10 CFR 76.91 – Emergency planning
The Corporation shall establish, maintain, and be prepared to follow a written emergency plan. The emergency plan submitted under § 76.35(f) must include the following information:
Terms Used In 10 CFR 76.91
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
(a) Plant description. A brief description of the plant and area near the plant site.
(b) Types of accidents. An identification of each type of radioactive materials accident for which protective actions may be needed.
(c) Classification of accidents. A system for classifying accidents as alerts or site area emergencies.
(d) Detection of accidents. Identification of the means of detecting each type of accident in a timely manner.
(e) Mitigation of consequences. A brief description of the means and equipment for mitigating the consequences of each type of accident, including those provided to protect workers onsite, and a description of the program for maintaining the equipment.
(f) Assessment of releases. A brief description of the methods and equipment to assess releases of radioactive materials.
(g) Responsibilities. A brief description of the responsibilities of all individuals supporting emergency response should an accident occur, including identification of personnel responsible for promptly notifying offsite response organizations and the NRC, as well as a brief description of responsibilities for developing, maintaining, and updating the plan.
(h) Notification and coordination. A commitment to and a brief description of the means to promptly notify offsite response organizations, including the request for offsite assistance and medical assistance for the treatment of contaminated injured onsite workers when appropriate. A control point must be established. The notification and coordination must be planned so that unavailability of some personnel, parts of the plant, and some equipment does not prevent the notification and coordination. The Corporation shall also commit to notify the NRC Operations Center immediately after notification of the appropriate offsite response organizations and not later than 1 hour after the Corporation declares an emergency. These reporting requirements do not supersede or release the Corporation from complying with the requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, Title III, Public Law 99-499, or other State or Federal reporting requirements.
(i) Information to be communicated. A brief description of the plant status, radioactive releases, and recommended protective actions, if necessary, to be provided to offsite response organizations and to the NRC.
(j) Training. A brief description of the frequency, performance objectives, and plans for the training that the Corporation will provide workers on how to respond to an emergency including any special instructions, briefings, and orientation tours the Corporation would offer to fire, police, medical, and other emergency personnel. The training must familiarize personnel with site-specific emergency procedures. The training must also prepare site personnel for their responsibilities for the accident scenarios postulated as most probable for the specific site, including the use of team training for these accident scenarios.
(k) Safe shutdown. A brief description of the means of restoring the plant to a safe condition after an accident.
(l) Exercises. Provisions for conducting quarterly communications checks with offsite response organizations and biennial onsite exercises to test response to simulated emergencies. Quarterly communications checks with offsite response organizations must include the check and update of all necessary telephone numbers. The Corporation shall invite offsite response organizations to participate in the biennial exercises. Participation of offsite response organizations in biennial exercises, although recommended, is not required. Exercises must use accident scenarios postulated as most probable for the specific site and the accident scenarios must not be made known to most exercise participants. The Corporation shall critique each exercise using individuals that do not have direct implementation responsibility for the plan. Critiques of exercises must evaluate the appropriateness of the plan, emergency procedures, facilities, equipment, training of personnel, and overall effectiveness of the response. Deficiencies found by the critiques must be corrected.
(m) Hazardous chemicals. Confirmation that the Corporation has met its responsibilities under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, Title III, Public Law 99-499, if applicable to the Corporation’s activities at the proposed place of use of the special nuclear material.
(n) Comment from offsite response organizations. The Corporation shall allow the offsite response organizations that are expected to respond in case of an accident 60 days to comment on the emergency plan before submitting it to NRC. The Corporation shall provide any comments received within the 60 days to the NRC with the emergency plan.
(o) Changes to emergency plan. The Corporation may make changes to the emergency plan without prior Commission approval if the changes do not decrease the effectiveness of the plan. The Corporation shall furnish these changes to the NRC in accordance with § 76.5 and to affected offsite response organizations within 6 months after the change is made.