Nuclear Regulatory Commission October 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NRC staff is soliciting public comment on its proposed Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DC/COL-ISG-018 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML092290791). This ISG revises the guidance provided to the staff in Section 17.4, ``Reliability Assurance Program'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants,'' March 2007 (SRP). This ISG revises the review responsibilities and further clarifies the acceptance criteria and evaluation findings contained in SRP Section 17.4 in support of the NRC reviews of the design certification (DC) and combined license (COL) applications. The NRC staff issues DC/COL-ISGs to facilitate timely implementation of current staff guidance and to facilitate activities associated with review of applications for DCs and COLs by the Office of New Reactors. The NRC staff intends to incorporate the final approved DC/COL-ISG-018 into the next revision of NUREG-0800, SRP Section 17.4 and Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.206, ``Combined License Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (LWR Edition),'' June 2007.

The NRC is soliciting public comment on its Proposed Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) ESP/DC/COL-ISG-015 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML091671355). The purpose of this ISG is to modify and provide early site permit (ESP), design certification (DC) and combined license (COL) applicants additional clarity and guidance for the application of Section C.III.4 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.206. In addition, the ISG provides additional clarity to the guidance in NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan Chapter 1.0, for NRC review of DC and COL applications. While reviewing DC and COL applications, the NRC staff determined that the guidance in Section C.III.4 of RG 1.206 on COL information items that cannot be resolved before the issuance of a license needed some additional clarification and guidance. In addition, it was determined that referring to this category of COL information items as ``COL Holder'' items is inappropriate. Specific guidance for determining which of the commitment types (i.e., inspection, test, analysis, and acceptance criteria, license condition, and final safety analysis report commitment) was the most appropriate for these COL information items was considered necessary, along with examples for clarification, for common understanding by applicants preparing their COL applications and NRC staff reviewing these COL applications. The NRC staff issues ISGs to facilitate timely implementation of current staff guidance and to facilitate activities associated with review of applications by the Office of New Reactors. The NRC staff also intends to incorporate the approved ESP/DC/COL-ISG-015 into the next revision of RG 1.206 and related guidance documents.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is confirming the effective date of October 19, 2009, for the direct final rule that was published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2009. This direct final rule amended the NRC's regulations on governing vessel head inspection requirements. This amendment revised the upper range of the percentage of axial flaws permitted in a specimen set used for the qualification of nondestructive examination systems (procedures, personnel and equipment), which are used in the performance of inservice inspection (ISI) of pressurized water reactor (PWR) upper vessel head penetrations. This amendment was made as a result of the withdrawal of a stakeholder's recommendation necessitated by a typographical error in the original recommendation with respect to the maximum percentage of flaws that should be oriented axially.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared an Environmental Assessment for the issuance of an Order under Section 274(f) of the Atomic Energy Act that would modify an Order issued to Waste Control Specialists, LLC (WCS) on November 5, 2004. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.33, the NRC prepared a draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for public review and comment that was issued on July 9, 2009 (74 FR 34983). The public comment period closed on August 10, 2009. NRC received comments from one resident of Texas. The current action is in response to a request by WCS dated December 10, 2007. The November 5, 2004 Order was published in the Federal Register on November 12, 2004 (69 FR 65468). The November 5, 2004 Order, which modified an initial Order issued to WCS on November 21, 2001, exempted WCS from certain NRC regulations and permitted WCS, under specified conditions, to possess waste containing special nuclear material (SNM), in greater quantities than specified in 10 CFR Part 150, at WCS's facility located in Andrews County, Texas, without obtaining an NRC license pursuant to 10 CFR part 70.

This document corrects a notice appearing in the Federal Register on October 7, 2009 (74 FR 51622), in which NRC issues an Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact for modification of an exemption from certain NRC licensing requirements for special nuclear material for EnergySolutions, LLC, Clive, UT. This action is necessary to correct an erroneous reference.

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 June 30, 2009.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage cask regulations by revising the Holtec International (Holtec) HI-STORM 100 dry storage cask system listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 7 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1014. Amendment No. 7 would modify the CoC to add the HI-STORM 100U system to the HI-STORM 100 cask system. The HI-STORM 100U system allows for the underground storage of dry spent nuclear fuel (SNF) by utilizing an underground vertical ventilated module (VVM) that can accept certain multipurpose canisters (MPCs) previously certified for storage of SNF in the Holtec aboveground HI-STORM system. In addition, the amendment would reinstate the decay heat limits for damaged fuel and fuel debris in Appendix B, Technical Specification (TS) 2.4, for the aboveground system that had been inadvertently deleted from Amendment Nos. 5 and 6; incorporate separate TS Appendices A and B for the aboveground system (Apps. A and B) and for the HI-STORM 100U system (Apps. A-100U and B- 100U); revise Appendix B, TS 3.4.5, to be consistent with the required system thermal boundary conditions, as submitted in the applicant's safety analysis report for a fire accident condition, and with Holtec's original (i.e., initial certificate application or Amendment 0) submittal and the NRC's original safety evaluation report; and revise and add certain definitions in Appendix A, TS 1.1, to include the VVM. The amendment will also incorporate minor editorial corrections in the TS for the aboveground system.