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COMSECY-08-0041 December 12, 2008
The staff seeks to obtain Commission authorization for the recommendation to go forward with the review and action on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) request as a reinstatement of the construction permits (CP) for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant (BLN) Units 1 and 2, with the concurrent placement of the facility in a deferred plant status. If the Commission agrees with the staff’s recommendation, the staff will evaluate TVA’s request for reinstatement to determine whether it is supported by good cause, considering the totality of the circumstances. If the staff finds the request acceptable, it will prepare an order granting the request, with conditions, an environmental assessment, and a supporting safety evaluation. This memorandum provides the basis for the staff’s recommendation along with the information requested by the Chairman in his tasking memorandum dated October 30, 2008. The tasking memorandum requested the staff’s views and recommendations on the options on whether the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should approve or deny the TVA’s request to reinstate the CPs for BLN Units 1 and 2. In considering the options, the staff has identified the environmental, design, safety, security, public participation, and regulatory bases that are relevant to the recommendation. Enclosure 1 The staff has determined that there are some key issues that would have to be reviewed and resolved at some point in the licensing process if the decision were made to go forward and reinstate the CPs. The staff has determined that these can be resolved during the review of an operating license application and do not have to be addressed during the review of the reinstatement request. Some of these issues are highlighted in the following paragraphs. Enclosure 1 The staff has concluded that its prior findings in December 1974 regarding the design of the BLN facility (i.e., that it can be constructed at the proposed location without undue risk to the health and safety of the public) would not be affected by reinstatement of the CPs. TVA has not proposed to change the design of the facility as described in the preliminary safety analysis report. The staff finds that its prior determination that there is reasonable assurance that all safety questions will be satisfactorily resolved before completion of construction of the proposed facility would not be affected by the reinstatement of the CPs. The CP only constitutes an authorization to proceed with construction and does not constitute final Commission approval of the safety of any design feature or specification. Information such as the security and other required plans, operating procedures, technical specifications, and the design of the facility, will be evaluated during review of the operating license (OL) application, if TVA proceeds to complete construction of the facility. Because construction of most of the structures required for BLN as a two-unit nuclear plant has substantially been completed and limited construction remains that would require new land disturbance, the construction impacts discussed in the Final Environmental Statement (FES) have already occurred. Also, the NRC evaluated the environmental impacts in 2003 regarding TVA’s request to extend the CPs, and concluded that there was no significant effect on the quality of the human environment associated with continued construction activities up to the extended dates. The proposed CP reinstatement will not allow any work to be performed that is not already allowed by the original CPs. However, the staff will prepare an environmental assessment for reinstatement and determine whether the reinstatement would likely have a significant environmental impact. As appropriate, the staff will prepare an environment impact statement or a finding of no significant impact. There are several steps in the regulatory process that would allow for public involvement if the CPs are reinstated. The staff intends to follow the precedent that has been established for Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 construction and OL review reactivation. If the staff should reinstate the CPs for BLN, the order effecting this decision would offer the public an opportunity for a hearing on whether good cause to reinstate the CPs had been demonstrated. If TVA decides to complete construction and reactivate its OL application, the Commission may choose to direct the staff, as was done for Watts Bar Unit 2, to offer another opportunity for hearing on the OL application. In the event that any new and significant information is identified that could impact the FES, a supplement to the FES could be prepared, and an opportunity would be afforded to the public to comment thereon. Enclosure 2 The staff recommends that the Commission authorize the staff to go forward with the review and action on TVA’s request as a reinstatement of the CPs, with the concurrent placement of the facility in a deferred plant status. If the Commission accepts this recommendation, the staff will evaluate the request, and if found acceptable, it will prepare an order granting the request, with conditions, an environmental assessment, and a supporting safety evaluation. By its authorization, the Commission acknowledges that the staff will:
If reinstatement is approved, the order will include the following conditions:
The Policy Statement on Deferred Plants recognizes that the structures, systems, and components (SSCs) may not have been preserved and maintained. If construction resumes, the staff will (a) determine whether preservation and maintenance of SSCs require special NRC attention during reactivation; (b) verify that design modifications and changes are done in accordance with the quality assurance program; and (c) address the results of any TVA or NRC baseline inspection regarding the status of the plant site and equipment that may indicate that quality and performance requirements have been reduced below those originally specified in the final safety analysis report. The staff notes that if the Units 1 and 2 CPs are reinstated, the schedule for review of the combined licensed (COL) application for BLN Units 3 and 4, which is currently under staff review, may be impacted. The staff may have to consider BLN Units 1 and 2 as an alternative source of base load in the staff’s review of the COL application for Units 3 and 4. If TVA proceeds to seek an OL for Units 1 and 2, it would have to amend its Units 3 and 4 COL application, because TVA has credited certain partially completed Units 1 and 2 SSCs to support Units 3 and 4. Consideration of these issues would affect the overall review schedule for Units 3 and 4. The proposed actions to accomplish the activities associated with reinstatement of the CPs do not require significant additional resources for implementation, and specifically the current NRR budget is sufficient to accomplish the activities. Total resource needs are expected to be less than 0.5 full-time equivalents for Fiscal Year 2009. However, if and when TVA makes a decision to actually reactivate construction and continue with the technical and OL review, NRR and Region II will need to determine the budget implications on licensing and inspection activities and develop their resource requirements. These actions and the required resources will be assessed and requested through NRC’s planning, budgeting and performance management process. The Office of the General Counsel has no legal objection concerning this memorandum. Enclosure 2 SECY, please track.
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provides the staff’s evaluation and the bases for its recommendation. The staff’s recommendation reflects (a) the
authority for CP reinstatement and (b) the regulatory process and licensing approach that will be followed in considering the acceptability of CP reinstatement. In arriving at this recommendation, the staff considered the following options: (1) reinstatement of the original CPs, (2) denial of reinstatement, and (3) review of an application for new CPs.