ML22076A256
| ML22076A256 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/12/2022 |
| From: | Clay Johnson NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Mccullum R Nuclear Energy Institute |
| smh | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML22076A257 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML22076A256 (3) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 April 12, 2022 Mr. Rodney McCullum Senior Director Nuclear Energy Institute 1201 F Street, NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20004
Dear Mr. McCullum:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated March 2, 2022 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML22061A187), requesting a fee exemption under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 170.11, Exemptions, to cover activities associated with the review and endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 22-02, Guidelines for Weather-Related Administrative Controls for Short Duration Outdoor Dry Cask Storage Operations. NEI submitted a guidance document, NEI 22-02 on February 16, 2022, for the NRC to review and endorse (ADAMS Accession No. ML22048A581).
The NRC has established regulations for the granting of fee exemptions under 10 CFR 170.11.
An interested person may apply for an exemption under 10 CFR 170.11 in accordance with 10 CFR 170.5, Communications. The NRC reviewed your fee exemption request considering the regulations in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) and 10 CFR 170.11(a)(13), which state:
10 CFR 170.11(a) No application fees, license fees, renewal fees, inspection fees, or special project fees shall be required for: (1) A special project that is a request/report submitted to the NRC . . . (ii) When the NRC, at the time the request/report is submitted, plans to use the information in response to an NRC request from the Office Director level or above to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or environmental issue, or to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts (e.g., rules, regulatory guides, regulations, policy statements, generic letters, or bulletins).
10 CFR 170.11(a)(13) All fee exemption requests must be submitted in writing to the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with § 170.5, 1 and the Chief Financial Officer will grant or deny such requests in writing.
NEI stated in its fee exemption request letter that since NRC questions about outdoor dry cask storage operations have arisen in the context of recent inspections conducted with respect to 10 CFR 72.48, Changes, Test, and Experiments, the industry considers NEI 22-02 to be a complimentary resource to NRC industry endorsed guidance document NEI 12-04, Revision 2, 1 10 CFR 170.5 states, All communications concerning the regulations in this part should be addressed to the NRC's Chief Financial Officer, either by mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by hand delivery to the NRC's offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or CD-ROM.
R. McCullum Guidance for Implementation of 10 CFR 72.48, Changes, Tests, and Experiments. Based on the current submittal, the NRC does believe that NEI 22-02 would not result in a generic regulatory improvement for implementing 10 CFR 72.48. However, NRC endorsement of NEI 22-02 could represent a generic regulatory improvement that could streamline the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) amendments. Before docketing NEI 22-02 for review, the NRC requires supplemental information, including, but not limited to, on how NEI 22-02 compliments NEI 12-04, and how the potential use of NEI 22-02 would meet regulatory requirements to assess the overall future regulatory efficiency. The requests for supplemental information will be conveyed separately.
Based on the NRCs review of your fee exemption request under 10 CFR 170(a)(1)(ii), I am partially granting your fee exemption request for the NRCs initial review of the activities required to supplement NEI 22-02 prior to docketing because the guidance document may promote a consistent approach to meeting regulatory requirements and increase the efficiencies of NRCs reviews of evaluations and CoC amendments.
However, I am denying the request to grant a fee exemption for a full endorsement review of NEI 22-02 at this time because the NRC staff currently cannot make a determination regarding whether it plans to use the information from the endorsement review to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts. For example, as stated above, the NRC requires additional information on the potential use of NEI 22-02 to compliment the NEI 12-04 guidance document such that the NRC can assess the future regulatory efficiency. If NEI revises NEI 22-02 due to the NRCs request for supplemental information, NEI may choose to resubmit NEI 22-02 for an endorsement review and request a subsequent fee exemption request for NRC review activities in the future if it meets the requirements in 10 CFR 170.11. If a future fee exemption is requested, it will be processed based on the criteria in 10 CFR 170.11.
If you have any technical questions regarding this matter, please contact John Nguyen at 301-415-0262. Please contact Jo Jacobs, of my staff, at 301-415-8388, for any fee-related questions.
Sincerely, Digitally signed by Cherish K. Cherish K. Johnson Date: 2022.04.12 Johnson 15:44:50 -04'00' Cherish K. Johnson Chief Financial Officer
ML22076A257 (Package); ML22061A187 (Incoming Letter);
ML22076A256 (Response Letter)
OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT NMSS/DFM/MSB NMSS/DFM/IOB NAME JJacobs WBlaney TBoyce HGonzalez DATE 03/18/2022 03/18/2022 04/06/2022 04/06/2022 OFFICE NMSS/DFM/STLB NMSS/DFM/D OCFO/DOC/LAAFB OCFO/DOC/LAAFB NAME YDiaz-Sanabria SHelton MBlair MLee DATE 04/06/2022 04/06/2022 03/21/2022 03/21/2022 OFFICE OGC OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB D/CFO NAME BHarris NLO ARossi RAllwein BFicks DATE 04/12/2022 04/12/2022 04/12/2022 04/12/22 OFFICE CFO NAME CKJohnson DATE 04/12/22