803

Commission or an Atomic Safety and

Licensing Board, designated by the

Commission or by the Chairman of the

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Panel, will rule on the request and/or

petition; and the Secretary or the

designated Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board will issue a notice of hearing or

an appropriate order.

As required by 10 CFR 2.714, a

petition for leave to intervene shall set

forth with particularity the interest of

the petitioner in the proceeding, and

how that interest may be affected by the

results of the proceeding. The petition

should specifically explain the reasons

why intervention should be permitted

with particular reference to the

following factors: (1) The nature of the

petitioner’s right under the Act to be

made party to the proceeding; (2) the

nature and extent of the petitioner’s

property, financial, or other interest in

the proceeding; and (3) the possible

effect of any order which may be

entered in the proceeding on the

petitioner’s interest. The petition should

also identify the specific aspect(s) of the

subject matter of the proceeding as to

which petitioner wishes to intervene.

Any person who has filed a petition for

leave to intervene or who has been

admitted as a party may amend the

petition without requesting leave of the

Board up to 15 days prior to the first

prehearing conference scheduled in the

proceeding, but such an amended

petition must satisfy the specificity

requirements described above.

Not later than 15 days prior to the first

prehearing conference scheduled in the

proceeding, a petitioner shall file a

supplement to the petition to intervene

which must include a list of the

contentions which are sought to be

litigated in the matter. Each contention

must consist of a specific statement of

the issue of law or fact to be raised or

controverted. In addition, the petitioner

shall provide a brief explanation of the

bases of the contention and a concise

statement of the alleged facts or expert

opinion which support the contention

and on which the petitioner intends to

rely in proving the contention at the

hearing. The petitioner must also

provide references to those specific

sources and documents of which the

petitioner is aware and on which the

petitioner intends to rely to establish

those facts or expert opinion. Petitioner

must provide sufficient information to

show that a genuine dispute exists with

the applicant on a material issue of law

or fact. Contentions shall be limited to

matters within the scope of the

amendment under consideration. The

contention must be one which, if

proven, would entitle the petitioner to

relief. A petitioner who fails to file such

a supplement which satisfies these

requirements with respect to at least one

contention will not be permitted to

participate as a party.

Those permitted to intervene become

parties to the proceeding, subject to any

limitations in the order granting leave to

intervene, and have the opportunity to

participate fully in the conduct of the

hearing, including the opportunity to

present evidence and cross-examine

witnesses.

If a hearing is requested, the

Commission will make a final

determination on the issue of no

significant hazards consideration. The

final determination will serve to decide

when the hearing is held.

If the final determination is that the

amendment request involves no

significant hazards consideration, the

Commission may issue the amendment

and make it immediately effective,

notwithstanding the request for a

hearing. Any hearing held would take

place after issuance of the amendment.

If the final determination is that the

amendment request involves a

significant hazards consideration, any

hearing held would take place before

the issuance of any amendment.

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 Service 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 10 days of the notice

period, it is requested that 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 Datagram

Identification Number N1023 and the

following message addressed to Herbert

N. Berkow: petitioner’s name and

telephone number, date petition was

mailed, plant name, 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,

DC 20555, and to Mr. Albert Carr, Duke

Power Company, 422 South Church

Street, Charlotte, North Carolina,

attorney for the licensee.

Nontimely filings of petitions for

leave to intervene, amended petitions,

supplemental petitions and/or requests

for 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 application for

amendment dated November 29, 1994,

as supplemented January 12 and 27,

1995, which are available for public

inspection at the Commission’s Public

Document Room, the Gelman Building,

2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC,

and at the local public document room

located at the New York County Library,

138 East Black Street, Rock Hill, South

Carolina.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day

of February 1995.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Robert E. Martin,

Project Manager, Project Directorate II–3,

Division of Reactor Projects—I/II, Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

[FR Doc. 94–3234 Filed 2–8–94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–M

[Docket No. 50–245]

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company;

Withdrawal of Application for

Amendment to Facility Operating

License

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (the Commission) has

granted the request of Northeast Nuclear

Power Company (the licensee) to

withdraw its October 15, 1993,

application for proposed amendment to

Facility Operating License No. DPR–21

for Millstone Nuclear Power Station,

Unit 1, located in New London County,

Connecticut.

The proposed amendment would

have modified the Unit 1 technical

specifications to provide a maximum

duration that radioactive effluent

monitoring instrumentation could be

out-of-service for the purpose of

maintenance, performance of required

tests, checks, calibrations, or sampling

before the applicable action statement

was entered.

The Commission had previously

issued a Notice of Consideration of

Issuance of Amendment published in

the Federal Register on December 8,

1993 (58 FR 64611). However, by letter

dated January 19, 1995, the licensee

withdrew the proposed change.

For further details with respect to this

action, see the application for

amendment dated October 15, 1993, and

the licensee’s letter dated January 19,

1995, which withdrew the application

for license amendment. The above

documents are available for public
7804 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 27 / Thursday, February 9, 1995 / Notices

inspection at the Commission’s Public

Document Room, the Gelman Building,

2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC,

and at the local public document room

located at the Learning Resource Center,

Three Rivers Community-Technical

College, Thames Valley Campus, 574

New London Turnpike, Norwich , CT

06360.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day

of February 1995.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

James W. Andersen,

Project Manager, Project Directorate I–4,

Division of Reactor Projects—I/II, Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

[FR Doc. 95–3235 Filed 2–8–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–M

Public Service Electric and Gas

Company; Environmental Assessment

and Finding of No Significant Impact

[Docket Nos. 50–272 and 50–311]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (the Commission) is

considering issuance of an exemption

from certain requirements of its

regulations to Facility Operating License

Nos. DPR–70 and DPR–75, issued to the

Public Service Electric and Gas

Company, PECO Energy Company,

Delmarva Power and Light Company,

and Atlantic City Electric Company,

licensees for the Salem Nuclear

Generating Station, Units 1 and 2. The

plants are located at the licensee’s site

in Salem County, New Jersey. The

exemption was requested by the

licensee by letter dated December 22,

1994.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

The proposed action requests an

exemption from certain requirements of

10 CFR 50.60, ‘‘Acceptance Criteria for

Fracture Prevention Measures for LightWater Nuclear Power Reactors for

Normal Operation,’’ to allow application

of an alternate methodology to

determine the low temperature

overpressure protection (LTOP) setpoint

for the Salem Nuclear Generating

Station, Units 1 and 2. The proposed

alternate methodology is consistent with

guidelines developed by the American

Society of Mechanical Engineers

(ASME) Working Group on Operating

Plant Criteria (WGOPC) to define

pressure limits during LTOP events that

avoid certain unnecessary operational

restrictions, provide adequate margins

against failure of the reactor pressure

vessel, and reduce the potential for

unnecessary activation of pressurerelieving devices used for LTOP. These

guidelines have been incorporated into

Code Case N–514, ‘‘Low Temperature

Overpressure Protection,’’ which has

been approved by the ASME Code

Committee. The content of this code

case has been incorporated into

Appendix G of Section XI of the ASME

Code and published in the 1993

Addenda to Section XI.

The philosophy used to develop Code

Case N–514 guidelines is to ensure that

the LTOP limits are still below the

pressure/temperature (P/T) limits for

normal operation, but allow the

pressure that may occur with activation

of pressure-relieving devices to exceed

the P/T limits, provided acceptable

margins are maintained during these

events. This philosophy protects the

pressure vessel from LTOP events, and

still maintains the Technical

Specifications P/T limits applicable for

normal heatup and cooldown in

accordance with Appendix G to 10 CFR

Part 50 and Sections III and XI of the

ASME Code.

The Need for the Proposed Action

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.60, all lightwater nuclear power reactors must meet

the fracture toughness and material

surveillance program requirements for

the reactor coolant pressure boundary as

set forth in Appendices G and H to 10

CFR Part 50. Appendix G to 10 CFR Part

50 defines P/T limits during any

condition of normal operation,

including anticipated operational

occurrences and system hydrostatic

tests, to which the pressure boundary

may be subjected over its service

lifetime. It is specified in 10 CFR

50.60(b) that alternatives to the

described requirements in Appendices

G and H to 10 CFR Part 50 may be used

when an exemption is granted by the

Commission under 10 CFR 50.12.

To prevent transients that would

produce pressure excursions exceeding

the Appendix G P/T limits while the

reactor is operating at low temperatures,

the licensee installed an LTOP system.

The LTOP system includes pressure

relieving devices in the form of PowerOperated Relief Valves (PORVs) that are

set at a pressure low enough that if a

transient occurred while the coolant

temperature is below the LTOP enabling

temperature, they would prevent the

pressure in the reactor vessel from

exceeding the Appendix G P/T limits.

To prevent these valves from lifting as

a result of normal operating pressure

surges (e.g., reactor coolant pump

starting, and shifting operating charging

pumps) with the reactor coolant system

in a water solid condition, the operating

pressure must be maintained below the

PORV setpoint.

In addition, in order to prevent

cavitation of a reactor coolant pump, the

operator must maintain a differential

pressure across the reactor coolant

pump seals. Hence, the licensee must

operate the plant in a pressure window

that is defined as the difference between

the minimum required pressure to start

a reactor coolant pump and the

operating margin to prevent lifting of

the PORVs due to normal operating

pressure surges. The licensee’s current

LTOP analysis, which removes the nonconservatism in a previous analysis by

assuming one reactor coolant pump in

operation, indicates that using the

Appendix G safety margin to determine

the PORV setpoint would result in a

new pressure setpoint within the

current operating window of Salem 1

and a new setpoint just outside the

current operating window of Salem 2. In

both cases, there would be no margin for

normal operating pressure surges.

Operating with these limits could result

in the lifting of the PORVs and

cavitation of the reactor coolant pumps

during normal operation. Therefore, the

licensee proposed that in determining

the PORV setpoint for LTOP events for

Salem, the allowable pressure be

determined using the safety margins

developed in an alternate methodology

in lieu of the safety margins required by

Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 50. The

alternate methodology is consistent with

ASME Code Case N–514. The content of

this code case has been incorporated

into Appendix G of Section XI of the

ASME Code and published in the 1993

Addenda to Section XI.

An exemption from 10 CFR 50.60 is

required to use the alternate

methodology for calculating the

maximum allowable pressure for LTOP

considerations. By application dated

December 22, 1994, the licensee

requested an exemption from 10 CFR

50.60.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed

Action

The Commission has completed its

evaluation of the proposed action.

Appendix G of the ASME Code

requires that the P/T limits be

calculated: (a) using a safety factor of 2

on the principal membrane (pressure)

stresses, (b) assuming a flaw at the

surface with a depth of one-quarter (1⁄4)

of the vessel wall thickness and a length

of six (6) times its depth, and (c) using

a conservative fracture toughness curve

that is based on the lower bound of

static, dynamic, and crack arrest fracture

toughness tests on material similar to

the Salem reactor vessel material.

In determining the PORV setpoint for

LTOP events, the licensee proposed to