[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7075-7077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2798]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-482]
In the Matter of Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation Wolf
Creek Generating Station, Unit 1
Exemption
I
On June 4, 1985, the Commission issued Facility Operating License
No. NPF-42 to Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (the licensee)
for the Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 (WCGS). The license
provides, among other things, that the licensee is subject
[[Page 7076]] to all rules, regulations, and orders of the Commission
now or hereafter in effect.
II
It is stated in 10 CFR 73.55, ``Requirements for physical
protection of licensed activities in nuclear power reactors against
radiological sabotage,'' paragraph (a), that ``The licensee shall
establish and maintain an onsite physical protection system and
security organization which will have as its objective to provide high
assurance that activities involving special nuclear material are not
inimical to the common defense and security and do not constitute an
unreasonable risk to the public health and safety.''
It is specified in 10 CFR 73.55(d), ``Access Requirements,''
paragraph (1), that ``The licensee shall control all points of
personnel and vehicle access into a protected area.'' It is specified
in 10 CFR 73.55(d)(5) that ``A numbered picture badge identification
system shall be used for all individuals who are authorized access to
protected areas without escort. . . . '' It also states that an
individual not employed by the licensee (i.e., contractors) may be
authorized access to protected areas without escort provided the
individual ``receives a picture badge upon entrance into the protected
area which must be returned upon exit from the protected area. . . . ''
The licensee proposed to implement an alternative unescorted access
control system which would eliminate the need to issue and retrieve
badges at each entrance/exit location and would allow all individuals
with unescorted access to keep their badges with them when departing
the site.
An exemption from 10 CFR 73.55(d)(5) is required to allow
contractors who have unescorted access to take their badges offsite
instead of returning them when exiting the site. By letter dated
November 23, 1994, the licensee requested an exemption from certain
requirements of 10 CFR 73.55(d)(5) for this purpose.
III
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' The Commission
may, upon application of any interested person or upon its own
initiative, grant such exemptions in this part as it determines are
authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the common
defense and security, and are otherwise in the public interest.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55, the Commission may authorize a licensee to
provide measures for protection against radiological sabotage provided
the licensee demonstrates that the measures have ``the same high
assurance objective'' and meet ``the general performance requirements''
of the regulation, and ``the overall level of system performance
provides protection against radiological sabotage equivalent'' to that
which would be provided by the regulation.
At the WCGS site, unescorted access into protected areas is
controlled through the use of a photograph on a combination badge and
keycard. (Hereafter, these are referred to as badges.) The security
officers at the entrance station use the photograph on the badge to
visually identify the individual requesting access. The badges for both
licensee employees and contractor personnel who have been granted
unescorted access are issued upon entrance at the entrance/exit
location and are returned upon exit. The badges are stored and are
retrievable at the entrance/exit location. In accordance with 10 CFR
73.55(d)(5), contractor individuals are not allowed to take badges
offsite. In accordance with the plant's physical security plan, neither
licensee employee nor contractors are allowed to take badges offsite.
Under the proposed system, each individual who is authorized for
unescorted access into protected areas would have the physical
characteristics of their hand (hand geometry) registered with their
badge number in the access control system. When an individual enters
the badge into the card reader and places the hand on the measuring
surface, the system would record the individual's hand image. The
unique characteristics of the extracted hand image would be compared
with the previously stored template in the access control system to
verify authorization for entry. Individuals, including licensee
employees and contractors, would be allowed to keep their badges with
them when they depart the site and thus eliminate the process to issue,
retrieve and store badges at the entrance stations to the plant. Badges
do not carry any information other than a unique identification number.
All other access processes, including search function capability,
would remain the same. This system would not be used for persons
requiring escorted access, i.e., visitors.
Based on a Sandia report entitled, ``A Performance Evaluation of
Biometric Identification Devices'' (SAND91-0276 UC-906 Unlimited
Release, printed June 1991), and on the licensee's experience with the
current photo-identification system, the licensee stated that the false
acceptance rate for the hand geometry system is comparable to that of
the current system. The biometric system has been in use for a number
of years at several sensitive Department of Energy facilities. The
licensee will implement a process for testing the proposed system to
ensure continued overall level of performance equivalent to that
specified in the regulation. The Physical Security Plan for WCGS will
be revised to include implementation and testing of the hand geometry
access control system and to allow licensee employees and contractors
to take their badges offsite.
The licensee will control all points of personnel access into a
protected area under the observation of security personnel through the
use of a badge and verification of hand geometry. A numbered picture
badge identification system will continue to be used for all
individuals who are authorized unescorted access to protected areas.
Badges will continue to be displayed by all individuals while inside
the protected area.
Since both the badges and hand geometry would be necessary for
access into the protected areas, the proposed system would provide for
a positive verification process and the potential loss of a badge by an
individual, as a result of taking the badge offsite, would not enable
an unauthorized entry into protected areas.
For the foregoing reasons, pursuant to 10 CFR 73.55, the NRC staff
has determined that the proposed alternative measures for protection
against radiological sabotage meet ``the same high assurance
objective,'' and ``the general performance requirements'' of the
regulation and that ``the overall level of system performance provides
protection against radiological sabotage equivalent'' to that which
would be provided by the regulation.
IV
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
73.5, this exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Wolf Creek
Nuclear Operating Corporation an exemption from those requirements of
10 CFR 73.55(d)(5) relating to the returning of picture badges upon
exit from the protected area such that individuals not employed by the
licensee, i.e., contractors, who are authorized unescorted access into
the protected area, may take their picture badges offsite.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the
[[Page 7077]] granting of this exemption will have no significant
impact on the environment (60 FR 4929).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of January 1995.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jack W. Roe,
Director, Division of Reactor Projects III/IV, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-2798 Filed 2-3-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
