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INFORMATION REPORT SECY-06-0235 November 30, 2006
Contact: L. Rakovan, OEDO Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Meeting with the Electric Power Research Institute on the Performance Demonstration Initiative Program On November 7-8, 2006, the staff participated in a semi-annual public meeting with representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) - Performance Demonstration Initiative (PDI) program. PDI is a nuclear power industry initiative established to develop and administer the qualification requirements of Appendix VIII, "Performance Demonstration for Ultrasonic Examination Systems," Section XI of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, and to develop and administer demonstrations and qualifications of ultrasonic examinations associated with other EPRI programs. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss PDI's progress in implementing selected aspects of Appendix VIII's performance demonstrations and ASME Code actions affecting nondestructive examinations of stainless steel welds, dissimilar metal welds, and polyethylene butt fused joints. The meeting provided a forum to exchange information and to discuss issues of mutual interest. Participation in Panel Discussion at the American Nuclear Society On November 14, 2006, the staff chaired and participated in a panel discussion at the American Nuclear Society winter meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The topic of the panel was Regulatory Challenges and Approaches to Advanced Systems. Staff also participated in the executive committee meeting of the American Nuclear Society Human Factors Division and in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Subcommittee on Human Factors, Control Facilities, and Reliability. Diablo Canyon - Digital Upgrade Public Meeting On November 6, 2006, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) met with the staff to discuss its digital upgrade project at Diablo Canyon. PG&E proposes to replace the analog-process protection system with a solid-state protection system. This was the second meeting with the licensee on this proposed project. PG&E proposes to use the same platform for the control systems. This will be a first-of-a-kind request by the industry. The staff noted that this would be a complex review, and it would be dependent on the completeness of the licensee's submittals. The licensee proposed to submit the topical report in early 2007 with the amendment request to follow in 2008. Hope Creek Extended Power Uprate - Public Meeting On November 13 and 14, 2006, the staff conducted a meeting with PSEG Nuclear LLC to discuss the technical aspects of the extended power uprate for the Hope Creek Generating Station. The licensee proposed to increase the maximum power level from 3339 megawatts thermal (MWth) to 3952 MWth, an increase of approximately 15%. The State regulator and members of the public attended by teleconference. The licensee met with the various technical reviewers to discuss the content of the application and answered staff questions. The technical staff received clarification on numerous items and requested additional information in several areas. Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant - 10 CFR 2.206 Petition Public Meeting On November 13, 2006, a public meeting was held at NRC Headquarters with representatives from North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, Nuclear Information and Resource Services, and the Union of Concerned Scientists to discuss a 10 CFR 2.206 Petition concerning recurring fire protection issues at Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant (Harris) in North Carolina. Several local townships, mayoral and council officials joined in by teleconference. These local officials were not part of the original petition but have since passed resolutions in support of the petition. The petitioners presented information in support of their request to revoke the Harris Operating License or to impose maximum fines for each fire violation until the plant comes into compliance. The petitioners expressed concerns regarding the licensee's longstanding fire safety violations, the licensee's long term use of compensatory measures, the implications of cumulative risk associated with the noncompliances, and the NRC's use of enforcement discretion as prolonging noncompliances. The petitioners have also made requests for open and public proceedings with NRC, Progress Energy, and external stakeholders in the vicinity of the Harris plant. A Petition Review Board meeting was held immediately following the public meeting. During the meeting the decision was made to accept the petition for review. The attorney for the petitioners was notified on November 14, 2006, and an acknowledgment letter will be sent on or before December 6, 2006. Office of New Reactors (NRO) Plant Vogtle Early Site Permit (ESP) Alternate Site Visits On November 6-9, 2006, NRC staff and contractors conducted site visits to Plant Hatch in Baxley, GA; Plant Farley in Dothan, AL; and the Barton Site in Clanton, AL in support of the Plant Vogtle Early Site Permit application. These sites were designated by the applicant, Southern Nuclear, as the alternatives as required by NEPA. The site visits were held by the staff to determine if any of the alternate sites are obviously superior to Plant Vogtle. Westinghouse AP1000 Visit, Monroeville, PA On November 7-9, NRC staff and contractors visited Westinghouse's engineering and simulator facilities in Monroeville, PA. The staff participated in a meeting to discuss Human Factors Engineering issues, and familiarized themselves with Westinghouse's AP1000 control room and simulator design. Portions of the meeting were public, but no members of the public were in attendance. NUREG-1835, Supplement 1 On November 13, 2006, the staff issued Supplement 1 to NUREG-1835, Safety Evaluation Report for North Anna early site permit Site ahead of schedule. The Environmental Impact Statement is on schedule to be issued on December 29, 2006. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Meeting with USEC, Inc. Regarding Information Technology and Transport of Classified Matter On November 9, 2006, staff from NMSS, Office of the General Counsel, the Office Nuclear Security and Incident Response, and the Office Chief Information Officer held a closed meeting with representatives from USEC, Inc. to discuss information technology and the transportation security plan for the transport of classified matter. USEC, Inc. staff discussed its plans to establish a classified computer network in Piketon, Ohio, for the Lead Cascade that would connect with facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Various issues were discussed, including which agency would be the designated approving authority. Staff committed to discuss this issue with the U.S. Department of Energy and get back to USEC, Inc. With respect to transport of classified matter, staff provided feedback on a draft procedure USEC, Inc. plans to use. USEC, Inc. agreed to consider some issues and to make corresponding changes to its security plan. U.S. Department of Energy High-Level Waste Scoping Meetings During the week of October 30th, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held public scoping meetings on the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain and the EIS for a Supplemental Rail Corridor and Rail Alignment to transport high-level waste to a repository at Yucca Mountain. The NRC and the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses staff attended scoping meetings that were held in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Nevada, and Amargosa Valley, Nevada. At these meetings, DOE provided general information on plans for transport, aging, and disposal canisters, and on surface facilities, subsurface designs, and waste package transport/emplacement at Yucca Mountain. Technical Exchange on High-Level Waste Pre-Closure Concerns From November 7-9, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the NRC and DOE staff held a public technical exchange on topics related to pre-closure safety analysis for the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository. Topics discussed included: (1) aircraft hazards; (2) source terms and consequence; (3) reliability and human reliability analysis; (4) technical specifications; (5) training; and (6) pre-closure criticality. DOE presented its license application requirements mapping. The meeting was attended and comments were received from representatives from the State of Nevada, Nuclear Energy Institute, and Electric Power Research Institute, and interested members of the public. Meeting with Croft Associates On November 13, 2006, the staff met with representatives from Croft Associates and University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) to discuss the proposed applications for Certificates of Compliance for two Type B(U) packages. The application will propose a lightly shielded and a heavily shielded transport package for isotopes for medical use. MURR will be the primary user for the new packages. Staff discussed the needs for a complete application and requirements for package testing. Staff also discussed the requirement for Croft Associates to obtain an approval for its Quality Assurance program. The package application will likely be submitted for the NRC review late in fiscal year 2007. Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs (FSME) Final Rule: National Source Tracking of Sealed Sources On November 8, 2006, the final rule "National Source Tracking of Sealed Sources" (71 FR 65686) was published in the Federal Register. This final rule amends Parts 20 and 32 to implement a National Source Tracking System (NSTS) for certain sealed sources. Licensees will be required to report manufacture, transfer, receipt, disassembly, and disposal of these sealed sources to the NSTS. Licensees will also be required to provide their initial inventories of nationally tracked sources to the NSTS and annually reconcile the information in the system with their actual inventories. In addition, manufacturers will be required to assign a unique serial number to each nationally tracked source. The final rule is effective on February 6, 2007. Public Meeting on Rancho Seco License Termination Plan On November 14, 2006, staff from FSME and Region IV held a public meeting in Rancho Cordero, California to discuss and accept public comments on the Rancho Seco License Termination Plan (LTP). The staff presented the LTP review and inspection processes while the licensee presented its plan for decommissioning the reactor site. Following the formal presentations public comments were solicited. No public comments were received. Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) Association Vincotte Nuclear 9th Technical Meeting on Experiences with Risk-based Precursor Analysis On November 10-11, 2006, RES staff participated in the subject meeting, presenting results from the NRC's Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) program and exchanging insights, results, and methods from precursor programs of attending nations. Information such as specific ASP and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) modeling techniques and results, insights and lessons learned, and other issues of interest that were encountered during the precursor analysis of operating experience were shared. Staff level contact was made with risk-based precursor analysts from Belgium, France, Spain, Finland, and Germany. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) Management Meeting On November 6, 2006, RES management and staff met with management and principal investigators from ANL to be briefed on ongoing NRC research programs at ANL and to tour laboratory facilities. ANL also discussed the work being performed for the Department of Energy on the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative/Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. Open Public Comment Period for High Priority Regulatory Guides On November 9, 2006, the RES staff posted to the NRC website for public comment the last two of the high priority Regulatory Guides (RGs) needed to support new reactor licensing. Of the 31 high priority RGs identified as needing to be completed by March 2007, three have been completed, the public comment period has closed for five, and the remaining 23 are now available for public comment. The end of the public comment period for each of the 23 RGs varies, but the comment period for these last two ends on December 24, 2006. The staff plans to conduct a public meeting around the beginning of December to discuss the proposed revisions to selected RGs. The meeting date, location and agenda will be posted to the NRC's website as soon as the information is available. Second Meeting of the European Commission Joint Research Centre/Nuclear Energy Agency Benchmark Study Entitled "Risk Informed In-Service Inspection Methodologies (RISMET) - Scoping Study" On November 7-8, 2006, the NRC hosted the subject meeting, attended by representatives from foreign regulatory agencies and research organizations and from the U.S. nuclear industry. The first objective of the benchmark study is to compare the risk-informed inservice inspection approaches currently in use in the U.S. and in Europe for selected nuclear power plant systems. The second primary objective of the study is to assess the inspection programs in use relative to issues such as sites selected for inspection, probability of detection, radiation dose to workers, risk reduction achieved, and treatment of uncertainties. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 2007. Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) Preliminary Notifications
Office of Administration (ADM) Criticality Control of Fuel Within Dry Storage Casks or Transportation Packages in a Spent Fuel Pool (AH95 - Part 50) On November 16, 2006, the NRC published a direct final rule in the Federal Register (71 FR 66648), that amends its regulations so that requirements applicable to criticality control for spent fuel pool storage racks no longer apply to the fuel within a spent fuel transportation package or storage cask when a package or cask is in a spent fuel pool. These packages and casks are subject to separate criticality control requirements. This amendment is needed to avoid having two different sets of criticality control requirements for fuel within a package or cask in a spent fuel pool. The direct final rule becomes effective January 30, 2007. On November 16, 2006, the NRC published the companion proposed rule to this direct final rule in the Federal Register (71 FR 66705). The comment period closes December 18, 2006. Office of Information Services (OIS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) Requests Received During the Period of November 10 through November 16, 2006:
Office of Human Resources (HR)
Office of Public Affairs (OPA) The OPA received significant media inquiries on the following: Progress Energy's announcement that it had applied to renew the license for the Shearon Harris plant. NRC's public meeting with the Department of Energy regarding Incidental Waste reviews. Other Public Affairs Items: OPA assisted as Commissioner Jaczko visited the Shieldalloy decommissioning site in New Jersey and met with state and local officials.
Office of the Secretary (SECY)
Federal Register Notices Issued
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