Nuclear Regulatory Commission January 2020 – 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, NRC Form 850, ``Request for Contractor Assignment(s).''

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. 170 and 168 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, 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 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.

Pursuant to section 189.a.(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 amendments issued, or proposed to be issued, from December 31, 2019, to January 13, 2020. The last biweekly notice was published on January 14, 2020.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will convene a teleconference meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) on March 11, 2020, to discuss the draft report of the ACMUI Regulatory Guide 8.39 Subcommittee. A phased approach is being conducted by the NRC staff to comprehensively update Regulatory Guide 8.39, ``Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material.'' Phase 1 of the revision provides licensees with more detailed instructions to patients before and after they have been administered radioactive material than what is currently provided in Regulatory Guide 8.39. The ACMUI subcommittee's report will include its comments and recommendations on the draft final Phase 1 revisions to Regulatory Guide 8.39. Meeting information, including a copy of the agenda and handouts, will be available at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc- collections/acmui/meetings/2020.html. The agenda and handouts may also be obtained by contacting Ms. Kellee Jamerson using the information below.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of an application filed by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENOI), on behalf of itself, Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC (ENIP2), Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC (ENIP3), Holtec International (Holtec), and Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI) (collectively, the applicants), on November 21, 2019. The application seeks NRC approval of the transfer of control of Provisional Operating License No. DPR-5 and Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-26 and DPR-64 for Indian Point Nuclear Generating, Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3, respectively (referred to individually as IP1, IP2, or IP3, and collectively as the Indian Point Energy Center or IPEC), as well as the general license for the IPEC Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) (collectively, the licenses). Specifically, the application requests that the NRC consent to (1) the transfer of control of the licenses to Holtec subsidiaries to be known as Holtec Indian Point 2, LLC (Holtec IP2) and Holtec Indian Point 3, LLC (Holtec IP3) and (2) the transfer of ENOI's operating authority to HDI. The NRC is also considering amending the licenses for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer. The application contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of amendments to licenses held by PSEG Nuclear LLC (PSEG, the licensee) for the operation of Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (Salem), and Hope Creek Generating Station (Hope Creek). The proposed license amendments would revise certain emergency response organization (ERO) positions for these facilities with the minimum staff ERO guidance specified in the ``Alternative Guidance for Licensee Emergency Response Organizations.'' The NRC is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed license amendments.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2019-032, ``Pre-Application Communication and Scheduling for Accident Tolerant Fuel Submittals.'' This RIS seeks Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) scheduling information for pre-application activities, topical report submittals, and other licensing submittals from all addressees to help inform the NRC's budget and resource planning for the eventual review of ATF-related applications.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing a revision to its Enforcement Policy to address the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The 2015 Improvements Act amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act (FCPIAA) of 1990, and now requires Federal agencies to adjust their maximum civil monetary penalty annually for inflation.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an exemption in response to a request from the licensee that would permit Holtec Pilgrim, LLC and Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC to reduce the minimum coverage limit for onsite property damage insurance from $1.06 billion to $50 million for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on draft NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition,'' Branch Technical Position (BTP) 7-19, ``Guidance for Evaluation of Potential Common Cause Failure Due to Latent Software Defects in Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an exemption in response to a request from the licensee that would permit Holtec Pilgrim, LLC and Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC to reduce the required level of primary offsite liability insurance from $450 million to $100 million and to eliminate the requirement to carry secondary financial protection for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

On October 8, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff accepted and docketed an application submitted by SHINE Medical Technologies, LLC (SHINE), dated July 17, 2019, filed pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the NRC's regulations, for an operating license for the SHINE Medical Isotope Production Facility. In accordance with the NRC's regulations, any persons whose interest may be affected by the issuance of an operating license to SHINE may file a request for a hearing and petition for leave to intervene with respect to the action. Because the license application contains Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI) and Safeguards Information (SGI), an included Order imposes procedures to obtain access to SUNSI and SGI for contention preparation.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the NAC International, Inc. (NAC) MAGNASTOR[supreg] System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to include Amendment No. 8 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1031. Amendment No. 8 revises the technical specifications to delete Technical Specification A5.6 and revise the maximum pellet diameter in the technical specifications, Appendix B, Table B2-3, from 0.325 inches to 0.3255 inches for the CE16H1 hybrid fuel assembly, which includes Combustion Engineering 16 x 16 fuel assemblies. These revisions are discussed in more detail in the ``Discussion of Changes'' section of this document.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of amendments to Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. NPF- 41, NPF-51, and NPF-74, issued to Arizona Public Service Company (the licensee), for operation of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 (Palo Verde). The proposed amendments would extend the implementation time from February 23, 2020, to August 31, 2020, for the NRC-approved license amendments issued May 29, 2019, associated with risk-informed completion times in accordance with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Topical Report NEI 06-09, Revision 0-A, ``Risk-Informed Technical Specification Initiative 4b, Risk-Managed Technical Specifications (RMTS) Guidelines.'' The licensee is requesting this extension due to unforeseen circumstances.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued early site permit (ESP) number ESP-006 to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In addition, the NRC has prepared a Summary Record of Decision (ROD) that supports the NRC's decision to issue ESP number ESP-006.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft NUREG entitled, ``Methodology for Modeling Transient Fires in Nuclear Power Plant Fire Probabilistic Risk Assessments'' (NUREG-2233/EPRI 3002016054). 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 contains a methodology to increase the realism in the modeling of transient ignition sources in fire probabilistic risk assessment (FPRA). Additionally, the report develops a method for the detailed modeling of transient fires that includes fire growth and decay parameters, yields of minor products of combustion, heat of combustion, and the physical size and effective elevation of the fire.

On May 22, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a direct final rule to certify the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) standard design. The direct final rule contained changes to the information collections in NRC's regulation that needed approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This document provides notice that OMB has approved the information collection changes associated with the APR1400 direct final rule. The OMB Control Number is 3150-0236.