Information Notice 2023-06, Emergency Telecommunication Services Changes
| ML23289A249 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/06/2023 |
| From: | Russell Felts, Kevin Williams NRC/NRR/DRO, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards |
| To: | |
| References | |
| IN 2023-06 | |
| Download: ML23289A249 (4) | |
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDS
WASHINGTON, DC 20555-0001 December 6, 2023 NRC INFORMATION NOTICE 2023-06: EMERGENCY TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES
CHANGES
ADDRESSEES
All holders of an operating license for a nuclear power reactor under Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization
Facilities, including those that have permanently ceased operations and have certified that fuel
has been permanently removed from the reactor vessel, independent spent fuel storage
installations under 10 CFR Part 72, and fuel-cycle facilities under 10 CFR Part 70, Subpart H or
PURPOSE
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this information notice (IN) to inform
licensees of potential near-term impacts to site Emergency Telecommunications Services (ETS)
because of updates to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) infrastructure
requirements. FCC-19-72A1 granted all telecommunications carriers the authority to
decommission legacy telecommunication infrastructure that supports plain old telephone service
(POTS) copper-based technologies using time-division multiplexing (TDM). These lines are
critical to ensuring that dedicated circuits and equipment relied upon to maintain connectivity
with NRC are in place in the event of an emergency. Telecommunications carriers will no longer
provide support to the current systems in place, potentially affecting ETS connectivity between
NRC and licensees.
The NRC is issuing this IN to inform licensees of alternatives that the NRC is considering with
regard to its obligations under § 305 of Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (as amended by
Public Law 96-295). The NRC expects that recipients will review the information for applicability
to their facilities, as appropriate. INs may not impose new requirements, and nothing in this IN
should be interpreted to require specific action.
BACKGROUND
Public Law 96-295 required the NRC to establish and maintain a mechanism for instantaneous
and uninterrupted verbal communication with licensees; however, no specific technology was
mandated. Since the law was enacted, the NRC has provided nuclear power plants and
emergency operations facilities with reliable long-distance telephone service to meet the
requirement through the installation of direct access lines (DALs) that use the POTS,
copper-based TDM infrastructure.
ML23289A249 Based on the FCC decision, the infrastructure that supports the installed DALs is at risk of being
decommissioned by telecommunications carriers, which could impact NRC-provided
telecommunications services at all operating reactors, independent spent fuel facilities, fuel-cycle facilities, and decommissioning power reactor sites.
Newer technologies, such as fiber optics or wireless, have made this legacy technology no
longer economically sustainable for providers to maintain. Compounding the issue, much of the
equipment is obsolete and supporting technicians have retired, making repairs costly.
Furthermore, with the FCC decision, the solution to use TDM switching may no longer be
supported.
However, existing emergency communication requirements are still applicable. Though not all
are required by law for all facilities, licensee systems supporting Incident Response Program
communications that could be impacted include Emergency Notification System, Health Physics
Network, Reactor Safety Counterpart Link, Protective Measures Counterpart Link, Management
Counterpart Link, and Operations Center Local Area Network.
The NRC issued Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000-11 (RIS 2000-11) (ML003727812) in
2000, which allowed licensees to voluntarily utilize their corporate network as outlined in the
attachment to the RIS, for ETS, rather than rely on NRCs provided solution.
What you should know
All licensees will be contacted by the NRC within 90 days of the date of issuance of this IN to
discuss the available alternative solutions that will ensure available communications. The NRC
will work with licensees to transition to an alternative communications solution, including
consideration of how changes could impact licensee emergency plans under 10 CFR
50.54(q)(3) and 10 CFR 72.32. As a mitigation measure, NRC will provide licensees with
Government Emergency Telecommunication Services cards. This will provide licensees with
call prioritization in the event of a regional or national emergency.
The alternatives are:
1. Licensees utilizing their own networks (see RIS 2000-11; ML003727812).
2. NRC replacing existing telecommunications services with currently supported
infrastructure such as POTS via Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line, or Voice over
Internet protocol (VoIP).
3. NRC providing POTS Replacement via 5G/4G/LTE carrier-provided responder networks
to support communications (e.g., FirstNet or Frontline).
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT
This IN does not contain new or amended information collection requirements that are subject to
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing requirements were
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under approval numbers 3150-0011,
3150-0132, and 3150-0151. Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a request for
information or an information collection requirement unless the requesting document displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
CONTACT
S
Please direct any questions about this matter, including loss of communications with NRC, to
the following individuals or call the Headquarters Operations Officer at 301-815-5100.
Region I Plants Region II Plants
mark.marziale@nrc.gov george.mcdonald@nrc.gov
610-337-5062 404-997-4810
Region III Plants Region IV Plants
michael.king@nrc.gov nestor.makris@nrc.gov
630-829-9612 817-200-1079 Omar Zakour, OCIO, HQ Omar Khan, NSIR, HQ
omar.zakour@nrc.gov omar.khan@nrc.gov
301-415-3547 301-287-3725 Robert Fisher, HQ
robert.fisher@nrc.gov
301-415-6328
/RA/ /RA/
Kevin Williams, Director Russell Felts, Director
Division of Materials Safety, Security, Division of Reactor Oversight
State, and Tribal Programs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards
ML23289A249 EPIDS No. L-2023-GEN-0012 OFFICE NRR/DRO/IOEB NMSS/DFM/FFLB NMSS/DFM/FFLB NSIR/DPR NSIR OE/EB
NAME BBenney JDowns SLav KBrock MGavrilas JPeralta
DATE 10/18/2023 10/23/2023 10/25/2023 11/15/2023 11/21/2023 11/30/2023 OFFICE NMSS/MSST NRR/DRO
NAME KWilliams RFelts
DATE 12/5/2023 12/6/2023