[Federal Register: November 2, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 213)]
[Notices]
[Page 55711-55712]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02no01-129]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[SECY-01-0188]
Future Licensing and Inspection Readiness Assessment
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing, for
information, the availability of SECY-01-0188, ``Future Licensing and
Inspection Readiness Assessment,'' dated October 12, 2001. This
document presents the staff's assessment of its readiness to review
applications for licenses and to inspect new nuclear power plants in
response to the Commission's February 13, 2001, staff requirements
memorandum (SRM) for COMJSM-00-0003, ``Staff Readiness for New Nuclear
Plant Construction and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor.'' Because of the
high level of external stakeholder interest in the assessment contained
in SECY-01-0188, the Commission is announcing its public availability
at this time.
ADDRESSES: SECY-01-0188 is available for inspection and copying for a
fee at the Commission's Public Document Room, U.S. NRC's Headquarters
Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and
electronically from the ADAMS Public Library component on the NRC web
site, http://www.nrc.gov (the Electronic Reading Room). The ADAMS
accession number for SECY-01-0188 is ML012640279. The NRC maintains an
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which
provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. These
documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading
Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. If you
do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR)
Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov. A free single copy of SECY-01-0188 will be made available
to interested parties until the supply is exhausted. Such copies may be
requested by writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Distribution Services, Washington, DC 20555-0001 or submitting an e-
mail to distribution@nrc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanette Gilles, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O-11D17, Washington, DC 20555, Phone
Number: (301) 415-1180, e-mail: nvg@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the SRM for COMJSM-00-0003 the Commission
directed the staff to assess its technical, licensing, and inspection
capabilities and identify enhancements, if any, that would be necessary
to ensure that the agency can effectively carry out its
responsibilities associated with an ESP application, a license
application, and the construction of a new nuclear power plant. In
addition, the staff was directed to critically assess the regulatory
infrastructure supporting both part 50 and part 52, and other
applicable regulations, and identify where enhancements, if any, are
necessary. The Commission further directed the staff to incorporate
into its planning the need for early interactions with the Advisory
Committee on Reactor Safeguards and to integrate the tasks identified
during this effort with the various related activities that are
underway. The Commission also directed the staff to provide the
Commission with a schedule and resource estimates for completing these
tasks. The Commission stated that the staff should encourage the
industry to be as specific as possible about its plans and schedules so
that the agency can plan and budget for advanced reactor activities
without disrupting other current important initiatives. The Commission
also stated that the staff should work with NRC stakeholders to
exercise, to the extent appropriate, the NRC's review process and
identify potential policy issues that should be addressed by the
Commission in a timely manner.
The staff provided its initial response to the February 13, 2001,
SRM in a May 1, 2001, memorandum to the Commission. As the staff stated
in that memorandum, the Future Licensing and Inspection Readiness
Assessment (FLIRA) interoffice working group was established to address
the ability of the NRC to support future application reviews under 10
CFR parts 50 and 52 and other applicable regulations. The FLIRA working
group assessed the following matters:
Licensing scenarios for the future application reviews,
the durations of the reviews, and resource estimates to complete the
reviews in full-time equivalents (FTE) for the NRC staff and in dollars
for technical assistance support;
Critical skills that must be available within the agency
or that can be accessed through contractual agreements to perform these
reviews; and
Regulatory infrastructure needs to support future
licensing reviews.
The attachment to SECY-01-0188 contains the FLIRA working group's
assessment report. In developing its estimates of the durations and
resources required to conduct the reviews discussed in the report, the
staff considered (1) the results of a critical skills and resources
survey taken of the staff in August 2001 to support this assessment,
(2) industry plans and proposed schedules as discussed in public
meetings and correspondence, (3) its past experience with licensing and
pre-application reviews; (4) the effect of complex issues on these
reviews; and (5) estimates from previous resource and schedule
evaluations. The resource estimates developed reflect the most recent
information received regarding industry plans and the staff's best
estimate at this time regarding resource needs, recognizing that budget
realities may not be consistent with the needs. Questions regarding the
information contained in SECY-01-0188 should be directed to the contact
point identified above.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of October 2001.
[[Page 55712]]
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
James E. Lyons,
Director, New Reactor Licensing Project Office, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-27577 Filed 11-1-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P