Nuclear Regulatory Commission February 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is proposing to amend its adjudicatory rules of practice. This proposed rule would make changes to the NRC's adjudicatory process that NRC believes will promote fairness, efficiency, and openness in NRC adjudicatory proceedings. This proposed rule would also correct errors and omissions that have been identified since the major revisions to the NRC's Rules of Practice in early 2004.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) proposes to amend its regulations to certify an amendment to the AP1000 standard plant design. The purpose of the amendment is to replace the combined license (COL) information items and design acceptance criteria (DAC) with specific design information, address the effects of the impact of a large commercial aircraft, incorporate design improvements, and increase standardization of the design. Upon NRC rulemaking approval of its amendment to the AP1000 design, an applicant seeking an NRC license to construct and operate a nuclear power reactor using the AP1000 design need not demonstrate in its application the safety of the certified design. The applicant for this amendment to the AP1000 certified design is Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (Westinghouse). The public is invited to submit comments on this proposed design certification rule (DCR), the revised generic design control document (DCD) that would be incorporated by reference into the DCR, and the environmental assessment (EA) for this amendment to the AP1000 design.

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). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: NRC Form 64, ``Travel Voucher'' (Part 1); NRC Form 64A, ``Travel Voucher'' (Part 2); and NRC Form 64B, ``Optional Travel Voucher'' (Part 2). 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0192. 3. How often the collection is required: On occasion. 4. Who is required or asked to report: Contractors, consultants and invited NRC travelers who travel in the course of conducting business for the NRC. 5. The number of annual respondents: 100. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 100 (1 hour per form). 7. Abstract: Consultants, contractors, and those invited by the NRC to travel (e.g., prospective employees) must file travel vouchers and trip reports in order to be reimbursed for their travel expenses. The information collected includes the name, address, social security number, and the amount to be reimbursed. Travel expenses that are reimbursed are confined to those expenses essential to the transaction of official business for an approved trip. Submit, by April 19, 2011, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology?

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the AREVA Enrichment Services LLC (AES) Proposed Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility (EREF). On December 30, 2008, AES submitted a license application to the NRC that proposes the construction, operation, and decommissioning of a gas centrifuge-based uranium enrichment facility on a presently undeveloped site near Idaho Falls in Bonneville County, Idaho (the ``proposed action''). This application is for a license to possess and use byproduct material, source material, and special nuclear material at the proposed uranium enrichment facility. The application included an Environmental Report (ER) regarding the proposed action. AES subsequently submitted revisions to the license application on April 23, 2009 (Revision 1), and April 30, 2010 (Revision 2), which included ER Revision 1 and ER Revision 2, respectively. License application Revision 1 addresses the expansion of the proposed EREF to increase its production capacity from 3.3 million Separative Work Units (SWUs) per year to 6.6 million SWUs per year; and ER Revision 1 includes information on the environmental impacts of the proposed 6.6- million-SWU-per-year EREF. Revision 2 to the license application and the ER incorporates into Revision 1 additional information that AES previously provided the NRC in response to NRC staff requests for additional information for its safety and environmental reviews, as well as supplemental information on a proposed electrical transmission line required to power the proposed EREF. On June 17, 2009, AES submitted a request for an exemption from certain NRC regulations so that it could commence certain preconstruction activities (e.g., site preparation) on the proposed EREF site prior to the NRC's decision on whether to grant or deny a license. On March 17, 2010, the NRC granted an exemption authorizing AES to conduct the requested preconstruction activities. The Final EIS is being issued as part of the NRC's process to decide whether to issue a license to AES, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) parts 30, 40, and 70, to construct and operate the proposed uranium enrichment facility. Specifically, AES proposes to use gas centrifuge technology to enrich the uranium-235 isotope found in natural uranium to concentrations up to 5 percent by weight. The enriched uranium would be used to manufacture nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors. In the Final EIS, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental impacts from the preconstruction, construction, operation, and decommissioning of the proposed EREF project. The Final EIS was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the NRC's regulations for implementing NEPA in 10 CFR part 51. The NRC staff assessed the impacts of the proposed action on land use, historic and cultural resources, visual and scenic resources, air quality, geology and soils, water resources, ecological resources, noise, transportation, public and occupational health, waste management, socioeconomics, and environmental justice. Additionally, the NRC staff analyzed and compared the benefits and costs of the proposed action. In preparing this Final EIS, the NRC staff also reviewed, considered, evaluated, and addressed the public comments received on the Draft EIS. In addition to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered the no-action alternative and other alternatives. Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would deny AES's request to construct and operate a uranium enrichment facility at the EREF site. The no-action alternative serves as a baseline for comparison of the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action. Other alternatives the NRC staff considered but eliminated from further analysis include: (1) Alternative sites for the EREF; (2) alternative sources of enriched uranium; and (3) alternative technologies for uranium enrichment. These alternatives were eliminated from further analysis due to economic, environmental, national security, technological maturity, or other reasons. The Final EIS also discusses alternatives for the disposition of depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF6) resulting from enrichment operations over the lifetime of the proposed EREF. After weighing the impacts, costs, and benefits of the proposed action and comparing alternatives, the NRC staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.91(d), sets forth its recommendation regarding the proposed action. The NRC staff recommends that, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, the proposed action should be approved (i.e., NRC should issue a license). In this regard, the NRC staff has concluded that the environmental impacts of the proposed action are generally small, and that implementation of the proposed AES environmental monitoring program and AES mitigation measures discussed in the Final EIS would eliminate or substantially lessen any adverse environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. Document Availability: The Final EIS and other publicly available documents related to this notice can be accessed using any of the methods described in this section. Because one appendix of the Final EIS contains Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI), this appendix has been withheld from public inspection in accordance with 10 CFR 2.390, ``Availability of Public Records.'' This appendix contains proprietary business information as well as security-related information. The NRC staff has considered the information in this appendix in forming the conclusions presented in the EIS. Procedures for obtaining access to SUNSI were previously published in the NRC's Notice of Hearing and Commission Order related to AES's application for the EREF. Notice of Receipt of Application for License; Notice of Consideration of Issuance of License; Notice of Hearing and Commission Order and Order Imposing Procedures for Access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information and Safeguards Information for Contention Preparation; In the Matter of Areva Enrichment Services, LLC (Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility), 74 FR. 38052 (July 30, 2009). NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents related to the EREF project at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852. Members of the public can contact the NRC's PDR reference staff by calling 1-800-397- 4209, by faxing a request to 301-415-3548, or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. NRC Web sites: Documents related to this notice are available on the NRC's AREVA Enrichment Services, LLC Gas Centrifuge Facility website at https://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/arevanc.html. The Final EIS for the proposed EREF may also be accessed on the internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ by selecting ``NUREG-1945.'' NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): Members of the public can access the NRC's ADAMS at https://www.nrc.gov/ reading-rm/adams.html. From this Web site, enter the ADAMS Accession Numbers included here for AES's license application and ER Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession Number: ML101610549), the exemption authorizing certain preconstruction activities (ADAMS Accession Number: ML093220446), and NRC's Final EIS (ADAMS Accession Numbers: ML11014A005 [Volume 1] and ML11014A006 [Volume 2]). Federal rulemaking Web site: Materials related to this notice can be found at https://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC- 2009-0187. Public Library: A copy of the Final EIS will be available at the Idaho Falls Public Library, 457 West Broadway, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, 208-612-8460.

This document corrects a notice appearing in the Federal Register on January 7, 2011, that announces the availability of draft implementation guidance for public comment. This action is necessary to correct the ADAMS Accession Number for the draft Part 40 implementation guidance.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Commission or NRC) is seeking input from the public, licensees, certificate holders, and other stakeholders on a draft guidance document entitled ``Weapons Safety Assessment'' (WSA). This guidance would be used by licensees and certificate holders applying to the NRC to obtain enhanced weapons under the NRC's proposed rule titled ``Enhanced Weapons, Firearms Background Checks, and Security Event Notifications,'' published in the Proposed Rule section of today's Federal Register (NRC-2011-0018). A completed WSA would be part of an application to the NRC for the use for enhanced weapons. The Commission is authorized under Section 161A of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA), to approve licensees' and certificate holders' possession of enhanced weapons as part of a protective strategy for defending NRC-regulated facilities and radioactive material against malevolent acts. Volumes 1 through 3 of the draft WSA are being issued for public review and comment.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is proposing regulations that would implement its authority under the new section 161A of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA), as amended, and revise existing regulations governing security event notifications. These proposed regulations are consistent with the provisions of the Firearms Guidelines the NRC published under section 161A with the approval of the U.S. Attorney General on September 11, 2009 (74 FR 46800). The NRC previously proposed new regulations on October 26, 2006 (71 FR 62663), that would have implemented this new authority as part of a larger proposed rule entitled ``Power Reactor Security Requirements.'' However, based upon changes to the final Firearms Guidelines the NRC is now proposing further revisions in these implementing regulations that address the voluntary application for enhanced weapons and the mandatory firearms background checks under section 161A. These implementing regulations would only apply to nuclear power reactor facilities and Category I strategic special nuclear material (SSNM) facilities. In addition, the NRC is also proposing revisions addressing security event notifications from different classes of facilities and the transportation of radioactive material consistently and would add new event notification requirements on the theft or loss of enhanced weapons.