Nuclear Regulatory Commission – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a Confirmatory Order to Mistras Group, Inc. (Mistras) to document commitments made as part of a settlement agreement between the NRC and Mistras following an alternative dispute resolution mediation session held on March 21, 2024. The mediation addressed an apparent violation involving the falsification by two Mistras employees of certificates of calibration for non-destructive test equipment that was used at nuclear power plants. Mistras has committed to corrective actions in the following areas: safety culture and safety conscious work environment, quality assurance program, audits, and training. The Confirmatory Order became effective upon issuance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing public notice each week for four consecutive weeks of receipt and availability of an application for a construction permit for a single unit reactor facility from US SFR Owner, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of TerraPower, LLC. The application for the construction permit was received on March 28, 2024, and a supplement to the application was submitted on May 2, 2024.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC Possession Only License (POL) No. DPR-73 for the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2 (TMI-2), located in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The proposed amendment would ensure that TMI-2 Energy Solutions (TMI-2Solutions) can continue decommissioning the facility in accordance with NRC regulations. TMI-2Solutions will be engaging in certain major decommissioning activities, including the physical demolition of buildings previously deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The draft EA, "Environmental Assessment for Specific Decommissioning Activities at Three Mile Island, Unit 2 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania," documents the NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application. The NRC is also issuing a final Programmatic Agreement (PA) under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an exemption in response to an exemption request from Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DENC, the licensee) submitted by letter dated May 2, 2023.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a license amendment application from Northern States Power Company (NSPM) for an amendment to Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-2506 for the Prairie Island Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (PI ISFSI) located in Welch, Minnesota. The amendment request seeks to change License Conditions 23(a), 24(A)(2), and 24(B)(2). The subject license conditions are management activities with specified inspection intervals of three months or one quarter. The inspection intervals are "not to exceed every quarter" for license condition 23 and "not to exceed three months" for license condition 24. This is inconsistent with similar independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) technical specifications (TS) surveillance requirements (SRs), for example, SR 3.1.4.1 and SR 3.1.4.2, which give the frequency as 92 days, and ISFSI TS SR 3.0.2, which allows up to 1.25 times the interval specified in the frequency. NSPM proposes to revise the license conditions to describe the inspection intervals similar to TS Surveillance Requirement Frequency, allowing up to 1.25 times the specified intervals to account for scheduling challenges, including but not limited to periods of extreme cold weather or other high-priority plant activities.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of an exemption in response to the April 24, 2023, request from Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company (CYAPCO), for the Haddam Neck Plant (HNP or Haddam Neck) located in East Hampton, Connecticut. The proposed exemption from NRC regulations, if granted, would permit CYAPCO to make withdrawals from a segregated account within Haddam Neck's overall nuclear decommissioning trust (NDT), on an annual basis, for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste management and non-radiological site restoration without prior notification to the NRC. The NRC staff is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed exemption.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a notice explaining how recently enacted legislation that prohibits imports of certain uranium products (natural uranium and low-enriched uranium) from the Russian Federation affects imports under NRC licenses. After the statutory prohibition becomes effective, importers will no longer be able to use the NRC general license to import these materials from the Russian Federation unless they first obtain a waiver from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The NRC will return any specific license applications for such imports without action.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a single notice to announce the issuance of 11 exemptions in response to requests from nine licensees. These exemptions were requested as a result of a change to NRC's regulations published in the Federal Register on March 14, 2023.

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, "Criteria and Procedures for Emergency Access to Non-Federal and Regional Low-Level Waste Disposal Facilities."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing public notice each week for four consecutive weeks of receipt and availability of an application for a construction permit for a single unit reactor facility from US SFR Owner, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of TerraPower, LLC. The application for the construction permit was received on March 28, 2024, and a supplement to the application was submitted on May 2, 2024.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (Constellation) that would permit Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) to maintain nine loaded and to load six new 37 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System at its CCNPP Units 1 and 2 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, are not met.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 5.87, "Suspicious Activity Reports." This RG provides an approach acceptable to the NRC staff for licensees to use for reporting suspicious activity under NRC regulations, "Physical Protection of Plants and Materials", to local law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the NRC, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

On September 7, 2023, as supplemented by letters dated September 15, 2023, and March 25, 2024, and email dated October 31, 2023, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received from General Electric (GE) Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH, the licensee) a license amendment request to include a License Termination Plan (LTP) for the GEH Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR). The LTP provides details about the radiological status of the reactor facility, the remaining decommissioning tasks to be completed, and the plan for termination of the VBWR license. The NRC is requesting public comments on VBWR's LTP and will hold a public meeting to discuss the LTP.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is discontinuing the rulemaking activity, "Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation Security Requirements for Radiological Sabotage," and denying Request 11 in the associated petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM-72-6. The purpose of this action is to inform members of the public that this rulemaking activity is being discontinued and to provide a brief discussion of the NRC's decision to discontinue the rulemaking and deny the petition. The rulemaking activity will no longer be reported in the NRC's portion of the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the Unified Agenda).

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (Constellation) that would permit the Limerick Generating Station (LGS) to maintain three loaded and to load five new 89 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System at its LGS Units 1 and 2 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, are not met.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an exemption to Constellation Energy Generation, LLC. that permits Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station (QCNPS) to load four model 68M multi- purpose canisters with continuous basket shims beginning June 2024 in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at its QCNPS Units 1 and 2 independent spent fuel storage installation in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 are not met.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received an application for the renewal of Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-19 and DPR-25, which authorizes Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (CEG, the applicant) to operate Dresden Nuclear Power Station (Dresden), Units 2 and 3. The renewed licenses would authorize the applicant to operate Dresden, Units 2 and 3, for an additional 20 years beyond the period specified in the current licenses. The current operating license for Dresden, Unit 2, expires December 22, 2029. The current operating license for Dresden, Unit 3, expires January 12, 2031.

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, "Fitness for Duty Programs."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of one amendment request. The amendment request is for Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 and 2. For the amendment request, the NRC proposes to determine that it involves no significant hazards consideration (NSHC). Because the amendment request contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI), an order imposes procedures to obtain access to SUNSI for contention preparation by persons who file a hearing request or petition for leave to intervene.

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, "Public Records and NRC Forms 507 and 509."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published a final plant-specific supplement, Supplement 60, License Renewal, to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-87 and NPF-89 for an additional 20 years of operation for Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, respectively (CPNPP). CPNPP is located in Somervell County, Texas.