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POLICY ISSUE SECY-05-0033 February 15, 2005
To inform the Commission about the status of Information Technology/Information Management (IT/IM) and business process activities related to preparation for the conduct of the proceeding on a license application in an electronic environment for the construction of a high-level waste (HLW) repository. This report is issued semiannually and covers HLW IT/IM and business process activities. The scope of the information paper includes activities from July 1, 2004, through December 31, 2004. A. Project Plan The HLW Licensing Support Program (HLW-LSP) Project Plan continues to be maintained using an interactive process and ongoing communication with staff and management from all organizations supporting the HLW-LSP. On a weekly basis, reports are generated that show the critical path, completed tasks, tasks that are overdue to start, tasks that are upcoming during the next 30 days, and tasks during the next 31-90 days. Managers review and act on the data to address risks and the impact of scheduling changes, taking appropriate actions to keep the project on track. Other components, such as the Risk Management database, are updated on a monthly basis to reflect progress in risk mitigation and risk disposition. A major update occurred at the end of the calendar year to reflect adjustments made during the continuing resolution, the OMB passback, and changes in HLW programmatic milestones. B. HLW Meta-System Status The HLW Meta-System is that collection of software applications, technology, procedures and processes that enables the processing of HLW documents in support of the HLW proceedings and in support of the establishment of an HLW adjudicatory docket, as required by 10 C.F.R. §2.1013. Although Meta-System components and processes are in place to process a low volume of HLW documents, system enhancements are planned to increase capacity, reliability, and availability. Significant testing will be required to verify and validate system performance and associated processes and procedures in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. During this reporting period, significant progress has been made in refining a high-level concept of operations, refining the business-need requirements of ASLBP, SECY, OGC, and NMSS, and refining the schedules in the Project Plan, for the tasks and actions needed to fully develop the Meta-System. Enhancements were implemented for the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE) facility designated for use in the HLW Licensing Process to accommodate closure of gaps between business requirements and the supporting technology. We remain on track to have a fully functional and tested Meta-System by the end of fiscal year 2005 with virtually no slack in the project schedule. During this period, the staff enhanced the agency’s EIE capability to meet the business needs of SECY and ASLBP to support the HLW proceeding. EIE now allows for both electronic receipt and servicing of filings. In addition, OIS, ASLBP and SECY made substantive progress in redesigning the agency’s document processing process to support the pre-hearing and hearing phases. C. Document Security Screening All NRC documents that are being made available to the Licensing Support Network (LSN) are being screened for sensitive homeland security information. The criteria currently being used are consistent with the criteria developed by a joint Department of Energy/NRC working group and criteria developed by the NRC Sensitive Information Screening Project (SISP). The joint working group prepared CG-OCRWM-1, "Joint DOE and NRC Sensitive Unclassified Information and Classification Guide for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program." The working group was chaired by a DOE Information Classification and Control Policy representative with participation from the DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), the DOE OGC, the DOE Nevada Operations Office, and NRC. The guide provides guidance on the definition and handling of sensitive unclassified information and classified information associated with the DOE OCRWM program for constructing and operating a geologic repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and HLW at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. The guide has been approved by the Director, DOE Information Classification and Control Policy, and by NRC’s Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. The SISP project prepared review criteria for sensitive information. All NRC documents have been re-screened based on the SISP review criteria, and 38 documents in LSN have been identified as being sensitive. For each of these documents, the staff is considering replacing full text of the document with bibliographic information only about the document. D. Electronic Hearing Docket In an effort to assist the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel with current adjudicatory proceedings and to indicate implementation issues before an anticipated HLW proceeding, the Electronic Hearing Docket was activated to display hearing files for existing proceedings. Issues that arose continue to be addressed, and users have provided useful and generally favorable feedback. Enhancements that have been identified have been added to the project plan and are scheduled to be implemented before the anticipated HLW proceeding contingent on the availability of funding. A web-based search and retrieval interface has been accepted by the stakeholder community in preparation of the February 2005 implementation. As with the ADAMS publicly-available collection, the web-based search and retrieval interface facilitates the finding of documents in the HLW-EHD, and will be a beneficial search tool for the high-level waste proceeding. In July 2004, the High-Level Waste Electronic Hearing Docket (HLW-EHD) was utilized in a proceeding that addressed a challenge by the State of Nevada to the certification by the DOE with respect to its document collection made available to the LSN for indexing. The proceeding, conducted under the 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart J rules by a Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) Board provided practice to all involved in the management of a virtual docket. Documents were filed via EIE and arrived in the docket with no conversion to paper along the ADAMS processing route. The PAPO Board and parties had access to the HLW-EHD for review of filings and for hearing preparation. The public also had access to the HLW-EHD to follow the proceeding. Much was learned from the pre-application proceeding. The proceeding provided insight into the effort required by the HLW Meta-System components to manage document flow and the electronic docket during an actual HLW proceeding. The OGC has no legal objection. This paper has also been coordinated with SECY and the Licensing Support Network Administrator.
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