[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 153 (Wednesday, August 7, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 41189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20116]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Decision Not To Finalize the Draft of the Final Preapplication 
Safety Evaluation Report for the Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled 
Reactor

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of decision not to issue the final safety evaluation 
report for an advanced reactor design.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) placed a notice in the 
Federal Register (61 FR 6869, February 22, 1996) that it had issued the 
draft of the final preapplication safety evaluation report (PSER) for 
the modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR), an advanced 
reactor design proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 1986. 
The NRC had been conducting a preapplication review of the MHTGR design 
since 1986 at the request of DOE and in a manner consistent with the 
Commission's Advanced Reactor Policy Statement (51 FR 24643, July 8, 
1986). The preapplication review process is described in NUREG-1226, 
``Development and Utilization of the NRC Policy Statement on the 
Regulation of Advanced Nuclear Power Plants,'' June 1988, and is 
conducted before an application is submitted for design approval: 
preliminary design approval, final design approval, or design 
certification under 10 CFR Part 52.
    The draft PSER was issued to DOE in a letter dated February 26, 
1996, and comments were requested from DOE to finalize the draft PSER. 
Comments were also requested from General Atomics, the vendor for the 
MHTGR design, in the NRC letter of March 20, 1996. Both DOE and GA 
responded to the NRC in the letters of March 12 and April 29, 1996, 
respectively, and both declined to comment on the draft PSER. DOE 
further stated that NRC should discontinue its review of the MHTGR.
    On the basis of the responses from DOE and GA, the NRC has decided 
to terminate all future actions on the draft PSER for the MHTGR and, 
therefore, will not finalize the draft PSER.
    The draft PSER was placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 
with the NRC letter of February 26, 1996, to DOE. The draft PSER is 
comprised of Volume 1, which contains the documentation of the staff's 
preapplication review of the MHTGR design and the conclusions of the 
staff on the design from this review, and Volume 2, which contains the 
appendices to the draft PSER, without copies of the documents that are 
in the PDR or in Central Files and are not essential for the staff's 
discussion of MHTGR licensability and policy issues in the draft PSER. 
These documents, which were in Appendices C through J of Volume 2, were 
not included in the draft PSER, when it was issued, to reduce its size; 
however, because the draft PSER will not be finalized, these documents 
will also be placed in the PDR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack N. Donohew, NRC, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Telephone (301) 
415-1307.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of August 1996.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Theodore R Quay,
Director, Standardization Project Directorate, Division of Reactor 
Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 96-20116 Filed 8-6-96; 8:45 am]
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