Nuclear Regulatory Commission March 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the request of Exelon Generation Company, LLC to withdraw its application dated September 27, 2018, for proposed amendments to Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-44 and DPR-56. The proposed amendments would have modified Technical Specification (TS) 3.3.6.2, ``Secondary Containment Isolation Instrumentation.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft NUREG (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission technical report designation), knowledge management NUREG (NUREG/KM) - 0013, ``Credibility Assessment Framework for Critical Boiling Transition Models.'' This NUREG describes NRC past practice and staff experience in determining the credibility of critical heat flux and critical power models and, based on that experience, presents an assessment framework that combines aspects of goal structuring notation and maturity assessment.

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, ``Form 790, Classification Record.''

On March 1, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested comments on a draft revised regulatory basis to support a rulemaking that would update special nuclear material physical protection requirements, including those applicable to fuel cycle facilities. The public comment period originally was scheduled to close on April 1, 2019. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period to allow members of the public more time to develop and submit their comments.

This notice is to advise the public of the issuance of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), an agency of the State of Mississippi. The MOU provides the basis for mutually agreeable procedures whereby the Mississippi State Department of Health may utilize the NRC Emergency Response Data System (ERDS) to receive data from a commercial nuclear power plant, for which any part of the plant's 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone lies within the State of Mississippi.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) invites public comment on this proposed collection of information. The information collection is entitled, ``Survey of NRC Materials Licensees to Support Rulemaking for NRC's Small Entity Size Standards.''

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. 155 and 154 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-91 and NPF-92. The COLs were issued to Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, MEAG Power SPVM, LLC, MEAG Power SPVJ, LLC, MEAG Power SPVP, LLC, and the City of Dalton, Georgia (collectively SNC); 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 requested 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) has recently submitted a proposed collection of information which included a request for revision of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, ``10 CFR part 150, Exemptions and Continued Regulatory Authority in Agreement States and in Offshore Waters Under Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-86 to NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra), Hudson Light & Power Department, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, and Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant. Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-86 authorizes NextEra to operate Seabrook Station, Unit No. 1 (Seabrook) at reactor core power levels not in excess of 3,648 megawatts thermal, and in accordance with the provisions of the Seabrook renewed operating license and technical specifications. In addition, the NRC has prepared a record of decision (ROD) that supports the agency's decision to issue Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-86 authorizing operations at Seabrook for an additional 20 years.

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, ``Nuclear Material Events Database (NMED) for the Collection of Event Report, Response, Analyses, and Follow-Up Data on Events Involving the Use of Atomic Energy Act (AEA) Radioactive Byproduct Material.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS), Units 2 and 3, Combined Licenses (COLs) designated as NPF-93, and NPF-94, and their included licenses to manufacture, produce, transfer, receive, acquire, own, possess, or use byproduct material. By letter dated December 27, 2017, the South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) requested that the NRC terminate the VCSNS COLs. Although construction was initiated for VCSNS Units 2 and 3, nuclear materials were never possessed under these licenses. Consequently, the VCSNS site is approved for unrestricted use.

Pursuant to 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 February 12, 2019 to February 25, 2019. The last biweekly notice was published on February 26, 2019.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting a notice that was published in the Federal Register, (FR) on February 28. 2019, 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. 151 and 150 to Combined Licenses (COLs), NPF 91 and NPF-92. This action is necessary to correct the date the amendment and exemption were issued. The amendment and exemption were issued on January 22, 2019.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for its review and approval of the decommissioning funding plans submitted by Energy Northwest (EN) on December 17, 2012, and December 15, 2015, for the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of two amendment requests. The amendment requests are for Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 and Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2. For each amendment request, the NRC proposes to determine that they involve no significant hazards consideration. Because each amendment request contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI) an order imposes procedures to obtain access to SUNSI for contention preparation.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is granting an exemption to allow departure from elements of the certification information of Tier 1 of the generic AP1000 design control document (DCD) and issuing License Amendment Nos. 147 and 146 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-91 and NPF-92. The COLs were issued to Southern Nuclear Operating Company, 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 (collectively SNC); for construction and operation of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) Units 3 and 4, located in Burke County, Georgia. The amendment changes the VEGP Updated Final Safety Analysis Report by departing from the incorporated plant-specific DCD Tier 2 and Tier 2 * information and related changes to the VEGP Units 3 and 4, COL Appendix A and COL Appendix C (and corresponding plant-specific DCD Tier 1) to modify an administrative program to incorporate the results of various updated plant-specific containment integrity analyses. The granting of the exemption allows the changes to Tier 1 information requested in the amendment. Because the acceptability of the exemption was determined in part by the acceptability of the amendment, the exemptions and amendments are being issued concurrently.