Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NRC is withdrawing its proposed License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR-ISG-2006-02, ``Staff Guidance on Acceptance Review for Environmental Reports for License Renewal Applications,'' which was noticed in the Federal Register (72 FR 7694 on February 16, 2007). This proposed LR-ISG was intended to aid NRC staff in conducting environmental acceptance reviews, and identify information to include in environmental reports (ERs). The proposed LR-ISG also provided an acceptance review checklist.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify that individuals who do not need to comply with the training and experience requirements as described in the applicable regulations for the medical use of byproduct material ( i.e., are ``grandfathered'') may serve as preceptors and work experience supervisors for individuals seeking recognition on NRC licenses for the same medical uses of byproduct material. The regulations that govern the medical use of byproduct material were amended in their entirety in 2002 and again in 2005. Currently, individuals who were identified on an NRC or Agreement State license or permit before the regulations were amended do not need to requalify by meeting the training and experience requirements of the applicable regulations. When the regulations were revised, the NRC intended that those authorized individuals would also be able to serve as preceptors and work experience supervisors. However, the regulations as they are currently written do not specifically state that grandfathered individuals can be work experience supervisors and preceptors.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared an Environmental Assessment for the issuance of an Order under Section 274f 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 has also prepared a draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for public review and comment. 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.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is issuing a new guide in the agency's ``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and make available to the public information such as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the agency's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared a model license amendment request (LAR), model safety evaluation (SE), and model no significant hazards consideration (NSHC) determination. These are related to changes to standard technical specifications (STS) for Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF)425, Revision 3, ``Relocate Surveillance Frequencies to Licensee ControlRITSTF Initiative 5b,'' (Agencywide Documents Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML090850642). The purpose of these models is to permit the NRC to efficiently process amendments that propose to relocate technical specifications (TS) surveillance frequencies. Licensees of nuclear power reactors could then request amendments, confirming the applicability of the safety evaluation and NSHC determination to their reactors. Previously, on December 5, 2008, drafts of the model SE, model NSHC determination, and model LAR were published in the Federal Register for public comment (73 FR 74202-74210). Based on its evaluation of the public comments received in response to that notice, the NRC staff made appropriate changes to the models, and is including the final versions of the models in this notice. This notice also contains a description of each public comment and its disposition by the NRC staff. Based on its evaluation of the public comments, the NRC staff has decided to announce the availability of the model SE and model NSHC determination to licensees for referencing in LARs to adopt TSTF-425, Rev 3. Licensees of nuclear power reactors proposing to adopt these changes should follow the guidance in the model LAR and confirm the applicability of the model SE and model NSHC determination to their reactors.