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Topical Reports
The NRC sponsors a topical report program
to increase the efficiency of the licensing process and to reduce
the burden on licensees. For this program, NRC reviews industry-proposed information
for publication by the industry on safety-related topics that may be used
in the licensing process by a number of NRC licensees.
On this page:
Definition
A topical report is a document about a technical nuclear power plant
safety topic that can be submitted to NRC for its review and approval.
Purpose
A topical report minimizes time and resources that both industry and
the NRC could expend on repetitive reviews of the same topic by providing
for a single review and, if appropriate, NRC approval of a safety-related
topic.
Governing Regulations
NRC's regulations related to topical reports are found in Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Sections 170.11 and 2.390.
Initiative of a Topical Report
A licensee or industry organization may, on its own initiative or at
the request of NRC staff, submit reports to the NRC on specific safety-related
topics and have them reviewed independently of any construction permit
or operating license review.
Topical Report Requirements
Criteria for a Topical Report:
A report submitted for review as a topical report should meet all four of the following criteria:
- The report deals with a specific safety-related subject regarding a nuclear power plant that requires a safety assessment by the NRC staff; for example, component design, analytical models or techniques, or performance testing of components and/or systems that can be evaluated independently of a specific license application.
(Technical reports submitted for resolution of industry issues or in support of plant-specific license amendment applications are not defined as topical reports under this program).
- The report is expected to be referenced by multiple licensees in a number of license amendment requests following staff approval. Generally, a report intended for use by multiple sites of an individual licensee is not considered a topical report.
- The report contains complete and detailed information on the specific subject presented. Conceptual or incomplete preliminary information will not be reviewed.
- NRC approval of the report will increase the efficiency of the review process for applications that reference the report.
Exceptions to the Four Criteria:
Exceptions to these criteria,
especially criterion (2), may be allowed on a case-by-case basis if the NRC staff
determines that an exception is in the public interest. The applicant must provide
such written justification to the staff prior to submitting the topical report for
review, preferably at the pre-submittal meeting stage. Justification for an exception
could be based on contribution to resolving a safety-related issue, an advancement
in technology that would benefit safety or reduce an operational burden, or result
in significant cost savings to the industry. Any staff decision to accept for review a
topical report that does not meet the four criteria above must also find that the projected staff resources for review of the report are justified.
Before accepting such a report for review, NRC also determines whether the resources expended in the review are worth reducing resources committed to other regulatory activities, such as licensing actions.
The NRC notifies the submitting organization whether each report submitted has
been accepted for review as part of the topical report program.
Topical Reports and Related Plant-specific Licensing Actions:
If plant-specific
information is needed in support of a topical report, it should generally be
submitted as part of the topical report, either in the body of the topical report
or as appendices to the topical report, as opposed to a separate concurrent
"pilot plant" application. In general, reviews of plant-specific
licensing actions, that reference a topical report under review, are not accepted
for review in parallel with the referenced topical report review until the staff
publishes the draft safety evaluation for the topical report following resolution
of technical issues and identification of any limitations/conditions to use of the
topical report. If the Vendor/Owners Group has prior knowledge that a licensee
plans to submit a license amendment application referencing a topical report, which
is either proposed or currently under staff review, the Vendor/ Owners Group should
contact the cognizant Vendor/ Owners Group Project Manager to discuss the merits
and potential problems with such a submittal.
The need for a separate concurrent demonstration or pilot license amendment request
will be discussed and agreed upon at the pre-submittal meeting. If the staff agrees
that such a pilot amendment will facilitate the topical report review, it will normally
be submitted as a supplement to the topical report and will be reviewed, and either
approved or denied, as part of the topical report review. Upon staff issuance of the
topical report draft safety evaluation, the pilot application licensee must then submit
a license amendment request referencing the approved topical report. If the amendment
request complies fully with the topical report, the staff should be able to issue the
amendment upon expiration of the Federal Register notice.
NRC's Role
The NRR Office Instruction LIC-500,
"Processing Requests for Reviews of Topical Reports," describes
the topical report process.
Management:
NRC assigns a Topical Report Program Manager (Tanya Mensah, 301-415-3610) to manage the overall
topical report program and coordinates with the cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager. The Project Manager manages and coordinates the technical
review of that organization's topical reports. The PM first determines
whether the report meets the criteria for a topical report and notifies
the sponsoring organization if the report qualifies for review. If it
does, the PM then assigns the report a technical assignment control (TAC)
number and assigns staff experts in the technical area for the report's
topic to conduct a detailed technical review of the report.
The NRC may also find that addressing a safety-related topic in a topical
report is desirable and contact a sponsoring organization to discuss the
preparation of such a report and the possibility of a fee exemption or
any associated review fees.
Requests for Additional Information:
While reviewing the report,
NRC may request additional information by letter or during a meeting or
a conference call. NRC considers responses to these requests and to staff
comments supplementary information to the original report. Both the requests
and the responses are documented in any approved version of the topical
report.
Revisions:
The PM issues a new NRC TAC number for each revision
to an approved report. NRC does not return reports superseded by a revision
to the sponsoring organization because an approved report may remain acceptable
for referencing in a license application.
Withdrawals:
Over time, a topical report may become obsolete because
it does not adequately address the current state of the technology, or
NRC criteria or regulations have changed so that it is no longer applicable,
or for other reasons. In this event the NRC may request that the sponsoring
office withdraw a report. If a sponsoring organization requests that NRC
withdraw a report, the NRC notifies the organization when it has been
categorized "withdrawn."
NRC's Decision About a Report:
If a topical report is acceptable
for referencing in a license application, NRC sends a letter to the organization
that submitted the report, transmitting the results of the evaluation
and stating any conditions for its acceptance. For a proprietary topical
report, the transmittal letter also states that both proprietary and nonproprietary
versions must be referenced in future license applications.
Publication of Approved Reports
After the NRC accepts a topical report for referencing in a licensing
application, the sponsoring organization must publish the approved report
and submit to the NRC. This organization inserts NRC's transmittal letter, evaluation, and all requests for additional information and their responses
immediately after the title page. For a proprietary topic report, both
proprietary and nonproprietary versions must be published and submitted
to the NRC.
Public Availability
All nonproprietary correspondence regarding the review of topical reports,
all nonproprietary topical reports, and all nonproprietary versions of
proprietary reports are available to the public through the Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System and in NRC's
Public Document Room.
Submittal Procedures
Any industry organization that plans to submit a report to the NRC for
review as part of the topical report program should adhere to the following
procedures.
Submitting Reports for Review:
Consult the NRC cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager well in advance of submitting a topical report to ensure
that the proposed report meets the criteria for
a topical report or one of the exceptions to these criteria and to clarify
NRC requirements for preparing and submitting the report.
A pre-application meeting should be held with the NRC
staff to discuss the proposed topical report before its submittal,
unless the NRC staff agrees that a pre-application meeting is not needed.
If the NRC determines that the proposed report qualifies for topical
report review, submit a letter transmitting the requisite number
of copies of the report. For a proprietary report, both proprietary
and nonproprietary versions must be submitted. State in the first
paragraph of the transmittal letter that you are submitting a topical
report under the NRC licensing topical report program for review and acceptance
for referencing in licensing actions. Also specify in this paragraph the
report identifier, title, and issue date. Address the transmittal letter and
enclosures to the Document Control Desk, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. If a fee exemption is requested, follow the
address requirements under Review Fees.
Also state in the transmittal letter the date when approval of the
report in an application, if approved, is expected to be needed.
Copy Requirements:
Submit the
following quantities of topical reports in hard copy and any additional
copies the NRC staff requests. These quantities apply to
initial submittals, revisions, supplements, and NRC-approved versions.
| Type of Report |
Number of Copies of Report and Cover Letter |
| Nonproprietary |
1 original to Document Control Desk,*
3 copies to cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager under separate cover |
| Proprietary |
1 original to Document Control Desk,*
3 copies to cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager under separate cover |
| Proprietary and nonproprietary versions |
1 original of each version to Document Control Desk,*
3 copies of proprietary and 1 copy of nonproprietary version to cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager under separate cover |
*If a fee exemption is requested, follow the address requirements under
Review Fees.
Review Fees:
Applications for topical
report reviews are normally subject to fees based on the full cost of
the review (see 10
CFR Part 170). Exemptions to the fee recovery requirements are made
on a case-by-case basis (see 10
CFR 170.11). If the report is submitted in response to certain
NRC Generic Letters, NRC Bulletins, or an NRC request (at the Associate
Office Director level or above) or is submitted as a means of exchanging information
between the industry and the NRC for the purpose of supporting NRC's generic
regulatory improvement program, the report may qualify for a review fee exemption.
Review of the topical report must assist the staff in developing NRC's generic
regulatory improvement program and not merely be a first-of-its-kind review
that may benefit others that follow. A fee exemption does not mean that the
NRC does not charge for the review, only that the fee will not be assessed
to the organization that requested the review. The cost of the review, when
an exemption is granted, is paid by the licensees under 10 CFR Part 171.
The NRC has been directed by Congress to keep these fees as low as possible.
If a fee exemption is requested, NRC does not begin its review until it decides
whether to grant the fee exemption, unless the submitting organization has agreed
to pay the fee in case the fee exemption is denied.
Topical reports that contain fee exemption requests should be addressed
to the Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001 in addition to the above addressees.
Format of Topical Reports
Topical Report Identifier:
Each submitting organization
assigns a unique alphanumeric identifier to a topical report for filing
and reference purposes and places it in the upper right-hand corner of
the first page or cover page of all documents relating to the report.
Consult the cognizant Vendor/Owners Group Project Manager to ensure that the identifier selected does
not conflict with that of another organization.
- For all proprietary reports, place "-P" or "(P)" at the end
of the identifier.
- For the corresponding nonproprietary report, place "-NP" or
"(NP)" at the end of the identifier rather than "-P" or "(P)".
- For all NRC-approved proprietary reports, place "-P-A" or "(P-A)"
after the identifier, the A indicating NRC approval.
Identify all responses to the NRC's comments or requests for additional
information regarding a specific topical report by both the NRC TAC number
and the submitting organization's identifier for that report followed
by "Response to Comment," "Response to Request for Additional Information
by the NRC Staff," or, if appropriate, "Response by Appendix or Supplement
to the Original Topical Report." NRC discourages the use of an addendum.
Although a revision to the original topical report can constitute a response,
NRC closes out the old review and initiates a new review for each revision
submitted.
Abstract:
Include in each topical report an abstract no
longer than one page that summarizes the contents of the report and the
conclusions reached.
Handling of Proprietary Topical Reports:
Use italics, marginal
lines, underscoring, or bracketing to identify material considered to
be proprietary information.
Indicate in the nonproprietary report what information has been deleted
from the proprietary version because the submitting organization considers
it to be proprietary. For example, if brackets are used in the proprietary
version to show what portion of the information is considered proprietary,
the nonproprietary version should leave blank the portion between the
brackets to show that information was removed. Upon submitting a properly
marked topical report (see 10 CFR 2.390) that
is considered proprietary and a justification for why it is proprietary,
the NRC determines whether the information should be withheld from public
disclosure and notifies the submitting organization of the determination.
Revisions to Topical Reports:
If an NRC-approved topical report
needs revising and is not obsolete, submit the revision to NRC, following
the same procedures used for submitting a topical report for the first
time with the following exceptions: State in a note on the cover page
of the revision that it supersedes and replaces all previous versions
of the report. Place the same identifier on the revision used on the original
version followed by the revision number (e.g., Revision 1 or Revision
2). Do not include "-A" or "(A)", indicating an approved
report, as part of the identifier on the revision.
Withdrawal of Topical Reports:
Over time, a topical report may become obsolete because it does not adequately
address the current state of the technology, or NRC criteria or regulations
have changed so that it is no longer applicable, or for other reasons.
To withdraw an approved topical report, submit a letter requesting that
NRC withdraw the report. If the NRC categorizes the report "withdrawn,"
it can no longer be referenced in a license application. However, the
report may be replaced by an updated or new topical report that has
a new identifier and new NRC TAC number to avoid confusion with the withdrawn
report.
Topical Reports Under Review
Topical Reports Approved
Accessing Topical Reports Through ADAMS
Topical reports can be accessed in Web-Based ADAMS by using the following steps:
- Select Advanced Search
- Go to Document Type and select the button next to it: "Select
from Known Values..."
- Select Topical Report from the list
- Click Select Values
- Click Search
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