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

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact for the exemption from licensing for disposal of low-activity radioactive waste from the Safety Light Corporation (SLC) site in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C disposal facility near Grand View, Idaho.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has determined that the inspections, tests, and analyses have been successfully completed, and that the specified acceptance criteria are met for Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria (ITAAC), 2.1.03.11 for the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Unit 3.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has rescheduled to November 12 the Waste Confidence public meeting it initially planned to hold in Oak Brook, Illinois, on October 24, 2013. The NRC postponed this meeting as a result of lapsed appropriations. The rescheduled meeting will allow the NRC to receive public comments on proposed amendments to the NRC's regulations pertaining to the environmental impacts of the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel beyond a reactor's licensed life for operation and prior to ultimate disposal (the proposed Waste Confidence rule) and the draft generic environmental impact statement (DGEIS), NUREG-2157, ``Waste Confidence Generic Environmental Impact Statement,'' that forms a regulatory basis for the proposed amendments. The meeting is open to the public, and anyone may attend. The NRC will publish notices for other postponed and rescheduled Waste Confidence public meetings as soon as practicable.

The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received, by letter dated September 23, 2013, a request to amend Homestake Mining Company of California's (HMC's or Licensee's) license to change the background monitoring location used to measure radon-222 concentrations in air.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-8031, ``Monitoring Criteria and Methods to Calculate Occupational Radiation Doses.'' This guide describes methods that the NRC staff considers acceptable for licensees to use to determine monitoring criteria and calculate occupational radiation doses.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a revision to regulatory guide (RG), 1.79, ``Preoperational Testing of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized-Water Reactors.'' This RG is being revised to incorporate guidance for preoperational testing of new pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Transnuclear, Inc. Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] Cask System listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 11 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1004. Amendment No. 11 revises authorized contents to include: adding a new transfer cask (TC), the OS197L, for use with the 32PT and 61BT dry shielded canisters (DSC); and converting the CoC No. 1004 Technical Specifications (TS) to the format in NUREG-1745, ``Standard Format and Content for Technical Specifications for 10 CFR [Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations] Part 72 Cask Certificates of Compliance.'' In addition, the amendment makes several other changes as described under the ``Discussion of Changes'' heading in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of amendments to Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR- 44 and DPR-56, issued to Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon, the licensee), for operation of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station (PBAPS), Units 2 and 3, located in York and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania. The proposed amendments would authorize an increase in the maximum reactor power level from 3514 megawatts thermal (MWt) to 3951 MWt.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has conducted inspections of the Louisiana Energy Services (LES), LLC, National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, New Mexico, and has authorized the introduction of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into cascades numbered 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5. In addition, the NRC verified that the systems, structures, and components designed to support safe operation of Autoclave 2 of the facility have been constructed in accordance with the requirements of the approved license.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is granting an exemption to allow a departure from the certification information of Tier 1 of the generic design control document (DCD) and issuing License Amendment No. 8 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-93 and NPF-94. The COLs were issued to South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) and South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) (the licensee), for construction and operation of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS), Units 2 and 3 located in Fairfield County, South Carolina. The amendment requests to modify the Primary Sampling System (PSS) design, including changes to Tier 1 information located in Tables 2.2.1-2, 2.3.13-1, and 2.3.13-3, Figures 2.2.1-1 ``Containment System'' and 2.3.13-1 ``Primary Sampling System,'' and Subsection 2.3.13, ``Primary Sampling System'' of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR). The granting of the exemption allows the changes to Tier 1 information asked for in the amendment. Because the acceptability of the exemption was determined in part by the acceptability of the amendment, the exemption and amendment are being issued concurrently.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (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 July 15, 2013 (78 FR 42112). 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: Policy Statement for the ``Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement,'' Maintenance of Existing Agreement State Programs, Request for Information Through the Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) Questionnaire, and Agreement State Participation in IMPEP. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0183. 4. The form number if applicable: Not applicable. 5. How often the collection is required: Every four years for completion of the IMPEP questionnaire in preparation for an IMPEP review. One time for new Agreement State applications. Annually for participation by Agreement States in the IMPEP reviews and fulfilling requirements for Agreement States to maintain their programs. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: All Agreement States (37 Agreement States who have signed Agreements with NRC under Section 274b. of the Atomic Energy Act (Act)) and any non-Agreement State seeking to sign an Agreement with the Commission. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 58. 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 38 (37 existing Agreement States plus 1 applicant). 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 285,143 hours (an average of 7,504 hours per respondent). This includes 477 hours to complete the IMPEP questionnaires; 2,750 hours to prepare new Agreement State applications, 396 hours for participation in IMPEP reviews; and 281,520 hours for maintaining Existing Agreement State programs. 10. Abstract: The States wishing to become Agreement States are requested to provide certain information to the NRC as specified by the Commission's Policy Statement, ``Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement.'' The Agreement States need to ensure that the radiation control program under the Agreement remains adequate and compatible with the requirements of Section 274 of the Act and must maintain certain information. The NRC conducts periodic evaluations through IMPEP to ensure that these programs are compatible with the NRC's program, meet the applicable parts of the Act, and adequate to protect public health and safety. The public may examine and have copied for a fee publicly-available documents, including the final supporting statement, at the NRC's Public Document Room, Room O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC's Web site: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/ doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC's 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 November 22, 2013. 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. Chad Whiteman, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0183), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be emailed to Chad_S_Whiteman@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at 202-395-4718. The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, telephone: 301-415- 6258.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering extending the latest construction completion date specified in Construction Permit No. CPPR-92 issued to Tennessee Valley Authority (permittee, TVA) for the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit 2.