ML18290A923

Letter to Bill Pitesa, Petitioner Informing Him of the Docketing of His Petition for Rulemaking Regarding Elimination of Immediate Notification Requirements for Non-Emergency Events (Docket No. PRM-50-116; NRC-2018-0201)

ML18290A923
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/14/2018
From:	Vietti-Cook A L NRC/SECY
To:	Pitesa J W Nuclear Energy Institute
Gallagher C A, NMSS
Shared Package
ML18290A885	List: ML18290A923 ML18290A961
References
NRC-2018-0201, PRM-50-116
Download: ML18290A923 (8)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON , D.C. 20555-0001 Mr. Bill Pitesa Nuclear Energy Institute 1201 F Street , NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Pitesa:

November 14, 2018 This letter is in reference to your petition for rulemaking (PRM) that you submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on August 2 , 2018 (NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML 18247A204).

Your petition has been docketed under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 2.803, "Petition for rulemaking-NRC action." In your petition, you requested that the NRC revise its regulations in 10 CFR Part 50, "Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities," regarding the elimination of immediate notification requirements for non-emergency events. Your petition has been assigned Docket Number PRM-50-116.

Please reference this docket number on any correspondence you may have concerning the petition.

The enclosed notice of docketing of the petition will be published in the Federal Register. The NRC is requesting public comment on your PRM. As the staff reviews your petition, it may be necessary to request additional information.

You can monitor the docket for your petition on the Federal rulemaking Web site, https://www.regulations

.gov , by searching on Docket ID NRC-2018-0201. In addition , the Federal rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when changed or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) navigate to the docket folder NRC-2018-0201; (2) click the " Email Alert" link; and (3) enter your e-mail address and select how frequently you would like to receive e-mails (daily, weekly, or monthly). The NRC also tracks all petition actions on its Web site at http://www

.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc

-collections/rulemaking

-ruleforum/petitions

-byyear.html.

You may direct any questions you have concerning the petition process or the status of your petition to Cindy Bladey at 301-415-3280 ( e-mail: Cindy.Bladey@nrc

.gov) or to Helen Chang at 301-415-3228 (e-mail: Helen.Chang@nrc.gov

).

Enclosure:

Notice of docketing of petition for rulemaking Sincerely, Annette L. Vietti-Cook NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 10 CFR Part 50 [Docket No. PRM-50-116; NRC-2018-0201]

Elimination of Immediate Notification Requirements for Non-Emergency Events AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

[7590-01-P]

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing and request for comment.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a petition for rulemaking from Bill Pitesa, of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), dated August 2, 2018 , requesting that the NRC amend its regulations regarding the immediate notification requirements for operating nuclear power reactors. The petition was docketed by the NRC on September 4, 2018 , and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-116. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-50-116 to determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking.

The NRC is requesting public comment on this petition.

DATES: Submit comments by [INSERT DATE 75 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].

Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www

.regulations

.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0201.

Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone:

301-415-3463; e-mail: Carol.Gallagher@nrc

.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.

• E-mail comments to: Rulemaking

.Comments@nrc

.gov. If you do not receive an automatic e-mail reply confirming receipt , then contact us at 301-415-1677.

• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101.

• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.

• Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal workdays; telephone:

301-415-1677. For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see "Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments" in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Doyle , Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone:

301-415-3748; e-mail: Daniel.Doyle@n r c.gov. 2 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0201 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this action by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0201.

• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

To begin the search , select " Begin Web-based ADAMS Search." For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 , or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The incoming petition for rulemaking is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML 18247A204.

• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR , Room 01-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0201 in your comment submission.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission.

The NRC will post all 3 comment submissions at https://www

.regulations

.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submiss i on to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission.

Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS. II. The Petitioner The petition was submitted by Bill Pitesa on behalf of NEI members. Members of NEI include entities licensed to operate commercial nuclear power plants in the United States , nuclear plant designers, major architect/engineering firms , fuel fabrication facilities , nuclear materials licensees, and other organizations and entities involved in the nuclear energy industry. Ill. The Petition The petitioner is requesting that the NRC revise part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) to remove non-emergency notification requirements from the current regulations. The petitioner contends that the elimination of non-emergency notification requirements would eliminate duplicative notifications to the NRC and reduce unnecessary burden to licensees without presenting any incremental risk to public health and safety. 4 IV. Discussion of the Petition The petitioner requests that the NRC revise its regulations in 10 CFR part 50 to remove the current requirement for licensees to immediately report non-emergency events that occur at operating nuclear power reactors.

The petitioner believes the regulations should be revised because licensees currently have procedures for responding to non-emergency events and ensuring that NRC resident inspectors are notified of non-emergency events independent of the requirements in§ 50.72. The petitioner states that "duplicative notifications under 10 CFR 50. 72 serve no safety function and are not needed to prevent or minimize possible injury to the public or to allow the NRC to take necessary action." The petitioner suggests that in lieu of the currently required notifications, the NRC should establish guidance for the resident inspectors that provides consistent and standard expectations for using the existing communication protocols that have proven effective from the site to the resident inspectors and, from there, on to NRC management.

The petitioner discusses the NRC's stated purpose in promulgating the emergency event notification requirements in § 50. 72 by referring to final rules published in the Federal Register.

The basis and purpose of the current requirements are primarily discussed in final rules published in the Federal Register on February 29, 1980 (45 FR 13434); August 29, 1983 (48 FR 39039); September 10, 1992 (57 FR 41378); and October 25, 2000 (65 FR 63769).1 1 These final rules are publicly available in the Federal Register section of the U.S. Government Publishing Office's govinfo website: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/fr. 5 V. Request for Comment The NRC staff is requesting the public to consider the following specific questions when commenting on this petition:

1. The NRC publishes the event notifications it receives from licensees on the NRC's public website every weekday. Do you or does your organization regularly review these event notifications?

If so, please describe your use of this information and explain how the elimination of all non-emergency event notification requirements would affect you or your organization.

2. If all non-emergency event notification requirements were removed from § 50.72, the NRC would still receive licensee event reports within 60 days of discovery of the event as required by § 50. 73 unless there is no corresponding

§ 50. 73 report. These reports typically contain a more detailed account of the event and are released to the public in ADAMS after receipt. There is no corresponding

§ 50. 73 report for § 50.72(b)(2)(xi) for a news release or notification to other government agencies, § 50.72(b)(3)(xii) for transportation of a radioactively contaminated person, and § 50.72(b)(3)(xiii) for major loss of emergency assessment capability.

Would the public release of licensee event reports alone meet your needs? Please explain why or why not. 3. The petitioner asserts that the non-emergency notifications under§ 50.72 "create unnecessary burdens for both the licensee and the NRC staff, and should be eliminated

." What specific provisions in § 50. 72, if any, do you consider to be especially burdensome (e.g., the timing requirements for submittal of event notifications, certain types of event notifications)?

Please provide a supporting justification, as appropriate. 6

4. The petitioner asserts that§ 50. 72 non-emergency notifications are contrary to the best interests of the public and are contrary to the stated purpose of the regulation.

Do you agree with this assertion?

Please explain why or why not. 5. Are there alternatives to the petitioner's proposed changes that would address the concerns raised in the petition while still providing timely event information to the NRC and the public? Please provide a detailed discussion of any suggested alternatives.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of November, 2018. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Annette L. Vietti-Cook, Secretary of the Commission.

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