[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 112 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 31853]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-15275]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Project No. 697]


Notice of Issuance of Staff's Safety Evaluation on DOE's Report 
on Tritium-Producing Burnable Absorber Rod Lead Test Assemblies

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is considering the use of 
commercial light water reactors to produce tritium in order to maintain 
the strategic stockpile. On December 4, 1996, as revised on March 17, 
1997, DOE submitted a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC) entitled, ``Report on the Evaluation of the Tritium Producing 
Burnable Absorber Rod Lead Test Assembly.'' This report contained 
information to allow the NRC staff to determine whether the use of a 
commercial light-water reactor to irradiate a limited number of 
tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) in lead test 
assemblies (LTAs) requires prior NRC review and approval. The NRC staff 
has reviewed the DOE report and has prepared its safety evaluation.
    The staff's safety evaluation concludes that DOE's proposal 
involves at least one issue requiring prior Commission review and 
approval; therefore, an NRC licensee seeking to perform the LTA 
irradiation must submit an amendment to its facility operating license 
prior to placing the TPBAR LTAs in the reactor core. The staff's safety 
evaluation is being published as NUREG-1607, ``Safety Evaluation Report 
Related to the Department of Energy's Proposal for the Irradiation of 
Lead Test Assemblies Containing Tritium-Producing Burnable Absorber 
Rods in Commercial Light-Water Reactors.''
    NUREG-1607 is available for public inspection and copying for a fee 
at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2120 L 
Street (Lower Level), NW., Washington, DC. Printed copies of NUREG-1607 
are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government 
Printing Office, P. O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J. H. Wilson, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555, telephone (301) 415-1108; e-mail JHW[email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of June, 1997.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marylee M. Slosson,
Acting Director, Division of Reactor Program Management, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 97-15275 Filed 6-10-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P