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INFORMATION REPORT SECY-07-0220 December 20, 2007
Contact: A.C. Ridge, OEDO Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Final Rule Published in Federal Register on December 4, 2007 On December 4, 2007, the NRC published a final rule amending regulations that would become effective January 3, 2008. The final rule, published on December 4, 2007 (72 FR 68043) related to the reporting of annual dose to workers, the definition of Total Effective Dose Equivalent (TEDE), the labeling of certain containers holding licensed material, and the determination of cumulative occupational radiation dose. The NRC is deferring the effective date of the final rule until Office of Budget and Management (OMB) review and clearance of the rule's information collections is completed. NRC anticipates the new effective date for this rule will be February 15, 2008. The NRC will publish a subsequent document to confirm this effective date. Meeting of the Digital Instrumentation and Control Steering Committee with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to Address the Digital Instrumentation and Control Project Plan On December 7, 2007, staff held a Category 2 public meeting of the Digital Instrumentation and Control Steering Committee to discuss the Digital Instrumentation and Control Project Plan. Participants included NEI representatives and staff from the NRC offices of NRR, Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), New Reactors (NRO), Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), and Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR). The Steering Committee discussed activities that have occurred since the last meeting in October including the development of Interim Staff Guidance for Cyber Security, Risk Informing, Licensing Process, and Fuel Cycle Facilities. Also discussed during the meeting was the updated draft version of the project plan. The next public meeting of the steering committee should be in late January, 2008. Public Meeting with the NEI Operator Licensing Focus Group (OLFG) On December 11, 2007, the staff held a public meeting with the NEI OLFG. At the meeting, the staff and the NEI OLFG agreed, in principal, on the scope and methodology for performance testing nuclear power plant control room simulators, including the use of scenario-based testing. Other major issues discussed at the meeting included a status update on operator licensing for new reactors, a status update on the implementation of the fatigue rule in 10 CFR 26, contractor-prepared Nuclear Regulatory Commission written examinations, and eligibility requirements for senior reactor operator license applicants. Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 License Renewal Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement On December 11, 2007, the staff issued the draft of NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 33, Regarding Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant," for public comment. This supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) includes the staff's preliminary analysis that considers the environmental effects of the proposed action, the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action, and mitigation measures available for reducing or avoiding adverse impacts. It also includes the staff's preliminary recommendation regarding the proposed action: "the staff recommends that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision makers would be unreasonable". A 75-day public comment period is scheduled to begin on December 21, 2007, with the Notice of Availability of the draft SEIS with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The staff has scheduled public meetings on January 30, 2008, in Apex, North Carolina, to present its analyses and to accept public comments on the draft SEIS. Public Meeting with NEI On December 12, 2007, the staff held a public meeting with NEI at NRC headquarters to discuss generic license renewal topics and license renewal process improvements. Public Meeting with NEI on Fatigue On December 13, 2007, the staff participated in a Category 3 public meeting with NEI and industry representatives to discuss NEI-06-11 (Revision A), Managing Fatigue at Nuclear Power Reactor Sites. This document provides draft guidance for implementation of 10 CFR 26, Subpart I, Managing Fatigue. Topics of discussion included fatigue management guidance for the transition from plant construction to operation, guidance for control of work hours during an outage at a multi-unit site, and the appropriate use of a risk-informed process to determine the applicability of the work hour controls. Office of New Reactors (NRO) MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company By letter dated December 5, 2007, MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company (MNEC) informed the NRC staff that it plans to submit a combined license (COL) application by December 2008. MNEC has not yet selected a reactor technology; however, MNEC is negotiating with Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems, Inc. for the U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR) reactor. MNEC stated that it has already started the COL core borings program at a site near Boise, Idaho. The NRC staff has confirmed that the site is located in Payette County, Idaho and that MNEC plans to continue with the COL borings through March 2008. Receipt of Design Certification Application for the Evolutionary Power Reactor On December 11, 2007, Areva submitted an application for a design certification for the Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 52. The NRC has already received one partial COL application for a COL that will reference the EPR design certification, and expects to receive 5 additional COL applications for EPRs over the next year. Receipt of Combined License Application for William States Lee III Nuclear Station On December 13, 2007, Duke Energy submitted a COL application for two AP1000 advanced passive pressurized water reactors in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 52. The proposed station, located in Cherokee County, South Carolina, has been designated the William States Lee III Nuclear Station (Lee Nuclear Station). This proposed location was the site of a three-unit construction project (Cherokee) that was canceled in the early 1980s with a construction permit. In accordance with the agency's design-centered review approach, the Lee COL application will be the first "subsequent-COL" (S-COL) for the AP1000 design center and will benefit from the standard review performed on the TVA Bellefonte AP1000 "reference-COL" (R-COL) application for the AP1000 design. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) Third Annual Fundamental Processes of Radionuclide Migration Workshop From November 26 to 28, 2007, the President of the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses attended the third annual workshop of the Fundamental Processes of Radionuclide Migration, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He provided peer review comments on 34 science and technology papers. His comments focused on research results relevant to the development of safety cases for repository concepts currently being investigated in European countries. Fifty-one teams from various European countries presented results of their research, which focused on far-field processes such as diffusion, adsorption, colloid formation and migration, and heterogeneity scaling. Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) Certificate of Acclamation On December 11, 2007, a Senior Materials Engineer of RES was awarded a Certificate of Acclamation by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The Award is for outstanding service and technical excellence in the development of the 2007 Edition of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section VIII, Division 2: Alternative Rules for Construction of Pressure Vessels. Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) Global Initiatives to Combat Nuclear Terrorism On December 11, NSIR staff participated in a Global Initiatives to Combat Nuclear Terrorism working group meeting hosted by the Department of State. The working group was briefed on diplomatic outreach, ongoing and planned Global Initiative activities, and planned international exercises. Noteworthy discussion topics include a desire to have senior agency representatives reach out to non-Global Initiative countries when possible, and generation of Mo-99 using low-enriched uranium (LEU) instead of highly enriched uranium (HEU). New Reactor Applications On December 13, NSIR staff met with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) representatives at NRC Headquarters during their monthly coordination meeting for preparation of consultation on new reactor applications. The agenda included a discussion of the current new reactor applications schedule and planning a consultation visit to South Texas Project nuclear power plant. Office of Information Services (OIS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) Requests Received During the Period of December 7 through December 13, 2007:
Office
of Human Resources (HR)
Office of the Secretary (SECY)
Commission Correspondence
Federal Register Notices Issued
Region II (RII) RII Leadership Retreat On December 11-12, 2007, Regional Senior Managers, Branch Chiefs and Team Leaders participated in the Region II Leadership Retreat in Chattanooga, TN. The theme for the retreat was "Leading During Transition." Office of the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) Proposed Rule Signed by EDO On December 11, 2007, the Executive Director for Operations approved a proposed rule which revises 10 CFR Part 72.214, "List of approved spent fuel storage casks," by revising the Holtec International HI-STORM 100 listing within the "List of approved spent fuel storage casks" to include Amendment No. 5. This amendment will make the following modifications to the Certificate of Compliance (CoC): (1) deletion of the requirement to perform thermal validation tests on thermal systems; (2) an increase in the design basis maximum decay heat loads, and introduction of a new decay heat regionalized scheme; (3) increase in the maximum fuel assembly weight for boiling water reactor fuel in the Multi-Purpose Canister (MPC)-68; (4) an increase in maximum fuel assembly weights; (5) changes to the assembly characteristics of 16x16 pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies to be qualified for storage in the HI-STORM 100 cask system; (6) a change in certain fuel storage locations in the MPC-32, MPC-24, MPC-24E, and MPC-32; (7) elimination of the restriction that fuel debris can only be loaded into the MPC-24EF, MPC-32F, MPC-68F, and MPC-68FF canisters; (8) introduction of a requirement that all MPC confinement boundary components and any MPC components exposed to spent fuel pool water or the ambient environment be made of stainless steel or, for MPC internals, neutron absorber or aluminum; (9) the addition of a threshold heat load below which operation of the Supplemental Cooling System would not be required and modification of the design criteria to simplify the system; (10) editorial changes including clarification of the description of anchored casks, correction of editorial errors, clarification of the definitions of Loading Operations, Storage Operations, Transport Operations, Unloading Operations, Cask Loading Facility, and Transfer Cask; and (11) modification of the definition of non-fuel hardware to include the individual parts of the items defined as non-fuel hardware. Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA)
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