81 FR 63810 - Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 180 (September 16, 2016)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice that by petition dated June 30, 2016, Mr. David A. Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists (the petitioner) requested that the NRC take action with regard to Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3. The petitioner's requests are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 180 (Friday, September 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63810-63811]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22380]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-247 and 50-286; NRC-2016-0197]


Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Indian Point Nuclear Generating 
Unit Nos. 2 and 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: 10 CFR 2.206 request; receipt.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice 
that by petition dated June 30, 2016, Mr. David A. Lochbaum of the 
Union of Concerned Scientists (the petitioner) requested that the NRC 
take action with regard to Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 
and 3. The petitioner's requests are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0197 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-2016-0197. 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 it is mentioned in this 
document.
     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: On June 30, 2016, the petitioner requested 
that the NRC take action with regard to Indian Point Nuclear Generating 
Unit Nos. 2 and 3 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16187A186). The petitioner 
requested that the NRC take the following enforcement actions:

[[Page 63811]]

    1. Issue an Order requiring the Indian Point licensee to inspect 
the reactor vessel baffle-former bolts and to install the downflow to 
upflow modification on Unit 2 during its next refueling outage;
    2. Issue a Demand for Information requiring the Indian Point 
licensee to submit an operability determination to the agency regarding 
continued operation of Unit 3 until its reactor vessel baffle-former 
bolts can be inspected per Material Reliability Project-227-A; and
    3. Issue a Demand for Information requiring the Indian Point 
licensee to submit an evaluation of the performance, role and operating 
experience of the metal impact monitoring system in detecting and 
responding to indications of loose parts (such as broken baffle bolts) 
within the reactor coolant system.
    As the basis for this request, the petitioner cited Licensee Event 
Report 2016-004-00 ``Unanalyzed Condition due to Degraded Reactor 
Baffle-Former Bolts,'' submitted by the licensee on May 31, 2016 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML16159A219) that describes an event where there was an 
unanalyzed condition due to degraded reactor vessel baffle-former bolts 
at Indian Point Unit 2, which is reportable under Sec.  
50.73(a)(2)(ii)(B) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR). Furthermore, the petitioner states that (1) an order is the 
proper means for ensuring that the bolts are inspected and that the 
downflow to upflow modification is installed during the next refueling 
outage at Indian Point Unit 2; (2) Indian Point Unit 3 is potentially 
operating with degraded baffle-former bolts and an operability 
determination is the mechanism established by the NRC to properly 
evaluate situations such as this; and (3) the metal impact monitoring 
system as described in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report, has 
the potential to act as an alternate monitoring system to identify 
degraded baffle-former bolts, yet neither the NRC nor the licensee have 
referred to this system in publicly available documents relating to 
this issue.
    The request is being treated pursuant to Section 2.206 of Title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) of the Commission's 
regulations. The request has been referred to the Director of the 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, 
appropriate action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable 
time. The petitioner met with the Petition Review Board on July 28, 
2016, to discuss the petition; the transcript of that meeting is an 
additional supplement to the petition (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML16215A391).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of September 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William M. Dean,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-22380 Filed 9-15-16; 8:45 am]
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