[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 19, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32966-32967]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-15369]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Public Workshop on Future Licensing Activities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has scheduled a public 
workshop to inform the public of the current and proposed activities of 
the NRC staff regarding future applications and to solicit public 
concerns and feedback on identified issues and challenges.

DATES: July 25, 2001, from 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; July 26, 2001, from 9 a.m.-1 
p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held in the NRC's Auditorium at Two 
White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-
2738.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Eric Benner, Mail Stop O-12D1, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Members 
of the public may pre-register for this meeting by contacting Eric 
Benner at (800) 368-5642, ext. 1171, or by Internet at [email protected] by 
July 20, 2001.
    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

[[Page 32967]]

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 [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Recently, the nuclear industry has indicated 
that they may be submitting licensing applications in accordance with 
parts 50 and 52 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR parts 50 and 
52) in the near future with the intent to build and operate new nuclear 
power plants. These submittals could include applications for Early 
Site Permits, Design Certifications, Combined Licenses, and Operating 
Licenses. Additional activities could include pre-application reviews 
related to these submittals and requests to reactivate Construction 
Permits to allow the applicant to resume construction of nuclear 
facilities.
    The purpose of this workshop is to inform the public of the current 
and proposed activities of the NRC staff to prepare for these potential 
future licensing applications, discuss the mechanisms available to the 
public for providing input during these licensing activities, and to 
solicit public feedback on identified issues and challenges.
    A final agenda and schedule will be published on the NRC future 
licensing web site when it is available: http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/FLO/index.htm
    For each of the agenda topics, the NRC staff will describe the 
activity and the regulatory process governing the activity, discuss the 
actions the NRC is taking to prepare for the anticipated submittal, and 
provide an estimate of expected milestone dates, where available. The 
staff will discuss how the public can provide input to the staff during 
different stages of the activity. The remainder of the allotted time 
will then be used for an open dialogue among all workshop participants. 
The NRC staff will then briefly summarize the identified concerns.
    In addition, the workshop will contain two open sessions to allow 
public participants to discuss issues not addressed or to have further 
discussions on the agenda items. The first of these sessions will be on 
the evening of July 25, 2001, to allow participation by individuals who 
cannot attend during the work day and will include a brief presentation 
by the NRC staff summarizing all of the agenda items. The second of 
these sessions will be held on the morning of July 26, 2001.
    Following the workshop, the NRC staff will summarize and document 
the identified concerns. The summary will be sent to those workshop 
participants who request a written copy, as well as the Commission, and 
will be posted on NRC's future licensing website.

AGENDA TOPICS

Licensing Processes

Early Site Permits
    10 CFR part 52 allows an applicant to apply for an early site 
permit, which provides for resolution of site safety, environmental 
protection, and emergency preparedness issues, independent of a 
specific nuclear plant review. The early site permit application must 
address the safety and environmental characteristics of the site and 
evaluate potential physical impediments to developing an emergency 
evacuation plan.
Design Certification
    The NRC may certify a standard plant design through a rulemaking 
under 10 CFR part 52, independent of a specific site. Among other 
requirements, the design certification applicant must demonstrate that 
its design complies with current NRC regulations, provide a 
probabilistic risk assessment, and provide a proposed set of 
inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria that will 
demonstrate that the plant will operate in accordance with the design 
certification.
Combined License
    A combined license, issued under 10 CFR part 52, authorizes 
construction of the facility and specifies the inspections, tests, and 
analyses that the licensee must perform. It will also specify the 
acceptance criteria that, if met, are necessary to provide reasonable 
assurance that the facility has been constructed and will be operated 
in conformity with the license and the applicable regulations.
Construction Inspection
    The NRC is reactivating the construction inspection program 
revision effort suspended in 1994. This effort will include review and 
revisions of applicable inspection guidance and training for inspection 
of critical attributes of construction processes and activities.
Reactivation of Construction Permits
    A licensee has indicated that it may consider resumption of 
construction and application for operation of an unfinished nuclear 
power plant. Resumption of construction would require the normal NRC 
reviews and inspections under the existing Construction Permit and 
application for operation would require the normal NRC reviews for an 
Operating License (OL) for the facility.
Regulatory Infrastructure
    The NRC staff is planning to update some of its regulations to 
facilitate its review of new applications. The Nuclear Energy Institute 
is considering proposing a New Plant Regulatory Framework.
Current Activities
Readiness Assessment, Organizational Development, and Staffing
    The NRC is performing a readiness assessment to develop postulated 
licensing scenarios for the future application reviews, including 
resource estimates and critical skills. In addition, the NRC is 
determining the appropriate organizational structure for future 
licensing activities and will be staffed accordingly.
Rulemaking
    The NRC is currently revising several rules: (1) A revision to 10 
CFR part 52 to clarify and incorporate lessons learned from previous 
design certifications; (2) a revision to 10 CFR Part 51 to address 
higher enrichment fuel; and (3) a revision to 10 CFR Part 51 to clarify 
the scope of alternative site reviews when applying for an Early Site 
Permit.
Pre-application Reviews
    The NRC Policy Statement on advanced reactors encourages early 
interaction between applicants and vendors with the NRC. To that end, 
the following four applicants and vendors have initiated interactions 
with the NRC regarding different advanced reactor designs:
    (1) Westinghouse ``AP1000;'' (2) Exelon ``Pebble Bed Modular 
Reactor'' (PBMR); (3) Westinghouse ``International Reactor Innovative 
and Secure'' (IRIS); and (4) General Atomics ``Gas Turbine-Modular 
Helium Reactor'' (GT-MHR).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of June 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Richard J. Barrett,
Acting Director, Future Licensing Organization, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-15369 Filed 6-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P