Nuclear Regulatory Commission January 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing the intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2011. The purpose of the SEIS the NRC had intended to prepare was to address any impacts that would have resulted from a change in the reactor technology referenced in the North Anna Power Station (NAPS) Unit 3 Combined License (COL) application. The intent to prepare a SEIS is being withdrawn because of the applicant's decision to return to the original reactor design, as referenced and evaluated in an earlier SEIS for the NAPS.

On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) solicited comments on, among other proposed actions, a proposed amendment for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in a notice entitled, ``Biweekly Notice; Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses and Combined Licenses Involving No Significant Hazards Considerations.'' According to the notice, comments were required to be filed by January 8, 2015. Due to concerned stakeholders seeking additional time to provide comments, the NRC has decided to reopen the public comment period for the proposed amendment to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Renewed Facility Operating License.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage regulations to add Amendment No. 4 to the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1031 for the NAC International MAGNASTOR[supreg] System. Amendment No. 4 changes a limiting condition for operation in the technical specifications for transportable storage canister vacuum drying and helium backfill times, and corrects a typographical error. The NRC approval of this Amendment would not authorize transportation.

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 October 9, 2014. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: NRC Form 396, ``Certification of Medical Examination by Facility Licensee.'' 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0024. 4. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 396. 5. How often the collection is required: Upon application for an initial or upgrade license; every 6 years for the renewal of an operator or senior operator license, and notices of disability that occur during licensed tenure. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: Facility licensees who are tasked with certifying the medical fitness of applicants and operator licensees. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 2,131. 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 131. 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 1,968 hours (1,668 Reporting Hours and 300 Recordkeeping Hours). 10. Abstract: The NRC Form 396 is used to transmit information to the NRC regarding the medical condition of applicants for initial operator licenses or renewal of operator licenses and for the maintenance of medical records for all licensed operators. The information is used to determine whether the physical condition and general health of applicants for operator licenses and licensed operators are such that the applicant/operator would not be expected to cause operational errors endangering 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 February 25, 2015. 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.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of exemptions in response to a March 28, 2014, request from Duke Energy Florida, Inc. (DEF or the licensee), representing itself and the other owners of the Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating Plant (CR-3). One exemption would permit the licensee to use funds from the CR-3 decommissioning trust (the Trust) for irradiated fuel management and site restoration activities. Another exemption would allow the licensee to use withdrawals from the Trust for these activities without prior notification to the NRC. The NRC staff is issuing a final Environmental Assessment (EA) and final Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed exemptions.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing for a second round of public comment, draft regulatory guide (DG)-1245, ``Design and Inspection Criteria for Water-Control Structures Associated With Nuclear Power Plants.'' This DG is proposed revision 2 of regulatory guide (RG) 1.127, ``Inspection of Water-Control Structures Associated With Nuclear Power Plants'' dated March 1978. This DG describes methods the NRC staff considers acceptable for designing and developing appropriate inservice inspection and surveillance programs for dams, slopes, canals, and other water-control structures associated with nuclear power plants.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Transnuclear, Inc. (TN) Standardized Advanced NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage System (NUHOMS[supreg] Storage System) listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 3 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1029. The NRC published a direct final rule on this amendment in the Federal Register on April 15, 2014. The NRC also concurrently published an identical proposed rule on April 15, 2014. The NRC received significant adverse comments on the direct final rule; therefore, the NRC withdrew the direct final rule on June 25, 2014, and is proceeding, in this Federal Register notice, to address the comments on the companion proposed rule.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 3 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.138, ``Laboratory Investigations of Soils and Rocks for Engineering Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power Plants.'' This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in the laboratory testing of soils and rocks needed to comply with NRC requirements for the siting and design of nuclear power plants.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed an application by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at the Nebraska- Western Iowa Health Care System Omaha Division (Omaha VAMC, or the licensee) for amendment of Facility Operating License No. R-57 for the Alan J. Blotcky Reactor Facility (AJBRF) in Omaha, Nebraska. The application requested NRC approval of the AJBRF Decommissioning Plan (DP).

Pursuant to Section 189a. (2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing this regular biweekly notice. The Act requires the Commission to publish notice of any amendments issued, or proposed to be issued and grants the Commission the authority to issue and make immediately effective any amendment to an operating license or combined license, as applicable, upon a determination by the Commission that such amendment involves no significant hazards consideration, notwithstanding the pendency before the Commission of a request for a hearing from any person. This biweekly notice includes all notices of amendments issued, or proposed to be issued from December 25, 2014 to January 7, 2015. The last biweekly notice was published on January 6, 2015.

On December 23, 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) and the Site-Specific Decommissioning Cost Estimate (DCE) dated December 19, 2014, for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VY). The PSDAR, which includes the DCE, provides an overview of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee), planned decommissioning activities, schedule, projected costs, and environmental impacts for VY. The NRC is requesting public comments on Entergy's PSDAR and DCE and will hold a public meeting to discuss the PSDAR and DCE.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a general license to the STP Nuclear Operating Company, authorizing the operation of the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), in accordance with its regulations. The Order is being issued to STPNOC to impose additional security requirements because STPNOC has identified near term plans to store spent fuel in an ISFSI under the general license provisions of the NRC's regulations. The Order was issued on December 30, 2014, and became effective immediately.

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 October 3, 2014 (79 FR 59867). No comments were received. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Revision. 2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR part 95, Facility Security Clearance and Safeguarding of National Security Information and Restricted Data. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0047. 4. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 450F. 5. How often the collection is required: On Occasion. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: NRC-regulated facilities and their contractors who require access to, and possession of, NRC classified information. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 323. 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 129. 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 984.7 (832.7 reporting hours + 152 recordkeeping hours). 10. Abstract: The NRC-regulated facilities and their contractors who are authorized to possess classified matter are required to provide information and maintain records to ensure that an adequate level of protection is provided to NRC classified information and material. This clearance is being revised to add a voluntary form (NRC Form 450F) for fulfilling reporting requirements under Sec. 95.17 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 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. 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 February 12, 2015February 12, 2015. 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. Vlad Dorjets, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0047), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be emailed to Vladik_Dorjets@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-7315. The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, 301-415-6258.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) from Sandra Gavutis on behalf of C-10 Research and Education Foundation (C-10 or the petitioner), dated September 25, 2014, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations to provide improved identification techniques against Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) concrete degradation at nuclear power plants. The petition was docketed by the NRC on October 8, 2014, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-109. The NRC is requesting public comments on this petition for rulemaking.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (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. 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: Requests to Non- Agreement States for Information. 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0200. 3. How often the collection is required: On occasion. 4. Who is required or asked to report: The 15 Non-Agreement States (13 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that have not signed section 274(b) Agreements with the NRC). 5. The number of annual respondents: 15. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 1,089. 7. Abstract: The NRC is seeking to revise this information collection to be a plan for a generic collection of information. The need and practicality of the collection can be evaluated, but the details of the specific individual collections will not be known until a later time. Requests may be made of Non-Agreement States that are similar to those of Agreement States to provide a more complete overview of the national program for regulating radioactive materials. This information would be used in the decision- making of the Commission. With Agreement States and as part of the NRC's cooperative post-agreement program with the States pursuant to section 274(b), information on licensing and inspection practices, and/ or incidents, and other technical and statistical information are exchanged. Therefore, information requests sought may take the form of surveys, e.g., telephonic and electronic surveys/polls and facsimiles. Submit, by March 9, 2015, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology? The public may examine and have copied for a fee publicly-available documents, including the draft 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 submitted in writing or in electronic form will be made available for public inspection. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including any information in your submission that you do not want to be publicly disclosed. Comments submitted should reference Docket No. NRC-2014-0272. You may submit your comments by any of the following methods: Electronic comments go to https:// www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. NRC-2014-0272. Mail comments to NRC Clearance Officer, Tremaine Donnell (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Questions about the information collection requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Tremaine Donnell (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at 301-415-6258, or by email to INFOCOLLECTS.Resource@NRC.GOV.

Pursuant to Section 189a. (2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing this regular biweekly notice. The Act requires the Commission to publish notice of any amendments issued, or proposed to be issued and grants the Commission the authority to issue and make immediately effective any amendment to an operating license or combined license, as applicable, upon a determination by the Commission that such amendment involves no significant hazards consideration, notwithstanding the pendency before the Commission of a request for a hearing from any person. This biweekly notice includes all notices of amendments issued, or proposed to be issued from December 11 to December 24, 2014. The last biweekly notice was published on December 23, 2014.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1316, ``Guidance for ITAAC Closure Under 10 CFR part 52'' (ML14258B182). This guidance is proposed revision 2 of regulatory guide (RG) 1.215 (ML112580018). It has been revised to incorporate additional information related to inspections, tests, analysis, and acceptance criteria (ITAAC) maintenance, lessons learned from simulated ITAAC implementation, changes to the information and formatting guidance for uncompleted ITAAC notifications, and other enhancements. The revised guidance approves for use updated industry guidelines which contain additional information and examples of ITAAC closure notifications discussed during numerous public meetings between the NRC and industry since Revision 1 of RG 1.215 was issued. The guide describes a method that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for use in satisfying the requirements for documenting the completion of ITAAC.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing NUREG- 1021, Revision 10, ``Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors, Final Report.'' This NUREG provides policy and guidance for the development, administration, and grading of examinations used for licensing operators at nuclear power plants pursuant to the Commission's regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-5027, ``General Use of Locks in Protection and Control of Facilities and Special Nuclear Materials, Classified Matter, and Safeguards Information.''