ML21067A092

Documentation of Decision by NRC Staff That EPRI Report 3002012988, Alternative Approaches for Addressing Seismic Risk in 10 CFR 50.69 Risk-Informed Categorization, Meets Criteria for a Federal Record

ML21067A092
Person / Time
Site:	Calvert Cliffs, Nine Mile Point, Surry
Issue date:	04/20/2021
From:	Marshall M Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:
Marhsall M, NRR/DORL/LPL, 415-2871
References
EPID L-2018-LLA-0482, EPID L-2019-LLA-0269, EPID L-2019-LLA-0290
Download: ML21067A092 (3)

Text

April 20, 2021 MEMORANDUM TO:

File FROM:

Michael L. Marshall, Jr., Senior Project Manager /RA/

Plant Licensing Branch I Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT:

DOCUMENTATION OF DECISION BY NRC STAFF THAT EPRI REPORT 3002012988 MEETS THE CRITERIA FOR A FEDERAL RECORD (EPID L-2018-LLA-0482, L-2019-LLA-0269, AND L-2019-LLA-0290)

BACKGROUND By letters dated November 28, 2018, December 6, 2019, and December 26, 2019, the licensees for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML18333A022), Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19343A019), and Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19360A145), respectively, submitted license amendment requests to use a risk-informed process for the categorization and treatment of structures, systems, and components for nuclear power reactors under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.69. Each of the license amendment requests included an alternative approach for the treatment of seismic risk in the proposed categorization program. The alternative seismic approach is supported by the insights documented in Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Report 3002012988, Alternative Approaches for Addressing Seismic Risk in 10 CFR 50.69 Risk-Informed Categorization, which was freely available to the general public at the time each of the requests were submitted to the NRC. In each of the license amendment requests, the report was referenced. Neither the licensees nor EPRI submitted a copy of EPRI Report 3002012988 to the NRC.

The report was freely and publicly available from a Web site maintained by EPRI for download.

The NRC staff downloaded copies of the report to use in the NRC staffs review of each of the license amendment requests. After the NRC staff completed one review and prior to the NRC staff completing the other two reviews identified above, the NRC staff learned that the report was no longer freely and publicly available from EPRIs Web site. The change in availability of the report from the EPRIs Web site prompted the cognizant staff to question whether the report should be retained as an official agency record (i.e., Federal record).

DECISION The NRC issued amendments approving the licensees requests on February 28, 2020, for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Units and 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19330D909), on December 8, 2020, for Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20293A160), and on January 29 2021, for Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20332A115). As documented in each of the NRC staffs safety evaluations, the information in EPRI Report 3002012988 was used in the NRC staffs decision-making for each of the amendment requests. The information in the report was essential to the licensees requests and the NRC staffs decision-making.

According to the amended version of Title 44 of the United States Code, Subsection 3301, Definition of Records, records are defined as:

[] all recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, made or received by a Federal agency under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the United States Government or because of the informational value of data in them.

In plain language, a record is documentation that provides accurate information and evidence of the NRC's functions, policies, and decision-making processes. Because information in EPRI Report 3002012988 was used in making multiple licensing decisions, it meets the criteria of a Federal record. The NRC is required to preserve information (e.g., reports) used in the NRC staffs decision-making on amending the license and technical specifications of operating power reactors, which is public business.

EPRI Report 3002012988 is copyrighted-protected. Downloading a copy of a report that is referenced in a requested licensing action is not the usual route by which the NRC receives copyright-protected information. Usually the NRC receive such information directly from the copyright holder, in which case the terms of the relevant license agreement dictate what we can and cannot do with it; or from a third-party (e.g., licensee) who submits it directly to the NRC, in which case 10 CFR 2.390 dictates what steps the submitter must take in order to request non-public treatment. Because of the unusual route used by the NRC staff obtained a copy of EPRI Report 3002012988, the copyrighted report should not be made publicly available without EPRIs permission.

Because the NRC staff acquired the report (at a time when it was freely available to the public) and its informational value with respect to the NRCs decisionmaking process in issuing these license amendments, the NRC staff placed a downloaded copy of EPRI Report 3002012988 into non-public ADAMS to preserve the information that was used in the NRC staffs licensing decisions.

Docket Nos. 50-280, 50-281, 50-317, 50-318, and 50-410

ML21067A141 (Package);

ML21067A092 (Memo);

ML21067A143 (EPRI Report)

OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NRR/DORL/LPL1/LA NRR/DORL/LPL1/PM NAME MMarshall JBurkhardt MMarshall DATE 03/09/2021 03/08/2021 04/20/2021