Nuclear Regulatory Commission July 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requests public comment on Draft Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Interim Staff Guidance No. 24 (SFST-ISG-24), Revision 0, ``The Use of a Demonstration Program as Confirmation of Integrity for Continued Storage of High Burnup Fuel Beyond 20 Years.'' The draft SFST-ISG provides guidance to the staff for reviewing if a demonstration of high burnup fuel (HBF) has the necessary properties to qualify as one method that an applicant might use in license and certificate of compliance (CoC) applications to demonstrate compliance with the NRC's regulations. This guidance applies to license and CoC applications for the storage of HBF for periods greater than 20 years.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a draft report for public comment, titled Consequence Study of a Beyond- Design-Basis Earthquake Affecting the Spent Fuel Pool for a U.S. Mark I Boiling Water Reactor (also referred to as the Spent Fuel Pool Study). The purpose of this study was to examine if faster removal of older, colder spent reactor fuel from pools to dry cask storage significantly reduces risks to public health and safety. Based on previous research showing earthquakes present the dominant risk for spent fuel pools, the draft study evaluated how a potential pool leakage from an unlikely severe earthquake might cause the used fuel to overheat and release radioactive material to the environment. This study provides publicly available consequence estimates of a hypothetical spent fuel pool accident initiated by a low likelihood seismic event at a specific reference plant. The study compares high-density and low-density spent fuel pool loading conditions and assesses the benefits of post-9/11 mitigation measures. Past risk studies have shown that storage of spent fuel in a high-density configuration is safe and risk of a large release due to an accident is very low. This draft study's results are consistent with earlier research conclusions that spent fuel pools are robust structures that are likely to withstand severe earthquakes without leaking. The NRC continues to believe, based on this study and previous studies that spent fuel pools provide adequate protection of public health and safety. The study's results will help inform the Commission's evaluation of whether expedited movement of spent fuel from spent fuel pools to dry storage sooner than current practice provides a substantial increase in safety. The insights from this analysis will inform a broader regulatory analysis of the spent fuel pools at all U.S. operating nuclear reactors as part of the NRC's Japan Lessons-learned Tier 3 plan.

This notice advises the public that the NRC intends to gather the information necessary to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for construction and operation of the proposed SHINE radioisotope production facility.

The U.S. 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) 2013, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. The President signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 on March 26, 2013, giving the NRC a total appropriation of $985.6 million for FY 2013. The NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY 2013 budget is approximately $864.0 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees is approximately $859.6 million.