ML20202E508
Text
'
i
'. l
.; Og '
UNITED STATES '
- " NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTced,DA 38585 I March 18, 1986 l
. MEMORANDUM FOR: Carlton C. Kamerer Director :
Office of Congressional Affairs )
FROM: T. A. Rehm Assistant for Operations. EDO
SUBJECT:
INSERTS FOR TRANSCRIPT OF SIMPSON/STAFFORD BUDGET HEARING ON 2/19/86 .
Attached, per your mquest of February 28 are inserts for the above mentioned transcript 1
for pages, 50, 51, and 76. I understand ,
I e l Linda Portner, Chairman's office, is handling i the insert for page 82.
- 1
. [1. A. R ~
Assistant for Operations EDO
Enclosure:
As stated Distribution ED0 PJF VStello '
JRoe TRehm RScroggins ,
GCunningham l JDavis '
PRabideau JSniezek ED0 1505 ir ,
GARDE 86-80 PDR j .
9
- n ^-
~-:.-_..-
- 5. -
Insert for record: Transcript of Simpson/Stafford Budget Hearings of 2/19/86 !
- pg 50, l'ine 22.
The following briefly describes the impacts of NRC funding adjustments to accommodate the Congressional reduction of $11 million to the agency's requested appropriation of $429 million for FY 1986.
Reduce funding for the resolution of unanticipated safety issues ,
Reduce independent destructive testing of waterials and contractor assisted inspections of nuclear power plants and equipment vendors Delay some initiatives in the Quality Assurance Program Plan such as third party audits and licensee project team qualifications Delay the evaluation of the material properties of the Shippingport reactor components Eliminate some testing of electrical equipment for severe accident
~
conditions at nuclear power plants
\
Eliminate follow-on buckling tests to evaluate seismic affects en nuclear l 1
power plants Eliminate interim improvements to the nuclear power reactor containment systems code to incorporate data generated under Cooperative Agreement with the West Germans
- i. -
4 Limit the scope of the accident management program interaction Provide for fewer and less detailed regulatory cost analyses Reduce contractor support for studies of operational events at licensee facilities Reduce administrative support by holding GSA rent charges at the FY 1985 level and lower updated estimates of the cost of other planned activities.
Reduce travel costs to the FY 1985 level.
O
, , - - - - , , , + . - - ,-.
- i. , '
i, .
Insert for rec'rd: Transcript of Simpson/Stafford Budget Hearings of 2/19/86
- pg 51, line 4.
~
The NRC's President's budget request of $405 million represents a very austere level of funding for the Comission to meet its priority goals in ensuring public health and safety in regulating the commercial nuclear industry. While we recognize and are supportive of the need for budget austerity, the Congress and the public must recognize that with these reduced resource levels the NRC will be perfoming less regulatory oversight activities, not more. Our capability to respond to and resolve issues from unplanned events such as those at Davis-Besse, San Onofre, Rancho Seco, TVA, and Kerr-McKee in a comprehensive and timely manner will be diminished. At the same time, any forward-looking actions and programs necessary to meet future issues and challenges hav'e been reduced or eliminated. Further, a stable, properly balanced nuclear 1 regulatory research program is essential for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities for effective nuclear safety regulation.
The Comission believes that is can meet its primary responsibility of
. ensuring the public health and safety at the requested resource levels.
However, the budget request submitted to the Office of Management and Budget in September,1986 would have provided sufficient resources to accomodate the concerns addressed above.
, - - . - . _. =. -;- =.
j, ,
t Insert for record: Transcript of Simpson/Stafford Budget Hearings of 2/19/86 -
pg 76, line 21.
The Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act (LLRWPAA) of 1985 represents a major modification to the management of low level radioactive waste that will result in increased national activity. While the basic mission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure the protection of the public health and safety through a thorough, technically sound licensing process with public participation has not changed, the LLRWPAA of 1985 does place time constraints on States and Compacts that did not previously exist which will affect NRC resource requirements. The LLRWPAA also introduced several new requirements on the NRC, namely, the procedures for granting l emergency access to disposal sites, the technical guidance for alternatives to shallow land burial, and procedures for dealing with waste streams of low concentrations and activity that are below regulatory concerns.
The NRC's Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards has established a task force to assess the impact of the LLRWPAA relative to new procedural and technical requirements, priorities, and resource requirements. The plans ]
l \
J l
developed by the task force will enable the NRC to estimate the additional l resources, if any, that would be necessary to comply with the LLRWPAA.
l l
l
_ _ . . . _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .