Nuclear Regulatory Commission June 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NRC invites public comment about our intention to request the OMB's approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering adopting a statement of policy on the protection of cesium-137 chloride (CsCl) sources. This statement would provide the Commission's policy regarding secure uses of these sources at the present and express the Commission's potential actions in the event that changes in the threat environment necessitate these actions. The purpose of this policy statement is to delineate the Commission's expectations for security and safety of these sources. This draft policy statement is being issued for public comment.

The NRC will hold a public Webinar with 16 Part 50 licensees in decommissioning or decommissioned status affected by the current requirements in Title 10 of the Code of the Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 73.55 (March 27, 2009; 74 FR 13925) and the other stakeholders. The purpose of this Webinar is to discuss the applicability of those security requirements to licensees with facilities in decommissioning or decommissioned status.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared an Environmental Assessment for the issuance of an Order as authorized by Section 274f of the Atomic Energy Act that would modify an Order issued to EnergySolutions, LLC (formerly Envirocare of Utah, Inc.) on May 7, 1999 (64 FR 27826; May 21, 1999). In accordance with 10 CFR 51.33, the NRC prepared a draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for this amendment, which was published for public review and comment on October 7, 2009 (74 FR 51622). The public comment period closed on November 6, 2009. NRC received 12 comments from 4 commenters. The Order responds to a request by EnergySolutions dated September 26, 2006, to amend the package mass limits contained in Condition 4 of their 2006 Order, and to add or revise other conditions. The May 7, 1999, Order exempted EnergySolutions from certain NRC regulations and permitted EnergySolutions, under specified conditions, to possess waste containing special nuclear material (SNM), in greater quantities than specified in 10 CFR Part 150 at its facility located in Clive, Utah, without obtaining an NRC license under 10 CFR Part 70. As discussed below, the Order has been amended four times since it was issued in 1999.

On April 20, 2010 (75 FR 20645), the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a notice of issuance and availability of Draft Regulatory Guide (DG)-4018, ``Constraint on Releases of Airborne Radioactive Materials to the Environment for Licensees Other than Power Reactors.'' This Federal Register Notice stated that DG-4018 was a proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 4.2; however, DG-4018 is a proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 4.20. Due to the typographical error, this is being reissued.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is reconsidering the Construction Reactor Oversight Process (cROP), including the construction assessment process, as presented in IMC 2505, ``Periodic Assessment of Construction Inspection Program Results,'' in order to propose policy options to the Commission to revise the oversight process. The staff proposal will include program oversight currently included as part of the Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria (ITAAC) monitoring and closure processes, and evaluate the inclusion of objective performance monitoring elements such as construction program Performance Indicators (PIs) and a Significance Determination Process (SDP) analogous to those used in the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) for the current operating reactor fleet.

The NRC is soliciting public comment on NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants,'' on a proposed Revision 1 to Standard Review Plan (SRP), Section 13.6.2 on ``Physical SecurityDesign Certification,'' (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML100640121). The Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response is revising SRP Section 13.6.2, which updates the initial issuance of this section, dated March 2007, to reflect the changes of the recently issued Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 73, Power Reactor Security Rule (published in the Federal Register (FR) on March 27, 2009 (74 FR 13926). The previous version of this SRP section was published in March 2007 as initial issuance (ADAMS Accession No. ML070720289).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires the NRC to recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in fiscal year (FY) 2010, not including amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. Based on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2010, signed by the President on October 28, 2009, the NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY 2010 budget is approximately $912.2 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees is approximately $911.1 million.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage cask regulations by revising the NAC International, Inc. (NAC), MAGNASTOR System listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1031. Amendment No. 1 would modify the CoC to change the Technical Specifications (TS) related to neutron absorber qualification and acceptance testing. Specifically, the amendment would revise TS 4.1.1.b and incorporate by reference into the MAGNASTOR CoC, Sections 10.1.6.4.5, 10.1.6.4.6, 10.1.6.4.7, and 10.1.6.4.8 of the Final Safety Analysis Report regarding the acceptance testing of borated aluminum alloy and borated metal matrix composite neutron absorber material. The amendment would also include other changes in Appendices A and B of the TS to incorporate minor editorial corrections.