[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 152 (Thursday, August 7, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42609-42610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20876]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Public Service Electric and Gas Company, Philadelphia Electric
Company, Delmarva Power and Light Company, Atlantic City Electric
Company, Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2 and Public
Service Electric and Gas Company, Atlantic City Electric Company, Hope
Creek Generating Station; Exemption
[Docket Nos. 50-272 and 50-311; Docket No. 50-354]
I.
The Public Service Electric and Gas Company, et al. (PSE&G, the
licensee), is the holder of Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-70,
DPR-75 and NPF-57, which authorize operation of the Salem Nuclear
Generating Station, Units 1 and 2, and Hope Creek Generating Station
(Salem/Hope Creek). The licenses provide, among other things, that the
licensee is subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) now and hereafter in
effect.
The facilities consist of two pressurized water reactors, Salem
Units 1 and 2, and a boiling water reactor, Hope Creek, located at the
licensee's site in Salem County, New Jersey.
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), ``General performance objective
and requirements,'' 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 badge 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
January 17, 1997, 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 Salem/Hope Creek 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 a ``badge'').
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
[[Page 42610]]
UC--906 Unlimited Release, Printed June 1991), and on the licensee's
experience with the current photo-identification system, the licensee
stated that the hand geometry system performance is comparable to, or
superior 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 Salem/Hope Creek 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, an exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or
property or common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public
interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants 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. This exemption is granted on the condition that the
licensee implements a process for testing the proposed system and
revises the security plan for each site as discussed in Section III
above.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the
granting of this exemption will have no significant effect on the
quality of the human environment (62 FR 40551).
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of July 1997.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Samuel J. Collins,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 97-20876 Filed 8-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
