Nuclear Regulatory Commission January 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 3, 2010 (75 FR 67636), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) published for public comment a revision to NUREG-0561, the draft implementation guidance document for a proposed rule to amend its security regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 73 pertaining to the transport of irradiated reactor fuel (for purposes of this rulemaking, the terms ``irradiated reactor fuel'' and ``spent nuclear fuel'' are used interchangeably). The proposed rule was published on October 13, 2010 (75 FR 62695). The public comment period for this proposed rule was scheduled to expire on February 11, 2011; however, on January 10, 2011 (76 FR 1376), the public comment period for the proposed rule was extended to April 11, 2011. In order to allow the public sufficient time to review and comment on the draft revision to NUREG-0561, the NRC has decided to extend the comment period for the draft guidance document until May 11, 2011.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), for In-situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities (NUREG-1910, Supplement 2) for the Nichols Ranch In-situ Recovery Project in Campbell and Johnson Counties, Wyoming. By letter dated November 30, 2007, Uranerz Energy Corporation (Uranerz), submitted an application to the NRC for a new source material license for the proposed Nichols Ranch In-situ Uranium Recovery Project, located in the Pumpkin Buttes Uranium Mining District within the Powder River Basin. Uranerz is proposing to recover uranium from the site using an in-situ leach (also known as an in-situ recovery [ISR]) process. In this final SEIS, the NRC staff assessed the environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of the proposed Nichols Ranch ISR Project. The proposed Nichols Ranch ISR Project is comprised of two noncontiguous units, the Nichols Ranch Unit and the Hank Unit. In addition to the proposed action, the NRC staff assessed two alternatives in the final SEIS: the No-Action alternative and an alternative where only the Nichols Ranch Unit would be developed for ISR operations. Under the No-Action alternative, NRC would deny Uranerz's request to construct, operate, conduct aquifer restoration, and decommission an ISR facility at Nichols Ranch. Alternatives that were considered, but were eliminated from detailed analysis, include conventional mining and conventional milling or heap leach processing. However, given the substantial environmental impact from implementing of these alternatives, they were not further considered. The NRC staff also evaluated alternative lixiviants, alternative wastewater disposal options, and an alternative where only the Hank Unit would be developed ISR operations. For reasons discussed in the SEIS, these alternatives were also eliminated from detailed analysis. As discussed in Section 2.3 of the final SEIS, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, the NRC staff's recommendation to the Commission related to the environmental aspects of the proposed action is that the source material license be issued as requested. This recommendation is based upon: (1) The license application, including the environmental and technical report submitted by Uranerz and the applicant's supplemental letters and responses to the NRC staff's requests for additional information; (2) consultation with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies; (3) the NRC staff's independent review; (4) the NRC staff's consideration of comments received on the draft SEIS; and (5) the assessments summarized in this SEIS. The final SEIS for the Nichols Ranch ISR Project may be accessed on the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/ staff/sr1910/s2/. Additionally, the NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of the NRC's public documents. The SEIS may also be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The final ``Environmental Impact Statement for the Nichols Ranch ISR Project in Campbell and Johnson Counties, WyomingSupplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities'' is available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML104330120. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there is a problem accessing documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail pdr.resource@nrc.gov. Information and documents associated with the final SEIS are also available for inspection at the NRC's PDR, NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738. For those without access to the Internet, paper copies of any electronic documents may be obtained for a fee by contacting the NRC's PDR at 1-800-397-4209. The final SEIS and related documents may also be found at the following public libraries:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to conduct a public meeting on February 24, 2011, in Rockville, Maryland, to solicit input on issues associated with revising the Branch Technical Position (BTP) on Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation (CA BTP). Revising the BTP was ranked as a high priority in NRC's strategic assessment of its low-level radioactive waste regulatory program (SECY- 07-0180). Since then, NRC has focused on blending of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW), one of eight major areas in the CA BTP. In SECY-10-0043, the staff provided the Commission with an analysis of issues related to LLRW blending. In the Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) for SECY-10-0043, the Commission directed the staff to revise the blending position in the CA BTP to be risk-informed and performance- based. With this decision, the staff is in a position to update the entire CA BTP, not only addressing blending, but also the remainder of the CA BTP topics that address mathematical averaging of radioactivity concentrations. The staff is holding a public meeting to obtain comments from stakeholders on how the CA BTP could be revised to be more aligned with the NRC's position of risk-informed performance-based regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) proposes to amend its regulations to certify an amendment to the U.S. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) standard plant design to comply with the NRC's aircraft impact assessment (AIA) regulations. This action would allow applicants or licensees intending to construct and operate a U.S. ABWR to comply with the NRC's AIA regulations by referencing the amended design certification rule (DCR). The applicant for certification of the amendment to the U.S. ABWR design is STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC). The public is invited to submit comments on this proposed DCR, the STPNOC design control document (DCD) that would be incorporated by reference into the DCR, and the environmental assessment (EA) for the amendment to the U.S. ABWR design. The public is also invited to submit comments on the NRC's proposed approach for treating multiple suppliers of a single certified design.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is issuing this Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) to clarify the NRC staff's technical position on existing regulatory requirements and voltage studies necessary for Degraded Voltage Relay (second level undervoltage protection) setting bases and Transmission Network/ Offsite/Onsite station electric power system design bases. This RIS does not transmit any new requirements or staff positions. No specific action or written response is required.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Transnuclear, Inc. (TN) NUHOMS [supreg] HD System listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1030. Amendment No. 1 will revise the definitions for Damaged Fuel Assembly and Transfer Operations; add definitions for Fuel Class and Reconstituted Fuel Assembly; add Combustion Engineering 16x16 class fuel assemblies as authorized contents; reduce the minimum off-normal ambient temperature from -20 [deg]F to -21 [deg]F; expand the authorized contents of the NUHOMS [supreg] HD System to include pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies with control components; reduce the minimum initial enrichment of fuel assemblies from 1.5 weight percent uranium-235 to 0.2 weight percent uranium-235; clarify the requirements of reconstituted fuel assemblies; add requirements to qualify metal matrix composite neutron absorbers with integral aluminum cladding; clarify the requirements for neutron absorber tests; delete use of nitrogen for draining the water from the dry shielded canister (DSC), and allow only helium as a cover gas during DSC cavity water removal operations; and make corresponding changes to the technical specifications (TS).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to require that the initial distribution of source material to exempt persons or general licensees be explicitly authorized by a specific license. The proposed rule would also modify the existing possession and use requirements of the general license for small quantities of source material and revise, clarify, or delete certain source material exemptions from licensing. The NRC has prepared draft guidance to address implementation of the proposed regulations. This notice is announcing the availability of the draft implementation guidance document for public comment.

As part of the consolidated line item improvement process (CLIIP), the NRC is announcing the availability of the model application (with model no significant hazards consideration determination) and model safety evaluation (SE) for the plant-specific adoption of Technical Specifications Task Force (TSTF) Traveler TSTF- 513, Revision 3, ``Revise PWR [pressurized water reactor] Operability Requirements and Actions for RCS [reactor coolant system] Leakage Instrumentation.'' TSTF-513, Revision 3, is available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession Number ML102360355. The proposed changes would revise the Standard Technical Specifications (STS) to define a new time limit for restoring inoperable RCS leakage detection instrumentation to operable status and establish alternate methods of monitoring RCS leakage when one or more required monitors are inoperable. Changes to the Technical Specifications (TS) Bases are included, which reflect the proposed changes and more accurately reflect the contents of the facility design bases related to the operability of the RCS leakage detection instrumentation. The CLIIP model SE will facilitate expedited approval of plant-specific adoption of TSTF-513, Revision 3. Documents: You can access publicly available documents related to this notice using the following methods: NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public File Area O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http:/ /www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The model application (with model no significant hazards consideration determination) and model SE for the plant-specific adoption of TSTF-513, Revision 3, are available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML101340271. The NRC staff disposition of comments received on the Notice of Opportunity for Comment announced in the Federal Register on October 9, 2009 (74 FR 52268-52274) and non- concurrence, are available electronically under ADAMS Accession Numbers ML101340278 and ML103480005. Federal Rulemaking Web site: The public comments received and supporting materials related to this notice can be found at https:// www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2009-0444.