ML24221A131
| ML24221A131 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 09/03/2024 |
| From: | Barwell O NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Talbott M RhinoCorps Ltd. Co |
| Shared Package | |
| ML24221A137 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML24221A131 (4) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 Matthew Talbot, President RhinoCorps, Ltd.
1128 Pennsylvania St. NE, Suite 100 Albuquerque, NM 87110
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR A FEE EXEMPTION FOR PRE-SUBMITTAL ACTIVITIES RELATED TO A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY GATEWAY FOR ACCELERATED INNOVATION IN NUCLEAR GRANT
Dear Matthew Talbot:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated July 10, 2024, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML24193A288), requesting a fee exemption on behalf of RhinoCorps, Ltd.
(RhinoCorps) under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 170.11(a)(1)(ii) for pre-submittal activities related to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) Grant.
The NRC has established regulations for the granting of fee exemptions under 10 CFR 170.11 Exemptions. An interested person may apply for an exemption under 10 CFR 170.11 in accordance with 10 CFR 170.5, Communications.1 The NRC staff reviewed your request based on the regulations in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) and 10 CFR 170.11(d).
Section 170.11(a)(1)(ii) states:
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 to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts (e.g., rules, regulatory guides, regulations, policy statements, generic letters, or bulletins).
Section 170.11(d) states:
All fee exemption requests must be submitted in writing to the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with § 170.5, and the Chief Financial Officer will grant or deny such requests in writing.
1 10 CFR 170.5 provides that [a]ll communications concerning the regulations in this part should be addressed to the NRCs Chief Financial Officer, either by mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by hand delivery to the NRCs offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or CD-ROM.
September 3, 2024
M. Talbot In your letter, you stated that RhinoCorps believes the recently completed pre-application meeting and upcoming pre-application engagements meet the exemption requirement in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) in that the discussions on a roadmap, acceptable to and vetted by the NRC that an applicant could follow to assess current and candidate defensive strategies, will assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts. Your letter also stated that the process would be technology-neutral and will be available to the entire nuclear industry.
Previously, in 2023, the NRC staff resumed development of draft regulatory guidance for licensees use of physical security modeling and simulation (M&S) software tools for complying with the requirements in 10 CFR 73.55, Requirements for physical protection of licensed activities in nuclear power reactors against radiological sabotage. On July 6, 2023, the NRC staff hosted an information meeting to discuss preliminary NRC guidance regarding the use of physical security M&S tools for security plan changes and received feedback from industry and external stakeholders (ML23184A009). RhinoCorps representatives participated in that discussion and provided several recommendations to the NRC staff.
More recently, on July 1, 2024 (ML24173A106), the NRC staff held a public meeting with RhinoCorps for the company to discuss its work on physical security. During this public meeting, RhinoCorps representatives mentioned that the company has been performing vulnerability assessments and modeling physical security for DOEs protection level 1-4 sites2 since calendar year 2017initially as the sole-source contractor and currently as the selectee of a competitive bid process. RhinoCorps representatives also mentioned that the company performs similar work with some NRC power reactor licensees. The information discussed during the public meeting regarding RhinoCorps DOE-related work is consistent with the information that the NRC staff learned during its calendar years 2017-19 coordination with the vulnerability assessment project lead for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is the semi-autonomous agency within the DOE that is responsible for security at DOE protection level 1-4 sites.
The NRC anticipates that the pre-submittal engagement period will include completing Tasks 4-8, which are described in RhinoCorps fee exemption request letter. The pre-submittal engagement should enable the NRC staff to learn more about physical security M&S tool-related elements, such as a technology-neutral process for computing security system effectiveness (Task 4), accreditation (i.e., what NRC staff may call verification or validation) procedures for input data and facility models (Task 5), and acceptance criteria (Task 6). Also, seeing RhinoCorps apply its methodology to a planned power reactor facility that will use the NRC-certified NuScale design (Task 8) should enable the NRC staff to gain valuable insights across the full spectrum of physical security M&S tool use. Therefore, the pre-submittal engagement is consistent with the staffs current effort to develop and implement regulatory guidance and inspection procedures associated with power reactor and Category I fuel cycle facility applicants and licensees use of physical security M&S software tools.
The timeline for the pre-submittal engagement with RhinoCorps would extend between June 2024 and March 31, 2025, which includes staff time already spent preparing for the July1, 2024, public meeting. That period aligns with the NRC staffs related work developing draft regulatory guidance, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2025. The similar timing of the staffs related work and the pre-submittal engagement period should enable the NRC staff to receive and consider information from both sources, while developing the 2 Protection level is a graded protection approach that the DOE uses to organize assets into levels or categories based on consequence of loss. Since DOE facilities have multiple asset categories, sites will have multiple protection levels. Lower numbers indicate more risk-significant assets. For further information, see DOE Order 473.1A, Physical Protection Program, dated August 30, 2021.
M. Talbot regulatory guidance and inspection procedures to facilitate the appropriate use of physical security M&S tools by power reactor and Category I fuel cycle facility applicants and licensees.
For the reasons discussed in this letter, I am granting your fee exemption request specifically for the NRCs pre-submittal activities as described in this letter, because the NRC staff currently plans to use information from these activities to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts, and thus, these activities satisfy the requirements for a fee exemption stated in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii). The fee exemption granted in this letter for pre-submittal activities is limited to a time period beginning June 2024 and not to exceed March 31, 2025.
This fee exemption does not exempt fees associated with the NRCs review of any future papers (e.g., topical reports or white papers) that RhinoCorps may submit to the NRC.
If you have any technical questions regarding this matter, please contact Jeff Smith at 301-415-1057. Please contact Jo Jacobs, of my staff, at 301-415-8388 for any fee-related questions.
Sincerely, Owen F. Barwell Chief Financial Officer Signed by Barwell, Owen on 09/03/24
M. Talbot
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR A FEE EXEMPTION FOR PRE-SUBMITTAL ACTIVITIES RELATED TO A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY GATEWAY FOR ACCELERATED INNOVATION IN NUCLEAR GRANT, DATED: SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 DISTRIBUTION: OCFO-24-00121 NAridi, OCFO MVelasquez, OCFO BPham, NRR JSmith, NRR DKing, NRR LCubellis, NSIR ATardiff, NSIR RidsNrrOd Resource RidsNsirOD Resource ADAMS Accession Number: ML24221A137 Package; ML24221A131 Letter OFFICE OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NSIR/DPCP NSIR/DPCP NAME BBlaney (JJacobs for)
JJacobs AMarshall JVazquez DATE 08/08/2024 08/08/2024 08/09/2024 08/09/2024 OFFICE NRR/DORL NSIR/DPCP NRR/DORL OCFO/DOC NAME GGeorge SWalker ARivera-Varona RRevinzon DATE 08/08/024 08/14/2024 08/14/2024 08/14/2024 OFFICE OCFO/DOC OGC OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NAME MBlair (RRevinzon for)
GMostaghimi (NLO)
ARossi LYee DATE 08/14/2024 08/22/2024 08/23/2024 08/27/2024 OFFICE OCFO/DOB OCFO OCFO NAME MNeville EBenner OBarwell DATE 08/28/2024 08/29/2024 09/03/2024 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY