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

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft NUREG entitled, ``Refining and Characterizing Heat Release Rates from Electrical Enclosures during FireVolume 2: Fire Modeling Guidance for Electrical Cabinets, Electric Motors, Indoor Dry Transformers, and the Main Control Board'' (NUREG-2178 Volume 2/ EPRI 3002016052). This report is a joint product of the NRC and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) collaborating under a memorandum of understanding for fire research. This report describes improved methods that can increase the realism in the modeling of selected ignition sources. The areas further investigated include the treatment of flame radiation and obstructed radiation, fire propagation between adjacent electrical cabinets, heat release rates (HRRs) for electric motors and dry transformers, fire location factor, non- suppression probability floor values, and the modeling of the main control board.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source materials license SUB- 1435 held by the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) for the Jefferson Proving Ground from ``possession only for decommissioning'' to ``possession only.'' The proposed amendment of the Army's license would also include an exemption from the NRC's decommissioning timeliness requirements in the regulations. The EA, ``Final Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Amendment of Materials License SUB-1435, Jefferson Proving Ground, Southeastern Indiana (Jefferson, Ripley, and Jennings Counties),'' documents the NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application.

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, ``Survey of NRC Materials Licensees to Support Rulemaking for NRC's Small Entity Size Standards.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing exemptions in response to a November 30, 2018, request from Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI). The exemptions permit HDI to use the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (Oyster Creek) Decommissioning Trust Fund (DTF) for irradiated fuel management and site restoration activities based on the Oyster Creek Decommissioning Cost Estimate (DCE). The exemptions also permit HDI to make withdrawals from the DTF for irradiated fuel management and site restoration activities without prior notification of the NRC. By Order dated June 20, 2019, the NRC approved the request for the direct transfer of the Oyster Creek Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-16 and the Oyster Creek Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) general license from Exelon Generating Company, LLC (Exelon) to HDI and Oyster Creek Environmental Protection, LLC (OCEP). These exemptions are being issued simultaneously with the license transfer Order and will be effective upon the NRC's issuance of a conforming license amendment reflecting HDI and OCEP as the licensees for Oyster Creek, following consummation of the license transfer transaction.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DUWP-ISG-01, ``Evaluations of Uranium Recovery Facility Surveys of Radon and Radon Progeny in Air and Demonstrations of Compliance with 10 CFR 20.1301.'' This ISG provides guidance to the NRC staff for evaluating uranium recovery (UR) licensee demonstrations of compliance with the public dose limits. This action is necessary because there is insufficient existing guidance on this topic. This action will benefit NRC staff and UR licensees by providing detailed descriptions of methods acceptable to the NRC staff to meet the public dose limit requirement.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reissuing an exemption, originally approved on December 19, 2018, that allowed Exelon to reduce the required level of primary off[dash]site liability insurance for Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (Oyster Creek) from $450 million to $100 million and eliminate the requirement to carry secondary financial protection. The December 19, 2018, exemption originally had an effective date of 12 months (365 days) from the certification of permanent cessation of power operations. The reissued exemption has a new effective date of 9.38 months (285 days) after the docketing of the certification of permanent cessation of power operations at Oyster Creek.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of exemptions in response to a November 30, 2018, request from Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI), for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (Oyster Creek). The exemptions would permit HDI to use funds from the Oyster Creek decommissioning trust fund (DTF or the Trust) for irradiated fuel management activities and site restoration. The exemptions would also allow HDI to use withdrawals from the Trust for these activities without prior notification to the NRC. The NRC is issuing a final Environmental Assessment (EA) and final Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed exemptions.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1337, ``Pre-Earthquake Planning, Shutdown and Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Following an Earthquake.'' This proposed guide is a merger of two closely related guides, namely, regulatory guide (RG) 1.166, ``Pre-Earthquake Planning and Immediate Nuclear Power Operator Postearthquake Actions'' and RG 1.167 ``Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Shutdown by a Seismic Event.'' Upon completion of the merger of the two guides, RG 1.167 will be withdrawn. DG-1337 incorporates lessons learned following shutdown and restart of nuclear power plants due to earthquake ground motion and post-earthquake evaluations since issuance of the two RGs in 1997.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a petition for rulemaking from Gerard P. Van Noordennen on behalf of EnergySolutions, LLC, dated February 22, 2019. The petitioner requests that the NRC revise its regulations to allow access to the decommissioning trust fund for the removal of major radioactive components before the permanent cessation of operations. The petition was docketed by the NRC on March 20, 2019 and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-119. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-50-119 to determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is requesting public comment on this petition at this time.

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, ``Pre-Application Communication and Scheduling for Accident Tolerant Fuel Submittals.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to a September 11, 2018, request from FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and FirstEnergy Nuclear Generation, LLC. The exemption allows a certified fuel handler, besides a licensed senior operator, to approve the emergency suspension of security measures for Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2; Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 1; and Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1 during certain emergency conditions or during severe weather. Although the exemption is effective upon receipt, the actions permitted by the exemption for the facilities may not be implemented until both the ``Certification of Permanent Cessation of Operations'' and the ``Certification of Permanent Fuel Removal'' have been submitted for that facility.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is giving notice once each week for four consecutive weeks for an application from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), for an early site permit (ESP) for the Clinch River Nuclear Site located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

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, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an order approving the indirect transfer of Construction Permit No. CPMIF- 001 for the SHINE Medical Isotope Production Facility, resulting from the establishment of a holding company, Illuminated Holdings, Inc. The NRC is also issuing an administrative conforming amendment to the license to reflect the transfer.

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 May 7, 2019, to May 20, 2019. The last biweekly notice was published on May 21, 2019.