Nuclear Regulatory Commission June 23, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA, the licensee) to withdraw its application dated November 22, 2013, as supplemented by letters dated April 4, August 15, September 30, 2014, and January 29, 2015, for a proposed amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License (RFOL) Nos. DPR-33, DPR-52, and DPR-68, for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2, and 3 (Browns Ferry). The proposed amendment would have revised the Browns Ferry Technical Specifications to decrease the allowable leakage rate criteria for the Main Steam Isolation Valves (MSIVs).

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 (Holtec International Storage Module) Underground Maximum Capacity (UMAX) Canister Storage System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to add Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1040. Amendment No. 1 provides a seismically enhanced version of the HI-STORM UMAX Canister Storage System, identified as the ``Most Severe Earthquake (MSE)'' version that could be used in areas with higher seismic demands than those analyzed previously. Amendment No. 1 also includes minor physical design changes to help ensure structural integrity of the amended system. These are the addition of a hold-down system to the closure lid; replacing the fill material in the interstitial spaces between the cavity enclosure containers (CECs) surrounding the casks with plain concrete with a minimum comprehensive strength of 3000 psi concrete; strengthening the multi-purpose canister (MPC) guides; and engineering the guides' nominal gap with the MPC to be tighter than the original HI-STORM UMAX Canister Storage System design.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received three petitions for rulemaking (PRM) requesting that the NRC amend its ``Standards for Protection Against Radiation'' regulations and change the basis of those regulations from the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model of radiation protection to the radiation hormesis model. The radiation hormesis model provides that exposure of the human body to low levels of ionizing radiation is beneficial and protects the human body against deleterious effects of high levels of radiation. Whereas, the LNT model provides that radiation is always considered harmful, there is no safety threshold, and biological damage caused by ionizing radiation (essentially the cancer risk) is directly proportional to the amount of radiation exposure to the human body (response linearity). The petitions were submitted by Carol S. Marcus, Mark L. Miller, and Mohan Doss (the petitioners), dated February 9, 2015, February 13, 2015, and February 24, 2015, respectively. These petitions were docketed by the NRC on February 20, 2015, February 27, 2015, and March 16, 2015, and have been assigned Docket Numbers. PRM-20-28, PRM-20-29, and PRM-20-30, respectively. The NRC is examining the issues raised in these petitions to determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is requesting public comments on these petitions for rulemaking.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a proposed collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, ``NRC Request for Sodium Iodide I-131 Treatment and Patient Release Practices.''

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, ``Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material.''