ML072910119

G20070715/LTR-07-0683/EDATS: SECY-2007-0429 - Messrs. Sipos and Donaldson, Ltr Responding to October 4, 2007, Letter to the Secretary of the NRC Actions for Indian Point Unit 3

ML072910119
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	10/31/2007
From:	Dyer J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Donaldson C, Sipos J State of NY, Office of the Attorney General
Boska J, NRR, 301-415-2901
Shared Package
ML072910185	List: ML072910119
References
EDATS: SECY-2007-0429, G20070715, LTR-07-0683, SECY- 2007-0429, SECY-2007-0429, TAC MD6944
Download: ML072910119 (3)

Text

October 31, 2007 Mr. John J. Sipos Mr. Charlie Donaldson Assistant Attorneys General Office of the Attorney General State of New York The Capitol Albany, NY 12224

Dear Messrs. Sipos and Donaldson:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your October 4, 2007, letter to the Secretary of the NRC regarding recent NRC actions for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit No. 3. In your letter, you objected to (1) NRC plans to grant an exemption from certain fire protection requirements (Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50 Appendix R, Fire Protection Program for Nuclear Power Plants Operating Prior to January 1, 1979) regarding the 1-hour fire barrier rating for select areas with the Hemyc electrical raceway fire barrier system (ERFBS) installed, and (2) alleged errors in the NRCs environmental assessment, published in connection with the proposed exemption.

The exemption request addressed in your letter was submitted by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) on July 24, 2006, as supplemented on April 30, May 23, and August 16, 2007.

Therein, Entergy requested revisions to its prior exemptions from 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix R, section III.G.2 requirements for a 1-hour fire barrier in certain designated Fire Areas. The NRC provided an opportunity for the State of New York to comment on the requested revisions to the facilitys prior exemptions before taking action thereon. On February 13, 2007, the NRC was informed by the responsible New York State official, from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, that the State had no comments on the proposed exemption. The NRC published its Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact on September 28, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 55,254), and issued the requested exemption on the same date. Notice of the exemption was published in the Federal Register on October 4, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 56,798), and the exemption is publicly available in the NRCs Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), accession number ML072410254.

With respect to your comments regarding the need for consideration of terrorism, the Commission reaffirmed its position on this issue in a recent Memorandum and Order, Amergen Energy Co., LLC ( Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station), CLI-07-8, 65 NRC 124, 129 (Feb.

26, 2007). Therein, the Commission concluded, in part, that NEPA [the National Environmental Policy Act] does not require the NRC to consider the environmental consequences of hypothetical terrorist attacks on NRC-licensed facilities (65 NRC at 129).

In your letter, you also state (a) that the environmental assessment ignores the impact that could result from an accidental fire, and (b) that the Environmental Assessment and Federal Register Notice contained an incorrect ADAMS accession number for Entergys letter of August 16, 2007.

In this regard, the NRC did consider an accidental fire, and stated in the environmental assessment that the use of the Hemyc fire barrier in these fire zones would not significantly increase the consequences from a fire in these zones. The August 16 letter, referred to above,

Messrs. Sipos and Donaldson provided one of the licensees responses to questions asked by the NRC. The letter was unavailable because it had not been labeled as publicly available. This oversight was corrected on October 3, 2007. We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Nonetheless, the Federal Register Notice did provide sufficient information for interested persons to learn of the proposed action and to request such further information as they may have required.

Thank you for your interest in the NRCs regulatory actions concerning the Indian Point facility.

Sincerely,

/RA/

J. E. Dyer, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-286

Messrs. Sipos and Donaldson provided one of the licensees responses to questions asked by the NRC. The letter was unavailable because it had not been labeled as publicly available. This oversight was corrected on October 3, 2007. We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Nonetheless, the Federal Register Notice did provide sufficient information for interested persons to learn of the proposed action and to request such further information as they may have required.

Thank you for your interest in the NRCs regulatory actions concerning the Indian Point facility.

Sincerely,

/RA/

J. E. Dyer, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-286 DISTRIBUTION: G20070715/LTR-07-0683/EDATS:SECY-2007-0429 PUBLIC LPL1-1 Reading File RidsNrrDorl RidsNrrDorlLpl1-1 RidsNrrDirsltsb RidsNrrPMJBoska RidsNrrLASLittle RidsNrrWpcMail ECobey, RI STurk, OGC MKowal JLubinski RidsOPAMail RidsRgn1MailCenter RidsNrrAdro RidsEDOMailCenter RidsOGCMailCenter RidsAcrsAcnw&mMailCenter Incoming: ML072830266 Response: ML072910119 Package: ML072910185 *concurrence via email OFFICE LPL1-1/PM LPL1-1/LA Tech Editor LPL1-1/BC NAME J. Boska S. Little L-A Culp

• M. Kowal DATE 10/22/07 10/22/07 10/22/07 10/22/07 OFFICE OGC DORL/D NRR NAME S. Turk C. Haney J. Dyer DATE 10/25/07 10/26/07 10/31/07 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY