81 FR 46124 - Florida Power & Light Company; St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 2

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 136 (July 15, 2016)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) has issued a director's decision with regard to a petition dated March 10, 2014, as supplemented, filed by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE, the petitioner), requesting that the NRC take action with regard to St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 2 (SL-2). The petitioner's requests and the director's decision are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 136 (Friday, July 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46124-46125]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16763]



[[Page 46124]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-389; NRC-2015-0235]


Florida Power & Light Company; St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Director's decision under 10 CFR 2.206; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
has issued a director's decision with regard to a petition dated March 
10, 2014, as supplemented, filed by the Southern Alliance for Clean 
Energy (SACE, the petitioner), requesting that the NRC take action with 
regard to St. Lucie Plant, Unit No. 2 (SL-2). The petitioner's requests 
and the director's decision are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0235 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0235. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, 
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Director, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has issued director's decision 
DD-16-02 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16167A086) on a petition filed by the 
petitioner on March 10, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14071A431), as 
supplemented.\1\
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    \1\ Supplements (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML14115A457, ML14115A458, 
ML14125A514, ML14128A557, ML14143A412, ML14147A523, ML14310A811, and 
ML14337A792).
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    The petitioner requested a hearing on what the petitioner 
characterized as a de facto license amendment for the replacement of 
the steam generators (SGs) in 2007 at SL-2, under Sec.  50.59 of title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Changes, tests and 
experiments.'' SACE requested that the NRC revoke the de facto license 
amendment and stay the restart of SL-2 from the March 3, 2014, 
refueling outage pending resolution of the hearing request. As the 
basis for this request, the petitioner stated that Florida Power & 
Light Company (the licensee) misapplied 10 CFR 50.59 and that the SG 
replacement should have required a license amendment. The petitioner 
also expressed concerns (1) related to the inspection of the 
replacement SGs and (2) regarding the effects of the extended power 
uprate (EPU) on SG tube inservice inspection and flow-induced effects 
on the SG internals.
    The Commission, by a memorandum and order (CLI-14-04) dated April 
1, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14091B118), denied SACE's request to 
stay the restart of SL-2 from the March 3, 2014, refueling outage. 
Subsequently, by a memorandum and order (CLI-14-11) dated December 19, 
2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14353A114), the Commission denied SACE's 
hearing request, concluded that the NRC did not issue the licensee a de 
facto license amendment, and referred SACE's safety concerns regarding 
the replacement SGs at SL-2 to the NRC's Executive Director for 
Operations for disposition under 10 CFR 2.206, ``Requests for action 
under this subpart.'' Therefore, the staff treated these concerns in 
SACE's hearing request as a petition for enforcement action pursuant to 
10 CFR 2.206. On February 24, 2015, (ADAMS Accession No. ML15057A221) 
and August 5, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15217A443), SACE informed the 
NRC staff by telephone that it had decided not to request a meeting 
with the NRC's Petition Review Board with regard to its 10 CFR 2.206 
petition.
    By letter dated September 28, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML15205A313), the NRC acknowledged receipt of SACE's 10 CFR 2.206 
petition and notified SACE of the NRC's acceptance of a portion of the 
petition (i.e., one of SACE's safety concerns) for review in the 10 CFR 
2.206 process. The portion of the petition that the NRC accepted for 
review under the 10 CFR 2.206 process addresses the licensee's 
application of 10 CFR 50.59 with respect to the change in a methodology 
for evaluating SGs, as described in the updated final safety analysis 
report (UFSAR). The letter also stated that the NRC staff was 
evaluating whether the licensee properly applied 10 CFR 50.59 when it 
changed the structural analysis codes as described in the UFSAR.
    The staff's September 28, 2015, letter explained why the NRC did 
not accept the remaining portion of the petition for review under the 
10 CFR 2.206 process. This portion of the petition raised safety 
concerns related to (1) inspection of the replacement SGs and (2) the 
effects of the EPU on SG tube inservice inspection and flow-induced 
effects on the SG internals. These concerns met the criteria for 
rejection in NRC Management Directive 8.11, ``Review Process for 10 CFR 
2.206 Petitions,'' dated October 25, 2000 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML041770328), because the concerns had already been reviewed, 
evaluated, and resolved by the NRC staff.
    By letters to the petitioner and licensee dated May 24, 2016 (ADAMS 
Accession Nos. ML16055A311 and ML16055A330, respectively), the NRC 
issued the proposed director's decision (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML16055A284) for comment. The petitioner and the licensee were asked to 
provide comments within 15 days on any part of the proposed director's 
decision that was considered to be erroneous or any issues in the 
petition that were not addressed. The NRC staff did not receive any 
comments on the proposed director's decision.
    The Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation has denied 
the petitioner's requested enforcement actions against the licensee. 
The reasons for this decision are explained in director's decision DD-
16-02 pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 of the Commission's regulations.
    The NRC will file a copy of the director's decision with the 
Secretary of the Commission for the Commission's review in accordance 
with 10 CFR 2.206. As provided by this regulation, the director's 
decision will constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days 
after the date of the decision unless the Commission, on its own 
motion, institutes a review of the director's decision in that time.

    Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of July 2016.


[[Page 46125]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William M. Dean,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-16763 Filed 7-14-16; 8:45 am]
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