ML20195A047
| ML20195A047 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/31/2020 |
| From: | Kristine Svinicki NRC/Chairman |
| To: | Lowey N, Shelby R US HR (House of Representatives), US HR, Comm on Appropriations, US SEN (Senate), US SEN, Comm on Appropriations |
| J. Quichocho, 415-0209 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20195A044 | List: |
| References | |
| CORR-20-0079 | |
| Download: ML20195A047 (7) | |
Text
Progresson Licensing Applications Third Quarter inFiscal Year2020 1
TheU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office ofNuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR),
haseliminated the backlog oflicensing actions. Inthefirst, second, andthird quarters offiscal year(FY) 2020, NRR successfully metall operating reactor performance indicators asdefined in theFY2020Congressional Budget Justification (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No.ML19065A279).
TheNRCOffice ofNuclear Material Safety andSafeguards (NMSS) continues tofocus on improving itsRequest forAdditional Information (RAI) processes. On January 24, 2020, a memorandum wasprovided to all fuel cycle facility and spent fuel and storage transportation staff outlining clear licensing program expectations. Specifically, this memorandum emphasized focusing RAlsoninformation needed for the safety evaluation, andthat RAIs should provide a justificationanda regulatory basis and should bediscussed with the applicant.
- 2. Status ofLicense Renewal Reviews PowerReactors TheNRCstaff isnotreviewing anyinitial license renewal applications atthis time.
During this reporting period,thestaff continued thereviewof one subsequent license renewal application (SLRA) fora sitewith two units to extend operations from 60 to 80 years. appeal An relatedtoa hearing request onanother SLRAalso remains pending before the Commission.
OnMarch 5,2020, theNRCstaff issued the renewed licenses for anadditional 20yearsto Exelon Generation Company, LLCfor Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2and 3 (ADAMS Accession No.ML20010F285). Thestaff completed this action withinthe established 18-month review schedule for theproject.
Theapplication wassubmitted onJuly 10,2018, andinNovember 2018, a petitionfor leave to intervene wassubmitted byBeyond Nuclear, Inc. (Beyond Nuclear). On June 20, 2019, the Atomic Safety andLicensing Board (ASLB) found that, although Beyond Nuclear had demonstrated standing tointervene, neither ofits twoproposed contentions wereadmissible.
Therefore, theASLBdenied Beyond Nuclear's petition for leave tointervene andterminated the proceeding. OnJuly 15,2019, Beyond Nuclear appealed the ASLB's decision tothe Commission. Theappeal ispending before theCommission.
W OnOctober 15,2018, Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion) submitted anSLRAfor Surry Power Station,Units 1and2.Forthe safety review, theNRCstaff issued the finalsafety evaluation report(SER) onMarch 9,2020(ADAMS Accession No.ML20052F520). Fortheenvironmental review,thestaff issued thefinal supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on 6,2020(ADAMS April Accession No.ML20071D538).
Oneoutstanding issue remains with respect toDominion's obligations under theCoastal zone Management (CzMA).
Act Under the C zMA, the applicant mustdemonstrate that theproposed Enclosure 1
license renewalis consistent with andcomplies with enforceable policiesoftheVirginia Coastal zone Management Program before theNRCcanissue a renewed TheNRCstaff license.
issued an RAIonthis issue onApril 11,2019, andnoted theissue inthe andfinal draft SEISs.
OnFebruary 5,2020, the staffissued another RAIrequesting information aboutactions taken byDominion tofulfill its CzMAobligations. A response tothe RAlwasreceived onMay20, 2020(ADAMS Accession No.ML20142A290). Inits RAlresponse, Dominionindicated that it hasnotyet secured a revisedCzMAconsistency determination from theCommonwealth of Virginia. OnJune 15, 2020, theNRCstaff issued a letter toDominion (ADAMS Accession No.
ML20161A192), indicating that the staff anticipates that it willbeable tocompleteits review of theapplication withinfour weeks ofreceipt oftheupdated information, butthat the actual time needed toreview theinformation will befact-dependent.
OnJune 17,2020(ADAMS Accession No.ML20169A452), Dominion provided a letter indicating that ithadnotyetsecured a revised CzMAconsistency determination andthat it will provide anupdate onthestatus ofits efforts within 30days. OnJuly 15,2020,Dominion provided a letter (ADAMS AccessionNo. ML20198M669) toextend theupdateonthe status of theongoing discussions ortheresponse to the RAIfor anadditional 90days. Dominion informed theNRCstaff thatitcontinues tocorrespond with the Virginia Departmentof Environmental Quality (VDEQ) and the V irginia Department ofGame and Inland Fisheries with thegoal ofobtaining a revised CzMAconsistency determination from theVDEQ. Asindicated inthe table below, thelicensee's delay indemonstrating compliance with theCzMAhastaken thestaff beyond its estimated 18-month target schedule for completing the review.
Surry pplication Review Timefrom Acceptance Review (Months) 19 Original Revised Completion Milestone Schedule Schedule Date Receive SLRA 10/15/2018 10/15/2018 Publish Federal Register notice (FRN)SLRA 11/2018 11/01/2018 availabilit Publish FRN docketing acceptance/rejection andopportunity for 12/2018 12/17/2018 hearing Publish FRN notice ofintent toprepare an EISandconduct environmental scoping 12/2018 12/21/2018 process Public meetingoverview ofsubsequent license renewal process andenvironmental 01/2019 01/08/2019 scoping rocess Environmental scoping process period ends 02/2019 01/22/2019 Deadline for filing hearing requests and petitions forintervention 02/2019 02/15/2019 Issue draft SEIS 09/2019 10/2019 10/17/2019 Public meetingdraft SEISmeeting 10/2019 11/2019* 11/07/2019 Issue draft SER 11/2019 12/27/2019 2
End ofdraft SEIScommentperiod 11'/2019 12/2019 12/10/2019 dvisory Committee onReactor Safeguards 02/2020 02/2019 02/05/2020 ACRSsubcommittee meetin CRSFullCommittee meeting 03/2020 04/2020 04/08/2020 Issue final SER 03/2020 03/09/2020 Issue final SEIS 03/2020 04/2020 04/06/2020 EPApublishes FRN -
availability offinal SEIS 03/2020 04/2020 04/17/2020 Decision -
- Public meeting viawebinar.
Research andTest Reactors TheNRCstaff isreviewing license renewal applications for four research andtest reactors, and thereview ofoneapplication isonhold.Thecurrent status ofthese reviews isprovided in the table below.
ResearchandTest Reactors FacilityName Application Date Status exasA&MUniversit 07/22/1997 hereview ofthe TAMU AGN reactor license (TAMU) Aerojet- (review onhold) renewal applicationis on hold pending relocation General Nucleonics ndreassembly ofthereactor. Thelicense (AGN) Reactor currently allows onlypossession ofthereactor.
heNRCstaff resume will its review of the license renewal applicationoncethe licensee submits a revised safet analsis reort.
University ofTexas at 12/12/2011 hereview iscurrently scheduled tobe completed ustin (UTA) (review inprogress)byJuly 2021. Theschedule maybeupdated oilowing anaudit oftheUTAneutronic and hermal-h draulicanal ses.
3
Research andTest Reactors Facilit Name A plication Date Status University of 10/20/2015 Based onits operational status (due tothe Massachusetts at (review inprogress) COVID-19 public health emergency), thelicensee Lowell informed theNRCthat it would submit, nosooner hanJuly 31,2020, its application supplement ddressing openitems related toRAlresponses ndsupplemental information that the licensee submitted in2019and2020. Byletter dated uly 16,2020, theNRCstaff stated that itplans o complete its review within 4 months ofreceipt fthesupplement, provided that thestaff identifies noopenitems orother issues.
(As ofAugust 5,2020, the licensee hasnot provided theinformation tosupplement its pplication onJuly 31,2020, duetolimited resources. TheNRCwill provide a status ofthe schedule onthe nextuarterl reort.
North Carolina 02/24/2017 State helicensee submitted a revised safety analysis University (review inprogress) report (SAR) inAugust2019 andrevised echnical specifications inSeptember 2019, and heNRCperformed a regulatory audit related to herevised technical specifications inNovember 019. Thestaff continues toreview therevised SAR,revised technical specifications, andaudit indings.
hereview iscurrently schedule forcompletion in October 2021 University of 06/11/2018 DuetotheCOVID-19 public health emergency California atDavis(reviewinprogress) ndconsistent with a schedule extension agreed uponinanNRCstaff letter dated May13, 2020, helicensee submitted its revised licenserenewal pplication, including anupdated final SAR,on uly 6,2020. Thelicensee proposes toreduce helicensed power level to1.0 MWandeliminate pulsing capability atthe facility.
hereview iscurrently scheduled for completion inSeptember 2022.
- 3. M TheNRCreceives three ofapplications types toincrease thepower output ofoperating nuclear power plants: 1)e xtended poweru (EPU);
prate 2) stretch power u prate (SPU); and 3)measurement uncertainty power recapture uprate (MUR). EPUs,SPUs,andMURshave been approved forpower ashigh increases as20,7,and2 percent, respectively.
TheNRCstaff hasnoEPUorSPUapplications under review.
4
The NRC staff iscurrently reviewing six MURapplications. These six MURsarefor JosephM.
Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1and2;Watts BarNuclear Plant, Unit 2;andOconee Nuclear Station, Units 1,2,and3.Thecombined increase inreactor output from thesix MURswould be approximately 266megawattsthermal with anequivalent electrical generating capacityof approximately 89megawatts electric. Thecurrent status ofthese reviews isprovided inthe table below.
Power U rate A lications Under Review Unit Name/No. % MWt Submittal Projected Power Uprate U rate Date Com letion Date T e Watts Bar, Unit 2 1.4 48 10/15/2019 8/2020 MUR FarleUnit , 1 1.6 46 10/31/2019 8/2020 MUR FarleUnit , 2 1.6 46 10/31/2019 8/2020 MUR Oconee, Unit 1 1.6 42 02/19/2020 12/2020 MUR Oconee, Unit 2 1.6 42 02/19/2020 12/2020 MUR Oconee, Unit 3 1.6 42 02/19/2020 12/2020 MUR Additional information regarding thepower uprates andthe status ofapplications isavailable at theNRCpublic website: https)/www.nrc.gov/reactors/operatj.ng/licensing/p.ower:uprates.html.
- 4. M TheNRCemploys a six-phase schedule tomonitor progress towards completionofthe safety reviews for design certification (DC) applications. These phases are:
Phase 1 -
Preliminary SERwith RAls issued toapplicant Phase 2 -
SERwith openitems issued Phase 3 -
Response tothe ACRSregarding SERwith openitems issued Phase 4 -
Advanced SERwith noopenitems issued Phase 5 -
Response toACRSregarding SERwith noopenitems issued Phase 6 -
Final SERissued TheNRCstaff iscurrently reviewing oneDCapplication andhassuspended onereview atthe applicant's request.
U.S. Advanced Pressurized-Water Reactor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) submitted its U.S. Advanced Pressurized-Water Reactor (US-APWR) DCapplication onDecember 31,2007. Byletter dated November 5,2013,MHI initiated a coordinated slowdown ofNRClicensing activities inorder tofocus its resources towards supporting therestart oftheMitsubishi-designed reactors inJapan following the Fukushima event. Since that time, theNRCstaff hadbeenperforming thereview oftheDC application ata reduced pace, hadcompleted Phase 2 for several chapters, andwasmaking progress onthe Phase 4 review forsix DCchapters. Ina letter dated March 3,2020, MHI asked theNRCtosuspend thesafety review oftheUS-APWR DCapplication further until notice. MHIdoes notintend tomodify theUS-APWR design ortoupdate theDCdocument during the suspension period.
5
NuScale OnJanuary 6,2017,NuScale submitted the firstsmall modular reactor DCapplication for reviewby the NRC. OnMarch 15,2017, theNRCcompleted itsacceptance review and docketedthe application. Thestaff then issued the acceptance review letter toNuScale on March 23,2017, and developed a full review schedule withpublic milestones, which was transmitted toNuScale onMay22,2017. OnApril 11,2018, the staffcompleted Phase 1ofthe review. Thestaffcompleted Phase 2 ofthe review onJuly 12,2019, except forChapters 15 and20oftheSER,which remained preliminary. OnMay16,2019, theNRCstaff issued a letter toNuScale communicating that the staff hadnotmetthePhase 2 milestone because several issues remained unresolved without a defined clearly path t owardresolution..further The staff emphasized thattomeetthe overall 42-month target schedule forreview andPhase 4 milestone, NuScale mustresolve the remaining issues andopenitems with theNRCstaff.
TheNRCstaff worked with NuScale to complete Phase 3 ofthe review onJuly 12,2019, and completed Phase 4 ofthereview onDecember 12,2019. InFebruary 2020, NuScale informed theNRCthat NuScale hadidentified anissue with ananalysis that wasnecessary for the staff's safety finding. OnMay 1,2020, theNRCissued a lettertoNuScale (ADAMS Accession No.ML20112F455), updating the status andschedule for the NuScale review. OnMay20and May28,2020, NuScale submitted thefinaldesign changes andsupporting informationtothe NRC(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML20141N012 andML20149M119 respectively).TheNRCstaff then completed itsanalysis ofthe design changes inJune 2020, andengaged withthe ACRSin July2020. Thestaff completed Phase 5 ofitsreview onJuly 31,2020,andiscurrently ontrack forissuing the finalsafety evaluation andmeeting thePhase 6 milestone bySeptember 8,2020.
5.
TheNRCemploys a 4-phase schedule tomonitor progress toward completion ofthesafety reviews for DCrenewal applications. These phases are:
Phase 1 -
RAls andSupplemental RAls Phase 2 -
SERwithout OpenItems Phase 3 -
ACRSReview ofSERwithout OpenItems Phase 4 -
Final SER TheNRCstaff iscurrently reviewing oneDCrenewal application.
A TheNRCcompleted its technical review andissued thefinal SERfor this renewal applicationon March 30,2020. TheAdvanced Boiling-Water Reactor DCrenewal rulemaking isinprogress.
Thedirect finalrule isscheduled tobecompleted inSeptember 2020.
- 6. W TheNRCstaff iscurrently reviewing onecombined license (COL) application.
OnMarch 11,2020, Oklo Power LLC(Oklo) submitted a COLapplication for theAurora reactor totheNRC(ADAMS Accession No.ML20075A00). OnJune 5,2020, theNRCissued a letter toOklo (ADAMS Accession No.ML20149K616), accepting theapplication for docketing and indicating thatthestaff plans tocomplete thereview ina two-step process. InStep theNRC 1 ,
staff plans toengage Oklo inpublic meetings,conduct regulatory audits, andissue RAls to 6
efficiently align onfour keysafety anddesign aspects ofthelicensing 1) basis: maximum credible accident; 2) classificationof structures,systems and 3) components; of applicability regulations; and4) theQuality Assurance Program. Thiswill theNRCstaff
-help todefinethe scope of the full, detailedtechnical review anddevelop a schedule.
OnJuly 31,2020, 28nationalandregional environmental andcivic filed organizations an emergency petition requesting thattheCommission reverse orsuspend thedocketing decision andhearing notice and return the application toOklo. Thematter remainspendingbefore the Commission.
- 7. M There arenoearly sitepermitapplications currently under review.
8.
Forthetimeframe ofApril -
June2020, no major uranium recovery licensing applications were reviewed bytheNRCstaff. Threeuraniumrecovery facilities that arelicensed are tooperate under NRCjurisdiction: CrowButte Resources, Inc.'s Crow Butte facility recovery insitu in Nebraska, Powertech (USA), Inc.'s DeweyBurdock site inSouth Dakota,andNuFuels,Inc's Crownpoint site inNewMexico. TheCrowButte facility remains ina standby Powertech status.
isintheprocess ofobtaining permits from other regulators forthe DeweyBurdock site.
NuFuels isnotpursuing construction or operation.
7