ML19294A951
| ML19294A951 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/06/1980 |
| From: | Ahearne J NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Mcintyre J OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19294A952 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8002260437 | |
| Download: ML19294A951 (5) | |
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UNITED STATES hh E
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
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February 6, 1980 CHAIRMAN The Honorable James T. McIntyre, Jr.
Director, Office of Management and Budget Room 255 Old Executive Office Building Washington, D.C. 29593
Dear Mr. McIntyre:
In its January 7,1980 letter to you regarding the NRC reorganization plan, the Comission stated that it intended to deliberate further on the plan and would provide additional recommendations. This letter contains those recommendations:
1.
In the past, the Commission has requested statutory status for the Office of Inspection and Enforcement.
The importance of this office is comparable to that of the other NRC offices with statutory status, and it actually has a larger staff than those other offices. However, although there is widespread agreement on the need for stronger inspection and enforcement action, the Commission is considering a variety of managerial and structural alternatives to best achieve these goals.
The Commission will make its recommendations as to how to best strengthen the inspection and enfcmement functions as soon as it resolves these outstanding issues.
2.
The reorganization plan should clarify the respective roles of NRC and FEMA in the review and approval of State and local plans for offsite emergency response to nuclear accidents.
In his December 7 statement, the President directed FEMA to take the lead for all off-site nuclear emergency planning and response.
However, under current law, NRC continues to have responsibility for a review of State and local emergency plans insofar as these plans are significant to licensing decisions.
As you may know, NRC has recently proposed new rules which would as a general matter require NRC concurrence in appropriate State and local emergency plans as a condition to its granting -licenses.
In the event that NRC does not concur in such plans affecting~ an operating plant, the proposed rules present alternatives for NRC action which could include eventual shutdown of the' plant.
Further, the adequacy of such plans will be an open issue in NRC licensing and enforcement proceedings, irrespective of the findings and determinations of FEMA.
Thus, there is a possibility of continuing duplicative efforts by FEMA and NRC.
8002263
ti The Honorable James T. McIntyre, Jr.
2 h
To remedy the possibility of duplicative efforts, the reorganization plan should provide for the transfer to FEMA of all NRC functions with respect to State and local emergency plans incident to NRC's licensing and regulatory e
responsibilities under the Atomic Energy Act and Energy Reorganization Act.
However, to avoid the possibility of regulatory gaps, the transfer should not be effective until the NRC determines that the FEMA program for assessing
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the sufficiency of such plans is adequate to protect public health and safety.
Upon such a finding and transfer, NRC's authority and responsibility would cease, and FEMA would have exclusive authority to make determinations L
respecting the sufficiency of State and local plans.
FEMA's determinations would not be subject to review in NRC proceedings.
3.
The requirements of the Energy Reorganization Act that the Comission can
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take action only through a majority vote of Comissioners "present" and that a quorum of the Comission must be three members "present" should be relaxed. The Comission is unique among multi-member regulatory agencies in being unable to act other than by a vote of members present.
At times, this requirement can effectively preclude or delay Comission action. At other times, it necessitates assembly of the Commissioners to dispose of minor routine matters which they have each individually approved previously.
We therefore recommend that the reorganization plan provide for waiver of the "present" requirement when all members of the Commission agree to such
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waiver.
I 4.
The plan should relieve the Advisory Comittee on Reactor Safeguards of the t
requirement to review every construction permit and operating license application for a large facility. The President's Comission on the i
Accident at Three Mile Island also recommended this course of action. The Committee agrees with this recommendation, as indicated in the attached
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letter.
[t The mandatory requirement of ACRS review under current law results in a 1
needless expenditure of resources by both the Committee and the NRC staff.
3 For example, it necessitates ACRS review of issues which the Committee has
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already evaluated in its review of similar license applications.
Relieving 5
the Committee of this requirement would not reduce protection of the public i.
health and safety. The Committee would retain the ability to review any license application or portion thereof.
If the Committee elected not to
' review an application, it would be required to notify the Comission of its decision that review was unnecessary.
Also, the Commission c~ould direct the ACRS to review an application.
E i-r e
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I The Honorable James T. McIntyre, Jr.
3 E
F.
5.
The plan should provide for the transfer of nuclear export licensing functions from NRC to an agency within the Executive Branch.
These functions, which involve a substantial amount of the Commissioners' time, divert agency-resources from domestic safety matters. The narrow expertise of NRC with respect to nuclear exports does not justify the large expenditure y
of Commissioners' time and other agency resources.
7 Chairman Ahearne notes that with regard to this item:
"I would like to i
point out how much time we actually are devoting to international matters, n
It is difficult to assess how Commissioners spend their time.
How we f) spend our time will depend in many cases on what are the current high priority issues.
For example, over the last several months most of our time has.been spent on Three Mile Island related events.
However, in the year preceding passage of the Non-Proliferation Act we received 911 official papers for the Commission to handle. Of these, 27% were related to international matters, including 14% related to exports.
In the year B
following the passage of the Non-Proliferation Act (which year ended prior to Three Mile Island, so these numbers are not affected by the accident) we received 962 papers.
Of the total, 38% were international, 7
including 23% related to exports.
Our international papers went from 27%
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of the total to 38%.
Information papers are a measure of the amount of time that we should spend to keep abreast of staff activity.
In the year following passage of the NNPA, the international information papers nearly tripled, from 80 to 231.
In addition, in both years over one quarter of all Commission action papers -- these are ones on which the n
Commissioners' must vote -- related to exports, and about 40% were on one or another aspect of international matters." y Concerning the proposal that the Executive Branch assume the NRC's responsibilities for nuclear export licensing, Commissioners Bradford and Gilinsky note:
"Two years ago Congress examined the issues in great y
detail and assigned the NRC an independent role in export licensing by a vote of 411 to 0 in the House and 88 to 3 in the Senate.
This was a specific and carefully crafted manifestation of Congress' discontent, in the wake of the disclosure of a U.S. role in the India nuclear explosion, and of its consequent insistence on an independent review of nuclear export licensing to ensure consistent and thorough administration of the law.
The legislation was introduced by the Administration and was strongly
. supported by President Carter who described it as 'of overwhelming importance to our nonproliferation policy.... a major step forward.
... which would put into effect a clarified and an adequate American policy on the.use and provision of atomic fuels.... '"
y Remarks by John F. Ahearne, Commissioner, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
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Commission, before the American Nuclear Society Executive Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 11, 1979; "Does the Emperor Have E
Any Clothes?"
The Honorable James T. McIntyre, Jr.
4 t
"The only new wrinkle in the argument made by the other Commissioners is the suggestion that export licensing distracts Comisson attention from I
safety, a concern that was never mentioned during the extensive hearings
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on the proposed NNPA or in the several NNPA-related hearings held since t
its enactment.
The statement that export licensing involves a 'large expenditure of Commissioners' time and other agency resources' is simply wrong.
Under the regular procedures resulting from the NNPA, nonproliferation concerns related to exports have occupied less than 10% of the Commissioners' time and less than 1% of the agency's resources; Tieing domestic reactor safety failings to export regulation is at best misleading.
The fact is that the Commission has and has had enough time for safety.
The problem i
in the past was that the Commission took an overly relaxed view of its safety responsibilities."
"The use of Commission paperwork as a guide to Commission time is misleading here. The 'Information Reports' are inflated by a very high percentage F
of notices regarding routine exports (to say nothing of imports) handled
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by the staff requiring no Commission time and by international health and safety matters that would remain with the NRC in any case.
Most of the
' Action Papers' in the export areas are equally routine.
It would be just as incorrect to say that the NRC's agency priorities were heavily slanted toward nuclear medicine because we have issued thousands of licenses in that field and have issued only 70 nuclear power plant operating licenses. A review based on Commission meetings shows that in the 23 e
months since the NNPA took effect, international matters have taken about 9.3% of the Commission's meeting time, with about 7.6% devoted to non-proliferation.
A better guide to the future may be the last year (post-TMI and also post-the adoption of formal NNPA procedures) when the total is 6.5% and the nonproliferation subtotal only 4.1%.
Even the paperwork percentages devoted to exports would fall off considerably in 1979, if
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they had been calculated."
6.
The plan should authorize a Commissioner whose term has expired to e
remain in his position until a successor has been confirmed and has assumed the office.
In the past, Commissioner vacancies have impeded i
Commission action. This provision would reduce that possibility in the
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future and would put the Commission on a par with other regulatory agencies in this regard.
With respect to this item, Commissioners Bradford and Gilinsky would support such a provision for Commissioners who have been renominated by
'the President.
A broader provision invites unnecessary delay in the process of filling Commission vacancies.
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The Honorable James T. McIntyre, Jr.
5 Appended to this letter is statutory language which would effect most of the above Commission recommendations. Statutory language for transfer of NRC export licensing functions will require additional time to draft, so as to retain for the Commission its other responsibilities with respect to international cooperation; we would assist in drafting such language, if you so desire. The Commission will provide statutory language for its Office of Inspection and Enforcement when it makes its recommendations as to how best to strengthen that office.
If we may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call on us.
f Si nc el f
i John F. A earne Attachments: As stated e
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