Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NRC is preparing a submittal to OMB for review of continued approval of information collections under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: Request Non-Agreement States Information for the State Agreements Program, as authorized by Section 274(a) of the Atomic Energy Act. 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0200. 3. How often the collection is required: 6 times per year. 4. Who is required or asked to report: The 19 States and territories (17 Non-Agreement States and the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) that have not signed 274(b) Agreement with NRC. 5. The number of annual respondents: 19. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 941. 7. Abstract: Requests may be made of Non-Agreement States that are similar to those of Agreement States to provide a more complete overview of the national program for regulating radioactive materials. This information would be used in the decision-making of the Commission. With Agreement States and as part of the NRC cooperative post-agreement program with the States pursuant to Section 274(b), information on licensing and inspection practices, and/or incidents, and other technical and statistical information are exchanged. Agreement State comments are also solicited in the areas of proposed implementing procedures relative to NRC Agreement State program policies. With the enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, specifically Section 651(e), NRC now has regulatory authority over use of accelerator-produced radioactive materials and discrete sources of radium-226 and other naturally occurring radioactive material as specified by the Commission. Therefore, information requests sought may take the form of surveys, e.g., telephonic and electronic surveys/polls and facsimiles. Submit, by February 27, 2006, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology? A copy of the draft supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions about the information collection requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Brenda Jo. Shelton (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at 301-415-7233, or by Internet electronic mail to infocollects@nrc.gov.

On October 19, 2005 (70 FR 60859), the NRC published for public comment a generic letter (GL) to: (1) Request addressees to review their fire protection program to confirm compliance with existing applicable regulatory requirements regarding their assumptions of the phrase ``one-at-a-time'' in light of the information provided in this GL and, if appropriate, take additional actions to return to compliance. Specifically, although some licensees have performed their post-fire, safe-shutdown circuit analyses based on an assumption of only a single spurious actuation per fire event or that spurious actuations will occur ``one-at-a-time,'' recent industry cable fire test results demonstrated that these assumptions are not valid. (2) Require addressees to submit a written response to the NRC in accordance with NRC regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.54(f). The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has requested a 45-day extension of the comment period. NEI believes that additional time will be needed to provide appropriate comments on the draft GL. NEI based its request on the time needed to perform an assessment of the safety significance of multiple sequential and cumulative failures; an evaluation of the industry test results and interviews with the industry project team; an evaluation of the NUREG/CR-6776, and an assessment of the NRC/licensee documentation associated with the prior NRC staff positions and practices related to safe-shutdown circuit analysis. The NRC has decided to reopen the comment period for an additional 45 days. This Federal Register notice is available through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML051650017.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing public notice of its intent to modify an existing system of records, NRC-20, ``Official Travel RecordsNRC,'' to incorporate the collection and use of travel charge card records, including credit data, to comply with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 (Pub. L. 108-447).

On November 7, 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published for public comment a proposed rule in the Federal Register (70 FR 67598) on Risk-Informed Changes to Loss-of-Coolant Accident Technical Requirements. Under the proposed Sec. 50.46a rule, nuclear power plant licensees would be allowed to implement a voluntary, risk- informed alternative to the current requirements for analyzing the performance of emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) during loss-of- coolant accidents (LOCAs). In addition, the proposed rule would establish procedures and criteria for requesting changes in plant design and procedures based upon the results of the new analyses of ECCS performance during LOCAs. In the Federal Register notice associated with the publication of the proposed alternative Sec. 50.46a rule, the Commission noted that the potential for seismically- induced pipe breaks was not considered in determining the area of the transition break sizes \1\ (TBSs). The Commission stated that work was ongoing to investigate the possible effect of seismically-induced pipe breaks on the TBS selections and committed to put a report on the NRC Web site to facilitate public comment on the technical aspects of the issue. The NRC staff has completed its report and has posted it on the Rulemaking Forum Web site, https://ruleforum.llnl.gov.

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Revision. 2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR part 52, Appendix D, AP1000 Design Certification, Final Rule. 3. The form number if applicable: Not applicable. 4. How often the collection is required: Semi-annually. 5. Who will be required or asked to report: Applicant for a combined license. 6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 2 (1 response plus 1 recordkeeper). 7. The estimated number of annual respondents: 1. 8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: Approximately 39 additional burden hours (5 hours reporting plus 34 hours recordkeeping). 9. An indication of whether section 3507(d), Public Law 104-13 applies: It is applicable. 10. Abstract: The NRC is proposing to amend its regulations to certify the AP1000 standard plant design under subpart B of 10 CFR part 52. This action is necessary so that applicants or licensees intending to construct and operate an AP1000 design may do so by referencing the AP1000 design certification rule (DCR). This proposed DCR, as set out in Appendix D, is nearly identical to the AP600 DCR in Appendix C of the 10 CFR part 52. The information collection requirements for part 52 were based largely on the requirements for licensing nuclear facilities under 10 CFR part 50. The applicant for certification of the AP1000 design is Westinghouse Electric Company LLC. A copy of the supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance packages are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https://www.nrc.gov/public- involve/doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer by February 21, 2006. John A. Asalone, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0151), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to JohnA.Asalone@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-4650. The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda Jo. Shelton, 301-415-7233.

The NRC is preparing a submittal to OMB for review of continued approval of information collections under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: Billing Instructions for NRC Cost Type Contracts. 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0109. 3. How often the collection is required: Monthly and on occasion. 4. Who is required or asked to report: NRC Contractors. 5. The number of annual respondents: 55. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: The total annual contractor burden for the Billing Instructions and License Fee Recovery Cost Summary for NRC cost type contracts is estimated to be 1,070 hours. Billing burden is 754 hours plus 316 hours for License Fee Recovery Cost burden. 7. Abstract: In administering its contracts, the NRC Division of Contracts provides Billing Instructions for its contractors to follow in preparing invoices. These instructions stipulate the level of detail for supporting data that must be submitted for NRC review. The review of this information ensures that all payments made by the NRC are for valid and reasonable costs in accordance with the contract terms and conditions. Submit, by February 14, 2006, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to require the use of electronic submissions in all agency hearings, except for those conducted on a high-level radioactive waste repository application (which are covered under a separate set of regulations). The amendments would require the electronic transmission of electronic documents in submissions made to the NRC's adjudicatory boards, and in serving copies of those submissions on all participants to the proceedings. Although exceptions to these requirements would be established to allow paper filings in limited circumstances, the NRC would maintain a strong preference for fully electronic filing and service. The proposed rule builds upon prior NRC rules and developments in the Federal courts regarding the use of electronic submissions. The Commission is also seeking comment on draft guidance on how to submit hearing documents to the NRC electronically.

Notice is hereby given that the staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared a model application relating to changes to the Standard Technical Specifications (STSs) 3.6.1.3, ``Primary Containment Isolation Valves (PCIVs),'' for boiling-water reactors (BWR) in NUREG-1433, Revision 3, ``Standard Technical Specifications, General Electric Plants, BWR/4,'' and ``NUREG-1434, Revision 3, ``Standard Technical Specifications, General Electric Plants, BWR/6.'' The proposed change to the STSs 3.6.1.3 would extend to 7 days the completion time (CT) (or allowed outage time (AOT)) to restore an inoperable PCIV to operable status or isolate the affected penetration flow path both for selected primary containment penetrations with two (or more) PCIVs and for selected primary containment penetrations with only one PCIV. This change is based on analyses provided in a generic topical report (TR) submitted by the BWR Owners' Group (BWROG). The BWROG, through its participation in the Technical Specification (TS) Task Force (TSTF) proposed this change to the STSs in Change Traveler No. TSTF-454, Revision 1. This notice also includes a model safety evaluation (SE) and a model no significant hazards consideration (NSHC) determination relating to this matter. The purpose of these models is to permit the NRC to efficiently process amendments to incorporate this change into plant-specific TSs for General Electric (GE) BWRs. Licensees of nuclear power reactors to which the models apply can request amendments conforming to the models. In such a request, a licensee should provide supporting documentation to confirm the applicability of the SE and NSHC determination to its plant.