Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is confirming the effective date of August 17, 2009, for the direct final rule that was published in the Federal Register on June 2, 2009 (74 FR 26285). This direct final rule amended the NRC's spent fuel storage regulations in 10 CFR 72.214 to revise the HI-STORM 100 dry cask storage system listing to include Amendment No. 6 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1014.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern domestic licensing of production and utilization facilities and licenses, certifications, and approvals for nuclear power plants to allow current and certain future power reactor licensees and applicants to choose to implement a risk-informed alternative to the current requirements for analyzing the performance of emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) during loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). The proposed amendments would also establish procedures and acceptance criteria for evaluating certain changes in plant design and operation based upon the results of the new analyses of ECCS performance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has decided that it will take a limited involvement approach to stay informed about the Navy's ongoing remediation of the Hunters Point Shipyard (HPS) site in San Francisco, California. NRC will rely on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 oversight. This notice discusses NRC's jurisdiction and future limited involvement at the HPS site and how it plans on staying informed about the Navy's remediation in the future.

Uranerz Energy Corporation (Uranerz) submitted an application for a new source material license for the Nichols Ranch In-Situ Recovery (ISR) Project to be located in Campbell and Johnson Counties, Wyoming, approximately 46 miles south-southwest of Gillette, Wyoming and approximately 61 miles north-northeast of Casper, Wyoming. The application proposes the construction, operation, and decommissioning of ISR, also known as in-situ leach, facilities and restoration of the aquifer from which the uranium is being extracted. Uranerz submitted the application for the new source material license to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by a letter dated November 30, 2007. A notice of receipt and availability of the license application, including the Environmental Report (ER), and opportunity to request a hearing was published in the Federal Register on June 16, 2008 (73 FR 34052). The purpose of this notice of intent is to inform the public that the NRC will be preparing a site-specific Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities (ISR GEIS) for a new source material license for the Nichols Ranch ISR Project, as required by 10 CFR 51.26(d). In addition, as outlined in 36 CFR 800.8, ``Coordination with the National Environmental Policy Act,'' the NRC plans to use the environmental review process as reflected in 10 CFR part 51 to coordinate compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

The NRC is proposing to amend its regulation governing vessel head inspection requirements. This amendment would revise the upper range of the percentage of axial flaws permitted in a specimen set used in the qualification of nondestructive examination systems (procedures, personnel and equipment), for the performance of inservice inspection (ISI) of pressurized water reactor (PWR) upper reactor vessel head penetrations. This amendment is being proposed as a result of the withdrawal of a stakeholder's recommendation necessitated by a typographical error in the original recommendation with respect to the maximum percentage of flaws that should be oriented axially.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to limit the quantity of byproduct material contained in a generally licensed device to below one-tenth (1/10) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Category 3 thresholds. As a result of this amendment, individuals possessing devices with byproduct material meeting or exceeding these thresholds would be required to apply for and obtain a specific license. The NRC is also proposing to further clarify the requirements that apply when a device authorized to be used under the general license is instead held under a specific license. The proposed amendments would also modify the Compatibility Categories contained in the current regulations.

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The NRC published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on April 8, 2009.

This document corrects a final rule appearing in the Federal Register on March 31, 2008 (73 FR 16965), that amended the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) regulations that govern fitness for duty programs. This document is necessary to correct erroneous language in the preamble and codified language of the final rule. These corrections include fixing typographical errors and cross-references, revising language in the preamble to clarify unintended discrepancies with the codified rule text, and making non-substantive changes to the rule text that do not modify any requirements in the final rule.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its environmental protection regulations by updating the Commission's 1996 findings on the environmental impacts related to the renewal of a nuclear power plant's operating license. The Commission stated that it intends to review the assessment of impacts and update it on a 10-year cycle, if necessary. The proposed rule redefines the number and scope