ML101330209
| ML101330209 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Issue date: | 05/19/2010 |
| From: | Geoffrey Wertz Research and Test Reactors Licensing Branch |
| To: | Dickinson T US Dept of Interior, Geological Survey (USGS) |
| Wertz G, NRR/DPR/PRTA, 434-326-1086 | |
| References | |
| TAC ME1593 | |
| Download: ML101330209 (5) | |
Text
May 19, 2010 Dr. Tamara Dickinson Reactor Administrator Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., MS 911 Reston, VA 20192
SUBJECT:
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RE: FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS REGARDING RENEWAL OF FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE APPLICATION (TAC NO. ME1593)
Dear Dr. Dickinson:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is continuing its review of your application for the renewal of Facility Operating License No. R-113 for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
TRIGA reactor, dated January 5, 2009, (a redacted version of the safety analysis report is available on the NRCs public Web site at www.nrc.gov under Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML092120136).
We require additional information and clarification on questions that have arisen during our review. Please provide responses to the enclosed request for additional information within 60 days after the date of this letter. In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 50.30(b), you must execute your response in a signed original document under oath or affirmation.
If you have any questions about this review or if you need additional time to respond to this request, please contact me by telephone at 301-415-0893 or by electronic mail at Geoffrey.Wertz@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA By Alexander Adams For/
Geoffrey Wertz, Project Manager Research and Test Reactors Branch A Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-274
Enclosure:
As stated cc w/encl: See next page
U.S. Geological Survey TRIGA Reactor Docket No. 50-274 cc:
Mr. Brian Nielsen Environmental Services Manager 480 S. Allison Pkwy.
Lakewood, CO 80226 Mr. Eugene W. Potter State of Colorado Radiation Management Program HMWM-RM-B2 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South Denver, CO 80246 Mr. Timothy DeBey Reactor Director U.S. Geological Survey Box 25046 - Mail Stop 424 Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 Test, Research, and Training Reactor Newsletter Universities of Florida 202 Nuclear Sciences Center Gainesville, FL 32611
May 19, 2010 Dr. Tamara Dickinson Reactor Administrator Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., MS 911 Reston, VA 20192
SUBJECT:
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RE: FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS REGARDING RENEWAL OF FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE APPLICATION (TAC NO. ME1593)
Dear Dr. Dickinson:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is continuing its review of your application for the renewal of Facility Operating License No. R-113 for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
TRIGA reactor, dated January 5, 2009, (a redacted version of the safety analysis report is available on the NRCs public Web site at www.nrc.gov under Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML092120136).
We require additional information and clarification on questions that have arisen during our review. Please provide responses to the enclosed request for additional information within 60 days after the date of this letter. In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 50.30(b), you must execute your response in a signed original document under oath or affirmation.
If you have any questions about this review or if you need additional time to respond to this request, please contact me by telephone at 301-415-0893 or by electronic mail at Geoffrey.Wertz@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA By Alexander Adams For/
Geoffrey Wertz, Project Manager Research and Test Reactors Branch A Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-274
Enclosure:
As stated cc w/encl: See next page DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC DPR/PRT r/f RidsNrrDpr RidsNrrDprPrta RidsNrrDprPrtb GWertz, NRR GLappert, NRR LTran, NRR ADAMS Accession Number: ML101330209
- concurrence via e-mail, NRR-088 OFFICE PRLB:PM*
PRLB:LA PFAB:FA**
PRLB:BC PRLB:PM NAME GWertz GLappert ASimmons (JSimpson for)
AAdams GWertz (AAdams for)
DATE 5/ 19 / 2010 5/ 17 /2010 5/ 17 /2010 5/ 18 /2010 5/ 19 /2010 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
ENCLOSURE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE RENEWED LICENSE FOR THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TRIGA REACTOR LICENSE NO. R-113; DOCKET NO. 50-274 As required by Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 50.33(f)(2),
[a]pplicants to renew or extend the term of an operating license for a nonpower reactor shall include the financial information that is required in an application for an initial license. To comply with this requirement, please provide the following updated and supplemental information to the January 5, 2009, United States Geological Survey (USGS) application (the application) for a renewed license for the Geological Survey Test Reactor (GSTR).
- 1.
Pursuant to10 CFR 50.33(d), Contents of applications; general information, certain information is required by the applicant, USGS. The application indicates that USGS is a Federal bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior. To comply with 10 CFR 50.33(d), the staff requests that the applicant state whether USGS is owned, controlled, or dominated by an alien, foreign corporation, or foreign government, and if so give details.
- 2.
The NRC staff will analyze USGSs annual financial statements for the current year, which are required by 10 CFR 50.71(b), to determine if USGS is financially qualified to operate the GSTR. Since USGSs financial statements are not included in the application, please provide a copy of the latest annual financial statements for the staffs review.
- 3.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.33(f)(2), [t]he applicant shall submit estimates for total annual operating costs for each of the first five years of operation of the facility. For the NRC staff to complete its review, the following additional information must be submitted:
(a)
The estimated operating costs for the GSTR for each of the fiscal years (FY)2011 through FY2015 (the first five years after projected license renewal.
(b)
USGSs source(s) of funds to cover the operating costs for the above FYs.
- 4.
Section 15.3 of the application, Financial Ability to Decommission the Facility, states that the cost to decommission the GSTR was $3.7 million in 2006 dollars. In order for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff to complete its review of the decommissioning cost estimate, please provide the following additional information.
(a)
A current cost estimate in 2010 dollars to meet the NRCs radiological release criteria for decommissioning the facility for unrestricted use, the basis for the decommissioning cost estimate, and show costs specifically broken down into the categories of labor, waste disposal, other items (such as energy, equipment, supplies), and a contingency factor of at least 25 percent.
(b)
A description of the means of adjusting the cost estimate and associated funding level periodically over the life of the facility to comply with 10 CFR 50.75(d)(2)(iii).
Also, Provide a detailed numerical example showing how the 2010 cost estimate will be updated periodically in the future.
- 5.
USGS states that the funds needed for decommissioning will be requested through appropriate federal funding channels and will be obtained sufficiently in advance of decommissioning to prevent delay of required activities. Where the applicant intends to use a statement of intent (SOI) as the method to provide decommissioning funding assurance, as provided for by 10 CFR 50.75(e)(1)(iv), the staff must find that the applicant is a Federal, State, or local government licensee To make this finding, the applicant must state that it is a Federal government organization and that the decommissioning funding obligations of the applicant are backed by the Federal government, and also provide corroborating documentation.
Further, the applicant must provide documentation verifying that the signator of the statement of intent is authorized to execute said document that binds the applicant. This document may be a governing body resolution, management directives, or other form that provides an equivalent level of assurance. As the application does not include all of the above information, please submit the following:
(a)
The current (2010 dollars) cost estimate for decommissioning (for which decommissioning funding assurance is being provided) and the signators oath or affirmation attesting to the information.
(b)
Documentation that corroborates the statement in the application that USGS is a Federal institution and a Federal government licensee under 10 CFR 50.75(e)(2)(iv).
(c)
A statement as to whether the decommissioning funding obligations for the GSTR are backed by the Federal government. The application must also present information that corroborates this statement. For example, the documentation may be a copy of or complete citation to a Federal statute that expressly provides that the obligations, or at least the decommissioning funding obligations, of the applicant are obligations backed or supported by the full faith and credit of the Federal government, or an opinion of the applicants General Counsel with citations to statutes, regulations, and/or case law that the obligations, or at least with respect to the decommissioning funding obligations, of the applicant are obligations backed or supported by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government.
(d)
Documentation verifying that the signator of the SOI is authorized to execute such a document that binds the applicant financially. For example, provide a copy of an official USGS delegation of authority showing that the signator of the SOI is authorized to bind USGS financially, at least with respect to funding the decommissioning of the GSTR.