ML21337A208

One-Time Exemption from 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E, Biennial Emergency Preparedness Evaluated Exercise Requirements Due to Severe Storm Recovery (EPID L-2021-LLE-0046) (FRN)

ML21337A208
Person / Time
Site:	Waterford
Issue date:	12/22/2021
From:	James Drake Plant Licensing Branch IV
To:
Drake, J.
Shared Package
ML21337A213	List: ML21335A448 ML21335A449 ML21337A208
References
EPID L-2021-LLE-0046, NRC-2021-0224
Download: ML21337A208 (12)

Text

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-382; NRC-2021-0224]

Entergy Operations, Inc;

Waterford Steam Electric Station; Unit 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Exemption; issuance.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an ex emption

in response to an October 12, 2021, request from Entergy Operat ions, Inc., as

supplemented on December 13, 2021. The licensee requested a on e-time schedular

exemption for Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3, to post pone the current

scheduled Emergency Preparedness (EP) biennial exercise until C alendar Year 2022.

This postponement is due to the impact of Hurricane Ida on the Waterford site, the State

of Louisiana and the local government agencies, as they continu e to respond to the

aftermath of the Hurricane Ida.

DATES: The exemption was issued on December 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0224 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and

search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0224. Address questions about Docket IDs in

Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; em ail:

Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the i ndividual listed in the

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.

• NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADA MS Public

Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.ht ml. To begin the

search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems wi th ADAMS, please

contact the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209,

301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS a ccession number

for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is p rovided the first time that it

is mentioned in this document. The request for the exemption w as submitted by letter

dated October 12, 2021 and is available in ADAMS under Accessio n Nos.

ML21285A290.

• NRCs PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents,

by appointment, at the NRCs PDR, Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointm ent to visit the PDR,

please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-

4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through Frid ay, except Federal

holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Drake, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001,

telephone: 301-415-8378, email: Jason.Drake@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the exemption is attached.

Dated: December 22, 2021

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Jason Drake, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, 2

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

3 Attachment - Exemption.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Docket No. 50-382

Entergy Operations, Inc.

Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 Exemption

I. Background.

Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee) is the holde r of Renewed

Facility Operating License No. NPF-38, which authorizes operati on of Waterford Steam

Electric Station, Unit 3 (Waterford 3). The license provides, among other things, that the

facility is subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of th e U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC, the Commission) now or hereafter in effect. T he facility consists of a

single pressurized-water reactor located in Saint Charles Paris h, Louisiana.

II. Request/Action.

Sections IV.F.2.b and IV.F.2.c of Appendix E, Emergency Planni ng and

Preparedness for Production and Utilization Facilities, to Tit le 10 of the Code of Federal

Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50 require the licensee at each site to conduct an exercise of

its onsite emergency plan and of its offsite emergency plan bie nnially, with full or partial

participation by each offsite authority having a role under the offsite plan. By letter dated

October 12, 2021 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management Sy stem (ADAMS)

Accession No. ML21285A290), as suppl emented by e-mail dated December 13, 2021

(ADAMS Accession No. ML21349A224), the licensee requested a one -time exemption

from these requirements that woul d allow the licensee to delay conduct of the biennial

emergency preparedness (EP) exercise from October 26, 2021, to March 15, 2022. The

4 licensees request states that Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane

near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Sunday, August 29, 2021, at 1 155 hours0.00179 days <br />0.0431 hours <br />2.562831e-4 weeks <br />5.89775e-5 months <br /> Central

Standard Time. Hurricane Ida brought damaging winds of 150 mil es per hour, heavy

rain, and caused loss of power and localized flooding to severa l areas within the State of

Louisiana. Due to the significant widespread damage throughout the State, a

Presidential Major Disaster Declaration occurred on August 30, 2021,1 which included

both St. John the Baptist Parish and St. Charles Parish as part of the 25 parishes able to

receive additional Federal support.

The licensee states that a good faith effort to comply with the regulations has

been made in that the biennial exercise was previously schedule d to be performed on

October 26, 2021. However, Hurricane Ida making landfall in So utheast Louisiana

caused widespread devastation and flooding throughout the Water ford 3 site and

surrounding areas. The damage onsite required the station to d irect all resources to

perform hurricane recovery activities. With the amount of dama ge to the plant site, and

the offsite response agencies notifying Entergy that they could not support the originally

scheduled biennial EP exercise date due to the magnitude of des truction in their

respective jurisdictions (Attachments 1, 2, and 3 in letter dat ed October 12, 2021), the

decision was made to postpone the biennial EP exercise. In a l etter to the Federal

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) dated September 8, 2021 (Att achment 4 in

the letter dated October 12, 2021), the State of Louisiana, thr ough the Louisiana

Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), requested that FEMA postpone the

exercise until the first quarter of CY 2022, citing the States focus on ongoing recovery

1 4611-DR-LA Initial Notice, https://www.fema.gov/disaster-federal-register-notice/4611-dr-la-initial-notice, dated August 29, 2021.

5 operations due to Hurricane Ida. The licensee states that it h as made reasonable efforts

to reschedule the biennial EP exercise during CY 2021 but descr ibed those efforts as

being unsuccessful due to the magnitude of devastation experien ced by St. Charles

Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish because of Hurricane Ida.

III. Discussion.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by any

interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of

10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E, when: (1) the exemptions are autho rized by law, will not

present an undue risk to public health or safety, and are consi stent with the common

defense and security; and (2) when special circumstances are pr esent.

A. The Exemption is Authorized by Law

This exemption would allow the licensee and offsite response or ganizations to

accommodate Hurricane Idas impacts upon their resources by pos tponing the exercise

from the previously scheduled date of October 26, 2021, until M arch 15, 2022.

As stated above, 10 CFR 50.12 allows the NRC to grant exemption s from the

requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E. The NRC staff has determined that

granting of the licensees proposed exemption will not result i n a violation of the Atomic

Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the Commission's regulations. Therefore, the

exemption is authorized by law.

B. The Exemption Presents no Undue Risk to Public Health and Sa fety

The underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E, Sections IV.F.2.b and

IV.F.2.c is to ensure that the emergency organization personnel are familiar with their

duties, to identify and correct any weaknesses that may exist i n the licensees EP

Program, and to test and maintain interfaces among affected Sta te and local authorities

and the licensee. In order to accommodate the scheduling of fu ll participation exercises,

6 the NRC has allowed licensees to schedule the exercises at any time during the

calendar biennium. As stated previously, the last Waterford 3 full participation biennial

EP exercise was conducted on November 20, 2019. Conducting the Waterford 3 full

participation exercise on March 15, 2022, rather than in CY 202 1, places the exercise

outside of the required biennium. The licensee provided inform ation in its letter dated

October 12, 2021, that since the last biennial EP exercise on N ovember 20, 2019, the

licensee has conducted 27 internal tabletop exercises in additi on to 3 workshops, 1

evaluated drill, and 38 training sessions that have involved in terface with State and/or

local authorities. These drills and training sessions did not exercise all of the proposed

rescheduled onsite and offsite functions, but they do support t he licensees assertion

that it has a continuing level of engagement to ensure that the emergency organization

personnel are familiar with their duties, to identify and corre ct any weaknesses that may

exist in the licensees EP Program, and to test and maintain in terfaces among affected

State and local authorities and the licensee. The NRC staff ha s determined that by

conducting these tabletop exercises, workshops, drill, and trai ning sessions, the licensee

has met the purpose underlying the 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E S ections IV.F.2.b and

2.c requirements.

Additionally, since the November 20, 2019, Waterford 3 exercise, the State of

Louisiana Governors Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

(GOHSEP) and LDEQ satisfactorily participated in a FEMA evaluat ed offsite

participation only exercise for the River Bend Station on March 31, 2021 (ADAMS

Accession No. ML21195A196). Also, on September 2, 2021, FEMA c onducted a

Disaster Initiated Review (ADAMS Accession No. ML21250A078) of the State of

Louisiana and local offsite response organizations continued c apability to respond to an

incident at Waterford 3 following landfall of Hurricane Ida. B ased on the review of this

7 information, FEMA concluded that offsite radiological EP is ade quate to provide

reasonable assurance that appropriate measures can be taken to protect the health and

safety of the public in the event of a radiological emergency a t Waterford 3.

No new accident precursors are created by allowing the licensee to postpone the

selected offsite portions of the exercise from CY 2021 until CY 2022. Thus, the

probability and consequences of postulated accidents are not in creased.

Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and safety.

C. The Exemption is Consistent with Common Defense and Security

The proposed exemption would allow rescheduling of the biennial EP exercise

from the previously scheduled date of October 26, 2021, until M arch 15, 2022. This

change to the biennial EP exercise schedule has no relation to security issues.

Therefore, the common defense and security is not impacted by t he proposed

exemption.

D. Special Circumstances

In order to grant exemptions in accordance with 10 CFR 50.12, s pecial

circumstances must be present. Special circumstances per 10 CF R 50.12 that apply to

this exemption request are 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) and (v). Spe cial circumstances, per

10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), are present when: Application of the r egulation in the particular

circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rul e or is not necessary to

achieve the underlying purpose of the rule.Section IV.F.2.b of Appendix E to 10 CFR

Part 50 requires that each licensee conduct a subsequent exerci se of its onsite

emergency plan every 2 years, which may be included in the full participation biennial

exercise required by Section IV.F.2.c. Sections IV.F.2.c of Ap pendix E to 10 CFR Part

50 require licensees to exercise offsite plans biennially, with full or partial participation by

each offsite authority having a role under the plan. The under lying purposes of 10 CFR

8 Part 50, Appendix E, Sections IV.F.2.b and IV.F.2.c are to ensu re that the emergency

organization personnel are familiar with their duties, to ident ify and correct any

weaknesses that may exist in the licensees EP Program, and to test and maintain

interfaces among affected State and local authorities, and the licensee. No NRC

findings were identified for the previous biennial EP exercise conducted on November

20, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20031E865), nor did FEMA identi fy any findings as

part of its offsite evaluation (ADAMS Accession No. ML20062B335 ). As previously

discussed, the licensee has conducted 27 internal tabletop exer cises in addition to 3

workshops, 1 evaluated drill, and 38 training sessions that hav e involved interface with

State and/or local authorities since the previous biennial exer cise. The NRC staff has

determined that these measures are adequate to satisfy the unde rlying purpose of the

rule. Furthermore, although this one-time exemption in the exe rcise schedule would

increase the interval between biennial exercises, the NRC has a llowed licensees the

flexibility to schedule their exercises at any time during the biennial calendar year as

highlighted in Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2006-003, Guidan ce on Requesting an

Exemption from Biennial Emergency Preparedness Exercise Require ments, dated

February 24, 2006 (ADAMS Accession No. ML053390039). RIS 2006- 003 provides a

13-35-month window to schedule exercises while still meeting th e biennial requirement.

The licensees request of conducting the postponed exercise on t he proposed March 15,

2022, date, falls within the 35-month window from the last exer cise, which was

conducted on November 20, 2019, thus meeting the intent of the regulation.

Under 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(v), special circumstances are present whenever the

exemption would provide only temporary relief from the applicab le regulation, and the

licensee or applicant has made good faith efforts to comply wit h the regulation. The

licensee has made a good faith effort to comply with the regula tions in that the biennial

9 exercise was scheduled to be performed on October 26, 2021. Ho wever, because of the

effects of Hurricane Ida and the widespread flooding and devast ation throughout the

Waterford 3 facility and the surrounding areas, the Offsite Res ponse Agencies (OROs)

informed the licensee that they could not support the originall y scheduled Exercise date

due to the magnitude of destruction in their respective jurisdi ctions. Furthermore, the

requested exemption to conduct the biennial EP exercise in 2022, instead of 2021,

would grant only temporary relief from the applicable regulatio n. Additionally, the

licensee has acknowledged returning to the previous biennial EP exercise schedule of

every odd year and conducting the next follow-on biennial EP ex ercise in CY 2023.

Therefore, since the underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appe ndix E,

Sections IV.F.2.b and IV.F.2.c is achieved, the licensee has ma de a good faith effort to

comply with the regulation, and the exemption would grant only temporary relief from the

applicable regulation, the special circumstances required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) and

(v) exist for the granting of an exemption.

E. Environmental Considerations

NRC approval of the requested exemption is categorically excluded under 10

CFR 51.22(c)(25), and there are no extraordinary circumstances present that would

preclude reliance on this exclusion. The NRC staff has determi ned, per 10 CFR

51.22(c)(25)(vi)(G) and (E), that the requirements from which t he exemption is sought

involve scheduling requirements and also involve education, tra ining, experience,

qualification, requalification, or other employment suitability requirements.

The NRC staff also determined that approval of this exemption i nvolves no

significant hazards consideration because it does not authorize any physical changes to

the facility or any of its safety systems, change any of the as sumptions or limits used in

the licensees safety analyses, or introduce any new failure mo des. There is no

10 significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that

may be released offsite because this exemption does not affect any effluent release

limits as provided in the licensees technical specifications o r by the regulations in 10

CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation. The re is no significant

increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational rad iation exposure because

this exemption does not affect limits on the release of any rad ioactive material, or the

limits provided in 10 CFR Part 20 for radiation exposure to wor kers or members of the

public.

There is no significant construction impact because this exempt ion does not

involve any changes to a construction permit. There is no sign ificant increase in the

potential for or consequences from radiological accidents becau se the exemption does

not alter any of the assumptions or limits in the licensees sa fety analysis. In addition,

the NRC staff determined that there would be no significant imp acts to biota, water

resources, historic properties, cultural resources, or socioeco nomic conditions in the

region. Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environment al impact statement or

environmental assessment need be prepared in connection with th e approval of the

requested exemption.

IV. Conclusion.

Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12,

the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue r isk to the public health

and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and secur ity. Also, special

circumstances are present. Therefore, the Commission hereby gr ants Entergy

Operations, Inc., an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E,

Sections IV.F.2.b and IV.F.2.c. to conduct the Waterford 3 bien nial EP exercise required

11 for CY 2021, permitting the exercise to be conducted in coordin ation with FEMA, NRC

Region IV and Waterford 3 schedul es by the licensee-provided da te of March 15, 2022.

This exemption is effective upon issuance. This exemption expires on March 15,

2022, or when the biennial EP exercise is performed in CY 2022, whichever occurs first.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of December

2021.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Bo M. Pham, Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

12