[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 204 (Friday, October 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57155-57156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27683]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304] s
Commonwealth Edison Company (Zion Nuclear Power Station Units 1
and 2); Exemption
I
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd or the licensee) is the holder
of Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48, which authorize
the licensee to possess the Zion Nuclear Power Station (ZNPS). The
license states, among other things, that the facility is subject to all
the rules, regulations, and orders of the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (the Commission or NRC) now or hereafter in effect. The
facility consists of two pressurized-water reactors located at the
ComEd site on the west shore of Lake Michigan about 40 miles north of
Chicago, Illinois, in the extreme eastern portion of the city of Zion,
Illinois (Lake County). The facility is permanently shut down and
defueled, and the licensee is no longer authorized to operate or place
fuel in the reactor.
II
Section 73.55 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations,
``Requirements for physical protection of licensed activities in
nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage,'' states that
``The licensee shall establish and maintain an onsite physical
protection system and security organization which will have as its
objective to provide high assurance that activities involving special
nuclear material are not inimical to the common defense and security
and
[[Page 57156]]
do not constitute an unreasonable risk to the public health and
safety.''
By letter dated July 30, 1999, the licensee requested an exemption
from certain requirements of 10 CFR 73.55. These requirements are: (1)
10 CFR 73.55(a)--the requirement that a licensed senior operator
suspend safeguards measures and assigning that authority to a certified
fuel handler; (2) 10 CFR 73.55(c)(6)--the requirement that the reactor
control room be bullet resisting; (3) 10 CFR 73.55(e)(1)--the
requirements to have a secondary alarm station, that the central alarm
station be located in the protected area, that the central alarm
station be classified as a vital area, and that the onsite secondary
power supply system for alarm annunciator equipment and non-portable
communication equipment be located in a vital area; (4) 10 CFR
73.55(f)(4)--the requirement that non-portable communication equipment
located in the central alarm station remain operable from independent
power sources if normal power is lost; and (5) 10 CFR 73.55(h)(3)--the
requirement to have five or more guards per shift immediately available
to fulfill response requirements. The proposed exemption is a
preliminary step toward enabling ComEd to revise the Zion Security Plan
under 10 CFR 50.54(p) to implement a defueled security plan that was
developed to protect against radiological sabotage at a permanently
shutdown reactor facility with all fuel stored in the spent fuel
storage pool.
III
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' the Commission
may, upon application of any interested person or upon its own
initiative, grant such exemptions in this part as it determines are
authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the common
defense and security, and are otherwise in the public interest. Section
73.55 allows the Commission to authorize a licensee to provide
alternative measures for protection against radiological sabotage,
provided the licensee demonstrates that the proposed measures meet the
general performance requirements of the regulation and that the overall
level of system performance provides protection against radiological
sabotage equivalent to that provided by the regulation.
The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 73.55 is to provide reasonable
assurance that adequate security measures can be taken in the event of
an act of radiological sabotage. Because of its permanently shutdown
and defueled condition, the number of target sets susceptible to
sabotage attacks has been reduced. In addition, with more than 31
months of radiological and heat decay since ZNPS was shut down on
February 21, 1997, the radiological hazards associated with the
remaining target sets, even if subject to sabotage attack, do not pose
a significant threat to the public health and safety.
IV
For the foregoing reasons, the Commission has determined that the
proposed alternative measures for protection against radiological
sabotage meet the same assurance objective and the general performance
requirements of 10 CFR 73.55 considering the permanently shutdown
conditions at the ZNPS with all of the fuel in the spent fuel pool. In
addition, the staff has determined that the overall level of the
proposed system's performance, as limited by this exemption, would not
result in a reduction in the physical protection capabilities for the
protection of special nuclear material or of the Zion Nuclear Power
Station. Specifically, an exemption is being granted for five (5)
specific areas in which the licensee is authorized to modify the
existing security plan commitments commensurate with the security
threats associated with a permanently shutdown and defueled site, as
follows: (1) 10 CFR 73.55(a)--an exemption from the requirement that a
licensed senior operator suspend safeguards measures and assigning that
authority to a certified fuel handler; (2) 10 CFR 73.55(c)(6)--an
exemption from the requirement that the reactor control room be bullet
resisting; (3) 10 CFR 73.55(e)(1)--an exemption from the requirements
to have a secondary alarm station, that the central alarm station be
located in the protected area, that the central alarm station be
classified as a vital area, and that the onsite secondary power supply
system for alarm annunciator equipment and non-portable communication
equipment be located in a vital area; (4) 10 CFR 73.55(f)(4)--an
exemption from the requirement that non-portable communication
equipment located in the central alarm station remain operable from
independent power sources if normal power is lost; and (5) 10 CFR
73.55(h)(3)--an exemption from the requirement to have five or more
guards per shift immediately available to fulfill response
requirements.
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
73.5, this exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Commonwealth
Edison an exemption as described above from those requirements of 10
CFR 73.55 at the Zion Nuclear Power Station in its permanently shutdown
and defueled condition.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that this
exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the
human environment (64 FR 53423).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 18th day of October 1999.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John A. Zwolinski,
Director, Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-27683 Filed 10-21-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P