Nuclear Regulatory Commission October 19, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued Supplement 1 to Revision 9 of NUREG-1021, ``Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors,'' and Supplement 1 to Revision 2 of NUREG-1122 [and -1123] ``Knowledge and Abilities Catalog for Nuclear Power Plant Operators: Pressurized [Boiling] Water Reactors.'' These NUREGs provide policy and guidance for the development, administration, and grading of examinations used for licensing operators at nuclear power plants pursuant to the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR part 55, ``Operators'' Licenses.'' NUREG-1021 also provides guidance for maintaining operators' licenses and for the NRC to conduct requalification examinations, when necessary. These NUREGs have been revised to implement a number of clarifications and enhancements that have been identified since Revision 9 to NUREG-1021 was published in July 2004 and Revision 2 to NUREG-1122 [and -1123] was published in June 1998. A draft of each of the Supplements was issued for comment on May 22, 2007 (72 FR 28728). A summary of the comments received regarding the draft Supplements, and the NRC staff's response to those comments is available in the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room (https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ adams.html), at accession number ML072600319. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of the NRC's public documents. Supplement 1 to NUREG-1021 includes a number of minor changes that: (1) Clarify licensed operator medical requirements, including the use of prescription medications; (2) clarify the use of surrogate operators during dynamic simulator scenarios; (3) clarify the selection process for generic knowledge and ability (K/A) statements; (4) qualify the NRC review of post-examination comments; (5) provide additional guidance for maintaining an active license (watchstander proficiency) and license reactivation; and (6) conform with Supplement 1 to Revision 2 of NUREG-1122 [and -1123], which rewords and reorganizes Section 2, ``Generic Knowledge and Abilities,'' and adds a new K/A topic for generator voltage and electric grid disturbances. Availability: Copies of the three NUREG Supplements are being mailed to the plant or site manager at each nuclear power facility regulated by the NRC. The Supplements are also available electronically via the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room (https://www.nrc.gov/ reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/) and in the NRC's Public Document Room located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. If you do not have electronic access to NRC documents, single copies of the Supplements are available, to the extent of supply, and may be requested by writing to the Office of Information Services, Information and Records Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

In accordance with Section 651e of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is publishing a ``Plan for the Transition of Regulatory Authority Resulting from the Expanded Definition of Byproduct Material'' (transition plan) to facilitate an orderly transition of regulatory authority with respect to the byproduct material defined in paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 11e. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. A copy of the final transition plan is provided as Appendix A to this document.