[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 142 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43767-43769]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18843]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Workshop on Issues Related to the Level of Programmatic 
Information Needed in a Combined License Application; Submitted in 
Accordance With 10 CFR Part 52

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of August 25, 2003, public workshop.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is holding a workshop 
on August 25, 2003, on issues related to the level of programmatic 
information that would be needed in order to issue a combined license 
(COL) in accordance with the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations Part 52, Subpart C without inspections, tests, 
analyses, and acceptance criteria (ITAAC) for any particular program. 
The NRC staff has developed a draft proposal titled, ``Use of Fire 
Protection as an Example Program to Discuss Programmatic Inspections, 
Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria,'' to address this issue. The 
NRC staff has scheduled the public workshop to discuss the issue and to 
solicit stakeholder comments on the staff's draft proposal. This 
workshop will be transcribed. To allow for timely registration on the 
day of the meeting, it is recommended that guests preregister for the 
workshop. To preregister for the workshop, contact Mr. Joseph Sebrosky 
(information provided below) and provide the following information: 
name, organization, phone number, and country of citizenship.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Joseph M. Sebrosky, New, Research 
and Test Reactors Program, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    Mr. Sebrosky may be reached by phone at 301-415-1132 or by e-mail 
at

[[Page 43768]]

[email protected]. Questions on the public meeting process should be 
directed to Mr. Chip Cameron; e-mail: [email protected], telephone: 301-415-
1642; Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

DATES: The workshop will be held on August 25, 2003, from 1 p.m. to 
4:30 p.m. Comments on the NRC staff's draft proposal should be 
submitted by September 15, 2003. Comments received after the due date 
will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is 
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission offices in the Two White Flint North Auditorium, 11545 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
    The NRC staff's draft proposal to use fire protection as an example 
program to discuss programmatic ITAAC is available for public 
inspection in the Agencywide Document Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) in the NRC Public Document Room located at One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Public File Area O1 F21, Rockville, 
Maryland. The information is also available electronically from the 
Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of ADAMS (ADAMS  
ML031820084). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). 
For more information, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 
Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 202-634-3273 or by e-mail to 
[email protected]. In addition, the draft proposal and additional associated 
documentation can be found on NRC's Web site under the combined license 
discussion on the following Web page: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/licensing-process.html.
    Written comments on the draft proposal should be sent to: Chief, 
Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, Mail Stop T6-D59, Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Comments may be hand-delivered 
to the NRC at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:45 
a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Comments may be submitted 
electronically by the Internet to the NRC at [email protected]. All 
comments received by the Commission, including those made by Federal, 
State, and local agencies, Indian tribes, or other interested persons, 
will be made available electronically at the Commission's PDR in 
Rockville, Maryland or from the PARS component of NRC's document system 
(ADAMS).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1989, the NRC established new 
alternatives for nuclear plant licensing under Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52, which describes, among other 
things, a process for issuing a combined construction and operating 
license, or combined license (COL). A COL authorizes construction and, 
with conditions, operation of a nuclear power plant. A COL application 
must describe the conditions (the ITAAC) that are necessary to ensure 
that the plant has been properly constructed and will operate safely. 
After issuing a COL, the NRC verifies that the licensee has completed 
the required ITAAC before the plant can operate. The NRC publishes 
notices of the successful completion of the ITAAC. Then, at least 180 
days before the scheduled date for initial loading of nuclear fuel into 
the reactor, the NRC publishes a notice of intended operation. The 
notice will provide that any person whose interest may be affected by 
operation of the plant may request the Commission to hold a hearing on 
whether the facility complies, or on completion will comply with the 
acceptance criteria in the COL. A request for a hearing must 
demonstrate that the licensee has not met or will not meet the 
acceptance criteria in the COL.
    The principle issue to be discussed at the workshop is the staff's 
draft proposal that categorizes operational programs such as emergency 
planning and training into those that will likely require ITAAC, those 
that may or may not require ITAAC (depending on the level of 
information available at the COL stage), and those that will be 
unlikely to require ITAAC. The staff would also like to discuss its 
proposal relative to the level of information needed for operational 
programs such as fire protection in order to issue a COL without ITAAC 
for any particular program.
    In SECY-02-0067, ``Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance 
Criteria for Operational Programs (Programmatic ITAAC),'' the staff 
requested Commission approval for its position that COLs for a nuclear 
power plant submitted in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 
Part 52 Subpart C contain ITAAC for operational programs required by 
regulations such as training and emergency planning (ADAMS Accession 
Number ML020700641). The Commission disapproved the staff's position in 
a September 11, 2002, staff requirements memorandum (SRM) (ADAMS 
Accession Number ML022540755). The Commission approved a much more 
limited use of programmatic ITAAC than that proposed by the staff. The 
Commission directed the staff to resolve the maximum number of 
programmatic issues prior to issuing a COL. The Commission also 
directed the staff to develop appropriate guidelines to support the 
submission of necessary and sufficient information on programs in COL 
applications and clarify when programs beyond emergency planning, if 
any, call for or are likely to call for ITAAC in the COL application.
    In a public meeting on May 22, 2003, the NRC staff discussed a 
response to the SRM including a discussion of the following option. A 
draft standard review plan Section 14.3 Appendix E, ``Programmatic 
ITAAC'' would be developed for guidance. The staff stated that it was 
considering categorizing the 14 programs that it listed in SECY-02-0067 
in the following manner as part of this guidance:
    Category A: Programmatic ITAAC are required. A program that falls 
into this category is emergency planning.
    Category B: Programmatic ITAAC are not necessary because hardware-
related ITAAC address the results to which the program is directed. 
Examples of programs that may fall into this category are equipment 
qualification, quality assurance, and containment leak rate testing.
    Category C: An ITAAC for a program or elements of the program is 
not necessary because the program and its implementation can be fully 
described \1\ in the application and found to be acceptable at the COL 
stage.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ A principal issue for these categories is what constitutes a 
``fully described'' program.
    \2\ The following programs may fall into Category C or D 
depending on the information provided at the time of the COL: fire 
protection, radiation protection, security, fitness for duty, 
training, access authorization, reportability, licensed operator 
training.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Category D: An ITAAC for a program or elements of the program is 
necessary because the program and its implementation cannot be fully 
described1 in the application. That is, the COL applicant 
cannot provide the necessary and sufficient programmatic information 
for approval of the COL without ITAAC.2
    Category E: An ITAAC for a program is not necessary because ITAAC 
will be dispositioned prior to fuel load and the program is not 
required to be implemented until after fuel load. Examples of programs 
that may fall into this category include the inservice inspection and 
inservice testing

[[Page 43769]]

programs, and the maintenance rule program.
    Subsequent to the May 22, 2003, meeting the NRC staff developed a 
proposal to use the fire protection program as an example program to 
illustrate the level of detail needed to determine if programmatic 
ITAAC are necessary. The fire protection program was chosen because it 
could fall into Category C or D above depending on the information 
provided at the time of a COL application.
    During the workshop the following topics will be discussed:
    [sbull] Is the categorization of the 14 programs listed in SECY-02-
0067 appropriate?

--Are there programs that are missing from the list?
--Should any of the programs be placed in different categories?

    [sbull] The NRC staff would like to discuss the programs that fall 
into Categories C and D. The NRC staff's proposal uses the fire 
protection program for the AP600 standard nuclear reactor design and 
the Callaway Plant as a starting point to develop guidelines for the 
level of programmatic information that would be needed in order to 
issue a COL without ITAAC for that program. Is the level of detail 
contained in the staff's proposal appropriate?
    A specific agenda for the workshop will be developed and made 
available prior to the meeting. To assure a diversity of viewpoints, 
the NRC is inviting stakeholders from the nuclear power industry, 
representatives from citizens groups, and State agencies, to sit in a 
roundtable discussion. Although the focus of the meeting will be on the 
roundtable discussion, there will be opportunities for members of the 
audience to offer comments and ask questions. Questions related to the 
staff's draft proposal should be directed to Joseph Sebrosky. Questions 
related to the public meeting process should be directed to Mr. Chip 
Cameron. Mr. Sebrosky's and Mr. Cameron's contact information is 
provided above.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of July, 2003.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James E. Lyons,
Program Director, New, Research and Test Reactors Program, Division of 
Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-18843 Filed 7-23-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P