IR 05000124/2012013
| ML24355A166 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 05000124 |
| Issue date: | 12/13/2024 |
| From: | Denise Edwards NRC/NMSS/DREFS/RRPB |
| To: | Meyer R - No Known Affiliation |
| References | |
| PRM-50-124 | |
| Download: ML24355A166 (1) | |
Text
From:
Denise Edwards To:
rmeyer@goeaston.net Cc:
Helen Chang (She); Krupskaya Castellon; Soly Soto Lugo (She/Her); Scott Krepel; Pam Noto (She/Her)
Subject:
Status of Petition for Rulemaking (PRM-50-124)
Date:
Friday, December 13, 2024 4:45:00 PM
Dear Ralph O. Meyer,
By letter dated August 1, 2022 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML22284A087), you submitted a petition for rulemaking requesting that the NRC revise the acceptance criteria for emergency core cooling system performance in Section 50.46 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this email is to provide an update on the status of your petition.
On November 23, 2022 (87 FR 71531), the NRC published in the Federal Register a notice of acceptance and docketing of PRM-50-124 and requested comments on the petition. The comment period closed on March 8, 2023, and the NRC received several comment submissions, which can be found at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC20220178. The NRC is evaluating your petition and the associated public comments.
Once the NRC makes a determination on the petition, the NRC will notify you and publish a notice in the Federal Register explaining the Commissions decision.
As noted in the Federal Register notice docketing your petition and requesting public comment, comments received after the close of the public comment period will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to assure consideration only for comments received during the public comment period.
With regards to the timeline for resolving a petition for rulemaking, it largely depends on the nature and complexity of the request. In addition, for NRC to resolve a legal/technical petition; this estimate is subject to resource availability and other agency priorities. Once the staff completes review of the petition and associated public comments, the staff will prepare formal recommendation to the Commission for approval. The Commission makes the final decision on the NRCs actions on petitions for rulemaking. For more detailed information on the petition for rulemaking process, please refer to https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/petition-rule.html, and The Petition for Rulemaking Process, Figure1 (80 FR 60524; October 7, 2015) (ADAMS Accession No.
Regardless of the outcome of your petition for rulemaking, you may be interested in knowing of the ongoing rulemaking effort to amend the existing regulations to allow uranium-235 (U-235) enrichments of higher than 5.0 weight-percent, Staff Requirements SECY-21-0109Rulemaking Plan on Use of Increased Enrichment of Conventional and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for Light-Water Reactors, dated March 16, 2022 (ADAMS Accession No. ML22075A103). The Commission also directed the staff to address fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal (FFRD) in this rulemaking, because the most likely purpose for increased enrichment for an existing nuclear power plant would be to increase fuel economy by extending the lifetime of fuel assemblies (i.e., increased burnup). FFRD becomes more of a concern at higher burnups. There will be a public meeting, with closed portions, with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. The ACRS Subcommittee on Regulatory Rulemaking, Policies, and Practices will discuss the increased enrichment ML24355A166
rulemaking and multiple associated draft regulatory guides. This public, 2-day meeting will be held on December17 and 18, 2024. More information on this meeting can be found here: https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg?do=details&Code=20241338.
Also, the NRC held a workshop to discuss licensing and technical aspects of higher burnup (75gigawatt-days per metric ton (Gwd/MTU) U-235 or equivalent) and increased enrichment (above 5.0weight-percent U-235) fuel on September 3, 2024, in Rockville, Maryland. The slides presented at this meeting and the meeting summary are listed below.
Higher Burnup Workshop V-Slide Presentation, https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2424/ML24243A161.pdf Summary of the September 3, 2024, Workshop, https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2427/ML24277A154.pdf
We thank you for your continued correspondence regarding this petition, and we confirm that to this day, we have received six letters or emails from you since the official comment period closed for PRM-50-124. All correspondence received from you has been added to the PRM-50-124 docket. The status of PRM50124 can be found at the NRC Rules and Petition page at https://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doccollections/rulemakingruleforum/active/PetitionIndex.ht ml. This website includes a link to a listing of all active NRC petitions for rulemaking. You can monitor this site for status updates as they become available.
You can also continue to monitor the docket for PRM50124 at https://www.regulations.gov. The Federal rulemaking website allows you to receive alerts when changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: 1) navigate to the docket folder (NRC2022-0178); 2) click the Subscribe button; and 3) enter your email address and select how frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).
You will continue to receive periodic status updates on your petition every 6 months.
Please feel free to contact me at Denise.Edwards@nrc.gov or 404-997-4432 if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Denise E. Edwards Reactor Rulemaking and Project Management Branch Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards Phone: 404.997.4432 /Email: denise.edwards@nrc.gov