[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 112 (Friday, June 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 34105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-14424]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-320; License No. DPR-73; NRC-2010-0358]


FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Issuance of 
Director's Decision

    Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs (FSME), has 
issued a Director's Decision with regard to a petition dated September 
30, 2010, filed by Eric J. Epstein, hereinafter referred to as the 
``Petitioner.'' The petition was supplemented during an October 19, 
2010, Petition Review Board (PRB) meeting, via teleconference, with the 
Petitioner and FirstEnergy Corporation, hereinafter referred to as 
FENOC. [NOTE: GPU Nuclear is the license holder for Three Mile Island, 
Unit 2 (TMI-2).] The transcript of this teleconference is available in 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS No. 
ML103120216). The petition concerns the decommissioning funding for 
TMI-2.
    The petition requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC) take enforcement action in the form of a Demand for Information 
from FENOC relating to inadequate financial assurance provided by the 
licensee for TMI-2's nuclear decommissioning fund.
    As the basis for the September 30, 2010, request, the Petitioner 
states that the current radiological decommissioning cost estimate is 
$831.5 million and the current amount in the decommissioning trust fund 
is $484.5 million, as of December 31, 2008. Further, the Petitioner 
states that FENOC's decommissioning report is inadequate, and fails to 
account for the special status of TMI-2, the current level of 
underfunding, or the fact that decommissioning rate recovery for 
Metropolitan Edison and Pennsylvania Electric ceases per Pennsylvania 
Public Utility Commission Orders on December 31, 2010.
    On October 19, 2010, the Petitioner and licensee met with the 
staff's PRB via teleconference. The meeting gave the Petitioner and the 
licensee an opportunity to provide additional information and to 
clarify issues identified in the petition.
    The NRC sent a copy of the proposed Director's Decision to the 
Petitioner and to the licensee for comment on April 5, 2011 (ADAMS Nos. 
ML110680183 and ML110940183). The Petitioner responded with comments on 
May 1, 2011 (ADAMS No. ML111260128) and the licensee responded on April 
18, 2011 (ADAMS No. ML11116A073). Comments submitted by the Petitioner 
and licensee, and the NRC staff responses, are discussed in the 
attachment to the Director's Decision.
    The Director of FSME has determined that the request for NRC to 
demand information relating to inadequate financial assurance provided 
by the licensee for TMI-2's nuclear decommissioning fund, be denied. 
The request is denied because the updated decommissioning funding 
status report submitted by GPU Nuclear on March 29, 2010, for TMI-2, 
which is the latest site-specific decommissioning funding plan, 
provides adequate decommissioning funding assurance in accordance with 
NRC regulations. GPU Nuclear is owned by FENOC. A complete discussion 
of the reasons for this decision are explained in the Director's 
Decision pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 (DD-11-04), the complete text of 
which is available in ADAMS for inspection at the Commission's Public 
Document Room, located at One White Flint, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852, and from the ADAMS Public Library 
component on the NRC's Web site, http://www.nrc.gov (the public 
Electronic Reading Room).
    As provided in 10 CFR 2.206(c), a copy of this Director's Decision 
will be filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission 
to review. As provided for by this regulation, the Decision will 
constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days after the date of 
the Decision unless the Commission, on its own motion, institutes a 
review of the Decision within that time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of June 2011.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott W. Moore,
Acting Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and 
Environmental Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-14424 Filed 6-9-11; 8:45 am]
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