Nuclear Regulatory Commission March 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a request for renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is titled, ``Specific Domestic Licenses to Manufacture or Transfer Certain Items Containing Byproduct Material.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice that by petition dated February 19, 2016, Roy Mathew, Sheila Ray, Swagata Som, Gurcharan Singh Matharu, Tania Martinez Navedo, Thomas Koshy, and Kenneth Miller (the petitioners) have requested that the NRC take action with regard to all current operating nuclear power plants. The petitioners' requests are included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on supplemental guidance to draft NUREG-2191, ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned for Subsequent License Renewal (GALL-SLR) Report,'' Vol. I and II, and draft NUREG-2192, ``Standard Review Plan for Review of Subsequent License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP-SLR). This supplemental guidance was developed subsequent to the release of draft NUREG-2191 and NUREG-2192 on December 23, 2015. Changes to the supplemental guidance will be incorporated into the final versions of NUREG-2191 and NUREG-2192.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed an application by the Department of Energy (DOE) for an amendment to License No. SNM-2504 that was renewed in 2011. Under this license, DOE is authorized to receive, possess, store, and transfer spent nuclear fuel and associated radioactive materials at the Fort St. Vrain (FSV) independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). The DOE requested approval to revise response times stated in the license's technical specifications that are associated with fuel storage container leak tests, and to make an editorial change to the technical specifications table of contents.

On December 7, 2015, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes a framework of cooperation between them in radiological emergency response planning and preparedness matters. The MOU ensures that the agencies' mutual efforts will be directed toward more effective preparedness plans, and related response measures at and in the vicinity of utilization facilities.

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 136, ``Security Termination Statement.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees and, for the first time, the NRC is proposing to recover its costs when it responds to third-party demands for information in litigation where the United States is not a party (``Touhy requests''). These proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 as amended (OBRA-90), which requires the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its annual budget through fees.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting information from the public on a number of issues associated with the development of the agency's fees. Specifically, the NRC would like stakeholder input regarding the general communications the NRC provides about its fees and the public's understanding of the NRC's fees. The information collected will be used by the NRC in developing ways to improve the transparency of its fees development and invoicing processes.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the withdrawal of a license amendment application from the U.S. Department of the Army (the licensee) for its Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) site located in Madison, Indiana, to decommission the site under restricted release conditions as defined in the NRC's regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of an application filed by the Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) on October 8, 2015. The application seeks NRC approval of the direct transfer of Facility Operating License No. DPR- 45 for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR), from the current holder, DPC, to LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS) a wholly owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions (ES). The NRC is also considering amending the facility operating license for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has determined that the renewal of the Charter for the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes for the 2 year period commencing on March 10, 2016, is in the public interest, in connection with duties imposed on the Commission by law. This action is being taken in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, after consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS) to inform certain nuclear power reactor licensees of the use of guidance documents to support license amendment requests (LAR) to change augmenting emergency response organization (ERO) staffing and arrival times. The RIS will clarify the scope and level of detail that should be provided to facilitate NRC review of the LARs.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International (Holtec or applicant) HI-STORM 100 Cask System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to include Amendment No. 10 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1014. Amendment No. 10 adds new fuel classes to the contents approved for the loading of 16x16-pin fuel assemblies into a HI-STORM 100 Cask System; allows a minor increase in manganese in an alloy material for the system's overpack and transfer cask; clarifies the minimum water displacement required of a dummy fuel rod (i.e., a rod not filled with uranium pellets); and clarifies the design pressures needed for normal operation of forced helium drying systems. Additionally, Amendment No. 10 revises Condition No. 9 of CoC No. 1014 to provide clearer direction on the measurement of air velocity and modeling of heat distribution through the storage system. Each of these changes is described in Section IV, ``Discussion of Changes,'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

On March 19, 2013, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a final rule that amended its regulations to establish security requirements for the use and transport of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. Specifically, the final rule provided reasonable assurance of preventing the theft or diversion of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material, and included security requirements for the transportation of irradiated reactor fuel that weighs 100 grams or less in net weight of irradiated fuel. In December 2014, the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate directed the NRC to evaluate the effectiveness of the new regulations and determine whether the requirements are adequate to protect ``high-risk radiological material.'' In response to this mandate, the NRC is implementing a retrospective program review to provide an objective assessment of the new requirements and associated implementation guidance. This action seeks information that will be used in developing a report to Congress. The NRC plans to hold a series of public meetings to facilitate public participation. These meetings will consist of a public meeting and a series of webinar teleconferences, and the staff will publicly notice the date and times of these meetings. The staff is planning to conduct these meetings in March 2016.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an amendment to Combined Licenses (COLs), NPF-93 and NPF- 94, 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 proposed amendment to COL Appendix C information, and supporting Tier 2 information, requires a corresponding plant-specific Tier 1 departure and exemption.

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 is issuing License Amendment No. 38 to Combined Licenses (COLs), NPF-91 and NPF- 92. The COLs were issued to Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., and Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, MEAG Power SPVM, LLC., MEAG Power SPVJ, LLC., MEAG POWER SPVP, LLC., and the City of Dalton, Georgia (together ``the licensees''); for construction and operation of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) Units 3 and 4, located in Burke County, Georgia. 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) is issuing a temporary exemption from certain NRC financial assurance requirements to Power Resources, Inc., doing business as Cameco Resources (Cameco), in response to its annual financial assurance updates for its Smith Ranch-Highland In-Situ Recovery (ISR) project and the associated remote satellite facilities at Ruth and Gas Hills. Issuance of this temporary exemption will not remove the requirement for Cameco to provide adequate financial assurance through an approved mechanism but will allow the NRC staff to further evaluate whether the State of Wyoming's separate account provision for financial assurance instruments Cameco holds is consistent with the NRC's requirement for a standby trust agreement.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of one amendment request. The amendment request is for Turkey Point Nuclear Generating, Unit Nos. 3 and 4. 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).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering an amendment to Master Materials License 42-23539-01AF, Docket No. 030- 28641, issued to the Department of the Air Force (the licensee). This amendment will allow the licensee to decommission a former magnesium- thorium alloy disposal trench at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in accordance with instructions provided in an NRC-approved decommissioning plan. The NRC conducted an environmental impact assessment in support of this licensing action. Based on the results of this assessment, the NRC concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate.