82 FR 34993 - Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2, and Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 143 (July 27, 2017)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice that by petition dated February 8, 2017, Barry Quigley (the petitioner) has requested that the NRC take action with regard to Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2, and Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2. The petitioner's requests are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 143 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34993-34994]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-15859]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-454, 50-455, 50-456, 50-457; NRC-2017-0167]


Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2, 
and Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: 10 CFR 2.206 request; receipt.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice 
that by petition dated February 8, 2017, Barry Quigley (the petitioner) 
has requested that the NRC take action with regard to Braidwood 
Station, Units 1 and 2, and Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2. The 
petitioner's requests are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document.

DATES: July 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0167 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-2017-0167. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joel S. Wiebe, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6606, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 8, 2017, the petitioner 
requested that the NRC take action with regard to Braidwood Station, 
Units 1 and 2, and Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML17061A127). The petitioner requested: (1) Issue a violation under 
part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
appendix B, Criterion III, Design Control for deficiencies in the 
analysis of record (AOR) for the main steam isolation valve (MSIV) room 
pressurization following a high energy line break (HELB), (2) Issue a 
violation under 10 CFR part 50, appendix B, Criterion XVI, Corrective 
Action, for failure to update the AOR in a timely manner, (3) Require 
Exelon (the licensee) to show that the consequences of the secondary 
missiles resulting from MSIV room pressurization do not have adverse 
consequences, (4) Issue a demand for information under 10 CFR 2.204, 
``Demand for information,'' to compare and contrast the behavior of 
Exelon management described in the petition with the NRC's policy 
statement on the attributes of a safety-conscious work environment, and 
(5) Use Exelon's response to number 4, above, on which to determine 
whether to issue a ``chilling effects'' letter.
    As the basis for this request, the petitioner states that: (1) 
Break enthalpies used in the MSIV room pressurization AOR are actually 
the thermodynamic internal energy of the steam, not the enthalpy. Since 
in the range of interest, the internal energy is about 13 percent less 
than the enthalpy, the energy flow to the areas of concern is non-
conservative. Steam flow from secondary piping is neglected; (2) 
Corrective actions to resolve an issue in the AOR are long overdue (8 
years) and improperly tracked; (3) A proposed revision to the AOR shows 
that the MSIV room roof slabs will be ejected by the high pressures in 
the MSIV rooms becoming potential missiles; and (4) Management 
dismissed information in the Updated Final Safety Evaluation Report 
(UFSAR) that supported the concerns about the AOR as ``excessive 
detail'' and directed personnel to remove the information. Management 
dismissed UFSAR internal inconsistency related to the ``Break Exclusion 
Zone'' without discussion or review and stated that the information 
supporting the concern could be deleted as an UFSAR cleanup item. 
Recently, there was an operability concern where engineering management 
maintained a

[[Page 34994]]

position of operability in the face of conflicting information. The 
information that engineering management relied on to support 
operability was demonstrably irrelevant.
    The request, except for the petitioner's item 3, which does not 
request enforcement action, is being treated pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 
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 
(PRB) on April 13, 2017, to discuss the petition; the transcript of 
that meeting is an additional supplement to the petition (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML17111A774). On June 12, 2017, the petition manager 
informed the petitioner that the PRB accepted the petition items 1, 2, 
4, and 5 for review under 10 CFR 2.206.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of July, 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian E. Holian,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-15859 Filed 7-26-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P