Text

PRM-50-124 12-16-24 Response to Petitioners Response to Status Update Email
	ML24355A167
Person / Time
Issue date:	12/16/2024
From:	Denise Edwards; NRC/NMSS/DREFS/RRPB
To:	Meyer R; - No Known Affiliation
References
	PRM-50-124
	Download: ML24355A167 (1)
	v • d • e

From:

To:

Subject:

Date:

Denise Edwards

Ralph Meyer

RE: Re: Status of Petition for Rulemaking (PRM-50-124)

Monday, December 16, 2024 5:33:00 PM

Dear Ralph O. Meyer,

Thank you for your reply. We understand that you will not be able to attend the ACRS Subcommittee

meeting. However, the slides for the meeting will be available tomorrow for your review and a

transcript will follow. In addition, an opportunity for public comment will be available if the

Commission approves the proposed rule for publication.

Please feel free to contact me at Denise.Edwards@nrc.gov or 404-997-4432 if you have any

questions.

Sincerely,

Denise E. Edwards

Reactor Rulemaking and Project Management Branch

Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support

Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards

Phone: 404.997.4432 /Email: denise.edwards@nrc.gov

From: Ralph Meyer <rmeyer@goeaston.net>

Sent: Friday, December 13, 2024 6:19 PM

To: Denise Edwards <Denise.Edwards@nrc.gov>

Cc: Helen Chang (She) <Helen.Chang@nrc.gov>; Krupskaya Castellon

<Krupskaya.Castellon@nrc.gov>; Soly Soto Lugo (She/Her) <Soly.SotoLugo@nrc.gov>; Scott Krepel

<Scott.Krepel@nrc.gov>; Pam Noto (She/Her) <Pamela.Noto@nrc.gov>

Subject: [External_Sender] Re: Status of Petition for Rulemaking (PRM-50-124)

Hello Denise,

Thank you for this very considerate status report. I appreciate the way that NRC has been handling

my petition and correspondence.

Inasmuch as the Commission directed the staff to address fuel fragmentation, relocation, and

dispersal (FFRD) in the increased-enrichment rulemaking, it would be logical to combine rulemaking

for my petition with rulemaking for increased enrichments because rulemaking on my petition would

totally resolve the FFRD issue.

Can you present this idea to the ACRS for discussion? Thank you.

ML24355A167

Ralph

P.S. I am unable to attend the ACRS meeting, but the letter I sent to the Secretary on August 25,

2024, speaks for itself and outlines exactly how this rule could be changed. It is very practical. I

would be happy to exchange further emails on this subject.

On 12/13/2024 4:45 PM, Denise Edwards wrote:

Dear Ralph O. Meyer,

By letter dated August 1, 2022 (Agencywide Documents Access and

Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML22284A087), you submitted

a petition for rulemaking requesting that the NRC revise the acceptance criteria

for emergency core cooling system performance in Section 50.46 of Title 10 of

the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this email is to provide an

update on the status of your petition.

On November 23, 2022 (87 FR 71531), the NRC published in the Federal

Register a notice of acceptance and docketing of PRM-50-124 and requested

comments on the petition. The comment period closed on March 8, 2023, and

the NRC received several comment submissions, which can be found at

https://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC20220178. The NRC is

evaluating your petition and the associated public comments. Once the NRC

makes a determination on the petition, the NRC will notify you and publish a

notice in the Federal Register explaining the Commissions decision.

As noted in the Federal Register notice docketing your petition and requesting

public comment, comments received after the close of the public comment

period will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to assure

consideration only for comments received during the public comment period.

With regards to the timeline for resolving a petition for rulemaking, it largely

depends on the nature and complexity of the request. In addition, for NRC to

resolve a legal/technical petition; this estimate is subject to resource availability

and other agency priorities. Once the staff completes review of the petition and

associated public comments, the staff will prepare formal recommendation to

the Commission for approval. The Commission makes the final decision on the

NRCs actions on petitions for rulemaking. For more detailed information on the

petition for rulemaking process, please refer to https://www.nrc.gov/about-

nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/petition-rule.html, and The Petition for Rulemaking

Process, Figure1 (80 FR 60524; October 7, 2015) (ADAMS Accession No.

ML14259A474).

Regardless of the outcome of your petition for rulemaking, you may be

interested in knowing of the ongoing rulemaking effort to amend the existing

regulations to allow uranium-235 (U-235) enrichments of higher than 5.0

weight-percent, Staff RequirementsSECY-21-0109Rulemaking Plan on

Use of Increased Enrichment of Conventional and Accident Tolerant Fuel

Designs for Light-Water Reactors, dated March 16, 2022 (ADAMS Accession

No. ML22075A103). The Commission also directed the staff to address fuel

fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal (FFRD) in this rulemaking, because the

most likely purpose for increased enrichment for an existing nuclear power

plant would be to increase fuel economy by extending the lifetime of fuel

assemblies (i.e., increased burnup). FFRD becomes more of a concern at

higher burnups. There will be a public meeting, with closed portions, with the

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. The ACRS Subcommittee on

Regulatory Rulemaking, Policies, and Practices will discuss the increased

enrichment rulemaking and multiple associated draft regulatory guides. This

public, 2-day meeting will be held on December17 and 18, 2024. More

information on this meeting can be found here: https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg?

do=details&Code=20241338.

Also, the NRC held a workshop to discuss licensing and technical aspects of

higher burnup (75gigawatt-days per metric ton (Gwd/MTU) U-235 or

equivalent) and increased enrichment (above 5.0weight-percent U-235) fuel on

September 3, 2024, in Rockville, Maryland. The slides presented at this

meeting and the meeting summary are listed below.

1. Higher Burnup Workshop V-Slide Presentation,

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2424/ML24243A161.pdf

2. Summary of the September 3, 2024, Workshop,

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2427/ML24277A154.pdf

We thank you for your continued correspondence regarding this petition, and

we confirm that to this day, we have received six letters or emails from you

since the official comment period closed for PRM-50-124. All correspondence

received from you has been added to the PRM-50-124 docket. The status of

PRM50124 can be found at the NRC Rules and Petition page at

https://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doccollections/rulemakingruleforum/active/Pet

itionIndex.html. This website includes a link to a listing of all active NRC

petitions for rulemaking. You can monitor this site for status updates as they

become available.

You can also continue to monitor the docket for PRM50124 at

https://www.regulations.gov. The Federal rulemaking website allows you to

receive alerts when changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To

subscribe: 1) navigate to the docket folder (NRC2022-0178); 2) click the

Subscribe button; and 3) enter your email address and select how frequently

you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).

You will continue to receive periodic status updates on your petition every 6

months.

Please feel free to contact me at Denise.Edwards@nrc.gov or 404-997-4432 if

you have any questions.