[Federal Register: June 12, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 114)] [Notices] [Page 33462-33465] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr12jn08-108] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 72-4] Duke Power Company LLC d/b/a Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC; Notice of Docketing, Notice of Proposed Action, and Notice of Opportunity for a Hearing for Renewal of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-2503 for the Oconee Nuclear Generating Station Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [[Page 33463]] ACTION: Notice of license renewal, and opportunity to request a hearing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DATES: A request for hearing and/or petition for leave to intervene must be filed by August 11, 2008. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ronald A. Burrows, Project Manager, Licensing Branch, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 492- 3335; fax number: (301) 492-3348; e-mail: ronald.burrows@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is considering an application dated January 30, 2008, from Duke Power Company LLC d/b/a Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (applicant or Duke) for the renewal of its Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-2503, under the provisions of 10 CFR part 72, for the receipt, possession, storage and transfer of spent fuel, reactor-related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste and other radioactive materials associated with spent fuel storage at the Oconee Nuclear Station (ONS) Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), located at the ONS site in Oconee County, South Carolina. If granted, the renewed license will authorize the applicant to continue to store spent fuel in a dry cask storage system at the applicant's ONS ISFSI. Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 72.42, the renewal term of the license for the ISFSI would be twenty (20) years; however, the applicant has submitted a separate exemption request with the license renewal application, which, if granted, would allow the license to be renewed for 40 years. This application was docketed under 10 CFR part 72; the ISFSI Docket No. is 72-4. An NRC administrative review, documented in a letter to Duke dated April 24, 2008, found that the application contains sufficient information for the NRC staff to begin its technical review. The Commission will approve the license renewal application if it determines that the application meets the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act) and the Commission's regulations, including the findings required by 10 CFR 72.40. These findings will be documented in a Safety Evaluation Report. The NRC will complete an environmental evaluation, in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51, to determine if the preparation of an environmental impact statement is warranted or if an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact are appropriate. This action will be the subject of a subsequent notice in the Federal Register. II. Opportunity To Request a Hearing The NRC hereby provides notice that this is a proceeding on an application for the renewal of Special Nuclear Material License No. SNM-2503 issued to Duke for its ISFSI located at the ONS site in Oconee County, South Carolina. Any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding, and who desires to participate as a party, must file a request for a hearing and a specification of the contentions which the person seeks to have litigated in the hearing, in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC promulgated on August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49139). All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including documents filed by interested governmental entities participating under 10 CFR 2.315(c) and any motion or other document filed in the proceeding prior to the submission of a request for hearing or petition to intervene, must be filed in accordance with the E-Filing rule. The E-Filing rule requires participants to submit and serve all adjudicatory documents over the internet or in some cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. Participants may not submit paper copies of their filings unless they seek a waiver in accordance with the procedures described below. To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV, or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a digital Identification (ID) certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances in which the petitioner/requestor, or its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each petitioner/requestor will need to download the Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ to access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing system. The Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ is free and is available at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e- submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on NRC's public Web site at http:// www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. Once a petitioner/requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance available on the NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/ site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE system no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to the document to the NRC Office of the General Counsel and any others who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document via the E-Filing system. A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/ site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or locally, (301) 415-4737. Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not submitting documents electronically must file a motion, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. Participants filing a document in this manner are responsible for serving the [[Page 33464]] document on all other participants. Filing is considered complete by first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing the document with the provider of the service. Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be admitted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). To be timely, filings must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include Social Security numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in their submission. The formal requirements for documents contained in 10 CFR 2.304(c)- (e) must be met. If the NRC grants an electronic document exemption in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g)(3), then the requirements for paper documents, set forth in 10 CFR 2.304(b) must be met. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b), a request for a hearing must be filed by August 11, 2008. In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR 2.309, the general requirements involving a request for a hearing filed by a person other than an applicant must state: 1. The name, address, and telephone number of the requestor; 2. The nature of the requestor's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; 3. The nature and extent of the requestor's property, financial or other interest in the proceeding; 4. The possible effect of any decision or order that may be issued in the proceeding on the requestor's interest; and 5. The circumstances establishing that the request for a hearing is timely in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b). In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(1), a request for hearing or petitions for leave to intervene must set forth with particularity the contentions sought to be raised. For each contention, the request or petition must: 1. Provide a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted; 2. Provide a brief explanation of the basis for the contention; 3. Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is within the scope of the proceeding; 4. Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is material to the findings that the NRC must make to support the action that is involved in the proceeding; 5. Provide a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinions which support the requestor's or petitioner's position on the issue and on which the requestor or petitioner intends to rely to support its position on the issue; and 6. Provide sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. This information must include references to specific portions of the application (including the applicant's environmental report and safety report) that the requestor or petitioner disputes and the supporting reasons for each dispute or, if the requestor or petitioner believes the application fails to contain information on a relevant matter as required by law, the identification of each failure and the supporting reasons for the requestor's or petitioner's belief. In addition, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(2), contentions must be based on documents or other information available at the time the request or petition is to be filed, such as the application, supporting safety analysis report, environmental report or other supporting document filed by the applicant, or otherwise available to the requestor or petitioner. On issues arising under the National Environmental Policy Act, the requestor or petitioner shall file contentions based on the applicant's environmental report. The requestor or petitioner may amend those contentions or file new contentions if there are data or conclusions in the NRC draft or final environmental impact statement or if appropriate, the environmental assessment and associated draft or final finding of no significant impact, or any supplements relating thereto, that differ significantly from the data or conclusions in the applicant's documents. Otherwise, contentions may be amended or new contentions filed after the initial filing only with leave of the presiding officer. Each contention shall be given a separate numeric or alpha designation within one of the following groups: 1. Technical--primarily concerns issues relating to matters discussed or referenced in the Safety Evaluation Report for the proposed action. 2. Environmental--primarily concerns issues relating to matters discussed or referenced in the Environmental Report for the proposed action. 3. Emergency Planning--primarily concerns issues relating to matters discussed or referenced in the Emergency Plan as it relates to the proposed action. 4. Physical Security--primarily concerns issues relating to matters discussed or referenced in the Physical Security Plan as it relates to the proposed action. 5. Miscellaneous--does not fall into one of the categories outlined above. If the requestor or petitioner believes a contention raises issues that cannot be classified as primarily falling into one of these categories, the requestor or petitioner must set forth the contention and supporting bases, in full, separately for each category into which the requestor or petitioner asserts the contention belongs with a separate designation for that category. Requestors or petitioners should, when possible, consult with each other in preparing contentions and combine similar subject matter concerns into a joint contention, for which one of the co-sponsoring requestors or petitioners is designated the lead representative. Further, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(3), any requestor or petitioner that wishes to adopt a contention proposed by another requestor or petitioner must do so, in accordance with the E-Filing rule, within ten days of the date the contention is filed, and designate a representative who shall have the authority to act for the requestor or petitioner. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(g), a request for hearing or a petition for leave to intervene may also address the selection of hearing procedures, taking into account the provisions of 10 CFR 2.310. III. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the application for amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public [[Page 33465]] documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this notice are: License Renewal Application dated January 30, 2008 (ML081280084) and the acceptance review letter dated April 24, 2008 (ML081200183). If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415- 4737 or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of May 2008. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ronald A. Burrows, Project Manager, Licensing Branch, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E8-13198 Filed 6-11-08; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P