The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved its first exemption authorizing a nuclear power plant to exceed federal limits on work hours to ensure it remains operational during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The April 3 approval was filed one day after Exelon Generation submitted the request for its Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County, Pa. The document was made public Monday.
“Due to the impacts that the COVID-19 [public health emergency] has had on the licensee’s ability to comply with the work hour controls of 10 CFR 26.205(d), the importance of maintaining the operations of Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 and 2, and the controls the licensee has established, the NRC finds that granting the requested exemption is in the public interest,” Craig Erlanger, director of the NRCs Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, wrote in a letter to Exelon Generation Senior Vice President Bryan Hanson.
In its request to the agency, Exelon Generation said it would obey the work limits laid out in a March 28 memo from the NRC to nuclear industry stakeholders: no employee can work more than 16 hours over a 24-hour period; 10-hour breaks are required between expanded shifts; 12-hour shifts are prohibited beyond 14 days; and workers must be off work at least six days of any 30-day stretch.
The industry regulator determined the request would not pose “an undue risk to public health and safety,” according to Erlanger’s letter. Specifically, he wrote, the agency does not believe the exemption would increase the likelihood of potential accidents or the impact of a potential event.
At deadline Tuesday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, the NRC had not announced receipt or approval of any other work-hour relief requests.
