§ 12.5 Responsibilities of licensee or

applicant.

A licensee or applicant must use sound and prudent engineering practices in any action relating to the design, construction, operation, maintenance, use, repair, or modification of a water power project or project works.

Subpart B-Reports and Records

§ 12.10 Reporting safety-related incidents.

(a) Conditions affecting the safety of a project or its works—(1) Oral reports. An applicant or licensee must report by telephone to the Regional Engineer any condition affecting the safety of a project or projects works, as defined in §12.3(b)(4). The initial oral report must be made as soon as practicable after that condition is discovered, without unduly interfering with any necessary or appropriate emergency repair, alarm, or other emergency action procedure.

(2) Written reports. Following the initial oral report required in paragraph (a)(1), the applicant or licensee must submit to the Regional Engineer a written report on the condition affecting the safety of the project or project works verified in accordance with §12.13. The written report must be submitted within the time specified by the Regional Engineer and must contain any information the Regional Engineer directs, including:

(i) The causes of the condition; (ii) A description of any unusual occurrences or operating circumstances preceding the condition;

(iii) An account of any measure taken to prevent worsening of the condition;

(iv) A detailed description of any damage to project works and the status of any repair;

(v) A detailed description of any personal injuries;

(vi) A detailed description of the nature and extent of any private property damages; and

(vii) Any other relevant information requested by the Regional Engineer.

(3) The level of detail required in any written report must be commensurate with the severity and complexity of the condition.

(b) Deaths ΟΥ serious injuries. (1) Promptly after becoming aware of any drowning or other accident resulting in death or serious injury that occurs at the project, the applicant or licensee must report that drowning or other accident to the Regional Engineer in writing, including a description of the cause and location of the accident.

(2) The written report of any death or serious injury considered or alleged to be project related must also describe any remedial actions taken or proposed to avoid or reduce the chance of similar occurrences in the future and be verified in accordance with § 12.13.

(3) Accidents that are not project-related may be reported by providing a copy of a clipping from a newspaper article, if available.

(4) For the purposes of this paragraph, project-related includes any deaths or serious injuries involving a dam, spillway, intake, or power line, or which take place at or immediately above or below a dam.

§ 12.11 Reporting modifications of the project or project works.

(a) Reporting requirement. Regardless of whether a particular modification is permitted without specific prior Commission approval, an applicant or licensee must report any modification of the project or project works to the Regional Engineer in writing, verified in accordance with §12.13, at the time specified in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Time of reporting. (1) Any modification that is an emergency measure taken in response to a condition affecting the safety of the project or project works must be submitted with the report of that condition required by § 12.10(a)(2).

(2) In all other instances, the modification must be reported at least 60 days before work on the modification begins.

§ 12.12 Maintenance of records.

(a) Kinds of records—(1) General rule. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, the applicant or licensee must maintain as permanent project records in addition to those required in part 125 of this chapter, the following information:

(1) Engineering and geological data relating to design, construction, maintenance, repair, or modification of the project, including design memoranda and drawings, laboratory and other testing reports, geologic data (such as maps, sections, or logs of exploratory borings or trenches, foundation treatment, and excavation), plans and specifications, inspection and quality control reports, as built construction drawings, designers' operating criteria, photographs, and any other data necessary to demonstrate that construction, maintenance, repair, or modification of the project has been performed in accordance with plans and specifications;

(ii) Instrumentation observations and data collected during construction, operation, or maintenance of the project, including continuously maintained tabular records and graphs illustrating the data collected pursuant to §12.41; and

(iii) The operational and maintenance history of the project, including:

(A) The dates, times, nature, and causes of any complete or partial unscheduled shut-down, suspension of project operations, or reservoir filling restrictions related to the safety of the project or project works; and

(B) Any reports of project modifications, conditions affecting the safety of the project or project works, or deaths or serious injuries at the project.

(2) Exception. The applicant or licensee is not required to maintain as permanent project records any information specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section that was or reasonably would have been prepared before the applicant or licensee acquired control of the project and that the applicant or the licensee never acquired or reasonably could have acquired.

(b) Location of records-(1) Original records. The applicant or licensee must maintain the originals of all permanent project records at a central location, such as the project site or the main business office of the applicant or licensee, secure from damage from any conceivable failure of the project works and convenient for inspection. The applicant or licensee must keep the Regional Engineer advised of the location of the permanent project records.

(2) Record copies. If the originals of the permanent project records are maintained at a central location other than the project site, the applicant or licensee must maintain at the project site copies of at least the project Exhibit G or L (design drawings), instrumentation data, and operational history that are necessary to the safe and efficient operation of the project.

(3) In accordance with the provisions of part 125 of this chapter, the applicant or licensee may maintain original records, or record copies at the project site, in in microform, if appropriate equipment is readily available to view the records.

(c) Transfer of records. If the project is taken over by the United States at the end of a license term or the Commission issues a new license to a different licensee, the prior licensee must transfer the originals of all permanent project records to the custody of the administering Federal agency or department or to the new licensee.

§ 12.13 Verification form.

If a document submitted in accordance with the provisions of this part must be verified, the form of verification attached to the document must be the following:

file with the Regional Engineer three copies of an emergency action plan and appendices, verified in accordance with § 12.13.

(b) The emergency action plan must be:

(1) Developed in consultation and cooperation with appropriate Federal, state, and local agencies responsible for public health and safety; and

(2) Designed to provide early warning to upstream and downstream inhabitants, property owners, operators of water-related facilities, recreational users, and other persons in the vicinity who might be affected by a project emergency as defined in § 12.3(b)(9).

§ 12.21 Exemptions.

(a) Grant of exemption. Except as provided in paragraph (b), if an applicant or licensee satisfactorily demonstrates that no reasonably foreseeable project emergency would endanger life, health, or property, the Regional Engineer may exempt the applicant or licensee from filing an emergency action plan.

(b) No exemption. A licensee or applicant may not be exempted from the requirements of §12.22(c) for a radiological response plan.

(c) Conditions of exemptions. (1) An applicant or licensee who receives an exemption from filing an emergency action plan has the continuing responsibility to review circumstances upstream and downstream from the project to determine if, as a result of changed circumstances, a project emergency might endanger life, health, or property.

(2) Promptly after the applicant or licensee learns that, as a result of any change in circumstances, a project emergency might endanger life, health, or property, the applicant or licensee must inform the Regional Engineer of that changed condition without unduly delaying the preparation and implementation of the emergency action plan.

(3) Comprehensive review of the necessity for an emergency action plan must be conducted at least once each year.

(d) Revocation of exemption. (1) The Regional Engineer may revoke an exemption granted under this section if it is determined that, as a result of any

change in circumstances, a project emergency might endanger life, health, or property.

(2) If an exemption is revoked, the applicant or licensee must file an emergency action plan within the time specified by the Regional Engineer.

§ 12.22 Contents of emergency action plan.

(a) Contents—(1) The plan itself. An emergency action plan must conform with the guidelines established, and from time to time revised, by the Director of the Office of Hydropower Licensing (available from the division of Inspections or the Regional Engineer) to provide:

(i) Instructions to project operators and attendants and other responsible personnel about the actions they are to take during a project emergency;

(ii) Detailed plans for notifying potentially affected persons, appropriate Federal, state, and local agencies, including public safety and law enforcement bodies, and medical units; and

(iii) Procedures for controlling the flow of water, including actions to reduce in-flows to reservoirs, such as limiting outflows from upstream dams or control structures, and actions to reduce downstream flows, such as increasing or decreasing outflows from downstream dams or control structures, on the waterway on which the project is located or its tributaries.

(2) Appendix to the plan. Each copy of the emergency action plan submitted to the Regional Engineer must be accompanied by an appendix conforming with the guidelines established by the Director of the Office of Hydropower Licensing that contains:

(i) Plans for training project operators, attendants, and other responsible personnel to respond properly during a project emergency, including instructions on the procedures to be followed throughout a project emergency and the manner in which the licensee will periodically review the knowledge and understanding that these personnel have of those procedures;

(ii) A summary of the study used for determining the upstream and downstream areas that may be affected by sudden release of water, including a

summary of all criteria and assumptions used in the study and, if required by the Regional Engineer, inundation maps; and

(iii) Documentation of consultations with Federal, state, and local agencies, including public safety and law enforcement bodies, and medical units.

(b) Special factors. The applicant or licensee must take into account in its emergency action plan the time of day, particularly hours of darkness, in establishing the proper actions and procedures for use during a project emergency.

(c) Additional requirements for projects near nuclear power plants—(1) Radiological response plan. If the personnel operating any powerhouse or any spillway control facilities, such as gates or valves, of a project would be located within ten miles of a nuclear power plant reactor, the applicant or licensee must file, separately or as a supplement to any required emergency action plan, a radiological response plan that provides for emergency procedures to be taken if an accident or other incident results in the release of radioactive materials from the nuclear power plant reactor.

(2) A radiological response plan must: (i) To the maximum extent practicable, include sufficient procedural safeguards to ensure that, during or following an accident or other incident involving the nearby nuclear power plant reactor, the project may be safely operated and, if evacuation is necessary, the project may be left unattended without danger to the safety of any project dam or to life, health, or safety upstream or downstream from the project; and

(ii) Explain the provisions, developed after consultation with the direct purchasers of project power, for cessation, curtailment, or continuation of generation of electric power at the project during or following an accident or other incident involving the nearby nuclear power plant reactor.

(3) Time of filing radiological response plan. (i) For a constructed project with an otherwise acceptable emergency action plan on file, any radiological response plan required must be filed:

(A) If an operating license for the nuclear power plant has been issued on or

before March 1, 1981, not later than three months from March 1, 1981; or

(B) In all other instances, not later than three months after the date an operating license for the nuclear power plant is issued.

(ii) For any project not described in §12.22(c)(3)(i), any radiological response plan required must be filed contemporaneously with the emergency action plan or, if the project has been exempted from filing an emergency action plan, at the time the emergency action plan would otherwise have been required to be filed pursuant to § 12.23.

[Order 122, 46 FR 9036, Jan. 28, 1981, as amended at 49 FR 29370, July 20, 1984]

§ 12.23 Time for filing emergency action plan.

(a) Unconstructed project. (1) Except as set forth in paragraph (a)(2), the emergency action plan for an unconstructed project must be filed no later than 60 days before the initial filling of the project reservoir begins.

(2) Temporary impoundment during construction. (i) For any unconstructed project, if a temporary impoundment would be created during construction, such as through construction of temporary or permanent cofferdams or large sediment control structures, and an accident to or failure of the impounding structures might endanger construction workers or otherwise endanger public health or safety, a temporary construction emergency action plan must be filed no later than 60 days before construction begins.

(ii) No later than 60 days before the initial filling of a project reservoir begins at a project for which a temporary emergency action plan has been filed the applicant or licensee must file modifications to that plan or a new plan, taking into account the differences in circumstances between the construction and post-construction periods.

(b) Unlicensed constructed project. (1) If the Commission has determined on or before March 1, 1981 that a license is required for an unlicensed constructed project, the emergency action plan for that project must be filed no later than:

(1) Six months after March 1, 1981; or

(ii) Any earlier date specified by the Commission or its authorized representative.

(2) Except as set forth in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the emergency action plan for an unlicensed constructed project must be filed no later than the earliest of:

(i) Six months after the date that a license application is filed;

(ii) Six months after the date that the Commission issues an order determining that licensing is required; or (iii) A date specified by the Commission or its authorized representative.

(c) Licensed constructed project. If a licensed constructed project does not have an acceptable emergency action plan on file on March 1, 1981 the emergency action plan must be filed no later than:

(1) Six months after March 1, 1981; or (2) Any earlier date specified by the Commission or its authorized representative.

(d) For good cause shown, the Regional Engineer may grant an extension of time for filing all or any part of an emergency action plan.

§ 12.24 Review and updating of plans.

(a) The emergency action plan must be continually updated to reflect any changes in the names or titles of project operators and attendants and other personnel with specified responsibilities for actions in an emergency and any changes in names of persons to call, telephone numbers, radio call signals, or other information critical to providing notification to affected persons, Federal, state, and local agencies, and medical units.

(b) An applicant or licensee has continuing responsibility to review the adequacy of the emergency action plan in light of any significant changes in upstream or downstream circumstances which might affect water flows or the location or extent of the areas, persons, or property that might be harmed in a project emergency.

(c) Promptly after an applicant or licensee learns of any change in circumstances described in paragraph (b) of this section, the applicant or licensee must:

(1) Inform the Regional Engineer of that change in circumstances;

(2) Consult and cooperate with appropriate Federal, state, and local agencies responsible for public health and safety to determine any advisable revisions to the emergency action plan; and

(3) File with the Regional Engineer three copies of any revisions to the appropriate studies, maps, plans, procedures, or other information in the emergency action plan itself or its appendices that have changed as a result of that consultation.

(d) An applicant or licensee must conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of the emergency action plan at least once each year.

§ 12.25 Posting and readiness.

(a) A copy of the current emergency action plan itself must be posted in a prominent location readily accessible to the licensee's or applicant's operating personnel who are responsible for controlling water flows and for notify'ng public health and safety agencies and affected persons.

(b) Each licensee or applicant must annually test the state of training and readiness of key licensee or applicant personnel responsible for responding properly during a project emergency to ensure that they know and understand the procedures to be followed throughout a project emergency.

Subpart D-Inspection by
Independent Consultant

§ 12.30 Applicability.

This subpart applies to any licensed project development that has a dam:

(a) That is more than 32.8 feet (10 meters) in height above streambed, as defined in §12.31(c);

(b) That impounds an impoundment with a gross storage capacity of more than 2,000 acre-feet (2.5 million cubic meters); or

(c) That has a high hazard potential and is determined by the Regional Engineer or other authorized Commission representative to require inspection by an independent consultant under this subpart.

§ 12.31 Definitions.

For purposes of this subpart: