Nuclear Regulatory Commission November 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an Order approving the transfer of Provisional Operating License No. DPR-5 for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit No. 1 (IP1); Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-26 and DPR-64 for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, (collectively, with IP1, the Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC)); and the general license for the IPEC independent spent fuel storage installation to Holtec International (Holtec) subsidiaries. The Holtec subsidiaries would be known as Holtec Indian Point 2, LLC (Holtec IP2) and Holtec Indian Point 3, LLC (Holtec IP3). The Order also approves the transfer of operating authority from the currently licensed operator, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENOI), to Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI). The NRC is also issuing conforming amendments for the facility operating licenses for administrative purposes to reflect the transfer of the licenses from ENOI to HDI and the planned name change for Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC to Holtec IP2 and Holtec IP3, respectively.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a document for public comments as required by Subtask 2A of the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) Action Plan, Revision 1. The document addresses the application of quality assurance (QA) criteria and NRC's requirements in its regulations regarding, ``Changes, Tests and Experiments,'' to the implementation of AMT-fabricated components in U.S. nuclear power plants.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to a February 12, 2020, request from Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI). The exemption permits HDI to make withdrawals from the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (referred to individually as IP1, IP2, and IP3, respectively, and collectively as the Indian Point Energy Center or IPEC) Decommissioning Trust Funds (DTFs) for spent fuel management and site restoration activities for IP1, IP2, and IP3 without prior notification to the NRC. This exemption is effective upon issuance, but only applies to HDI upon the consummation of the transfers of the licenses for IP1, IP2, and IP3 to Holtec International (Holtec) subsidiaries Holtec Indian Point 2, LLC and Holtec Indian Point 3, LLC and the transfer of the operating authority under the licenses to HDI.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will consider in its rulemaking process issues raised in a petition for rulemaking submitted by Matthew McKinley on behalf of the Organization of Agreement States (OAS, the petitioner. The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its decommissioning financial assurance regulations for sealed and unsealed byproduct material not listed in a table that sets out radionuclide possession values for calculating these financial assurance requirements. The NRC will also examine ways to make the table's values and other NRC decommissioning funding requirements more risk-informed.

In approximately 4 to 7 months, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will publish in the Federal Register a notice of intended operation, which will allow the public to submit requests for hearing regarding the licensee's conformance with the acceptance criteria in the combined license (COL) for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) Unit 4. These acceptance criteria are part of the inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria (ITAAC) included in the COL. If a member of the public believes access to Safeguards Information (SGI) is necessary to file a hearing request, then members of the public must satisfy several standards, including a determination by the NRC that they are ``trustworthy and reliable.'' Because the background checks used to support trustworthiness and reliability determinations take some time to complete, the NRC is providing this ``pre-clearance'' process, by which members of the public may initiate background checks to be completed by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) well before the hearing process begins.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an Order confirming commitments agreed upon during an Alternate Dispute Resolution mediation session with the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI). The NRC determined that an apparent violation of NRC regulations, occurred as identified during an investigation completed on February 27, 2020, by the NRC's Office of Investigations. The Order is effective on the date of issuance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is issuing an exemption in response to a request dated September 1, 2020, from the Southern California Edison (SCE), for San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3 (SONGS), from the requirement to investigate and report to the NRC when SCE does not receive notification of receipt of a shipment, or part of a shipment, of low-level radioactive waste within 20 days after transfer from the SONGS facility. SCE requested the time period to receive acknowledgement that the shipment has been received by the intended recipient be extended from 20 to 45 days. SCE requested this change to avoid an excessive administrative burden, because its operational experience indicates that these shipments may take more than 20 days to reach their destination.

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, ``Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste in a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering an amendment request from Portland General Electric Company (PGE) to amend License No. SNM-2509 for the Trojan Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), located in Columbia County, Oregon. The amendment would revise the safety analysis report (SAR) description of the licensee's evaluation of explosion accident events. As part of its review, the NRC performed an environmental assessment (EA) of the proposed action. The NRC concluded that the proposed action would have no significant environmental impact. Accordingly, the NRC staff is issuing a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed amendment.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1360, ``Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Fire Protection for Existing Light-Water Nuclear Power Plants.'' This regulatory guide (RG) describes an approach that is acceptable to the NRC staff to meet the regulatory requirements in the NRC's regulations and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 805, ``Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants,'' 2001 Edition, which is incorporated by reference in the NRC's regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) license amendment request. UNC is requesting authorization to amend its license (SUA-1475) to excavate approximately 1 million cubic yards of mine waste from the Northeast Church Rock Mine Site and dispose of it at the existing mill site in McKinley County, New Mexico.

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, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste and Reactor-Related Greater than Class C Waste.''

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International HI- STORM UMAX Canister Storage System listing within the ``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to include Amendment No. 4 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1040. Amendment No. 4 revises the certificate of compliance to update the technical specifications for radiation protection regarding the dose rate limit for the vertical ventilated module lid, update the technical specifications for the vent blockage limiting condition for operation, and add a Type 1 version of multi-purpose canister MPC-37.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is developing new requirements for the licensing and regulation of advanced nuclear reactors and is seeking public input. The new rulemaking would adopt technology-inclusive approaches and include the appropriate use of risk-informed and performance-based techniques, to provide the necessary flexibility for licensing and regulating a variety of advanced nuclear reactor technologies and designs. The NRC is periodically making available for comment preliminary proposed rule language for a risk-informed, technology-inclusive framework that will be added to NRC's regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to revise and clarify the agency's rules of practice and procedure to reflect current Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel practice, Commission case law, and a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States and to enhance consistency within the NRC's regulations.

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, ``Notices, Instructions and Reports to Workers: Inspection and Investigations.''

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 monthly 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 (NSHC), notwithstanding the pendency before the Commission of a request for a hearing from any person. This monthly notice includes all amendments issued, or proposed to be issued, from September 22, 2020, to October 15, 2020. The last notice was published on October 6, 2020. This notice also incorporates a title change, as noticed in the Federal Register on October 6, 2020. The next monthly notice is expected to be published in the Federal Register on or about December 1, 2020.