ML20028C665
| ML20028C665 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/15/1982 |
| From: | Palladino N NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Bowsher C, Brooks J, Hatfield M, Moffett T, Ottinger R, Roth W, Simpson A, Stockman D, Udall M, Whitten J GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, HOUSE OF REP., APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REP., ENERGY & COMMERCE, HOUSE OF REP., GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, HOUSE OF REP., INTERIOR & INSULAR AFFAIRS, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET, SENATE, APPROPRIATIONS, SENATE, ENVIRONMENT & PUBLIC WORKS, SENATE, GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8301110678 | |
| Download: ML20028C665 (22) | |
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December 15, 1982 OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable David A. Stockman Director Office of~ Management and 10dget -
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Dear Mr. Stockman:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a summary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Comfnission~(NRC) in response to recommen-dations concerning the NPC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
Sincerely, Nunzio lladino Chairman
Enclosure:
Summary of Actions l
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December 15, 1982 CFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Charles Bowsher Comptroller General of the United States General-Accounting Office Washington, D.C.
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Dear Mr. Bowsher:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a summary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Conshission"(NRC) in response to recommen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
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Enclosure:
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The Honorable liark 0. Hatfield Chainnan, Comittee on Appropriations United States Senate Washington, D.C.
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As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a sumary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recomen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
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Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc: Senator William Proxmire
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The Honorable Jamie Whitten Chairman, Committee on Appropriations United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
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As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a sumary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recomen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
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Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc:
Rep. Silvio Conte O
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Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970,". enclosed is a sumary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Comission-(NRC) in response to recomen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
Sincerely, Nunzio J.
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Chairman
Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc:
Rep. Carlos Moorhead
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December 15, 1982 CFFEE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Toby Moffett Chairman, Subcomittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Comittee on Government Operations United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510,'the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970,", enclosed is a sumary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Comissiori',(NRC) in response to recomen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
Sincerely, 6-L $ $s h Nunzio J.
alladino Chairman
Enclosure:
Sumary of Actions cc:
Rep. Joel Deckard 4
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OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Morris K. Udall Chairman, Subcomittee on Energy and the Environment Comittee on Interior and Insular Affairs United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Mr. Chainnan:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a sumary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Coninission:(NRC) in response to recommen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
Sincerely, Nunzio J. Palladino Chairman
Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc:
Rep. Manuel Lujan I
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Comittee on Environment and Public Works United States Senate Washington, D.C.
20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510, the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a summary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recommen-dations concerning the NRC wh-ich were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
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Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc:
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As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510,.the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a suninary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recommen-dations concerning the NRC wh.ich were included in reports issued by the Cocptroller General.
Sincerely, Nunzic J. Palladino Chairman
Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc: Senator Thomas Eagleton y.-
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,o December 15, 1982 CFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Jack Brooks Chainnan, Committee on Government Operations U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As required by Section 236 of Public Law 91-510,,the " Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970," enclosed is a summary of actions taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in response to recomen-dations concerning the NRC which were included in reports issued by the Comptroller General.
Sincerely, M
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a?ladino Chairman
Enclosure:
Summary of Actions cc:
Rep. Frank Horton 8
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SUMMARY
OF GAO REPORTS REPORTS INCLUDED IN THE 1982 ANNUAL COMPILATION Page 1.
Federal Agencies Negligent in Collecting Debts Arising from Audits.......................
1-3 2.
Less' Sol'e-Source, More Competition Needed on Federal Civil Agencies Contracting 3-7 3.
Federal Information Systems Remain Highly Vulnerable to Fraudulent, Wasteful, Abusive and Illegal Practices............................
7-8 4.
Cleaning Up Nuclear Facilities - An Aggressive and Unified Federal Program Is Needed................
8-9 5.
NRC Should Specify User Needs and Improve Cost Control for Its Document Control System..........._......
10 6.
Greater Commitment Needed to Solve Continuing Problems at TMI.........................
10-11 l
A.
NRC ACTIONS IN CY 1982 c
IN RESPONSE TO COMPTROLLER GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS Report - January 22, 1982 Federal Agencies Negligent in Collecting Debts' Arising from Audits Recommendation No. 1 (Chapter 2)
Require a written determination of the allowability of all questioned costs within six months of audit report issuance.
Recommendation No. 2 (Chapter 2)
Ensure establishment of accounts receivable for all disallowed costs within 30 days of the written determination of indebtedness.
NRC Response The NRC has implemented procedures for follow-up of audit recommendations.
These procedures are consistent with OMB Circular A-73 (now Circular A-50).
The 6-month and 30-day time constraints cited in recommendations 1 and 2 were added to these procedures on June 25, 1982.
Recommendation No. 3 (Chapter 2)
Ensure aggressive collection action in accordance with the Claims Collection Standards, which include written demands for payment at 30-day intervals, affecting the debtor's credit rating, offsetting the debt against amounts due from other Federal programs, and suspension or termination of fundings.
NRC Response The NRC has codified its debt collection procedures. These procedures have been '
implemented and they comply with Federal Claims Collection Standards.
Recommendation No. 4 (Chapter 2)
Hold grantees fully responsible for the debts of their sub-grantees and apply the Claims Collection Standards in collecting these amounts from grantees.
NRC Response To date, grantees under NRC's small grant program ($1,655,000 in FY 81) have not had sub-grantees.
Should an NRC grantee have sub-grantees, NRC will hold the grantee fully responsible for the debts of its sub-grantees through the e
financial assistance agreement. The Federal Claims Collection Standards are applied in collecting any amounts due from grantees.
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Ensure compliance with the Claims Collection Standards to preclude the tennination,of any debts over $20,000 and ensure that all Claims Collection i
Standards concerning compromise and termination are met before settling debts of
$20,000 or less..
NRC Response l
The NRC's debt collection procedures concerning compromise and termination of debts are consistent with the Federal Claims Collection Standards.
Debts in excess of $20,000 are referred for litigation to the General Accounting Office or the Department of Justice.
Recommendation No. 6 (Chapter 3)
Streamline the audit disallowance appeal process to ensure that unnecessary delays are eliminated and that interest is charged on all amounts under appeal.
NRC Response j
The NRC's audit disallowance appeal process assures that unnecessary delays are eliminated. A late payment charge is imposed on each debt under appeal if such debt has been initially asserted by the NRC on or after March 24, 1982.
Recommendation No. 7 (Chapter 3)
Require' interest to be charged and collected on all debts at the rate specified
'by the Treasury Fiscal Requirements Manual, beginning no later than 30 days from establishment of the debt and continuing until collection or final disposition.
NRC Response If a debt is not paid in full on or before the payment due date, the NRC assesses a late payment charge based upon the prevailing rate prescribed by the Treasury Fiscal Requirements Manual.
The payment due date is normally 30 days from the date in the initial written demand (to date there have been no circum-sta' ces that warrant extending the payment due date beyond 30 days).
Roommendation No. 8 '(Chapter 4)
Require grantee debtors to certify that their payment of audit-related debts has not reduced the level of performance of any Federal program. We further reconmend that a follow-up system be established whereby grant management staff closely monitor performance of grantees to ensure that settlement of debts does not adversely affect grantee performance.
This system should also include pro-vision for audit follow-up, whereby routine verification is made part of the subsequent audit of grantees paying off audit-related debts.
2
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i NRC Response The NRC grant program started in fiscal year 1980 and, to date, no NRC grantee has had an audit-related debt to the NRC. All grant agreements executed after June 30, 1982, will require grantee debtors to certify that their payment of audit-related debts does not reduce the level of performance of any Federal program. NRC grant management. procedure will_ assure that_ settlement.of debts.
does not adversely affect grantee performance.
Report - April 7,1982 Less Sole-Source, More Competition Needed on Federal Civil Agencies Contracting Recommendation No. 1 Install effective management procedures or controls to ensure agency compliance with the new regulatory requirements adopted in response to our recommendations.
(See pp. 22 and 32 of the full report.)
NRC Response The recommendations referred to here by the GA0 were those which it made to the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). Under the provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, the GSA is responsible for maintaining the Federal Procurement Regulations. The first of these recommendations (p. 22) relates to describing the conditions which must be operative to justify a sole-source procurement. The Federal Pro-curement Regulations (FPR) currently state (FPR 1-3.210(a)(1)) simply that negotiation is authorized "when property or services can be obtained from only one person or firm (sole-source of supply)." The GA0 has further defined this area in its decisions on protests lodged with the Comptroller General. The NRC concurs in and is already in compliance with this GA0 recommendation as it details circumstances supportive of sole-source procurement in its system of management directives, specifically, NRC Appendix 5101, "NRC Procurement of Goods and Services," Part II, Paragraph D.1.b, " Circumstances Supportive of Noncompetitive Procurement."
The second recommendation (p. 22) would require a written sole-source justification for each sole-source action over $10,000 which would document the circunstances surrounding the action and describing the market search that was conducted.
The description of the market search would also indicate whether a preaward notice inviting competition was published in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD). The NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this recommendation.
The NRC's documentation requirements are set forth in NRC Appendix 5101, Part II.D., " Noncompetitive Procurement" and Procurement Compliance Notice 78-13.
The third recommendation (p. 23) would require the establishment and maintenance of a procurement planning system in agencies obligating over 5 million dollars annually. Again, the NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this 3
m.
recommendation.
Paragraph 031.a. of NP,CM 5101 establishes a requirement for the submission and revision of an annual procurement plan by each NRC office.
Bulletin 5101-3, " Advance Procurement Planning, Lead-Time and Cut-Off Dates, and Review of Ye,ar-End Procurement Actions," provides additional procedures for the development and maintenance of an annual advance procurement plan (APP).
The fourth recommendation (listed as No. 1 on p. 33) would require that a market search for competitive sources be made before a sole-source justification be approved. The NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this recommenda-tion. The " sources sought" procedure utilized by the Department of Health and Human Services and lauded by the GA0 (see pp. 27-29 of the report) is paralleled by the sources sought procedure in use at the NRC. This procedure is detailed in NRC Appendix 5101, Part II, Paragraph D.1.d, "Use of ' Sources Sought' Announcement in Sole-Source Situation."
The fifth recomendation (listed as No. 2 on p. 33) would require that the market search include a CBD notice inviting competitive offers on the specific prime contract and other reasonable steps, such as soliciting capable firms and contacting local business, where appropriate. The NRC concurs with this recom-mendation and is already in compliance with it.
The last recommendation (listed as No. 3 on p. 33) would require that, especially in potential sole-source situations, the agency requesting officials notify procurement offices as soon as requirements become known, to maximize the time available for conducting the market search and obtaining competition.
The NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this recommendation.
Bulletin 5101-3 referenced above requires the program office to identify sole-source requirements in its APP. This allows sufficient lead-time to examine the merits of the sole-source and to conduct a market search where appropriate.
In addition to these specific management controls, the NRC has established an Internal Control Committee in accordance with OMB Circular A-123, " Internal Control Systems," which, by virtue of its responsibility to promote opera-tional economy and efficiency, will clearly be concerned with promoting an increase in competition in the NRC's procurement actions.
Recommendation No. 2 Use the Federal Procu,rement Data System to set goals for, and measure the progress of, increasing competition by agencies, components, and purchasing offices. The approach used should emphasize (1) periodically and thoroughly analyzing the system's data on noncompetitive awards by such categories as purchasing office and product or service code, (2) pinpcinting areas having the greatest opportunity for increasing competition, (3) measurinj incremental yearly progress, and (4) placing responsibility on program, technical, and procurement officials heading the various offices for making a " good faith" effort to meet agreed-upon goals.
NRC Response The NRC agrees that the data it prepares and submits to the FPDS can provide useful information in assessing the efficiency of the NRC's contracting 4
activity.
It does not, however, agree that setting a specific numerical goal for increased competition is a useful exercise.
Each request for a sole-source contract is and will be thoroughly examined; those which are not factually supported will be rejected. This process is qualitative.
The NRC feels that there should be no pressure to meet a quantitative goal which would influence a qualitative decision.
Indeed, the NRC, utilizing this qualitative approach, has increased the percentage of its dollars awarded competitively from 52% of all commercial contracting in FY-79 to 70% in FY-81 (Interagency contracting is not included).
Recommendation No. 3 Direct appropriate agency officials to use the ccmpetitive process, unless the government would be injured by doing so or agency officials demonstrate that competition is not feasible.
NRC Response The NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this recommendation (NRC Appendix 5101, Part II.D, " Noncompetitive Procurement).
Recommendation No. 4 Improve the procurement training provided to agency technical, program, and procurement personnel to better enable them to correct the types of problems identified in this report and avoid unnecessary sole-source awards.
NRC Response The agency has a demonstrated commitment to the training of program and pro-curement personnel.
For example, it has designed and developed a procurement course for the agency's project officers.
By the end of FY-82 this course will have been delivered to approximately 250 of the agency's program personnel.
In addition, procurement personnel are systematically trained in all aspects of the contracting function. A detailed and comprehensive training plan and profile is developed for each procurement professional..
Such plan is implemented within the constraints of agency budget and workload needs.
The efficacy of this training commitment is reflected in the agency's favorable ratio of competitive to sole-source awards.
Recommendations No. 5 Increase the effectiveness of the required reviews of sole-source decisions and ensure that they are made.
Improving the documentation of sole-source justi-fications and implementing other recommendations suggested in this report should help improve the quality of these reviews.
NRC Response The NRC concurs and agrees with the GA0 that the implementation of its recommen-dations should help improve the quality of these reviews.
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throughout this response, the NRC has already implemented GA0's recomendations.
The NRC currently requires review of sole-source decisions at a level above that of the Contracting Officer for all procurements in excess of $10,000.
Recomendation No. 6 Reduce the number of unjustified sole-source contracts evolving frnm unsolicited proposals by (1) requiring at a minimum the type of documentation and market research that we are recommending for other sole-source procurements, (2) educating agency personnel that unsolicited proposals are not acceptable if the substance is available to the Government without restriction from another source, and (3) requiring that potential offerors be provided with a solicitation document, such as a request for proposals, stating the Government's problem and minimum requirements as well as its evaluation criteria (but not the particular ideas, proprietary information, or solution contained in the unsolicited proposal), when competition is feasible and a valid requirement exists.
NRC Response The NRC concurs in this recommendation and is already in compliance with it.
NRC Manual Chapter 5102, " Receipt and Handling of Unsolicited Proposals" together with NRC Appendix 5101, Part II.D, " Noncompetitive Procurement" provide the coverage sought by the GA0.
Recommendation No. 7 Better ensure that (1) contract specifications are not unnecessarily restrictive and (2) competition is fostered to the maximum extent practical in subsequent procurements after previous noncompetitive awards, as required.
NRC Response The NRC concurs and is already in compliance with this recommendation. NRC Appendix 5101, Part II.D. addresses this point as well as Part III.C.6.b.(1) of the Appendix.
Recommendation No. 8 Improve, in conjunction with the Director, Federal Procurement Data Center, and the Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the accuracy and completeness of the Federal Procurement Data System by (1) instituting a quality control program, including periodic sampling of agency data, (2) improving data entry and correction procedures, (3) resolving inconsistencies between the system's requirements and the agencies' own systems, (4) providing training to appropriate personnel concerning system definitions and procedures, and (5) holding contracting officers accountable for ensuring that correct and complete data is promptly entered into the system on each of their contract actions by providing feedback on the coding errors for their contracts and assessing their performance.
6
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NRC Response The NRC concurs in this recommendation and has already taken action to upgrade its own system, which feeds the FPDS, by recently hiring an individual to specifically take responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the system.
The concerns articulated by the GA0 will form the basis for a program of. action for system improvements.
Recommendation No. 9 Perhaps most importantly of all, effectively communicate a strong commitment to competition to personnel throughout their agencies.
NRC Response The NRC concurs in this recommendation and has announced to its staff, the importance of and the commitment to competition in its contracting activities.
Report - April 21, 1982 Federal Information Systems Remain Highly Vulnerable to Fraudulent, Wasteful, Abusive, and Illegal Practices Recommendation No. 1 Identify, in accordance with a revised Transmittal Memorandum No.1, the vulnerabilities and risks associated with their automated information systems and develop a new plan for establishing a reasonable level of protection over those systems.
NRC Response The NRC is currently conducting assessments of its systems which process sensitive unclassified data and is planning to continue with these assessments.
When a revised Transmittal Memorandum No.1 is issued, we will re-examine the vulnerabilities and risks associated with our systems and prepare a new plan for establishing a reasonable level of protection for these systems.
Recommendation No. 2 Identify a time schedule and resource requirements for implementing the plan.
NRC Response While the current NRC plan contains time schedules and resource requirements for implementing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-71, Transmittal Memorandum No.1, it will have to be updated based upon new or revised information received from OMB, The' Department of Commerce, Government Services Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management. Once these new policies, principles, standards, and guidelines are disseminated, we will identify a time schedule and resource requirements for impiementing the updated plan.
7
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Recommendation No. 3 Establish internal review audit programs which will periodically evaluate and report on the level of protection actually provided over automated information systems.
NRC Response _
NRC has an internal audit program for automated information systems which process unclassified sensitive data.
Recommendation No. 4 Include in their next budget a report describing the actions taken to implement
a plan and to implement recommendations made by the agency internal review group.
NRC Response As discussed above, when a revised Transmittal Memorandum No. 1 (TM-1) is issued, NRC will re-examine the vulnerabilities and risks associated with its systems and prepare a new plan.
Reporting of this information to OMB in the FY 1985 budget request is contingent upon NRC's early receipt of a revised OMB
=
Circular A-71/TM-1.
Report - May 25, 1982 Cleaning Up Nuclear Facilities - An Aggressive and Unified Federal Program Is Needed Recommendation No. I Revise NRC's recordkeeping system to provide for prompt identification of licensees who have stopped operations, effective monitoring of licensee control over contaminated facilities, assurance that facilities are cleaned up when licenses are terminated, and the development and permanent retention in a central repository of. records documenting decommissioning activities.
NRC Response The NRC staff response to the draft report basically agreed with this recommen-dation (Page 53 of the final GA0 report). However, in the staff response it was indicated that decommissioning records would only be kept in a central I
repository until ten years after the NRC determines that the premises are free of residual contamination.
The GAO, in this final report, suggests that decommissioning records be permanently retained. The Commission agrees with this GA0 recommendation and further agrees that the NRC will maintain permanent files containing pertinent information on the status of NRC licensed facilities that are inoperative and had been radioactively contaminated.
8
b Recommendation No. 2 Re-evaluate and, if at all possible, accelerate NRC's timetable for issuing a decommissioning policy with a view toward shortening the time required to submit a paper to the Commissioners. Shortening the timetable would enable NRC to institute earlier front-end planning and ' funding requirements' for decommis -
sioning NRC-licensed facilities as a condition.of. licensing...The funding-requirements should also be made applicable to currently active licenses.
NRC Response At the suggestion of the GA0 in their draft report, the NRC staff did re-evaluate the possibility of accelerating the schedule for decommissioning policy. The result of this re-evaluation was presented in the NRC staff response to the draft report (Page 53 of the final GA0 report) where it was concluded that a realistic schedule was publication of the proposed rule changes ~
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about February 1983 and effective rule changes about nine months later. As part of the NRC staff basis for the rulemaking schedule, it was indicated that improvement in the decommissioning information base for reactors involved in accidents was required and that contractor reports on this subject were expected about April 1982.
The GAO, in this final report, suggests that NRC can still accelerate its timetable for issu.ing proposed rules by omitting post-accident decommissioning considerations initially.
In the meantime, however, we have received sufficient information on reactor post-accident decommissioning. With this information in hand, we believe it would now take no longer to conduct a full rulemaking than to issue a rule omitting post-accident decommissioning.
Therefore, we disagree with this GA0 suggestion.
With regard to making decommissioning funding requirements applicable to currently active licensees, we should point out that decommissioning funding requirements were always intended to apply to both license applicants and existing licensees.
Explicit mention of such funding requirements will be included in the proposed rule changes.
l 9
B.
NRC ACTIONS IN CY 1982 IN RESPONSE TO COMPTROLLER GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ISSUED IN PRIOR YEARS Report - June 3,.1981 NRC Should Specify User Needs and Improve Cost-Control for Its Document Control System Recommendation No. 1 The needs of NRC staff for an automated technical information and Document Control System (DCS) should be specified.
_. Recommendation No. 2 The NRC should resolve problems the staff was experiencing in this system.
Recommendation No. 3 That MRC take steps to prevent the processing of duplicate documents.
NRC Response NRC has complied fully with the GA0 recommendations listed above concerning the NRC Document Control System.
In November 1981, Planning Research Corporation, Government Information Systems (PRC/GIS) was awarded a two-year, $4 million contract to operate and maintain the NRC Document Control System (DCS) beginning in February 1982. This was an improvement in the cost of operating and maintaining the DCS.
In early 1982, the Office of Administration conducted a formal study to determine user requirements for a possible second-generation DCS.
Included in the study were the proposed objectives for any second-generation system, assumptions about NRC's future mission and organization, and requirements analyses.
The study recommended an evolutionary second-generation system based on analysis of user requirements, operating experience with the existing DCS, and a review of alternative technologies.
The Office of Resource Management endorsed the study in September 1982.
Report - August 26, 1981 Greater Commitment Needed to Solve Continuing Problems at Three Mile Island Recommendation No. 1 Assess the current efforts of the insurance and utility industries to inc'rease insurance coverags"and by 12/31/81 evaluate the insurance available in the private sector to determine whether a mandated insurance coverage program is necessa ry.
10
NRC Response NRC has been and continues to monitor progress being made by the insurance and utility industries to increase insurance coverage that would pay on-site nuclear accident cleanup. costs. The timing of. developments and progress toward._
increasing this insurance coverage on a voluntary basis is dependent largely on actions in the insurance market worldwide-and-is not determined by NRC.
On March 31, 1982, the Commission pubiished a final rule in the Federal Register which for the first time required commercial reactor licensees to carry signi-l ficant amounts of property insurance available from private sources.
10 CFR 50.54(w) now requires reactor licensees to carry whatever primary on-site property insurance is offered by either American Nuclear Insurers / Mutual Atomic Energy Reinsurance Pool (ANI/MAERP) or Nuclear Mutual Limited.
The amount of primary insurance currently available is $500.million.._In addition, commercial __ _ _.
reactor licensees are required to carry whatever excess property insurance is offered by either ANI/MAERP or Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited -II (NEIL-II).
Currently, ANI-MAERP offers $67 million in excess of $500 million and NEIL-II offers $365 million in excess of $500 million. These amounts are expected to continue to grow. Thus, a licensee can now buy combined insurance of $932 million I$500 million primary plus $365 million excess plus $67 million excess).
This is over three times what was.available at the time of the TMI-2 accident.
The rule was issued as an interim requirement until the Commission has had an opportunity to evaluate more thoroughly what level of protection is necessary to cope with the on-site radiological hazards resulting from an accident.
In this regard, the Commission has recently completed two studies:
1.
Nuclear Property Insurance - Status and Outlook, Dr. John Long, (NUREG-0891) 2.
Technology, Safety and Costs of Decommissioning at Reference Light Water Reactors Involved in Postulated Accidents (NUREG/CR-2601).
1 On the basis of the issues raised in the first study, the Commission issued an l
advance notice of proposed rulemaking on June 24, 1982 (47 FR 27371). The two reports cited above, plus the public comments received in response to the l
advance notice, will, form the basis of any changes to the property insurance rule.
Recommendation No. 2 The NRC should establish a set of guidelines that would facilitate the develop-ment of recovery procedures by utility companies in the event of othar nuclear reactor accidents.
NRC Response The Commission has directed the NRC staff to proceed with an effort to develop the scope of guidelines which could facilitate recovery efforts in the event of nuclear-related accidents at other operating power plants.
Subject to review of this initial effort, a determination will be made whether to proceed with further development of appropriate guidelines.
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