Nuke Biz Seeks Extended Wireless Headset Use

Telecom Policy Report, July 25, 2005

With their special-authority licenses due to expire later this year, two Washington, D.C.-based groups representing nuclear plants and related businesses have asked the FCC for permission to deploy and use experimental wireless headsets at nuclear facilities for at least five more years.

A joint petition to permit continued use of the wireless headsets was filed with the commission last week by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which represents the commercial nuclear energy industry, including operators of all 103 U.S. nuclear plants; and the United Telecom Council (UTC), a 57-year-old organization that advises electric, gas, water and steam utilities on communications and information-technology matters.

NEI and UTC essentially are seeking a five-year waiver on special radio- frequency (RF) headset and intercom equipment manufactured and supplied to the nuclear business by Telex Communications Inc. The equipment is certified for Broadcast Auxiliary use under Part 74 of the FCC's rules, and nuclear plants have been allowed by the agency to use the Part 74 equipment under a Special Temporary Authority (STA) for experimental deployment that expires in Oct. 7.

The two industry groups say the Telex equipment - operating in the 150 MHz-216 MHz, 470 MHz-608 MHz and 614 MHz-806 MHz spectrum bands - have features that are "ideal" for hands-free communications during dangerous nuclear refueling operations. They say the waiver would serve the public interest because the equipment "demonstrably enhances worker safety and contributes to safe plant operation" and the nuclear industry still needs the Telex equipment to meet safety standards and protect employees as required by other federal agencies.

In addition, the NEI and UTC said there's been no evidence that the nuclear plants' use of the systems have caused any interference to any other authorized user transmissions. "Low-power use on usually remote nuclear campuses transmissions (50 milliwatts with signal attenuation at 2,000 feet) has not resulted in any instances of interference to broadcast operations," they add.

According to NEI and UTC, nuclear plant operators are concerned that, without the waiver, they might be required to invest in new systems that don't have the preferred characteristics of the equipment now in use. "Moreover, after exhaustive research, neither association has been able to find a suitable, reasonable alternative that would continue to contribute to the industry's compliance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) radiation dose standards because none possess all of the requisite performance features of the Telex equipment that the plans have come to rely upon to protect nuclear workers," the petitioners said in their petition.

Mitigating Factors

The FCC's original STAs on the equipment were granted to Telex in 2003 and, in April, the commission extended the authority by granting a STA to the NEUI until the October expiration date.

Since the April decision, the NEI has had a series of meeting with various FCC units, including the Mass Media Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division. The discussions focused on the nuclear industry's communications needs and "mitigating factors" associated with its Part 74 usage, including fortified plant structures (often at remote sites), the low-power output and the lack of interference.

"Petitioners have worked with the FCC to identify a regulatory solution that will protect the FCC eligible users, while permitting the plans to utilize Telex equipment in order to continue to meet the nuclear industry's operational and regulatory requirements," NEI and UTC say.

Jill Lyon, UTC's vice president and general counsel, calls the matter a "unique situation," pointing out that the nuclear industry "is pledging to continue to seek another solution" but "the safety considerations involved make this a problem that requires the right solution.

[Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]