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POLICY ISSUE
NOTATION VOTE

SECY-01-0074

April 26, 2001

• PURPOSE:
• BACKGROUND:
• DISCUSSION:
• RESOURCES:
• COORDINATION:
• RECOMMENDATION:

PURPOSE:

To obtain the Commission's approval to publish Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.188 "Standard Format and Content for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses" (Attachment 1 ), and NUREG-1800 "Standard Review Plan for the Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants" (SRP-LR) (Attachment 2) for implementation. The RG and SRP-LR are based on the supporting guidance provided in NUREG-1801, the "Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report" (Attachment 3), and the explanation of the staff's response to public comments in the accompanying NUREG-1739 "Analysis of Public Comments on the Improved License Renewal Guidance Documents" (Attachment 4).

BACKGROUND:

By a memorandum dated March 24, 1999, the staff informed the Commission about the issue of crediting existing programs for license renewal. Subsequently, in SECY 99-148 the staff discussed this issue at length and presented three options for addressing it. Option 1, proposed by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), was to not review the adequacy of existing programs. The staff proposed two options. Option 2 was to amend the license renewal rule to exclude structures and components subject to existing programs. Option 3 was to focus staff review guidance in the standard review plan on areas where existing programs should be augmented. In a staff requirements memorandum (SRM) dated August 28, 1999, the Commission approved Option 3 and directed the staff to focus the review guidance in the standard review plan on areas where existing programs should be augmented, as described in SECY 99-148, to provide credit for existing programs for license renewal. In approving Option 3, the Commission specifically directed the staff to:

• Ensure that the GALL report received the benefit of the experience of the staff members who conducted the review of the initial license renewal applications.

• Ensure that lessons learned from the initial license renewal application reviews were incorporated into the GALL report and SRP-LR.

• Ensure that the regulatory guidance was clear and understandable to stakeholders so that the license renewal process would be stable and predictable for future applicants.

• Issue the draft GALL report and SRP-LR to solicit public comments.

• Seek stakeholder participation in the development of the draft GALL report and SRP-LR through activities such as workshops.

• Hold public meetings with stakeholders to resolve comments on individual issues.

• Brief the Commission after the public comment period and the staff's initial evaluation of the comments.

• Provide a recommendation to the Commission on whether it would be appropriate to resolve generic technical issues by rulemaking.

The staff has carried out Option 3 with the exception of the last item, which the staff will provide later in 2001.

In developing the GALL report and the SRP-LR, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation staff involved with the initial license renewal application reviews, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research staff, and the Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories, have worked to make sure that the aging management programs relied upon to manage aging for license renewal reflect current industry practices. The staff has incorporated applicable lessons learned from the first four license renewal application reviews. The staff has also improved these documents as a result of incorporating comments received from stakeholders in response to a Federal Register notice soliciting comments (described below). As a result, these documents now reflect the staff's and stakeholders's experience with four of the license renewal reviews completed or currently under review (three pressurized water reactor reviews and one boiling water reactor review). As the staff develops more experience in subsequent reviews, it expects to periodically update these documents. For future revisions to these documents the staff would follow the normal approval process for issuance of such guidance (NRC Management Directive 3.7 and applicable office instructions) and will inform the Commission. If the need arises between updates to immediately notify license renewal applicants of relevant changes, the staff will use an interim information dissemination mechanism such as a Regulatory Information Summary. In developing the GALL report and the SRP-LR, the staff also considered the information in the five technical reports provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in a May 5, 2000, letter.

RG 1.188 (formerly DG-1104) was developed to provide applicants with guidance on information to be included as part of an application for license renewal. The RG endorsed NEI's guidance document NEI 95-10, Revision 3, "Industry Guidance for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR Part 54 - The License Renewal Rule," because it provides methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 54 for preparing a license renewal application. To complete the endorsement of NEI 95-10 by RG 1.188, the staff met with NEI in February 2001 to discuss several changes to NEI 95-10, Revision 2. The staff requested the changes to make it consistent with the SRP-LR and the GALL report. Subsequently, NEI revised NEI 95-10 and submitted Revision 3 to the NRC by letter dated April 16, 2001. The staff has reviewed NEI 95-10, Revision 3, and has endorsed it in RG 1.188 without exceptions.

On December 6, 1999, the staff held a public workshop to invite the public to participate in the early development of license renewal guidance documents and to specifically gather feedback on which existing plant programs needed to be augmented for license renewal and which programs could adequately manage aging effects without being changed. The staff made an early draft of the GALL report available at the public workshop. Following the workshop, NEI submitted a significant number of comments that were discussed in subsequent public meetings. The UCS also submitted five technical reports following the workshop for NRC's consideration in preparing the draft GALL report. As a result of comments received and meetings with stakeholders, the staff revised and improved the draft GALL report, the SRP-LR, and DG-1104.

DISCUSSION:

In the August 31, 2000, Federal Register notice (65 FR 53047), the staff noticed the issuance of the draft GALL report, SRP-LR, and DG-1104 for public comment. These documents were made available in the Agency's document management system, ADAMS, and on the NRC's external web site to give stakeholders easier access to them. To facilitate gathering public comments on these draft documents and bring stakeholders up to date on the staff's efforts, the Federal Register notice also informed stakeholders that a public workshop was planned for September 25, 2000. Over 1000 comments were received from the September 25 workshop and in letters and emails sent to the NRC. Approximately two-thirds of the comments were submitted by NEI and one-third by private citizens, law firms, public interest groups, and utilities. The staff also provided copies of these documents to the Commission as requested in the August 27, 1999, SRM.

The staff has evaluated these stakeholder comments and has made changes, as appropriate, to the GALL report, the SRP-LR, and RG 1.188 to make them clear and understandable to stakeholders and to explain the staff's reasoning for its conclusions. In evaluating stakeholder comments, the staff has held public meetings with stakeholders to ensure that issues and comments were clearly understood and the basis for the staff's evaluation of an issue was clearly communicated. The staff's evaluation of stakeholder comments is documented in NUREG-1739. In addition, senior NRC managers who serve on the License Renewal Steering Committee have monitored the staff's efforts to resolve comments made by stakeholders.

On December 4, 2000, following the public comment period the staff briefed the Commission on its initial evaluation of the public comments. NEI and UCS also made presentations to the Commission at the briefing. Although NEI had not seen the results of the staff's disposition of the public comments, NEI said that there are certain areas where it believed the GALL report was establishing unjustified requirements for aging management programs and it disagreed with the staff regarding a few of the details in the license renewal guidance documents.

Following the Commission meeting, the staff devoted significant resources to communicating with NEI to address potential issues. The staff held a public meeting in December 2000 to define the scope of the issues. In addition to discussing issues raised by NEI, the staff told the meeting participants the general nature of changes made to the guidance documents in response to the public comments. As a result of the meeting, NEI indicated which issues it wished to further discuss with management. In January 2001, the staff held three public meetings to discuss these issues. Most of the issues were addressed through these meetings and dialogue is continuing on remaining issues as described below.

The staff believes that all of the public comments have been adequately addressed. The most significant comment was the general concern about whether the public had an adequate opportunity to comment on the guidance, as described by the UCS, the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS), and the Citizens Awareness Network (CAN). To address the general concern, as the staff has worked to finalize these license renewal guidance documents, the staff invited the public to participate in the meetings with industry. Specifically, the staff sent UCS and NIRS copies of meeting notices. In addition, the staff ensured that the resolution of comments was made publically available in meeting summaries. The staff also offered to meet with and requested comments from UCS, NIRS, and CAN to give them ample opportunity to offer comments after the formal comment period was over. To date, these stakeholders have not responded to the request. The staff will continue to ensure that the interested public have adequate opportunities to participate in future license renewal process improvements.

All comments from the industry have been resolved with the exception of six issues. The industry has agreed that the improved guidance should be approved at this time because it proposes to conduct a demonstration project to further improve the use of referencing to achieve efficiency, and because the staff has agreed to continue a dialog on the following five issues: (1) cracking of small-bore piping, (2) the degradation of bolting, (3) the role of monitoring loose parts in detecting loose bolts in reactor vessel internals, (4) the inspection and flow testing of fire protection piping, and (5) consideration of individual plant evaluation of external events (IPEEE) information in determining structures and components within the scope of license renewal. The staff and NEI agreed to have additional public meetings to exchange information on these five issues. Although significant progress has been made on clarifying how an applicant is to use the GALL report (the sixth industry issue) the demonstration project that NEI is sponsoring with several utilities will help resolve the remaining implementation details. The demonstration project is to be conducted by several future license renewal applicants. They will prepare sections of an application focusing on a few selected systems at their plants; for some selected systems, their aging management program will meet a GALL program; for others, the aging management program will be very similar to a GALL program; and for yet others, the program will be very different from the GALL program. The staff supports NEI's proposal and agrees that the demonstration project will help iron out implementation details. It will also provide near-term feedback to the staff on what efficiencies it can expect to achieve through the use of the GALL report. According to the preliminary schedule for the demonstration, utilities will submit sample sections of license renewal applications to the NRC in late April 2001. The staff and NEI would then interact over the next few months to support incorporating lessons learned into NEI 95-10 around August 2001.

It is the staff's expectation that future license renewal applicants will realize resource savings in preparing their applications if they choose to use the GALL report and RG 1.188. Applying the GALL report will reduce the need to review plant-specific aging management programs. If applicants follow the guidance in RG 1.188, the format and content of their application will be similar to previous applications which provides for efficiencies for both parties because it provides a standard format and content for a license renewal application which will provide efficiencies for the applicant in preparing and the staff reviewing an application. In addition, when applicants state that their aging management programs are bounded by the GALL programs, the staff's review will shift from reviewing each program in detail to verifying the applicant's assertion. This will significantly reduce staff review resources and increase the efficiency of the review. The staff believes that the improved license renewal guidance documents will increase the stability and predictability of the license renewal review process because they describe the framework for a disciplined process that clearly articulates the evaluation criteria. They also provide a clear and sound technical basis to support the staff's conclusion that (1) actions have been identified and have been or will be taken with respect to managing the effects of aging during the period of extended operation for structures, systems, and components within the scope of the license renewal rule, (2) and that actions have been identified and have been or will be taken with respect to time-limited aging analysis that are required to be reviewed in accordance with the license renewal rule. These documents should also increase public confidence in the license renewal review process because the public was involved in developing them, and the public's comments were considered and incorporated, and because the documents will make the staff's license renewal reviews more predictable.

RESOURCES:

The staff presently has budgeted adequate resources for license renewal application reviews (which includes the anticipated efficiencies from the GALL report, SRP-LR, and RG 1.188) and adequate resources to finish issuing these documents. The staff is evaluating the need for additional resources to support the demonstration project and to continue dialog with the industry on improving the guidance documents. Additional resources will be reprogrammed in accordance with the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation's implementation of planning, budgeting, and performance monitoring practices, if necessary.

COORDINATION:

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed this paper and has no legal objection. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this paper for resource implications and has no objections.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Commission:

1. Approve publication of RG 1.188 and NUREG-1800.

2. Note:

1. The Federal Register notice for informing stakeholders of the availability of these documents and the documents supporting them is attached (Attachment 5).

2. The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has been provided copies of these documents and was briefed on them by the staff on March 27, 2001, and April 5, 2001. The ACRS intends to issue its recommendation on these documents to the Commission.

3. Letters have been prepared to inform the appropriate Congressional members to be responsive to commitments previously made to the House Appropriation Committee staff by the Chief Financial Officer to respond to the Conference Report for the Fiscal Year 2000 Appropriations Bill.

4. The Office of Public Affairs has prepared a press release to announce the publication of these documents.

ATTACHMENT 5

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Issuance, Availability of Regulatory Guide, Standard Review Plan, and
Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report

AGENCY:  Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:  Notice of Availability.

SUMMARY:  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Regulatory Guide 1.188, "Standard Format and Content for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses"; NUREG-1800, "Standard Review Plan for the Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants" (SRP-LR); and NUREG-1801, "Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report." These documents describe methods acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing the license renewal rule, as well as techniques used by the NRC staff in evaluating applications for license renewals. The draft versions of these documents were issued for public comments on August 31, 2000 (64FR53047). The staff assessment of public comments is being issued as NUREG-1739, "Analysis of Public Comments on the Improved License Renewal Guidance Documents."

ADDRESSES:  Electronic copies of all the documents in this paragraph are available on NRC's License Renewal web site, at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html. Electronic copies are also available in NRC's Electronic Reading Room accessible from the NRC Web site <http://www.nrc.gov>. Regulatory Guide 1.188 is under ADAMS Accession Number ML011070105 ,NUREG-1800 (SRP-LR) is under ADAMS Accession number ML01109011, NUREG-1801 the GALL Report is under ADAMS Accession number ML011080726, the NEI 95-10 (Revision 3) is under ADAMS Accession number ML011100576, and NUREG-1739 (Analysis of Public Comments) is under ADAMS Accession number ML011080600.

Copies are available at current rates from the U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328 (telephone (202)512-1800); or from the National Technical Information Service by writing NTIS at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161; (telephone (703)487-4650); <http://www.ntis.gov/help/ordermethods.asp?loc=7-4-0#online> . Copies are available for inspection or copying for a fee from the NRC Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555; telephone (301)415-4737 or (800)397-4209; fax (301)415-3548; email is pdr@nrc.gov. These license renewal guidance documents are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Raj Anand, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop O-12G15, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 205555-0001, Telephone (301) 415-1146, or email <RKA@NRC.GOV> .

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory Guide for License Renewal

Regulatory Guide 1.188 is being issued as guidance for the license renewal rule. This regulatory guide provides guidance on the format and content acceptable to the NRC staff for structuring and presenting the information to be compiled and submitted in an application for renewal of a nuclear power plant operating license. Regulatory Guide 1.188 endorses the use of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) guidance document, Revision 3 of NEI 95-10, "Industry Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR Part 54--The License Renewal Rule", March 2001, as an acceptable method for preparing an application that complies with the requirements of the license renewal rule.

Regulatory Guide 1.188 supersedes Draft Regulatory Guides DG-1104 and DG-1047 which were issued for public comment in August 2000, and in August 1996, respectively, to propose endorsement of an earlier version of NEI 95-10.

Regulatory Guide 1.188 and NEI 95-10 provide guidance on the contents of an application for license renewal that includes --

As indicated in Revision 3 of NEI 95-10, NEI intends that NEI 95-10 be consistent with the GALL report and the SRP-LR.

Standard Review Plan for License Renewal

The NRC staff also has revised a SRP-LR (NUREG-1800) that contains guidance to NRC staff reviewers in performing safety reviews of applications submitted to renew licenses of nuclear power plants in accordance with the license renewal rule. The SRP-LR contains four major chapters: (1) Administrative Information (2) Scoping and Screening Methodology for Identifying Structures and Components Subject to Aging Management Review, and Implementation Results (3) Aging Management Review Results, and (4) Time-Limited Aging Analyses. In addition, three Branch Technical Positions are in an appendix to the SRP-LR.

During the initial license renewal reviews, the NRC and the industry recognized that most of the existing programs at the plants were adequate to manage aging effects for license renewal without change. The Commission, by a staff requirements memorandum (SRM) dated August 27, 1999, directed the NRC staff to focus the review guidance in the SRP-LR on existing programs that should be augmented for license renewal. The NRC staff developed the GALL report that evaluates existing programs generically to document the basis for determining when existing programs are adequate without change and when existing programs should be augmented for license renewal. The SRP-LR incorporates the GALL report by reference.

Generic Aging Lessons Learned Report

The GALL report, NUREG-1801, presents the aging management review results in a table format. The adequacy of the generic aging management programs in managing certain aging effects for particular structures and components are evaluated based on the review of 10 program attributes: scope of program, preventive actions, parameters monitored or inspected, detection of aging effects, monitoring and trending, acceptance criteria, corrective actions, confirmation process, administrative controls, and operating experience. If the evaluation determines that a program is adequate to manage certain aging effects for particular structures and components without change, the GALL report would indicate that no further NRC staff evaluation is recommended for license renewal. Otherwise, it would recommend areas in which the NRC staff should focus its review.

The GALL report is a technical basis document for the SRP-LR. The GALL report should be treated in the same manner as an approved topical report that is applicable generically. An applicant may reference the GALL report in a license renewal application to demonstrate that the applicant's programs at its facility correspond to those reviewed and approved in the GALL report, and that no further NRC staff review is required. If the material presented in the GALL report is applicable to the applicant's facility, the NRC staff would find the applicant's reference to the GALL report acceptable. In making this determination, the NRC staff shall consider whether the applicant has identified specific programs described and evaluated in the GALL report. However, the NRC staff will not repeat its review of the substance of the matters described in the GALL report. Rather, the NRC staff shall ensure that the applicant verifies that the approvals set forth in the GALL report for generic programs apply to the applicant's programs. The focus of the NRC staff review shall be on augmented programs for license renewal. The NRC staff shall also review information that is not addressed in the GALL report, or is otherwise different from that in the GALL report.

Analysis of Public Comments on the Improved License Renewal Guidance Documents

On August 31, 2000, the NRC announced (65 FR 53047) the issuance for public comment and availability of Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1104, "Standard Format and Content for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses"; a draft "Standard Review Plan for the Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants" (SRP-LR), and a draft "Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report". DG-1104 proposed to endorse NEI 95-10, Rev. 2, "Industry Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR Part 54 - The License Renewal Rule." The NRC also announced a public workshop that was held on September 25, 2000, to facilitate gathering of public comment on the draft documents. Written comments were received from over 128 commenters with the breakdown being 101 individuals, 15 public interest groups, and 12 industry groups (law firms, utilities, and the Nuclear Energy Institute). The staff also held public meetings with stakeholders to discuss their comments.

NUREG-1739, "Analysis of Public Comments on the Improved License Renewal Guidance Documents" contains the NRC response to stakeholders' comments. The dispositions are prepared in a table format and contained in five appendices. Appendix A addresses the participant comments from the license renewal public workshop on September 25, 2000; Appendix B addresses the specific written comments submitted by NEI; Appendix C addresses the written comments submitted by various stakeholders such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, utilities, and private citizens; Appendix D addresses five Union of Concerned Scientists reports; and Appendix E addresses the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safety (ACRS) consultants' structural and electrical comments.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this ______ day of April 2001.

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