Nuclear Regulatory Commission January 2018 – 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 entitled, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR- 31, issued to Florida Power & Light Company, for operation of the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Unit No. 3. The proposed amendment would revise the Turkey Point Technical Specifications (TS) to allow a one-time extension of the allowable outage time for the Unit 3 Containment Spray System from 72 hours to 14 days. The one-time extension of the allowable outage time is necessary to perform a planned modification of the 3A Containment Spray pump while at-power and would be valid during the remainder of the Unit 3 operating cycle, which ends in the fourth quarter of 2018.

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 entitled 10 CFR part 100, ``Reactor Site Criteria.''

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 Nos. 98 and 97 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-91 and NPF-92, respectively. 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, Authority of Georgia, and the City of Dalton, Georgia (the licensee); 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) published a direct final rule in the Federal Register on September 27, 2017, which amended its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage System (NUHOMS[supreg] System) listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to renew, for an additional 40-year period, the initial certificate and Amendment Nos. 1 through 11 and 13, Revision 1, and Amendment No. 14 of Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1004. That direct final rule was effective on December 11, 2017. The technical specifications (TS) for the NUHOMS[supreg] System, Renewed Amendments No. 11, Revision 1, and No. 13, Revision 1 included an incorrect title in Figure 1-15. The purpose of this action is to correct this minor editorial and non-substantive error to Figure 1-15 for both Renewed Amendments No. 11, Revision 1, and No. 13, Revision 1.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will convene a teleconference meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) on February 15, 2018, to discuss the revised draft report of the ACMUI Nursing Mother Guidelines for the Medical Administration of Radioactive Materials and the revised draft report of the ACMUI Physical Presence Requirements for the Leksell Gamma Knife[supreg] IconTM. The Nursing Mother Guidelines report will include the subcommittee's recommendations on the cessation of breastfeeding for various radionuclides. The Physical Presence Requirements report will include the subcommittee's recommendations for the physical presence of authorized users and authorized medical physicists during treatments using the IconTM unit. The NRC will also convene another teleconference meeting on March 1, 2018, to discuss the draft report of the Standing ACMUI Training and Experience Subcommittee. This report will include the subcommittee's recommendation for the total number of training and experience hours for authorized users under title 10 Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 35.300 that is necessary for safety. Meeting information, including a copy of the agendas and handouts, will be available at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acmui/meetings/ 2018.html. The agenda and handouts may also be obtained by contacting Ms. Sophie Holiday using the information below.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a renewal of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) License No. SNM-986 held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to possess and use SNM for education, research, and training programs. The renewed license authorizes MIT to continue to possess and use SNM for an additional 10 years from the date of issuance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption from the requirement to maintain a specified level of onsite property damage insurance in response to an October 22, 2015, request from the Southern California Edison Company (the licensee). Specifically, the licensee requested that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, be granted an exemption to permit the licensee to reduce its onsite property damage insurance from $1.06 billion to $50 million.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to incorporate by reference (IBR) the latest revisions of three regulatory guides (RGs) approving new, revised, and reaffirmed Code Cases published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This action allows nuclear power plant licensees and applicants for construction permits, operating licenses, combined licenses, standard design certifications, standard design approvals and manufacturing licenses to voluntarily use the Code Cases listed in these RGs as alternatives to engineering standards for the construction, inservice inspection (ISI), and inservice testing (IST) of nuclear power plant components. These engineering standards are set forth in the ASME's Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Codes and ASME Operation and Maintenance (OM) Codes, which are currently incorporated by reference into the NRC's regulations. This final rule announces the availability of the final versions of the three RGs that are being incorporated by reference. Further, the final rule announces the availability of a related RG, not incorporated by reference into the NRC's regulations that lists Code Cases that the NRC has not approved for use.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to adjust the maximum Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs) it can assess under statutes enforced by the agency. These changes are mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (FCPIAA), as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (2015 Improvements Act). The NRC is amending its regulations to adjust the maximum CMP for a violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA), or any regulation or order issued under the AEA from $285,057 to $290,875 per violation, per day. Additionally, the NRC is amending provisions concerning program fraud civil penalties by adjusting the maximum CMP under the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act from $10,957 to $11,181 for each false claim or statement.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption from certain power reactor financial protection requirements in response to a September 16, 2015, request from the Southern California Edison Company (the licensee). The exemption would permit the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3 (SONGS), to reduce the required level of primary financial protection from $450 million to $100 million, as well as to withdraw from participation in the secondary layer of financial protection effective immediately.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will convene a meeting of the Licensing Support Network Advisory Review Panel (LSNARP) on February 27-28, 2018, at the NRC's Headquarters Offices in Room 01C3, Three White Flint North Building, 11601 Landsdown Street, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The NRC has revised the meeting date from January 30-31 to February 27-28, 2018, to allow more time to evaluate options for the potential reconstitution or replacement of the Licensing Support Network (LSN). The meeting is being held to carry out the NRC's responsibilities under the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's decision in the case In re Aiken County, 645 F.3d 428 (D.C. Cir. 2011), and the Commission's July 31, 2017, direction in the Staff Requirements Memorandum associated with COMSECY-17-0019 that a next step in the Yucca Mountain licensing process is for the NRC to initiate information-gathering activities regarding reinstituting or replacing the LSN. The LSN, which was used to make documentary material associated with the Yucca Mountain adjudicatory proceeding available to hearing participants and the public, was decommissioned when the adjudication was suspended in 2011. The information being collected will assist the Commission in making efficient, informed decisions concerning appropriate means for reconstituting the LSN's functionality if the currently-suspended Yucca Mountain adjudication were to re- commence in the future. The meeting will be open to the public pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub. L. 94-463, 86 Stat. 770-776) and will be conducted as a virtual meeting with representatives of LSNARP member organizations utilizing the capabilities of GoToMeeting[supreg] and the general public having access via GoToWebinar[supreg]. Representatives of LSNARP member organizations and the public may also attend in person at the location indicated above.

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 5, 2017, to December 18, 2017. The last biweekly notice was published on December 19, 2017.