Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 167 / Monday, August 30, 2010 / Notices 52997 

any identifying or contact information, 

the NRC cautions you against including 

any information in your submission that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed. 

The NRC requests that any party 

soliciting or aggregating comments 

received from other persons for 

submission to the NRC inform those 

persons that the NRC will not edit their 

comments to remove any identifying or 

contact information, and therefore, they 

should not include any information in 

their comments that they do not want 

publicly disclosed. 

Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for documents filed under Docket ID 

NRC–2010–0287. Address questions 

about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 

301–492–3668; e-mail 

Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. 

Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, 

Chief, Rules, Announcements, and 

Directives Branch (RAD), Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05– 

B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, or by fax to RAD at (301) 492– 

3446. 

You can access publicly available 

documents related to this notice using 

the following methods: 

NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR): 

The public may examine and have 

copied for a fee publicly available 

documents at the NRC’s PDR, Room O1 

F21, One White Flint North, 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS): 

Publicly available documents created or 

received at the NRC are available 

electronically at the NRC’s Electronic 

Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, 

the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 

which provides text and image files of 

NRC’s public documents. If you do not 

have access to ADAMS or if there are 

problems in accessing the documents 

located in ADAMS, contact the NRC’s 

PDR reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 

301–415–4737, or by e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. DG–8035 is 

available electronically under ADAMS 

Accession Number ML100680456. In 

addition, electronic copies of DG–8035 

are available through the NRC’s public 

Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides 

in the ‘‘Regulatory Guides’’ collection of 

the NRC’s Electronic Reading Room at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/. The regulatory analysis 

may be found in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML102310331. 

Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public 

comments and supporting materials 

related to this notice can be found at 

http://www.regulations.gov by searching 

on Docket ID: NRC–2010–0287. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and Commission approval 

is not required to reproduce them. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day 

of August 2010. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Harriet Karagiannis, 

Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development 

Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of 

Nuclear Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. 2010–21522 Filed 8–27–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2010–0061; Docket No. 50–298] 

Nebraska Public Power District; 

Cooper Nuclear Station; Exemption 

1.0 Background 

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD 

or the licensee) is the holder of Facility 

Operating License No. DPR–46 which 

authorizes operation of the Cooper 

Nuclear Station (CNS). The license 

provides, among other things, that the 

facility is subject to the rules, 

regulations, and orders of the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC, the 

Commission) now or hereafter in effect. 

The facility consists of a boiling-water 

reactor located in Nemaha County, 

Nebraska. 

2.0 Request/Action 

Title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR), part 73, ‘‘Physical 

protection of plants and materials,’’ 

section 73.55, ‘‘Requirements for 

physical protection of licensed activities 

in nuclear power reactors against 

radiological sabotage,’’ published in the 

Federal Register on March 27, 2009 (74 

FR 13926–13993), effective May 26, 

2009, with a full implementation date of 

March 31, 2010, requires licensees to 

protect, with high assurance, against 

radiological sabotage by designing and 

implementing comprehensive site 

security programs. The amendments to 

10 CFR 73.55 published on March 27, 

2009, establish and update generically 

applicable security requirements similar 

to those previously imposed by 

Commission orders issued after the 

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 

and implemented by licensees. In 

addition, the amendments to 10 CFR 

73.55 include additional requirements 

to further enhance site security based 

upon insights gained from 

implementation of the post September 

11, 2001, security orders. By letter dated 

February 26, 2010, the NRC granted 

NPPD an exemption from the March 31, 

2010, implementation date until August 

31, 2010, for three of these additional 

requirements. NPPD now seeks an 

exemption from the August 31, 2010, 

implementation date until December 31, 

2010, for the same three additional 

requirements. All other physical 

security requirements established by 

this recent rulemaking have already 

been implemented by the licensee. 

By application dated July 7, 2010, as 

supplemented by letter dated July 20, 

2010, the licensee requested an 

exemption in accordance with 10 CFR 

73.5, ‘‘Specific exemptions.’’ The 

licensee’s letter contains securityrelated information and, accordingly, 

those portions are not available to the 

public. The licensee has requested an 

exemption from the August 31, 2010, 

implementation date, stating that it 

must complete a number of 

modifications to the current site security 

configuration before all requirements 

can be met. Specifically, the request is 

for three requirements that would be 

met by December 31, 2010, instead of 

the August 31, 2010, deadline. Granting 

this exemption for the three items 

would allow the licensee to complete 

the modifications designed to update 

aging equipment and incorporate stateof-the-art technology to meet or exceed 

the regulatory requirements. 

3.0 Discussion of Part 73 Schedule 

Exemptions From the March 31, 2010, 

Full Implementation Date 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55(a)(1), ‘‘By 

March 31, 2010, each nuclear power 

reactor licensee, licensed under 10 CFR 

part 50, shall implement the 

requirements of this section through its 

Commission-approved Physical Security 

Plan, Training and Qualification Plan, 

Safeguards Contingency Plan, and Cyber 

Security Plan referred to collectively 

hereafter as ‘security plans.’ ’’ Pursuant 

to 10 CFR 73.5, the Commission may, 

upon application by any interested 

person or upon its own initiative, grant 

exemptions from the requirements of 10 

CFR part 73 when the exemptions are 

authorized by law, and will not 

endanger life or property or the common 

defense and security, and are otherwise 

in the public interest. By letter dated 

February 26, 2010 (Agencywide 

Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS) Accession No. 

ML100190100), the NRC approved an 

exemption that allowed NPPD an 

extension from March 31, 2010, until 

August 31, 2010, of the implementation 

date for three specific requirements of 

the new rule. 

NRC approval of this exemption, as 

noted above, would allow an extension 


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52998 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 167 / Monday, August 30, 2010 / Notices 

from August 31, 2010, until December 

31, 2010, of the implementation date for 

three specific requirements of the new 

rule. As stated above, 10 CFR 73.5 

allows the NRC to grant exemptions 

from the requirements of 10 CFR part 

73. The NRC staff has determined that 

granting of the licensee’s proposed 

exemption would not result in a 

violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 

1954, as amended, or the Commission’s 

regulations. Therefore, the exemption is 

authorized by law. 

In the draft final rule provided to the 

Commission, the NRC staff proposed 

that the requirements of the new 

regulation be met within 180 days. The 

Commission directed a change from 180 

days to approximately 1 year for 

licensees to fully implement the new 

requirements. This change was 

incorporated into the final rule. From 

this, it is clear that the Commission 

wanted to provide a reasonable 

timeframe for licensees to achieve full 

compliance. 

As noted in the final rule, the 

Commission also anticipated that 

licensees would have to conduct sitespecific analyses to determine what 

changes were necessary to implement 

the rule’s requirements, and that 

changes could be accomplished through 

a variety of licensing mechanisms, 

including exemptions. Since issuance of 

the final rule, the Commission has 

rejected a generic industry request to 

extend the rule’s compliance date for all 

operating nuclear power plants, but 

noted that the Commission’s regulations 

provide mechanisms for individual 

licensees, with good cause, to apply for 

relief from the compliance date, as 

documented in the letter from R.W. 

Borchardt (NRC) to M.S. Fertel (Nuclear 

Energy Institute) dated June 4, 2009 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML091410309). 

The licensee’s request for an exemption 

is therefore consistent with the 

approach set forth by the Commission 

and discussed in the letter dated June 4, 

2009. 

CNS Schedule Exemption Request 

The licensee provided detailed 

information in the Attachment to its 

letter dated July 7, 2010, as 

supplemented by letter dated July 20, 

2010, requesting an exemption. The 

licensee is requesting additional time to 

implement certain new requirements 

due to the impact on construction 

activities of the extremely wet spring 

and flooding of the Missouri River. The 

licensee describes a comprehensive plan 

to expand the protected area with 

upgrades to the security capabilities of 

its CNS site and provides a timeline for 

achieving full compliance with the new 

regulation. The Attachment to the 

licensee’s letter dated July 7, 2010, 

contains security-related information 

regarding the site security plan, details 

of the specific requirements of the 

regulation for which the site cannot be 

in compliance by the August 31, 2010, 

deadline, justification for the exemption 

request, a description of the required 

changes to the site’s security 

configuration, and a timeline with 

critical path activities that would bring 

the licensee into full compliance by 

December 31, 2010. The timeline 

provides dates indicating when (1) 

construction will begin on various 

phases of the project (e.g., new 

buildings and fences), and (2) critical 

equipment will be ordered, installed, 

tested, and become operational. A 

redacted version of the licensee’s 

exemption request dated July 7, 2010, 

including attachment, and the licensee’s 

letter dated July 20, 2010, are publicly 

available at ADAMS Accession Nos. 

ML101900266 and ML102090069, 

respectively. 

Notwithstanding the scheduler 

exemptions for these limited 

requirements, the licensee will continue 

to be in compliance with all other 

applicable physical security 

requirements as described in 10 CFR 

73.55 and reflected in its current NRCapproved physical security program. By 

December 31, 2010, CNS will be in full 

compliance with the regulatory 

requirements of 10 CFR 73.55, as issued 

on March 27, 2009. 

4.0 Conclusion for Part 73 Schedule 

Exemption Request 

The NRC staff has reviewed the 

licensee’s submittal and concludes that 

the licensee has justified its request for 

an extension of the compliance date 

with regard to three specified 

requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 until 

December 31, 2010. 

Accordingly, the Commission has 

determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 

73.5, ‘‘Specific exemptions,’’ an 

exemption from the August 31, 2010, 

compliance date is authorized by law 

and will not endanger life or property or 

the common defense and security, and 

is otherwise in the public interest. 

Therefore, the Commission hereby 

grants the requested exemption. 

The long-term benefits that will be 

realized when the CNS modifications 

are complete justifies extending the full 

compliance date in the case of this 

particular licensee. The security 

measures that CNS needs additional 

time to complete are new requirements 

imposed by March 27, 2009, 

amendments to 10 CFR 73.55, and are 

in addition to those required by the 

security orders issued in response to the 

events of September 11, 2001. 

Therefore, the NRC concludes that the 

licensee’s actions are in the best interest 

of protecting the public health and 

safety through the security changes that 

will result from granting this exemption. 

As per the licensee’s request and the 

NRC’s regulatory authority to grant an 

exemption from the August 31, 2010, 

deadline for the three items specified in 

the Attachment to NPPD’s letter dated 

July 7, 2010, as supplemented by letter 

dated July 20, 2010, the licensee is 

required to be in full compliance with 

10 CFR 73.55 by December 31, 2010. In 

achieving compliance, the licensee is 

reminded that it is responsible for 

determining the appropriate licensing 

mechanism (i.e., 10 CFR 50.54(p) or 10 

CFR 50.90) for incorporation of all 

necessary changes to its security plans. 

The exemption extends the 

compliance date of three specified 

requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 until 

December 31, 2010. The Commission 

has determined that granting this 

exemption from the requirements of 10 

CFR 73.55 involves (i) no significant 

hazards consideration, (ii) no significant 

change in the types or significant 

increase in the amounts of any effluents 

that may be released offsite, (iii) no 

significant increase in individual or 

cumulative public or occupational 

radiation exposure, (iv) no significant 

construction impact, and (v) no 

significant increase in the potential for 

or consequences from radiological 

accidents. In addition, the requirements 

from which this exemption is sought 

involve 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi)(G), 

‘‘Scheduling requirements.’’ 

Accordingly, the exemption meets the 

eligibility criteria for categorical 

exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 

51.22(c)(25)(i)–(vi). 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. 

This exemption is effective upon 

issuance. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day 

of August 2010. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Joseph G. Giitter, 

Director, Division of Operating Reactor 

Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2010–21637 Filed 8–27–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 


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