Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NRC invites public comment about our intention to request the OMB's approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

On December 15, 2009, the NRC announced in a Federal Register Notice (FRN) (74 FR 66387) (ADAMS Number: ML100150141) its plans for holding a series of workshops to support an overarching goal of forging a consensus around the objectives, strategies, activities and measures that enhance safety culture for NRC-regulated activities. Specific plans for the workshops included the development of the safety culture common terminology effort comprised of: (1) Development of a common safety culture definition; and (2) development of high-level description/traits of areas important to safety culture. The series of workshops were designed to build upon each other, and to be used to develop these concepts for incorporation into the NRC's draft final policy statement. In addition, the information gathered at the workshop was to be considered when revising the NRC's oversight programs for NRC-regulated nuclear industries. The tentative dates planned for the public workshops were February 2-4, 2010, April 13-15, 2010, and October 27-28, 2010, at or near NRC headquarters in Rockville, MD. At the time the NRC issued the FRN (74 FR 66387), it was anticipated that three workshops would be needed to reach alignment on the safety culture common terminology effort.

The NRC is requesting public comment on the enclosed proposed model application (with model no significant hazards consideration determination) and model safety evaluation (SE) for plant-specific adoption of Technical Specifications Task Force (TSTF) Traveler TSTF- 514, Revision 1, ``Revise BWR [boiling water reactor] Operability Requirements and Actions for RCS [reactor coolant system] Leakage Instrumentation.'' TSTF-514, Revision 1, is available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession Number ML092510374. The proposed changes revise the Standard Technical Specifications (STS) to define a new time limit for restoring inoperable RCS leakage detection instrumentation to operable status and establish alternate methods of monitoring RCS leakage when one or more required monitors are inoperable. TS Bases changes that reflect the proposed changes and more accurately reflect the contents of the facility design bases related to the operability of the RCS leakage detection instrumentation are included. The model SE will facilitate expedited approval of plant-specific adoption of TSTF-514, Revision 1. This TS improvement is part of the consolidated line item improvement process (CLIIP).

This document corrects a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) appearing in the Federal Register on March 22, 2010 (75 FR 13600). This action is necessary to state the expiration date of the 30-day public comment period and to include instructions for submitting written comments to the NRC. The corrected draft EA is provided as follows: In accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC has prepared a draft EA as part of its evaluation of a request by Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC (the licensee) for a license amendment to increase the maximum thermal power at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2 (NMP2) from 3,467 megawatts thermal (MWt) to 3,988 MWt. This represents a power increase of approximately 15 percent over the current licensed thermal power, and approximately 20 percent from the original licensed power level of 3,323 MWt. The NRC staff did not identify any significant environmental impact associated with the proposed action based on its evaluation of the information provided in the licensee's extended power uprate (EPU) application and other available information. The draft EA and Finding of No Significant Impact are being published in the Federal Register with a 30-day public comment period ending May 10, 2010.

The NRC invites public comment about our intention to request the OMB's approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

The NRC invites public comment about our intention to request the OMB's approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received and requests public comment on a petition for rulemaking dated February 2, 2010, filed by Dan Kane (petitioner). The petition was docketed by the NRC and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-51-13. The petitioner is requesting that the NRC amend the regulations that govern environmental protection for domestic licensing and related regulatory functions. Specifically, the petitioner requests that the provisions that govern temporary storage of spent fuel after cessation of reactor operation be revoked, that licensing of new nuclear power plants cease, and that existing operating nuclear power plants be phased out. The petitioner believes these suggestions are necessary until the NRC can be assured of the technical and economic certainties of a waste disposition decision and associated political certainties in light of the current administration's proposed defunding of the Yucca Mountain Repository for permanent disposal and storage of spent nuclear fuel.

The NRC staff is issuing its Final Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DC/COL-ISG-017 titled ``Ensuring Hazard-Consistent Seismic Input for Site Response and Soil Structure Interaction Analyses,'' (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML100570203). This ISG supplements the guidance provided to the NRC staff in Sections 2.5 and 3.7 of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan (SRP) for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants,'' March 2007, and DC/COL-ISG-01, ``Interim Staff Guidance on Seismic Issues Associated with High Frequency Ground Motion in Design Certification and Combined License Applications,'' issued May 19, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML081400293). The NRC staff issues DC/COL-ISGs to facilitate timely implementation of current staff guidance and to facilitate activities associated with review of applications for design certifications and combined licenses by the Office of New Reactors. The NRC staff intends to incorporate the final approved DC/COL-ISG-017 into the next revision of SRP Sections 2.5 and 3.7 and Regulatory Guide 1.206, ``Combined License Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (LWR Edition),'' June 2007.