ML24023A039

NEI Comments on the Information Collection Renewal for Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material, Docket Id NRC-2023-0118

ML24023A039
Person / Time
Site:	Nuclear Energy Institute
Issue date:	01/22/2024
From:	Schlueter J Nuclear Energy Institute
To:	David Cullison NRC/OCIO
References
NRC-2023-0118
Download: ML24023A039 (1)

Text

Janet Schlueter Sr. Technical Advisor, Fuel &

Radiation Safety Phone: 202.739.8098 Email: jrs@nei.org January 22, 2024 David C. Cullison Office of the Chief Information Officer U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop: T-6 A10M Washington, DC 20555-0001

Subject:

Industry Comments on the Information Collection Renewal for Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material, Docket ID NRC-2023-0118 Submitted via Regulations.gov Project Number: 689

Dear Mr. Cullison:

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)1, on behalf of its fuel cycle facility (FCF) members, appreciates the opportunity to comment on the information collection renewal titled Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material (Docket ID NRC-2023-0118). The regulations in 10 CFR Part 70 establish requirements for licensees to own, acquire, deliver, receive, possess, use, or transfer special nuclear material (SNM). The information in the applications, reports, and records is used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to make licensing and/or regulatory determinations concerning the use of special nuclear material.

Table 1 (Annual Reporting Burden) and Table 2 (Annual Recordkeeping Burden) were published on www.regulations.gov (through the above referenced docket ID). Overall, some burden estimates were reasonably captured and as such, this letter and attachment will not address those specific estimates as industry believes no changes are needed. However, we do believe that several of the burden estimates in Table 1 and Table 2 are miscalculated by several orders of magnitude. Specific examples, with industrys suggested burden estimates, are provided in the attachment (see column 4 labelled industry input).

1 The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is responsible for establishing unified policy on behalf of its members relating to matters affecting the nuclear energy industry, including the regulatory aspects of generic operational and technical issues. NEIs members include entities licensed to operate commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, nuclear plant designers, major architect and engineering firms, fuel cycle facilities, nuclear materials licensees, and other organizations involved in the nuclear energy industry.

Mr. David Cullison January 22, 2024 Page 2 Nuclear Energy Institute Much of the industry input on estimated burden hours provided here has been previously provided to the NRC in past comment letters (for example, see letter dated October 27, 20172, Docket ID NRC-2017-0048). Some of industrys past input was not incorporated into subsequent information collection renewals, and as such, those specific comments will be reiterated in the attachment. The revised figures are based on feedback from experienced technical, managerial, and regulatory affairs specialists who complete the referenced reports and recordkeeping. As can be seen, many of these Part 70 requirements place a heavy administrative burden on the licensee.

We trust that the industry input reflected in the attachment will be seriously considered to reflect the new burden estimates for Part 70 reporting and recordkeeping. Provided the decades of Part 70 industry experience (both from an operational and regulatory compliance standpoint), and keen awareness of the associated time burdens, there should be much closer alignment between the NRCs estimates and the estimates highlighted in this attachment.

We hope these suggested burden estimates better inform the renewal of this information collection, and we look forward to seeing how industrys experienced input is incorporated in the final revised burden estimates. Please contact me if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely, Janet R. Schlueter Sr. Technical Advisor, Fuel & Radiation Safety Attachment c:

Ms. Shana Helton, NRC/NMSS 2 ML17304B308

1 ATTACHMENT Industry Burden Hour Estimates on the Information Collection Renewal entitled Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material (Docket ID NRC-2023-0118)

Table 1: Annual Reporting Burden Requirement Description Burden Hours per

Response

(NRC estimates)

Industry Input:

Burden Hours per Response Industry Comments 70.32(c)(2)

Change to material control and accounting program 13.3 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br /> This estimate is far too low.

Number of hours should be similar to § 70.32(e)

(change in physical security plan), which the NRC currently has listed as 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br />.

70.32(i)

Change in Emergency Plan 16 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br /> This estimate is far too low.

More hours are needed to make changes to the source documents.

Number of hours should be similar to § 70.32(e)

(change in physical security plan), which the NRC currently has listed as 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br />.

70.50(c)(1)

Initial event report by telephone 4

24 This estimate is far too low, as it also includes unplanned contamination and Appendix A reports. It takes time to evaluate and determine if an event meets reporting requirements.

70.50(c)(2) 30-day written event report 40 120 Estimate includes hours spent on the 30-day follow-up report after an initial report is made.

2 Requirement Description Burden Hours per

Response

(NRC estimates)

Industry Input:

Burden Hours per Response Industry Comments 70.55(b)

Making records available for inspection 20 At least 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br /> per inspection Note: the tri-annual plant modifications inspection records may take 160 hours0.00185 days <br />0.0444 hours <br />2.645503e-4 weeks <br />6.088e-5 months <br />.

Each fuel cycle licensee typically gets 8-10 inspections per year. As such, the annual burden hours per licensee would be at least 640 hours0.00741 days <br />0.178 hours <br />0.00106 weeks <br />2.4352e-4 months <br />. To account for the entire fleet of fuel cycle licensees, the total annual burden hours would be 5120 hours0.0593 days <br />1.422 hours <br />0.00847 weeks <br />0.00195 months <br /> instead of 1200 hours0.0139 days <br />0.333 hours <br />0.00198 weeks <br />4.566e-4 months <br />.

70.59 Effluent monitoring reports 5

40 While the report writing, letter preparation, peer review, and management approval may only take about 5 hours5.787037e-5 days <br />0.00139 hours <br />8.267196e-6 weeks <br />1.9025e-6 months <br />, the precursor activity of analyzing the provided data from the lab takes considerably more time.

70.72(d)(3)

ISA annual update 40 At least 300 hours0.00347 days <br />0.0833 hours <br />4.960317e-4 weeks <br />1.1415e-4 months <br /> Typically over a dozen documents are updated, many of which are several hundred pages each. This also includes a detailed review and update of associated plant drawings, procedures, and related documents, that must occur, to ensure the accuracy of the annual update. Updates may include, but are not limited to:

changing process descriptions due to plant modifications made during the year, and updating the accident and IROFS tables. After updates are made, the ISA Summary goes through an extensive review and approval process. This includes multiple technical

3 Requirement Description Burden Hours per

Response

(NRC estimates)

Industry Input:

Burden Hours per Response Industry Comments reviewers, who cover the various plant functions, as well as administrative and multi-stage managerial review.

70.74 Initial event report by telephone 4

24 It takes time to evaluate and determine if an event meets reporting requirements.

4 Table 2: Annual Recordkeeping Burden Requirement Description Burden Hours per Recordkeeper (NRC estimates)

Industry Input:

Burden Hours per Recordkeeper Industry Comments 70.25(g)

Decommissioning Records 3

100 Burden hours should accurately reflect the detailed records requirements under

§70.25(g)(3) which must be updated every 2 years.

70.61, 70.62, and 70.72 Safety program, process safety information, integrated safety

analysis, management

measures, configuration management system, and facility changes 300 6000 Typically, facilities maintain a virtual plant that must match the physical plant. The amount of time required to simply maintain drawings of equipment is far in excess of the NRCs estimated 300 hours0.00347 days <br />0.0833 hours <br />4.960317e-4 weeks <br />1.1415e-4 months <br />. In addition to maintaining drawings, the licensee must maintain procedures, complete safety analysis of plant changes, monitor equipment performance, and execute the required management measures (which includes preventative maintenance activities, instrument calibrations, training to procedural changes, and beyond). As such, in consideration of these comprehensive activities, the NRCs overall estimate is significantly miscalculated.