CNL-21-099, One-Time Exemption from 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d
| ML21351A492 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Sequoyah  |
| Issue date: | 12/17/2021 |
| From: | Polickoski J Tennessee Valley Authority |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| CNL-21-099 | |
| Download: ML21351A492 (10) | |
Text
TENNESSEE VALLEY 1\\14 AUTHORITY
1101 Market Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402
CNL-21-099
December 17, 2021
10 CFR 50.12 10 CFR 50, Appendix E
ATTN: Document Control Desk U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
Sequoyah Nuclear Plants, Units 1 and 2 Renewed Facility Operating Licenses No. DPR-77 and DPR-79 NRC Docket Nos. 50-327, 50-328, and 72-034
Subject:
One-Time Exemption from 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d
Reference:
Letter from Randall L. Hecht, Chief Technological Hazards Branch, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Region IV (FEMA) to Patrick Sheehan, Director, TN Emergency Management Agency, dated March 21, 2018
In accordance with the provisions of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.12, "Specific exemptions," paragraphs (a)(2)(ii) and (a)(2)(v), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) requests a one-time exemption for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN), Units 1 and 2, from the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, which states, in part, Each State with responsibility for nuclear power reactor emergency preparedness should fully participate in the ingestion pathway portion of exercises at least once every exercise cycle.
Specifically, TVA requests a one-time schedular exemption from the State of Tennessee participation in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle.
The current eight-year exercise cycle for SQN ends on December 31, 2021.
In the referenced letter, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in consultation with their Federal partners, approved a request from the State of Tennessee to postpone the ingestion pathway portion of the October 14-15, 2020, SQN Emergency Plan Exercise until September 14-15, 2022. The need for this postponement was due to the high volume of 50-mile exercises in which FEMA was scheduled to participate in 2020, and the concern that the high number of exercises could limit the availability of resources, particularly those resources associated with the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC). As a result of this postponement, state participation in an ingestion pathway portion of an exercise will occur outside of the current eight-year cycle.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission CNL-21-099 Page 2 December 17, 2021
to this submittal provides justification for the proposed exemption. Enclosure 2 provides the referenced FEMA approval letter.
There are no new regulatory commitments contained in this letter. If you have any questions regarding this submittal, please contact Kimberly D. Hulvey, Senior Manager, Fleet Licensing at 423-751-3275.
Respectfully,
Digitally signed by Carla Edmondson Date: 2021.12.17 20:37:24 -05'00' James T. Polickoski Director, Nuclear Regulatory Affairs
Enclosures:
- 1. One-Time Exemption from 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d
cc:
NRC Regional Administrator - Region II NRC Senior Resident Inspector - Sequoyah Nuclear Plant NRC Project Manager - Sequoyah Nuclear Plant State of Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
Enclosure 1
One-Time Exemption from 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d
1.0 Summary Description
In accordance with the provisions of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.12, "Specific exemptions," paragraphs (a)(2)(ii) and (a)(2)(v), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) requests a one-time exemption for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN), Units 1 and 2, from the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d. Specifically, TVA requests a one-time schedular exemption from the requirement for the State of Tennessee to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle.
The current eight-year exercise cycle for SQN ends on December 31, 2021. TVA is requesting to postpone the State of Tennessee participation in the ingestion pathway portion of the SQN Emergency Plan Exercise until no later than December 31, 2022. The 2022 SQN Emergency Plan Exercise is currently scheduled to be conducted on September 14-15, 2022. The requested one-time schedular exemption provides flexibility in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
2.0 Background
10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, states:
Each State with responsibility for nuclear power reactor emergency preparedness should fully participate in the ingestion pathway portion of exercises at least once every exercise cycle. In States with more than one nuclear power reactor plume exposure pathway EPZ, the State should rotate this participation from site to site. Each State with responsibility for nuclear power reactor emergency preparedness should fully participate in a hostile action exercise at least once every cycle and should fully participate in one hostile action exercise by December 31, 2015. States with more than one nuclear power reactor plume exposure pathway EPZ should rotate this participation from site to site.
To meet this regulation within the current eight-year exercise cycle, the State of Tennessee was scheduled to participate in the October 14-15, 2020, SQN Emergency Plan Exercise.
In a letter dated March 21, 2018, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in consultation with their Federal partners, approved a request from the State of Tennessee to postpone the ingestion pathway portion of the October 14-15, 2020, SQN Emergency Plan Exercise until September 14-15, 2022 (see Enclosure 2). The need for this postponement was due to the high volume of 50-mile exercises in which FEMA was scheduled to participate in 2020, and the concern that the high number of exercises could limit the availability of resources, particularly those resources associated with the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC). As a result of this postponement, state participation in an ingestion pathway portion of an exercise will occur outside of the current eight-year cycle.
3.0 Technical Justification of Acceptability
Since the FEMA approval letter (Enclosure 2), TVA has continued to support the State of Tennessee in performing regular exercises. Because TVA has two nuclear plant sites located in the State of Tennessee, these exercises occur at twice the frequency required by other regulations.
CNL-21-099 E1-1 of 5 Enclosure 1
The following exercises have been conducted:
x October 3, 2018 - SQN NRC Graded Exercise with full participation from TVA and the State of Tennessee x November 6, 2019 - Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN) NRC Graded Exercise with full participation from TVA and the State of Tennessee x October 14, 2020 - SQN FEMA Evaluated Exercise with full participation from the State of Tennessee and partial participation by TVA 1 x September 8, 2021 - SQN NRC Graded Exercise with full participation from TVA and partial participation by the State of Tennessee x October 20, 2021 - WBN NRC Graded Exercise with full participation from TVA and the State of Tennessee
Each of these five exercises included a release into the plume exposure pathway which required the performance of dose assessment activities and the evaluation of protective actions.
A review of the SQN eight-year cycle data, which began in 2014, indicates that between SQN and WBN activities, 14 plume exposure pathway drills or exercises have been conducted with state and local participation.
The last biennial exercise that included an ingestion pathway exposure from SQN was conducted in 2008. However, TVA and the State of Tennessee participated in an Ingestion Pathway Exercise for WBN in October 2013, the year prior to the start of the current eight-year cycle for SQN. The date of the rescheduled exercise falls nine months outside the required eight-year cycle for SQN and is less than nine years from the previously conducted Ingestion Pathway Exercise for the State of Tennessee. This timeframe between Ingestion Pathway Exercises is acceptable as a one-time allowance because it is ultimately less time than what is currently allowed in accordance with 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, when scheduling Ingestion Pathway Exercises within the context of back-to-back eight-year exercise cycles.
In preparation for the proposed 2022 Ingestion Pathway Exercise, FEMA conducted an Ingestion Pathway Exercise Partners Workshop on December 2, 2021. This workshop was attended by state and local offsite response organizations, TVA, and the NRC. The workshop included presentations from FEMA Region IV, NRC Region II, American Nuclear Insurers, and the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as the discussion of response actions from all agencies present. Although not a full-scale exercise, this activity provided valuable practice for infrequently performed responsibilities for responding to an event impacting the ingestion planning zone.
TVA and the State of Tennessee continue to work in partnership to ensure preparedness for a radiological emergency. This one-time exemption results in a delay to demonstrating the response capabilities of TVA and the State of Tennessee but does not change the current state of readiness to respond. The change in exercise schedule originally coordinated in 2018 reflects a good faith effort to ensure full and consistent participation by all federal partners.
1 On September 30, 2020, TVA requested an exemption for SQN Units 1 and 2 from the requirement to conduct biennial emergency plan exercise requirements specified in 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.b. due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (ML20274A362). This exemption request was approved by the NRC by letter dated November 10, 2020 (ML20288A546). The SQN NRC Graded Exercise was subsequently conducted on September 8, 2021.
CNL-21-099 E1-2 of 5 Enclosure 1
As previously stated, the date of the rescheduled exercise falls nine months outside the required eight-year cycle. If this exemption is granted to allow SQN to complete the ingestion pathway exercise outside of the eight-year cycle, SQN will resume the previously scheduled exercises to maintain the required frequency of the exercises in successive eight-year cycles.
4.0 Justification of Exemption
10 CFR 50.12, "Specific exemptions," states that the NRC may grant exemptions from the requirements of the regulations of this part provided three conditions are met. They are:
(1) The exemptions are authorized by law, (2) The exemptions will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and (3) The exemptions are consistent with the common defense and security.
The justification to allow a one-time schedular exemption from the requirement for the State of Tennessee to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle is described below.
(1) This exemption is authorized by law
Section 12 of 10 CFR 50 was issued by the NRC under the authority granted to it pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 919), and Title II of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 1242), to provide for the licensing of production and utilization facilities. Section 50.12 allows the NRC to grant specific exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR 50. The ingestion pathway exercise for the State, specified in 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, is not required by any statute. The requested exemption is authorized by law in that no law precludes the activities covered by this exemption request.
(2) This exemption will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety
The underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, for the state to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every eight-year exercise cycle, is to ensure that Offsite Response Organizations (ORO) personnel are familiar with their duties and to test the adequacy of the emergency plan. The last SQN biennial emergency preparedness exercise with full concurrent participation between the State of Tennessee and TVA was successfully completed on October 3, 2018. As documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000327/2018004 and 05000328/2018004, for SQN, dated January 31, 2019 (ML19031C113), the exercise scenario included conditions for declaring a General Emergency, and allowed the ORO to demonstrate their ability to implement emergency actions. No findings or violations of more than minor significance were identified during this inspection. In October 2020, there was a graded full participation exercise with the state of Tennessee with partial participation from TVA. FEMA evaluated the ORO portion of the exercise as successful. In September 2021, there was a full participation indicator drill and the NRC exited with no findings or concerns with respect to the purpose of this exemption request. This provides assurance that ORO personnel will remain proficient during the period of this one-time exemption.
Postponing state participation in an ingestion pathway portion of an exercise from October 14-15, 2020, until no later than December 31, 2022, does not create any new
CNL-21-099 E1-3 of 5 Enclosure 1
accident precursors. The probability and consequences of postulated accidents are not increased, and an acceptable level of emergency preparedness is maintained. Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and safety.
(3) This exemption is consistent with the common defense and security
The proposed exemption would allow a one-time schedular exemption from the requirement for the State of Tennessee to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle. This schedular exemption has no relation to security issues. The common defense and security are not impacted by this exemption.
Additional Considerations
In addition to the three conditions discussed above, 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) states that the NRC will not consider granting an exemption unless special circumstances are present. Under 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) there is a list of special circumstances for which the NRC will consider granting an exemption. In this request, 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) and 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v) are applicable special circumstances.
10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) states:
Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule
The FRMAC is a federal emergency response asset whose assistance may be requested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the NRC, and state and local agencies to respond to a nuclear or radiological incident. It is an interagency organization with representation from the Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA), the DoD, the EPA, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
and other federal agencies. The mission of FRMAC is to coordinate and manage all federal radiological environmental monitoring and assessment activities during a nuclear or radiological incident within the United States in support of state, local, tribal governments, DHS, and the federal coordinating agency. Radiological emergency response professionals with the DOEs national laboratories support the Radiological Assistance Program (RAP), National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC), the Aerial Measuring System (AMS), and the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS). These teams support the FRMAC to provide:
x Atmospheric transport modeling x Radiation monitoring x Radiological analysis and data assessments x Medical advice for radiation injuries
As a federal agency, TVA recognizes the importance of FRMAC as a federal emergency response asset. Conducting the ingestion pathway portion of the 2020 SQN exercise without FRMAC assistance would have prevented the State from fully participating in the exercise because appropriate federal contacts would not have been available.
CNL-21-099 E1-4 of 5 Enclosure 1
Additionally, special circumstances, per 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v), are present when,
The exemption would provide only temporary relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee or applicant has made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation.
The request relief is temporary. This is a one-time schedular exemption from the requirement for the State of Tennessee to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle (i.e., the current eight-year exercise cycle for SQN ends on December 31, 2021) until no later than December 31, 2022. Planning for the 2020 SQN Biennial Emergency Preparedness Exercise included the required state participation. However, due to the high volume of 50-mile exercises in which FEMA was scheduled to participate in 2020, and the concern that the high number of exercises could limit the availability of other resources, FEMA, in consultation with the NRC, Region II, approved the extension of the ingestion pathway demonstration (Enclosure 2). The last SQN biennial emergency preparedness exercise with full State of Tennessee and TVA participation was successfully completed on October 3, 2018. As documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000327/2018004 and 05000328/2018004, for SQN, dated January 31, 2019 (ML19031C113), the exercise scenario included conditions for declaring a General Emergency, and allowed the ORO to demonstrate their ability to implement emergency actions. Based on the above, TVA has made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation.
5.0 Conclusion
As demonstrated above, TVA has determined that this exemption request is in accordance with the criteria of 10 CFR 50.12. Specifically, the requested exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security. A one-time exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d, is necessary in order to address the underlying purpose of the regulation.
6.0 Environmental Assessment
TVA requests an exemption for the SQN Units 1 and 2, from the requirements of 10 CFR 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.d. Specifically, TVA is requesting a one-time schedular exemption from the requirement for the State of Tennessee to participate in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise at least once every exercise cycle. The current eight-year exercise cycle for SQN ends on December 31, 2021. The following information is provided in support of an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for the proposed exemption.
TVA has determined that the exemption involves no significant increase in the amounts, and no significant change in the types, of any effluents that may be released offsite; that there is no significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure; that there is no construction impact; and there is no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from a radiological accident. Furthermore, the requirements for which an exemption is being requested involve a schedular exemption associated with State participation in the ingestion pathway portion of an exercise. Accordingly, the proposed exemption meets the eligibility criteria for categorical exclusion set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25). Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact statement or environmental assessment need be prepared in connection with the issuance of this proposed exemption request.
CNL-21-099 E1-5 of 5 Enclosure 2
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CNL-21-099 De partment of H ome la nd Scc u1*ity Reg ion IV 3003 Chamblee -Tucker Road Atlant a, Georgia 30341
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March 21, 2018
Patri ck Sheehan, Director TN Emergency Management Age ncy Post Office Box 41502 Nas h v ille, Tennessee 37204-1502
Dear Mr. Sheehan:
We have rece ived your re que st for c ha ng in g the 20 20 Sequoya h N uclear Plant REP Exerci se from a n In gest ion Pathw ay Exe rc ise to a Full Pa1iicipati o n Exe rcise in October 2020, and changing the 2022 Sequoyah Nuclear Plant REP Exerc ise to a n In gestio n Pathwa y Exe rci se. After consu lti ng w ith o ur Fede ral partn e r s, we agree to the requested cha nge to move th e In ges tion Pat hway Exe rc ise from 2020 to September 14-15, 2022.
Should yo u have questions conce rnin g this dec is io n, feel free to co n tact J.T. Ackemrnnn, o rth Section C h ief at 770/220-3175.
S inc e rel y,
~~
~II L. Hec ht, C hief T ec hno log ica l H azards Branch
cc: Mr. Kevi Penney, TV A Progra m Manager T e nn ee Eme r ge ncy Management Agency
- r. Walter H. Lee, Director of Em e rge ncy Prepare dn ess Eme rgency Prepa redness Pl anning & Jmplementation Tenne ssee Va lley Authority 1101 Market Street, Lo o ko ut Place 6b C hattanooga, Tennessee 37402 -2 80 1
M r. J oh n Pelchat, S R Reg io nal Gove rnment Liais o n Office r US Nuclear Regulatory Commiss ion, Reg io n II 245 Peac htree Ce nte r A ve nu e, S uite 1200 At l a nta, GA 30303 - 1257 FEMA Region IV - REP Exercise Schedule 2017-2026 Month 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 January February T urkey Po int 22'"' St Lucic 14"' ( I' ) *1 urkc y Po int 20' St Lucic 19-I urk cy Po in t 17' S t Ludc 23'" - T urkcv Point St. Luc ic 2 1 ' ' Turkey Point 19 th St. Lucie 18"' (H)
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Notes: VCSNS qualify ing for unit 2 2019; 2022 Brunswick exercise may move to August 2nd ; Surrey and North Anna are In Virginia {FEMA Region 3, NRC Region 2; Grand Gulf Is In NRC Reg ion 4
(legend : F - Full Particip a tion; P - Pa rtial Participation; l - Ingestion Pathway; H - Hostile Action Based )
BGAD = Chem ical Stockp ile Emergency Preparedness Program Exercise
June 11, 2018