NL-24-0033, Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure Exemption Requests for Physical Barriers
| ML24036A292 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Hatch, Vogtle, Farley  |
| Issue date: | 02/05/2024 |
| From: | Coleman J Southern Nuclear Operating Co |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Document Control Desk |
| References | |
| NL-24-0033 | |
| Download: ML24036A292 (1) | |
Text
A Southern Nuclear February 5, 2024 Docket No.:
50-321 50-348 50-424 52-025 50-366 50-364 50-425 52-026 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555-0001 Southern Nuclear Operating Company Hatch Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 Farley Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 1 and 2 Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4 Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
3535 Colonnade Parkway Birmingham, AL 35243 NL-24-0033 10 CFR 2.390 Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure RE:
Exemption Requests for Physical Barriers Ladies and Gentlemen:
In accordance with 10 CFR 73.5, Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) submitted an exemption request to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the physical barrier definition in 10 CFR 73.2. On January 3, 2024, the NRC staff requested additional information regarding the exemption request's claim for withholding figures provided with the application. The enclosure to this letter provides SNC's response to this request.
This letter contains no regulatory commitments. This letter has been reviewed and determined not to contain security-related information.
If you have questions, please contact Amy Chamberlain at 205-992-6361.
Respectfully submitted, Jamie M. Coleman Regulatory Affairs Director Southern Nuclear Operating Company
Enclosure:
Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure cc:
Regional Administrator, Region II NRR Project Manager - HNP 1 &2, FNP 1 &2, VEGP 1 &2, VEGP 3&4 Senior Resident Inspector - HNP 1 &2, FNP 1 &2, VEGP 1 &2, VEGP 3&4 Document Services RTYPE: CGA02.001, VND.LI.L00 File AR.01.02.06
Southern Nuclear Operating Company Hatch Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 Farley Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 1 and 2 Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4 Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure RE:
Exemption Requests for Physical Barriers Enclosure to NL-24-0033 Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure This enclosure contains 3 pages, including this cover page.
Enclosure to NL-24-0033 Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure NRC Question:
By letter dated July 7, 2023 (Agencywide Document and Access Management System Accession No. ML23188A163), Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) submitted an exemption request to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the physical barrier definition in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 73.2, "Definitions," for Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, and Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1, 2, 3, and 4. The letter dated July 7, 2023, is available to the public, and the attachment dated July 7, 2023, is not available to the public.
The SNC letter dated July 7, 2023, stated:
The figures contain security-related information (SRI), also referred to as sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI); therefore, SNC requests that these be withheld under the provisions of 10 CFR 2.390.
The NRC staff has reviewed the figures in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 2.390, "Public inspections, exemptions, requests for withholding," and determined that the attachment to the SNC letter dated July 7, 2023, does not provide sufficient justification for the NRC to withhold the Figures Attachment from public disclosure. The depiction of vertical bracket locations on site diagrams is not a sufficient reason for the NRC to withhold this information from the public. Is there another reason why SNC requested the NRC to withhold the Figures Attachment?
The NRC staff also considered the criteria and guidance in DG-SGl-1, "Designation Guide of Safeguards Information," dated September 30, 2005 (not publicly available).
Section 331 provides guidance regarding access controls that are derived from publicly available means or observable from outside security-controlled areas. Protected area perimeter fencing and gates at power reactor sites generally, and at Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Hatch), Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Farley), and Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Vogtle), specifically, are visible from publicly accessible areas. Consistent with section 331, the NRC staff is questioning the information depicting where the licensee installed vertical brackets atop some sections of the protected area fencing and SNC's request to withhold from public disclosure. Additionally, in the Affected Site Locations Attachment to its exemption request letter, SNC disclosed the locations where it installed vertical barbed wire brackets along the protected area perimeter at Farley, Hatch, and Vogtle.
SNC Response:
The information contained in SNC's attachment to the July 7, 2023 letter contains "commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential," and therefore meets the requirements of 10 CFR 2.390(a)(4). A licensee's "commercial and financial information" includes "[c]orrespondence and reports to or from the NRC which contain information or records concerning a licensee's or applicant's physical protection... not otherwise designated as Safeguards Information or classified as National Security Information or Restricted Data" (see 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1)). The public availability via the NRC website of the information contained in the Page 2 of 3
Enclosure to NL-24-0033 Response to Question for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure figures would be useful to adversaries notwithstanding that the location of the structures depicted on the figures is visible from the area immediately adjacent to the Facility.
Further, NRC guidance provided in SECY-04-0191, supports SNC's position to withhold the information.
For information related to the "General Description of Plant," SECY-04-0191 provides: "Decisions regarding the control of information (usually drawings) that describe plant sites and buildings are dependent on the level of detail. Information clearly visible from locations accessible to the public near the site is generally released. This includes general (low-resolution) layout drawings of the site and adjacent areas. Drawings showing details such as the specific locations of equipment within buildings, doorways, stairways, etc. are to be withheld under 10 CFR 2.390." The figures in the attachment to SNC's July 7, 2023 letter are high-resolution layout drawings that depict specific locations of the marked equipment. Again, the public availability of this information via the NRC's website could be useful to adversaries and therefore should be withheld from public disclosure.
This position is also consistent with NRC guidance provided in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2005-26, "Control of Sensitive Unclassified Nonsafeguards Information Related to Nuclear Power Plants."
Additionally, DG-SGl-1 (which is an internal NRC document and not related to SNC's categorization program) Section 331 supports this category of information as being a candidate for categorization as 2.390.
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