Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), ``Guidance for Evaluation of Acute Chemical Exposures and Proposed Quantitative Standards.'' The ISG supplements existing guidance in NUREG-1520, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of a License Application for a Fuel Cycle Facility,'' by providing additional guidance for the NRC to follow when evaluating descriptions of proposed quantitative standards. The ISG identifies sources of information on which proposed quantitative standards may be based.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) invites public comment on this proposed collection of information. The information collection is entitled, ``NRC Request for Information Concerning Patient Release Practices.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of four amendment requests. The amendment requests are for Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2, and Byron Station, Units 1 and 2; Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Unit 2; Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2; and Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2, Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, and Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2. The NRC proposes to determine that each amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, each amendment request contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. DPR-26, issued to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., for operation of the Indian Point Nuclear Generating, Unit 2. The proposed amendment would allow a revision to the acceptance criteria for the Surveillance Requirement 3.1.4.2 for Control Rod G-3. During the last two performances of this Surveillance on September 18, 2014, and December 11, 2014, Control Rod G-3 misalignment occurred with Shutdown Bank B group movement as displayed by the Individual Rod Position Indication and Plant Instrument Computer System. The proposed change is to defer subsequent testing of the Control Rod G-3 until repaired during the next refuel outage (March 2016) or forced outage long enough to repair the Control Rod.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering a license amendment request for the Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) License SNM-2507 for the North Anna Power Station (NA) independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) located in Louisa County, Virginia.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 1 of the Branch Technical Position on Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation (CA BTP). This guidance provides acceptable methods that can be used to perform concentration averaging of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) for the purpose of determining its waste class for disposal.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the request of PPL Susquehanna, LLC to withdraw its application dated September 18, 2012, as supplemented by letter dated May 10, 2013, for a proposed amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-14 and NPF-22, for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2. The proposed amendment would have made changes to Technical Specification (TS) Surveillance Requirement (SR) 3.8.1.19 in TS 3.8.1 ``AC SourceOperating.'' Specifically, the proposed amendment would increase the minimum steady state frequency for Diesel Generator E during the loss of offsite power and emergency core cooling system surveillance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the request of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company to withdraw its application dated July 30, 2013, for a proposed amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-66, for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1. The proposed amendment would authorize the implementation of Sec. 50.61a of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Alternate Fracture Toughness Requirements for Protection Against Pressurized Thermal Shock Events,'' in lieu of the requirements located in 10 CFR 50.61, ``Fracture Toughness Requirements for Protection Against Pressurized Thermal Shock Events.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to a October 31, 2013, request from Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the licensee), from certain regulatory requirements. The exemption would remove the requirement that a licensed senior operator approve the emergency suspension of security measures for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VY) during certain emergency conditions or during severe weather.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-10 and NPF-15 issued to Southern California Edison Company. The NRC proposes to determine that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, the amendment request contains Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI).

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 January 22, 2015 to February 4, 2015. The last biweekly notice was published on February 3, 2015.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to an October 27, 2014, request from ZionSolutions, LLC (ZS), for Zion Nuclear Power Station (ZNPS), Units 1 and 2 (Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304), from the requirement to investigate and report to the NRC when ZS does not receive notification or receipt of a shipment, or part of a shipment, of low-level radioactive waste within 20 days after transfer. ZionSolutions is currently in the process of decommissioning the ZNPS site. Inherent to the decommissioning process, large volumes of slightly contaminated debris are generated and require disposal at distant locations. Historical data from the experiences of other decommissioning reactor sites indicates that rail transportation time to waste disposal facilities frequently exceeded the 20-day reporting requirement. The licensee requested that the time period for it to receive acknowledgement that the shipment has been received by the intended recipient be extended from 20 to 45 days to avoid an excessive administrative burden because of required investigations and reporting arising from rail shipments that frequently take more than 20 days to reach their destination.

On December 1, 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested public comment on the proposed ``NRC Tribal Policy Statement.'' The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on March 31, 2015. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International HI-STORM 100 Cask System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to add Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, to the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1014. Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, changes burnup/cooling time limits for thimble plug devices; changes Metamic-HT material testing requirements; changes Metamic-HT material minimum guaranteed values; and updates fuel definitions to allow boiling water reactor fuel affected by certain corrosion mechanisms with specific guidelines to be classified as undamaged fuel.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) related to the review of the license renewal application submitted by Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon) for the renewal of Facility Operating Licenses NPF-11 and NPF- 18 for an additional 20 years of operation at LaSalle County Station (LSCS). The current operating licenses for LSCS, Units 1 and 2, expire on April 17, 2022, and December 16, 2023, respectively. LSCS is located in LaSalle County, Illinois. The NRC will also provide the public an opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing exemptions in response to a March 28, 2014, request from Duke Energy Florida, Inc. (DEF or the licensee), representing itself and the other owners. The exemptions permit the use of the Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating Plant (CR-3) decommissioning trust fund (the Trust) for irradiated fuel management and site restoration activities in addition to decommissioning activities and allow the licensee to use withdrawals from the Trust for these purposes without prior notification to the NRC, similar to withdrawals for decommissioning activities. The NRC has reviewed the Trust and determined that, at this time, there is reasonable assurance of sufficient financial resources in the Trust for both irradiated fuel management and site restoration activities as well as to complete decommissioning activities.