[Federal Register: October 22, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 204)]
[Notices]               
[Page 57155-57156]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22oc99-96]                         

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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