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

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 March 5, 2015 to March 18, 2015. The last biweekly notice was published on March 17, 2015.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has conducted a comprehensive review of all its Privacy Act systems of records notices. The NRC is proposing to adopt a new routine use as a Prefatory Statement of General Routine Uses that will authorize disclosure of information to the National Archives and Records Administration, Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), to the extent necessary to allow OGIS to fulfill its responsibilities to review administrative agency policies, procedures, and compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and offer of mediation services to resolve disputes between persons making FOIA requests and administrative agencies. The NRC is also proposing revisions to NRC 11, ``General Personnel Records (Official Personnel Folder and Related Records) NRC;'' and NRC 22, ``Personnel Performance AppraisalsNRC.'' The proposed revisions will add a routine use to each of these systems of records that will authorize the disclosure of information to officials of federally-recognized labor organizations when relevant and necessary to their duties of exclusive representation concerning personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting working conditions. The NRC is revising the routine use for NRC 18, ``Office of the Inspector General OIG Investigative RecordsNRC. The proposed revision is to reflect that, under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, the Inspector General of the NRC is authorized in 2014 and subsequent years to exercise the same authorities with respect to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, as the Inspector General exercises under the Inspector General Act of 1978 with respect to the NRC.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a final plant-specific supplement, Supplement 53, to NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS),'' regarding the renewal of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) operating licenses DPR-77 and DPR-79 for an additional 20 years of operation for Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 & 2 (SQN).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facilities to require new and revised site-specific technical analyses, to permit the development of site-specific criteria for LLRW acceptance based on the results of these analyses, to facilitate implementation, and to better align the requirements with current health and safety standards. This proposed rule would affect LLRW disposal licensees or license applicants that are regulated by the NRC or the Agreement States.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting a final rule that was published in the Federal Register (FR) on March 6, 2015. The final rule amends the NRC's spent fuel storage regulations by adding the Holtec International HI-STORM Underground Maximum Capacity Canister Storage System, Certificate of Compliance No. 1040, to the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks.'' This action is necessary to correct the Certificate Expiration Date from March 6, 2035, to April 6, 2035.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to a March 20, 2014, request from Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee), from the requirements to use Charpy V-notch (CV) and drop weight-based methodology to determine initial nil-ductility reference temperature (RTNDT) for use in evaluating the integrity of Linde 80 weld materials in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) beltline at Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO), Unit 1. This exemption would allow the licensee to use an alternate methodology to incorporate fracture toughness test data to determine RTNDT values for use in the evaluation of the RPV beltline weld material integrity in support of the development of updated pressure-temperature limit curves.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The proposed 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) 2015, not including amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), generic homeland security activities, and Inspector General (IG) services for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). These fees represent the cost of the NRC's services provided to applicants and licensees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the withdrawal, without prejudice to a future filing, of a petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM-73-16, filed with the Commission by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI or the petitioner) on January 25, 2013. The petitioner requested that the Commission amend its regulations to limit the scope of third-party review of licensee decisions denying or revoking an employee's unescorted access at licensee facilities. The petitioner sought to ensure that such decisions could not be overturned by any third party. By letter dated January 22, 2015, the petitioner withdrew its PRM.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International, Inc. (Holtec), HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to add Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032. Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, allows these casks to accept 14X14B fuel assemblies with minor changes in the internal diameter of the fuel cladding, diameter of the fuel pellet, and spacing between the fuel pins. The amendment also updates testing requirements for the fabrication of Metamic HT neutron-absorbing structural material.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a confirmatory order to Honeywell International, Inc. (Honeywell), confirming an agreement reached in an Alternative Dispute Resolution session held on December 9, 2014. As part of the agreement, Honeywell will conduct presentations and training to its employees regarding the policy for raising employee concerns, addressing safety issues, and management response to employee concerns; modify existing processes and develop new processes that provide for ongoing support for employee protection requirements; and review and update its Safety Conscious Work Environment policy and incorporate aspects of the NRC's Safety Culture Policy, as appropriate. The NRC will refrain from issuing a Notice of Violation or proposing a civil penalty.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) invites public comment on the renewal of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for an existing collection of information. The information collection is entitled, NRC Form 7, Application for NRC Export/Import License, Amendment, Renewal or Consent Request(s).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued renewed facility operating license No. NPF-30 to Union Electric Company (dba Ameren Missouri or the licensee), the operator of the Callaway Plant, Unit 1 (Callaway). Renewed facility operating license No. NPF-30 authorizes operation of Callaway by the licensee at reactor core power levels not in excess of 3565 megawatts thermal, in accordance with the provisions of the Callaway renewed license and technical specifications. In addition, the NRC has prepared a record of decision (ROD) that supports the NRC's decision to renew facility operating license No. NPF-30.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting comment on a draft list of prioritized low-level radioactive waste (LLW) tasks based upon the assessment updates to the strategic assessment (now called a programmatic assessment) performed in 2007. The objective of this updated assessment remains the same as the 2007 assessment; that is, to identify and prioritize tasks that the NRC staff can undertake to ensure a stable, reliable, and adaptable regulatory framework for effective LLW management, while also considering future needs and changes that may occur in the nation's commercial LLW management system. In 2014, through public meetings, webinars, and Federal Register notices, the NRC staff solicited public comment on what changes, if any, should be made to the current LLW program's regulatory framework, as well as specific actions that the staff might undertake to facilitate such changes. The NRC staff considered the comments received, performed an assessment of the comments, and developed a draft list of prioritized LLW tasks.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1299, ``Regulatory Guidance on the Alternate Pressurized Thermal Shock Rule'' and accompanying draft NUREG-2163, ``Technical Basis for Regulatory Guidance on the Alternate Pressurized Thermal Shock Rule.'' The DG provides new guidance for a method that the NRC considers acceptable to permit use of the alternate fracture toughness requirements for protection against pressurized thermal shock (PTS) events for pressurized water reactor (PWR) reactor pressure vessels (RPVs). The draft NUREG provides the technical basis for DG-1299.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a construction permit application from SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc. (SHINE), for approval of a proposed medical radioisotope production facility for the production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) at a site located in Janesville, Wisconsin. The NRC is currently conducting a detailed technical review of the construction permit application. If the construction permit application is approved, the applicant would be authorized to construct its proposed medical radioisotope production facility in accordance with the provisions of the construction permit.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has determined that Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) have submitted information for a standard design certification of the APR1400 Standard Plant Design that is acceptable for docketing. The docket number established is 52-046.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment its Japan Lessons-Learned Division (JLD) draft interim staff guidance (ISG), ``Compliance with Phase 2 of Order EA-13-109, Order Modifying Licenses with Regard to Reliable Hardened Containment Vents Capable of Operation under Severe Accident Conditions,'' (JLD- ISG-2015-01). This draft JLD-ISG would provide guidance and clarification to assist nuclear power reactor licensees identify measures needed to comply with Phase 2 requirements of the ``Order Modifying Licenses with Regard to Reliable Hardened Containment Vents Capable of Operation Under Severe Accident Conditions,'' (Order EA-13- 109) to have either a vent path from the containment drywell or a strategy that makes it unlikely that venting would be needed from the drywell before alternate reliable containment heat removal and pressure control is reestablished.