Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 November 22, 2010. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Revision. 2. The title of the information collection: Comprehensive Decommissioning Program, Including Annual Data Collection. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0206. 4. The form number if applicable: N/A. 5. How often the collection is required: Annually. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: All Agreement States who have signed Section 274(b) Agreements with NRC. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 83. 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 37 (13 Agreement States respondents with sites of interest + 24 Agreement States respondents with no sites of interest). 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 662 (590 hours from Agreement States with sites of interest + 72 hours from Agreement States with no sites of interest). 10. Abstract: Agreement States will be asked to provide information about uranium recovery and complex sites undergoing decommissioning regulated by the Agreement States on an annual basis. The information request will allow the NRC to compile, in a centralized location, more complete information on the status of decommissioning and decontamination in the United States in order to provide a national perspective on decommissioning. The information will be made available to the public by the NRC in order to ensure openness and promote communication to enhance public knowledge of the national decommissioning program. This does not apply to information, such as trade secrets and commercial or financial information provided by the Agreement States, that is considered privileged or confidential. Information such as financial assurance and the status of decommissioning funding would need to be identified by the Agreement State as privileged or confidential, whereupon the NRC would withhold such information from public access and treat it as sensitive or non- sensitive, per the considerations in 10 CFR 2.390 and 9.17. This does not apply to financial assurance or decommissioning funding information that is already available to the public. Although specific details of the funding mechanisms are treated as confidential, beneficial lessons learned regarding the improvement of decommissioning-related funding will be shared with the Agreement States. 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, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide 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 March 10, 2011. 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. Christine J. Kymn, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0206), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to Christine.J.Kymn@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-4638. The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, (301) 415-6258.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Commission or NRC) is issuing for public comment Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-5020, ``Applying for Enhanced Weapons Authority, Applying for Preemption Authority, and Accomplishing Firearms Background Checks under 10 CFR Part 73.'' The DG-5020 is a proposed new regulatory guide. This guide describes methods that the staff or NRC considers acceptable for licensees and certificate holders to comply with the Commission's regulations implementing the provisions of Section 161A, ``Use of Firearms by Security Personnel,'' of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2201a), that are found in the proposed Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 73.18, ``Authorization for use of Enhanced Weapons and Preemption of Firearms Laws,'' and 10 CFR 73.19, ``Firearms Background Checks for Armed Security Personnel.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Commission or NRC) is issuing for public comment Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-5019, ``Reporting and Recording Safeguards Events.'' The DG-5019 describes methods that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for licensees and certificate holders to report and record safeguards (i.e., security) events that are required under the proposed changes to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 73.71, ``Reporting and Recording of Safeguards Events,'' and Appendix G to 10 CFR part 73, ``Reportable and Recordable Safeguards Events.''

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.