Nuclear Regulatory Commission November 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is publishing a revision to its Enforcement Policy (Enforcement Policy or Policy) to address the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (Act). The Act requires Federal agencies to adjust civil monetary penalties to reflect inflation.

The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage cask regulations by adding the MAGNASTOR System to the list of ``Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks.'' This proposed rule would allow the holders of power reactor operating licenses to store spent fuel in the MAGNASTOR System under a general license.

By letter dated June 12, 2008, Governor Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) enter into an Agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia (Commonwealth or Virginia) as authorized by Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (Act). Under the proposed Agreement, the Commission would relinquish, and the Commonwealth would assume, portions of the Commission's regulatory authority exercised within the Commonwealth. As required by the Act, the NRC is publishing the proposed Agreement for public comment. The NRC is also publishing the summary of an assessment by the NRC staff of the Commonwealth's regulatory program. Comments are requested on the proposed Agreement, especially its effect on public health and safety. Comments are also requested on the NRC staff assessment, the adequacy of the Commonwealth's program, and the Commonwealth's program staff, as discussed in this notice. The proposed Agreement would release (exempt) persons who possess or use certain radioactive materials in the Commonwealth from portions of the Commission's regulatory authority. The Act requires that the NRC publish those exemptions. Notice is hereby given that the pertinent exemptions have been previously published in the Federal Register and are codified in the Commission's regulations as 10 CFR part 150.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making available preliminary draft proposed rule language to amend its regulations to add a new part 37 to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This new Part 37 will contain the security (physical protection) requirements that are designed to provide reasonable assurance of preventing the theft or diversion of Category 1 and Category 2 quantities of radioactive material as designated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The new provisions will address background checks, fingerprinting, access control, physical security during use, and physical security during any transport of category 1 and category 2 quantities of material. At this time, the staff is only posting the preliminary draft language for the physical protection of the material while it is being transported. These requirements will be contained in subpart D of the new part 37. Draft preliminary language for other aspects of the proposed new part 37 will be posted and noticed in the future. The availability of the preliminary draft rule language is intended to inform stakeholders of the current status of the NRC's activities and solicit public comments on the information at this time. Comments may be provided as indicated under the ADDRESSES heading. The NRC may post updates periodically under Docket NRC-2008-0120 on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov that may be of interest to stakeholders.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting research to support development of regulatory guidance for using risk information related to digital systems in the licensing actions of nuclear power plants (NPPs). The objective of this research is to identify and develop methods, analytical tools, and regulatory guidance to support (1) using information on the risks of digital systems in NPP licensing decisions and (2) including models of digital systems into NPP probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs). As part of this research, NRC is sponsoring a project on the use of traditional PRA methods to develop and quantitatively assess reliability models of digital systems. The initial tasks of this project, including preparatory work for developing reliability models of an example system, are addressed in NUREG/CR-6962, ``Traditional Probabilistic Risk Assessment Methods for Digital Systems'' (to be published shortly). The application of the selected traditional methods to the example system is documented in draft NUREG/CR-XXXX, ``Modeling a Digital Feedwater Control System Using Traditional Probabilistic Risk Assessment Methods.'' This notice announces the availability of the draft NUREG/CR for public comment.

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). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The NRC published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on August 1, 2008 (73 FR 45083). 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: NRC Form 396, ``Certification of Medical Examination by Facility Licensee''. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0024. 4. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 396. 5. How often the collection is required: Upon application for an initial operator license, every six years for the renewal of operator or senior operator license, and upon notice of disability. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: Facility licensees who are tasked with certifying the medical fitness of an applicant or licensee. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 1,290. 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 137. 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 793 (323 hours for reporting [.25 hours per response], and 470 hours for recordkeeping [3.4 hours per recordkeeper]. 10. Abstract: NRC Form 396 is used to transmit information to the NRC regarding the medical condition of applicants for initial operator licenses or renewal of operator licenses and for the maintenance of medical records for all licensed operators. The information is used to determine whether the physical condition and general health of applicants for operator licensees is such that the applicant would not be expected to cause operational errors and endanger public health and safety. A copy of the final 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 requests are available at the NRC World Wide 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 listed below by December 4, 2008. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. Nathan J. Frey, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150- 0024), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to Nathan_J._Frey@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-7345. The NRC Clearance Officer is Gregory Trussell (301) 415-6445.