Press Release-92-129, NRC Changes Regulations to Reduce Regulatory Burden
| ML003703331 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/31/1992 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
| To: | |
| Category:Press Release | |
| References | |
| Press Release-92-129 | |
| Download: ML003703331 (3) | |
Text
No.92-129 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tel.
301/504-2240 (Monday, August 31, 1992)
NRC CHANGES REGULATIONS TO REDUCE REGULATORY BURDEN The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is making several changes to its regulations as a result of an agency review conducted to determine whether regulatory burdens can be reduced without in any way reducing protection of the public health and safety and the common defense and security.
The NRC has an on-going commitment to ensure that its regulatory program does not impose burdens on its licensees unless justified for safety reasons.
As a part of that program, the NRC some years ago created a Committee to Review Generic Requirements (CRGR).
This committee reviews proposed regulations, including a regulatory impact analysis of costs and benefits.
The Commission also has adopted a rule (Part 52) to streamline the licensing process for future standardized nuclear power plants.
Another measure intended to improve the efficiency of the NRC regulatory program is a draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement which systematically considers the costs and benefits of extending the operating life of current light water reactors.
The latest review of regulations responded to two Presidential memoranda of January 28, 1992, which requested Federal agencies to evaluate existing regulations and programs and to identify and accelerate initiatives that would eliminate any unnecessary burden on the regulated community or otherwise promote economic growth.
The review was done by the CRGR, which drew upon the agency's previous studies and solicited comments from the public, other agencies and the NRC staff.
A Federal Register notice seeking public comment was published on February 24, 1992, and a second Federal Register notice on March 23, 1992, discussed likely or possible candidates for action, based on CRGR's preliminary evaluation of comments.
An associated public meeting was held on March 27, 1992, in Bethesda, Md.
After completing their review, the CRGR recommended revising the regulations in eight areas, and the NRC is changing its
2 regulations to implement these eight.
Six of the eight changes are being made now.
They are:
(l)
Frequency of Final Safety Analysis Report updates--
Licensees will have the option of reducing the updating from annually to once per refueling outage (normally every 18 to 24 months), provided the interval between updates does not exceed 24 months.
This change is substantially similar to one sought by Yankee Atomic Electric Co. in a petition submitted on February 9, 1990.
This final rulemaking is considered by the NRC to be a granting of the petition request of Yankee Atomic.
(2) Annual design change reports--Again licensees can reduce the submission of reports from annually to once per refueling outage, provided the interval between reports does not exceed 24 months.
(3) Use of fuel with Zirconium-based (other than Zircaloy) cladding--The NRC staff estimates that six plants may ask to use this alternative cladding.
(4) Frequency of radiological effluent reports--Licensees may submit reports annually rather than semi-annually on the quantity of principal radioactive materials released off-site in liquid and gaseous form.
(5) Contamination monitoring of packages--A new requirement in Part 20 of the Commission's regulations for licensees to check the external surfaces of packages for radioactive contamination is eliminated for packages containing radioactive gases or containing radioactive material in a sealed form.
(6) Posting of rooms occupied by diagnostic nuclear medicine patients--This change reduces the posting requirements for hospital rooms occupied by patients administered radioactive materials who might otherwise be released from confinement.
Proposed revised amendments in these areas were published in the Federal Register for public comment on June 18, 1992.
Minor changes made as a result of comments received are contained in a Federal Register notice for the final amendments published on August 31, 1992.
For the two other areas identified by the CRGR, proposed rules have been announced separately.
They are:
(7) Elimination of unnecessary event reports--About 150 invalid engineered safety feature actuation events would no longer have to be reported, under a separate proposed rule published in the Federal Register on June 26, 1992.
3 (8) Receipt back of processed low-level waste--This proposal was previously announced in a Federal Register notice dated April 24, 1992.
It would allow nuclear reactor licensees to receive back at the reactor site low-level radioactive waste that was generated at the site, but sent off-site for compaction or incineration to reduce the waste's volume.
Final action in these two areas is being announced separately.