[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 236 (Friday, December 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73060-73061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29678]



[[Page 73060]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0220]


Standard Review Plan for Review of Fuel Cycle Facility License 
Applications

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: NUREG revision; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is planning to 
revise NUREG-1520, Revision 1, ``Standard Review Plan (SRP) for the 
Review of a License Application for a Fuel Cycle Facility.'' The staff 
proposes to revise NUREG-1520 to provide guidance and further clarify 
several technical areas. In addition to revising NUREG-1520, the staff 
is also planning to issue Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) to provide 
guidance on Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA) implementation issues 
consistent with the direction in Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) 
SECY-12-0091, ``Completeness and Quality of Integrated Safety 
Analysis,'' dated October 9, 2012, which is also available in 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under 
Accession No. ML12284A033. The NRC staff is seeking to engage 
stakeholders during the early stages of the SRP revision process by 
soliciting comments on which SRP areas should be revised and which 
topics should be addressed in ISGs.

DATES: Submit comments by January 7, 2013. Comments received after the 
comment period deadline will be considered if it is practical to do so, 
but the Commission is only able to ensure consideration of comments 
received on or before the end of the public comment period.

ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related 
to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publicly available, 
by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2012-
0220. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0220. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
     Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Soly I. Soto, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-492-3147; email: 
[email protected] and Damaris Marcano; telephone: 301-492-3233; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0220 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses 
and are publicly available, by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0220.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number 
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0220 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Background

    The SRP for the review of a license application for a fuel cycle 
facility (NUREG-1520) provides NRC staff guidance for reviewing and 
evaluating the safety, health, and environmental protection aspects of 
applications for licenses to possess and use special nuclear material 
to produce nuclear reactor fuel. In May 2010, the NRC announced the 
availability of Revision 01 to NUREG-1520 (75 FR 30864), which is also 
available under ADAMS Accession No. ML101390110. The 2010 SRP revisions 
improved and enhanced the guidance in specific areas of the licensing 
program, and added guidance in areas where information was lacking or 
not suitably addressed. However, the NRC staff recognizes that guidance 
provided in several technical areas throughout the SRP needs to be 
further improved. Therefore, the NRC staff is planning to revise NUREG-
1520, Revision 01, to provide additional information and clarify 
guidance on acceptable methods for achieving regulatory compliance with 
current regulations.
    In an SRM dated October 9, 2012 (SRM-SECY-12-0091), the Commission 
directed the staff to request that the American Nuclear Society (ANS) 
develop an ISA standard that would improve the quality and completeness 
of ISAs. The Commission also directed the staff to refrain from 
revising NUREG-1520 on ISA topics related to the ANS standard until the 
standard is complete. Rather, the staff should issue ISGs on certain 
narrow topics needing clarification such as the use of passive design 
features, bounding assumptions, initial conditions and the completeness 
of ISA summaries.

[[Page 73061]]

III. Initial Plan To Revise NUREG-1520

A. Proposed Changes

    The NRC staff proposes to revise the SRP to provide guidance and 
clarify the discussion in several technical areas,\1\ including 
criticality hazards and management measures. Further, the staff 
proposes to add two chapters to address the requirements for material 
control and accounting (MC&A) and physical protection, which are 
referenced in section 70.22 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Contents of Application.'' Additionally, the 
staff also proposes to revise the SRP to add guidance on the 
characterization and treatment of natural phenomena events and their 
impacts to fuel cycle facilities. Furthermore, the NRC staff is 
expecting to incorporate administrative changes throughout the SRP to 
ensure consistency among the chapters.
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    \1\ Guidance on ISA implementation issues will be addressed in 
an ISG.
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    The NRC staff is planning to revise Chapter 5, ``Nuclear 
Criticality Safety,'' to expand its discussion of the double 
contingency principle and double contingency protection. The discussion 
will include a description of what constitutes a loss of double 
contingency. Furthermore, the staff proposes to revise Chapter 11, 
``Management Measures,'' to provide guidance on graded management 
measures. This guidance will address the selection of IROFS for 
application of graded management measures.
    The NRC staff proposes the addition of two new chapters to the SRP: 
Chapter 12, ``Material Control and Accounting;'' and Chapter 13, 
``Physical Protection.'' The purpose of adding these chapters is to 
more fully address the 10 CFR part 74 requirements for material control 
and accounting, and the 10 CFR part 73 physical protection requirements 
that are specifically addressed in Sec.  70.22 for fuel cycle 
facilities. In Chapters 12 and 13, the staff is planning to reference 
applicable fuel cycle facility review guidance for 10 CFR part 73 and 
part 74 including those currently being evaluated under the rulemaking 
process.
    The staff also proposes to revise the SRP to add guidance on the 
characterization and treatment of natural phenomena events, and their 
potential impacts on fuel cycle facilities. In addition, the NRC staff 
expects to incorporate administrative changes throughout the chapters 
of the SRP. Such administrative changes may include rearrangement of 
some sections and general streamlining to further improve clarity, 
reduce redundancy, and to assure that statutory, regulatory, and 
guidance document references are accurate and up to date.
    For the ISG addressing ISA implementation issues, the staff plans 
to engage stakeholders to ensure common understanding on ISA 
implementation issues such as the use of passive engineered controls, 
bounding assumptions, and initial conditions to meet the 10 CFR part 70 
requirements. In addition, the staff plans to provide clarification on 
the completeness of the ISA summaries to ensure that facilities 
appropriately consider all credible events when developing an ISA.
    After consideration of the comments now being solicited, the NRC 
plans to develop and publish a project plan that establishes timelines 
and milestones for the SRP revisions and ISG development. The project 
plan will include additional opportunities for public comment.

B. Receiving Alerts

    The NRC may post additional information related to revising NUREG-
1520, including meeting notices, to the Federal rulemaking Web site at 
http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket ID NRC-2012-0220. The Federal 
rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when changes or 
additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: 1) navigate to the 
docket folder (NRC-2012-0220); 2) click the ``Email Alert'' link; and 
3) enter your email address and select how frequently you would like to 
receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly). In addition, public meeting 
notices will be posted on the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm, at least 
10 days prior to the meeting.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of October 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marissa Bailey,
Deputy Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office 
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2012-29678 Filed 12-6-12; 8:45 am]
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