[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 77855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-32065]
[[Page 77855]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2010-0294]
Criteria for Identifying Material Licensees for the U. S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's Agency Action Review Meeting
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the
completion and availability of the new criteria for identifying nuclear
material licensees for discussion at the Agency Action Review Meeting
(AARM). The criteria may be found in SECY-11-0132 (NRC's Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession Number:
ML112280111) or in the supplementary information below.
The AARM is an agency meeting that allows senior NRC managers (1)
to review the appropriateness of agency actions that have been taken
for those nuclear power plants with significant performance problems as
determined by the reactor oversight process (ROP) action matrix, (2) to
review the appropriateness of agency actions for those nuclear material
licensees, including fuel cycle facilities, with significant safety or
security issues, (3) to ensure that coordinated courses of action have
been developed and implemented for licensees of concern, (4) to review
results of the staff's assessment of ROP effectiveness, including a
review of approved deviations from the action matrix, and (5) to ensure
that trends in industry and licensee performance are recognized and
appropriately addressed.
ADDRESSES: A copy of SECY-11-0132 is available for inspection and/or
copying for a fee in the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20874. Publicly available documents
created or received at the NRC are accessible electronically through
ADAMS in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides
text and image files of NRC's public documents. If you do not have
access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents
located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at 1-(800) 397-
4209, (301) 415-4737, or by email to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Duane White, Division of Materials
Safety and State Agreements, Office of Federal and State Materials and
Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6272, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Background
In 2002, the NRC developed a process for providing information to
the Commission on significant nuclear materials issues and adverse
licensee performance. This process was discussed in SECY-02-0216,
``Proposed Process for Providing Information on Significant Nuclear
Materials Issues and Adverse Licensee Performance,'' dated December 11,
2002. As part of this process, the NRC developed criteria to determine
nuclear material licensees with significant performance problems that
would be discussed at the AARM. In 2008, the NRC revised the criteria
to provide additional clarification regarding the criteria and to
incorporate NRC's most recent policies and procedures.
The agency currently identifies nuclear material licensees,
including fuel cycle and Agreement State licensees, for AARM discussion
based on operating performance, inspection results, and the severity of
problems related to safety performance. The agency will continue to
identify material licensees based on these same principles; however,
one additional element (i.e., criterion), has been added that focuses
on those material licensees previously discussed at the AARM who did
not address or were ineffective in correcting their underlying issues.
Discussion
Criteria for Identifying Nuclear Material Licensees for Discussion at
the AARM
The new criteria for identifying nuclear material licensees for
discussion at the AARM may be found in SECY-11-0132 (ADAMS Accession
Number: ML112280111) and is provided below.
(1) Strategic Plan--Licensee has an event that results in the
failure to meet a strategic outcome for safety and security in the NRC
Strategic Plan (NUREG-1614);
(2) Significant Issue or Event--Licensee has an issue or event that
results in an abnormal occurrence report to Congress (per NRC
Management Directive 8.1), or a severity level I or II violation, as
described in the NRC Enforcement Policy (including equivalent
violations dispositioned by Alternative Dispute Resolution), or a level
3 or higher International Nuclear Event Scale Report to the
International Atomic Energy Agency (per NRC Management Directive 5.12),
and there are unique or unusual aspects of the licensee's performance
that warrant additional NRC oversight (e.g., a significant event, which
requires an incident investigation team (IIT) or augmented inspection
team (AIT)); or
(3) Performance Trend--Licensee has multiple and/or repetitive
significant program issues identified over more than one inspection, or
inspection period, and the issues are supported by severity level I,
II, or III violation, as described in the NRC Enforcement Policy
(including equivalent violations dispositioned by Alternative Dispute
Resolution). Also, there are unique or unusual aspects of the
licensee's performance that warrant additional NRC oversight (e.g.,
oversight panel formed for order implementation); or
(4) Identified for Discussion at Previous AARM--Licensee corrective
actions did not address or were ineffective in correcting the
underlying issues that were previously discussed at the AARM.
The NRC's strategic plan (NUREG-1614) and the referenced management
directives and enforcement policy are available on NRC's public
document collections Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/.
Public Comments on the Proposed Criteria
The proposed criteria for identifying nuclear material licensees
with significant performance issues were published for comment on
September 9, 2010 (75 FR 54917). The comment period ended on October
25, 2010. The NRC received no public comments on the proposed criteria.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of December 2011.
Mark A. Satorius,
Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-32065 Filed 12-13-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P