ML19079A145: Difference between revisions

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Turkey Point The staff issued the acceptance letter dated April 26, 2018, with the review schedule. The notice of application acceptance and opportunity for hearing was published in the FR on May 2, 2018.
Turkey Point The staff issued the acceptance letter dated April 26, 2018, with the review schedule. The notice of application acceptance and opportunity for hearing was published in the FR on May 2, 2018.
The staff is conducting a detailed environmental and safety review of the Turkey Point SLRA.
The staff is conducting a detailed environmental and safety review of the Turkey Point SLRA.
Between May 7 and May 18, 2018, the staff conducted an audit of Florida Power & Light Companys (FPLs) operating experience information in support of the staffs safety review. The results of the operating experience audit were issued on July 23, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No.
Between May 7 and May 18, 2018, the staff conducted an audit of Florida Power & Light Companys (FPLs) operating experience information in support of the staffs safety review. The results of the operating experience audit were issued on July 23, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18183A445). The staff performed its in-office regulatory audit between June 18 and July 13, 2018, to (1) review the applicants scoping and screening methodology used to identify SSCs within the scope of license renewal and subject to aging management review (AMR) and (2) (a) examine FPLs AMPs, AMR items, and time-limited aging analyses (TLAAs) for Turkey Point; (b) verify FPLs claims of consistency with the corresponding GALL-SLR Report AMPs, and AMR items, and (c) assess the adequacy of the TLAAs. The in-office audit report was issued on October 15, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18230B482). The NRC staff also performed an issue-specific on-site audit at Turkey Point during August 2731, 2018, to inform its review of the applicants approach to aging management of irradiated concrete for SLR. This audit was extended with the staff reviewing documents off-site periodically during September and October 2018. The audit closed on October 26, 2018, and an audit report was issued on January 25, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18341A024).
ML18183A445). The staff performed its in-office regulatory audit between June 18 and July 13, 2018, to (1) review the applicants scoping and screening methodology used to identify SSCs within the scope of license renewal and subject to aging management review (AMR) and (2) (a) examine FPLs AMPs, AMR items, and time-limited aging analyses (TLAAs) for Turkey Point; (b) verify FPLs claims of consistency with the corresponding GALL-SLR Report AMPs, and AMR items, and (c) assess the adequacy of the TLAAs. The in-office audit report was issued on October 15, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18230B482). The NRC staff also performed an issue-specific on-site audit at Turkey Point during August 2731, 2018, to inform its review of the applicants approach to aging management of irradiated concrete for SLR. This audit was extended with the staff reviewing documents off-site periodically during September and October 2018. The audit closed on October 26, 2018, and an audit report was issued on January 25, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18341A024).
On May 22, 2018, the staff issued an FRN announcing its intent to conduct the environmental scoping process and to prepare an environmental impact statement. On May 31, 2018, the staff held two public environmental scoping meetings in Homestead, FL, near the Turkey Point site.
On May 22, 2018, the staff issued an FRN announcing its intent to conduct the environmental scoping process and to prepare an environmental impact statement. On May 31, 2018, the staff held two public environmental scoping meetings in Homestead, FL, near the Turkey Point site.
Between June 19 and June 22, 2018, the staff was on-site to conduct an environmental audit in support of the staffs review of the SLRA. The results of the audit were issued on August 1, 2018.
Between June 19 and June 22, 2018, the staff was on-site to conduct an environmental audit in support of the staffs review of the SLRA. The results of the audit were issued on August 1, 2018.
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Strategy                                Actions/Milestones Description/Background
Strategy                                Actions/Milestones Description/Background
* Action plan task 4 included a review of branch technical Importantly, all other          position (BTP) 8-8, On-site (Emergency Diesel Generators) strategies also involve        and Offsite Power Sources Allowed Outage Time Extensions, guidance development            to determine if clarification is needed for use of a 14-day activities.                    backstop for deterministic evaluations; applicability of the guidance to one-time and permanent extensions; and defense-in-depth considerations, particularly with respect to mitigating the consequences of a loss of offsite power coincident with a loss-of-coolant accident with a single failure.
* Action plan task 4 included a review of branch technical Importantly, all other          position (BTP) 8-8, On-site (Emergency Diesel Generators) strategies also involve        and Offsite Power Sources Allowed Outage Time Extensions, guidance development            to determine if clarification is needed for use of a 14-day activities.                    backstop for deterministic evaluations; applicability of the guidance to one-time and permanent extensions; and defense-in-depth considerations, particularly with respect to mitigating the consequences of a loss of offsite power coincident with a loss-of-coolant accident with a single failure.
Milestone: The staff issued its RIDM Phase 1 Findings and Recommendations report on June 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A205; Enclosure 4 consists of proposed changes to BTP 8-8 (ADAMS Accession No.
Milestone: The staff issued its RIDM Phase 1 Findings and Recommendations report on June 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A205; Enclosure 4 consists of proposed changes to BTP 8-8 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A214)). The staff completed the Phase 2 report on January 30, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19007A339).
ML18169A214)). The staff completed the Phase 2 report on January 30, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19007A339).
II. Develop a Graded
II. Develop a Graded
* The staff created a tool to guide technical reviewers to Approach for Using Risk    consider plant design features when formulating the scope Information in Licensing    and depth of new reactor review activities. This tool was Reviews                    successfully applied to the NuScale design certification review and is a critical element of the ongoing enhanced safety-A graded approach seeks        focused review of this design.
* The staff created a tool to guide technical reviewers to Approach for Using Risk    consider plant design features when formulating the scope Information in Licensing    and depth of new reactor review activities. This tool was Reviews                    successfully applied to the NuScale design certification review and is a critical element of the ongoing enhanced safety-A graded approach seeks        focused review of this design.
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international entities and non-governmental organizations.
international entities and non-governmental organizations.
The final project plan incorporates stakeholder feedback received through four NRC public meetings, a FR noticed comment period, an ACRS subcommittee meeting, an NRC Commission briefing, and numerous other meetings with licensees, nuclear fuel vendors, and the DOE. The staff is actively implementing the project plan, which, in the near-term, entails enhanced engagement with the nuclear fuel vendors pursuing ATF concepts on their qualification plans, and commencing exercises to identify the phenomena important to safety (i.e., phenomenon identification and ranking tables (PIRTs)) for each concept.
The final project plan incorporates stakeholder feedback received through four NRC public meetings, a FR noticed comment period, an ACRS subcommittee meeting, an NRC Commission briefing, and numerous other meetings with licensees, nuclear fuel vendors, and the DOE. The staff is actively implementing the project plan, which, in the near-term, entails enhanced engagement with the nuclear fuel vendors pursuing ATF concepts on their qualification plans, and commencing exercises to identify the phenomena important to safety (i.e., phenomenon identification and ranking tables (PIRTs)) for each concept.
On February 20-21, 2019, the staff participated in the eighth EPRI/Idaho National Lab/Department of Energy joint workshop on ATF. During the workshop, the staff met with the nuclear fuel vendors to understand their fuel qualification plans and individual licensing strategies. On February 26-28, 2019, the staff also held four public meetings with nuclear vendors. The staff has initiated the PIRT exercise for the chromium-coated cladding ATF concept by issuing a draft report Degradation and Failure Phenomena of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts: Chromium Coated Zirconium Alloy Cladding (ADAMS Accession No.
On February 20-21, 2019, the staff participated in the eighth EPRI/Idaho National Lab/Department of Energy joint workshop on ATF. During the workshop, the staff met with the nuclear fuel vendors to understand their fuel qualification plans and individual licensing strategies. On February 26-28, 2019, the staff also held four public meetings with nuclear vendors. The staff has initiated the PIRT exercise for the chromium-coated cladding ATF concept by issuing a draft report Degradation and Failure Phenomena of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts: Chromium Coated Zirconium Alloy Cladding (ADAMS Accession No. ML19036A716). The staff expect to issue the final report by June 2019, following an expert elicitation exercise to augment the report in April 2019, in preparation for the issuance of an ISG document by the end of calendar year 2019.
ML19036A716). The staff expect to issue the final report by June 2019, following an expert elicitation exercise to augment the report in April 2019, in preparation for the issuance of an ISG document by the end of calendar year 2019.
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The staff understands that the industry is planning to seek extensions of current fuel burnup limits. Industry has performed a gap analysis related to data needs to support a burnup extension and published a white paper detailing their work. The NRC staff will consider this information during interactions with the individual fuel vendors over the next several months as the staff seeks to understand potential licensing strategies. The fuel enrichment and burnup increases have implications not just for in-core reactor performance, but they also have ramifications for other aspects of the fuel cycle (e.g., fuel manufacturing, spent fuel storage, and transportation). Moreover, the increased enrichment will require relief from the 5 percent U-235 enrichment limit imposed by 10 CFR 50.68.
The staff understands that the industry is planning to seek extensions of current fuel burnup limits. Industry has performed a gap analysis related to data needs to support a burnup extension and published a white paper detailing their work. The NRC staff will consider this information during interactions with the individual fuel vendors over the next several months as the staff seeks to understand potential licensing strategies. The fuel enrichment and burnup increases have implications not just for in-core reactor performance, but they also have ramifications for other aspects of the fuel cycle (e.g., fuel manufacturing, spent fuel storage, and transportation). Moreover, the increased enrichment will require relief from the 5 percent U-235 enrichment limit imposed by 10 CFR 50.68.
The staff continues to engage stakeholders, particularly DOE and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on mitigation plans for the closure of the Halden Reactor in Norway, a key research facility utilized by stakeholders throughout the world. The NRC staff has assessed the impact on the agencys planned anticipatory and confirmatory research efforts. Also, several nuclear fuel vendors were planning to use Halden for experimental testing of ATF concepts. To date, these vendors have indicated that they do not expect any delays in deployment for near-term ATF concepts due to Haldens shutdown.
The staff continues to engage stakeholders, particularly DOE and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on mitigation plans for the closure of the Halden Reactor in Norway, a key research facility utilized by stakeholders throughout the world. The NRC staff has assessed the impact on the agencys planned anticipatory and confirmatory research efforts. Also, several nuclear fuel vendors were planning to use Halden for experimental testing of ATF concepts. To date, these vendors have indicated that they do not expect any delays in deployment for near-term ATF concepts due to Haldens shutdown.
The staff has also made publicly available a generic communication (ADAMS Accession No.
The staff has also made publicly available a generic communication (ADAMS Accession No. ML18270A019) to obtain timeline details, fuel qualification plans, and licensing strategy information from nuclear fuel vendors pursuing the various ATF concepts and has submitted the document to the Office of Management and Budget for clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The responses will allow the NRC to better prepare for future ATF licensing work and ensure it is adequately resourced to support timely reviews.
ML18270A019) to obtain timeline details, fuel qualification plans, and licensing strategy information from nuclear fuel vendors pursuing the various ATF concepts and has submitted the document to the Office of Management and Budget for clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The responses will allow the NRC to better prepare for future ATF licensing work and ensure it is adequately resourced to support timely reviews.
As indicated in previous reports, the NRC steering committee for lead test assemblies (LTAs) developed a draft letter to NEI regarding the use of LTAs in commercial operating nuclear reactors, which once finalized, will clarify and supersede the NRC staffs positions stated in its June 29, 2017, letter. The draft letter was published for public comment on June 7, 2018, for 20 days (83 FR 26503). The comment period was extended for an additional 20 days and closed on July 23, 2018 (83 FR 30989). Over 250 comment letters were received. The NRC staff has reviewed the comments and is currently in the process of revising the letter. A separate comment response document also will be released to the public, together with the final letter.
As indicated in previous reports, the NRC steering committee for lead test assemblies (LTAs) developed a draft letter to NEI regarding the use of LTAs in commercial operating nuclear reactors, which once finalized, will clarify and supersede the NRC staffs positions stated in its June 29, 2017, letter. The draft letter was published for public comment on June 7, 2018, for 20 days (83 FR 26503). The comment period was extended for an additional 20 days and closed on July 23, 2018 (83 FR 30989). Over 250 comment letters were received. The NRC staff has reviewed the comments and is currently in the process of revising the letter. A separate comment response document also will be released to the public, together with the final letter.
: 28. Please describe actions taken and/or planned to improve the quality of cost benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking, including the development of metrics for assessing the quality of cost-benefit analyses. Please include milestones for completing these actions and the guidance that is currently under revision.14 The NRC has taken specific actions to improve the quality of cost-benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking. The key milestones for these actions are described below.
: 28. Please describe actions taken and/or planned to improve the quality of cost benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking, including the development of metrics for assessing the quality of cost-benefit analyses. Please include milestones for completing these actions and the guidance that is currently under revision.14 The NRC has taken specific actions to improve the quality of cost-benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking. The key milestones for these actions are described below.
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39%        55%    44%  39%    46%                      39%  49%    62%                    91%  69%        44%  43%
39%        55%    44%  39%    46%                      39%  49%    62%                    91%  69%        44%  43%
54%
54%
                  $-
Note: EQ inspections are not included unless otherwise          Site - Report Number indicated.                                      NRC Staff Hours Cost    Contractor Cost 86
Note: EQ inspections are not included unless otherwise          Site - Report Number indicated.                                      NRC Staff Hours Cost    Contractor Cost 86
: 41. Please provide the status of the holistic review of engineering inspection procedures and any actions taken and/or planned because of the review.22 In late November 2018, SECY-18-0113 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18144A567) was provided to the Commission with recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the engineering inspections. Many of the recommendations contained in the Commission paper are also reflected in a staff memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML18103A174) that captures the recommendations of the ROP Engineering Inspection Working Group to improve the ROP engineering inspections.
: 41. Please provide the status of the holistic review of engineering inspection procedures and any actions taken and/or planned because of the review.22 In late November 2018, SECY-18-0113 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18144A567) was provided to the Commission with recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the engineering inspections. Many of the recommendations contained in the Commission paper are also reflected in a staff memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML18103A174) that captures the recommendations of the ROP Engineering Inspection Working Group to improve the ROP engineering inspections.
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The agency has developed a vision and strategy to assure NRC readiness to conduct its mission for these technologies effectively and efficiently as described in NRC Vision and Strategy: Safely Achieving Effective and Efficient Non-Light Water Reactor Mission Readiness, which was published in the FR on July 21, 2016, for stakeholder input. The NRC updated this document (ADAMS Accession No. ML16356A670) to reflect stakeholder feedback and made it publicly available in December of 2016.
The agency has developed a vision and strategy to assure NRC readiness to conduct its mission for these technologies effectively and efficiently as described in NRC Vision and Strategy: Safely Achieving Effective and Efficient Non-Light Water Reactor Mission Readiness, which was published in the FR on July 21, 2016, for stakeholder input. The NRC updated this document (ADAMS Accession No. ML16356A670) to reflect stakeholder feedback and made it publicly available in December of 2016.
The NRCs non-LWR vision and strategy has three strategic objectivesenhancing technical readiness, optimizing regulatory readiness, and optimizing communication. The NRC has developed implementation action plans (IAPs) to identify the specific activities the NRC will conduct in the near-term (0-5 years), mid-term (5-10 years), and long-term (beyond 10 years) timeframes to achieve non-LWR readiness. In the fall of 2016, the NRC released its draft near-term IAPs to obtain stakeholder feedback. The staff also developed draft mid- and long-term IAPs, which were released to the public in February of 2017. The staff updated its IAPs to reflect stakeholder feedback in July of 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17165A069 and ML17164A173).
The NRCs non-LWR vision and strategy has three strategic objectivesenhancing technical readiness, optimizing regulatory readiness, and optimizing communication. The NRC has developed implementation action plans (IAPs) to identify the specific activities the NRC will conduct in the near-term (0-5 years), mid-term (5-10 years), and long-term (beyond 10 years) timeframes to achieve non-LWR readiness. In the fall of 2016, the NRC released its draft near-term IAPs to obtain stakeholder feedback. The staff also developed draft mid- and long-term IAPs, which were released to the public in February of 2017. The staff updated its IAPs to reflect stakeholder feedback in July of 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17165A069 and ML17164A173).
The staff issued SECY-19-0009, "Advanced Reactor Program Status" (ADAMS Accession No.
The staff issued SECY-19-0009, "Advanced Reactor Program Status" (ADAMS Accession No. ML18346A075) on January 17, 2019. This paper provides the status of the NRC staff's activities related to advanced reactors, including the progress and path forward on each of the IAP strategies. It also provides an overview of the various external factors influencing the staff's activities to prepare for possible licensing and deployment of advanced reactors.
ML18346A075) on January 17, 2019. This paper provides the status of the NRC staff's activities related to advanced reactors, including the progress and path forward on each of the IAP strategies. It also provides an overview of the various external factors influencing the staff's activities to prepare for possible licensing and deployment of advanced reactors.
There are 6 individual strategies addressed in the near-term IAPs. These strategies, and the activities in support of each strategy, are discussed below.
There are 6 individual strategies addressed in the near-term IAPs. These strategies, and the activities in support of each strategy, are discussed below.
Strategy                          Activities in support of the strategy
Strategy                          Activities in support of the strategy
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to solicit stakeholder feedback (ADAMS Accession No. ML17025A353). This document describes the relevant regulations governing the testing requirements for advanced reactors, describes the process for determining testing needs to meet the NRC's regulatory requirements, clarifies when a prototype plant might be needed and how it might differ from the proposed standard plant design, and describes licensing strategies and options that include the use of a prototype plant to meet the NRC's testing requirements. The NRC addressed stakeholder feedback and issued the final prototype document as part of the Regulatory Review Roadmap on December 26, 2017.
to solicit stakeholder feedback (ADAMS Accession No. ML17025A353). This document describes the relevant regulations governing the testing requirements for advanced reactors, describes the process for determining testing needs to meet the NRC's regulatory requirements, clarifies when a prototype plant might be needed and how it might differ from the proposed standard plant design, and describes licensing strategies and options that include the use of a prototype plant to meet the NRC's testing requirements. The NRC addressed stakeholder feedback and issued the final prototype document as part of the Regulatory Review Roadmap on December 26, 2017.
* On February 3, 2017, the NRC issued DG-1330, "Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors" for formal public comment.
* On February 3, 2017, the NRC issued DG-1330, "Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors" for formal public comment.
The staff briefed the ACRS subcommittee on the draft final RG in February 2018 and the ACRS Full Committee in March 2018. On April 3, 2018, the NRC issued the final RG 1.232 (ADAMS Accession No.
The staff briefed the ACRS subcommittee on the draft final RG in February 2018 and the ACRS Full Committee in March 2018. On April 3, 2018, the NRC issued the final RG 1.232 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17325A611), along with the, "Public Comment Resolution Table" (ADAMS Accession No.
ML17325A611), along with the, "Public Comment Resolution Table" (ADAMS Accession No.
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Latest revision as of 10:41, 2 February 2020

27th Monthly Status Report on the Licensing Activities and Regulatory Duties of the Us Nuclear Regulatory Commission (for the Reporting Period Through February 2019)
ML19079A145
Person / Time
Issue date: 02/28/2019
From: Kristine Svinicki
NRC/Chairman
To: Barrasso J, Braun M, Pallone F
US HR, Comm on Energy & Commerce, US SEN, Comm on Environment & Public Works, US SEN, Subcomm on Clean Air & Nuclear Safety
Rihm, Roger, 415-1717
Shared Package
ML19059A144 List:
References
CORR-19-0031, SRM-LTR-17-0416-1-OEDO
Download: ML19079A145 (117)
v • d • e


Text

STATUS REPORT ON THE LICENSING ACTIVITIES AND REGULATORY DUTIES OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION For the Reporting Period through February 2019 Enclosure

Table of Contents RESOURCES

1. Status of Project Aim and additional activities 1
2. Incorporation of five-year workload planning into policies and procedures 3
3. Staffing 3
4. Actions taken or planned to reduce corporate support costs, including efforts to 17 reduce office space
5. Status of efforts to provide greater transparency, timeliness, and itemization in 19 invoices to applicants and licensees, including any progress toward electronic invoicing and payment
6. Research activities initiated during the reporting period 20 URANIUM RECOVERY
7. Information regarding major uranium recovery licensing application reviews 20
8. Status of major uranium recovery licensing actions 21
9. Status of minor uranium recovery licensing actions 22
10. Status of Wyoming Agreement State application 23
11. Specific actions planned to improve the efficiency of reviews conducted 23 for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
12. Progress of the pilot project on flat fees for uranium recovery licensees 25 LICENSING
13. Information regarding license amendment reviews for operating reactors, 26 new reactors, and uranium recovery licensees
14. Information regarding decommissioning transition reviews 34
15. List of Technical Specifications Task Force travelers under review 34
16. Actions planned and/or taken to ensure that the Technical Specifications 35 Task Force traveler process achieves the regulatory efficiencies that were initially projected
17. Information regarding license renewal review applications 35
18. Status of ongoing license renewal reviews 38 i
19. Status of NRCs readiness to review applications for subsequent license 38 renewal (SLR)
20. Status of SLR reviews 39
21. Information regarding power uprate application reviews 44
22. Status of power uprate application reviews 44
23. Information regarding requests for additional information (RAIs) issued 45 by various offices/programs
24. Status of specific actions taken or planned to ensure greater discipline, 50 management oversight, and transparency in the RAI process
25. Actions taken to enhance the integration of risk information across the 53 agencys activities to improve the technical basis for regulatory activities, to increase efficiency, and to improve effectiveness
26. Status of power reactor transition from analog to digital instrumentation 57
27. Actions taken and planned to prepare to review industry requests to use 61 accident tolerant fuel in existing reactors
28. Actions taken and planned to improve the quality of cost benefit analyses 62 conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking
29. Status of the revised guidance to clarify the use of qualitative factors 64
30. List of all final generic regulatory actions issued in the last three years 65
31. List and brief description of all facility-specific backfits issued during 74 the reporting period
32. Twelve-month and three-year rolling averages for Committee to Review 74 Generic Requirements (CRGR) formal and informal reviews
33. Status of the application of the backfit rule in licensing and inspection 76 programs across the agency
34. Actions taken and planned to address recommendations made by the 78 CRGR in its report U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Implementation of Backfitting and Issue Finality Requirements REACTOR INSPECTION
35. Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) findings for year-to-date and three-year 80 rolling metrics ii
36. Percentage of Final Significance Determinations made within 90 days for all 81 potentially greater-than-green findings, monthly for one-year rolling metrics and annually for the past 10 years
37. Instances where Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 609, Appendix M, Significance 81 Determination Process Using Qualitative Criteria, has been applied in the ROP Significance Determination Process
38. Status of potential changes to the Reactor Oversight Process and identification 81 of any changes that may require Commission approval prior to implementation
39. Progress toward utilizing an industry consensus document as a means of 82 accomplishing predictability and consistency in operability determinations
40. Information regarding Design Basis Assurance Inspections completed in the 82 last three years
41. Status of the holistic review of engineering inspection procedures and any 87 actions taken and/or planned because of the review NEW REACTORS
42. Funds budgeted, resources spent, and total Part 170 fees billed each year 88 for the past ten years for the Office of New Reactors (NRO)
43. Information regarding each design certification, combined license, and early 88 site permit application reviewed since 2007
44. Summary of the status of ongoing design certification, combined license, 96 and early site permit application reviews
45. Information on Test Analyses and Acceptance Criteria (ITAAC) reviews for reactors under construction 99
46. License amendments for reactors under construction 102
47. Budgeted resources and actual expenditures each month for the past 102 24 months for reactors under construction
48. Summary of the status of licensing and inspection for Vogtle Units 3 and 4 103
49. Actions taken in the past three years or planned to improve the efficiency 104 of new plant reviews
50. Unresolved policy issues regarding the licensing of small modular 105 light-water reactors (LWRs)
51. Unresolved policy issues regarding the licensing of advanced LWRs 111
52. Status of preparations to review non-LWR applications 112 iii

RESOURCES

1. Will Project Aim 2020 conclude in early 2018, or will it continue pursuing additional improvements? If Project Aim will continue, please describe any new or additional actions taken or planned, including milestones for completion of such actions.

In the June 8, 2015, staff requirements memorandum (SRM) for SECY-15-0015, Project Aim 2020 Report and Recommendations, the Commission approved 19 separate tasks to address the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC) need to improve effectiveness and efficiency, as well as to adjust the workforce to match the workload and skills necessary to accomplish its mission. The NRC staff continues to provide a quarterly Project Aim status report to the Commission, which will be transmitted with this report each quarter.

The Project Aim effort led to several follow-on activities that are still underway. One such initiative is the enhanced Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) process (described in response to Question 2 below). This activity is structured to better integrate the agencys workload projections, skills identification, human capital management, employee development, and workforce management activities. SWP reflects efforts in the above areas using a 5-year planning horizon. Another initiative outside the scope of the Project Aim efforts was the creation of a task force to identify process efficiencies to yield savings through the standardization or centralization of specific mission support functions. This task force identified 21 project areas for consideration and developed timelines for implementation for each project area. Some of these implementation plans have been successfully completed while others are underway.

Most recently the NRC has undertaken an initiative to identify potential activities that would transform the NRC regulatory framework, culture, and infrastructure. The initial efforts identified over 700 diverse ideas from external stakeholders, regional, and headquarters staff. A subset has been recommended to the Commission. The NRC continues to seek opportunities for innovation and efficiency improvement in its regulatory functions while it institutionalizes the actions related to Project Aim. The table below describes two activities that continue the objectives of Project Aim and demonstrate the NRCs continued commitment to effectiveness and efficiency.

Initiative Milestones Notes Implement an enhanced Annual Process began 07/17/18 Launched Phase II to SWP process that will include the major improve workforce program offices and management by focusing on regional offices.

strategic human capital management and longer-term planning Part I Training of supervisors in Completed SWP concepts and process -

08/31/18 Deliverable: Office/Region Completed Environmental Scan Analysis -

11/09/18 Deliverable: Workload Forecast Completed (execution year +1 and +5) -

12/14/18 1

Initiative Milestones Notes Deliverable: Workforce Demand Analysis - 02/15/19 Completed Part II Training of supervisors in SWP concepts and process -

Completed 02/22/19 Deliverable: Workforce Supply Analysis - 04/05/19 Deliverable: Prioritized list of gaps and surpluses - 05/31/19 Deliverable: Strategies to address gaps and surpluses -

06/28/19 Merge the Offices of Nuclear Major NRR restructure October Completed Reactor Regulation (NRR) 2017 and NRO to achieve efficiency gains, improve Minor NRO restructure April 2018 Completed supervisory ratios, and provide greater flexibility and Proposed organizational structure Completed improved agility to manage a submitted to the Commission for dynamic workload consideration December 2018 Develop Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 staffing plan with pre-merger consolidations Q4 of FY 2019 Implement at least one pre- Completed merger consolidation by 10/01/19 Complete the merger late-2019 2

2. Consistent with the workload forecast done under Project Aim 2020, to what extent has the NRC incorporated five-year workload planning into its policies and procedures, e.g.,

strategic planning and budget formulation? Please describe the actions taken or planned.1 On July 19, 2017, the NRCs Executive Director for Operations (EDO) formed a working group to develop a comprehensive, integrated, and systematic SWP with the primary objective to enhance the existing SWP to better integrate the agencys workload projections, skills identification, human capital management, and workforce management activities with NRCs strategic planning and budget formulation process. As a part of this effort, a three-office pilot of the enhanced SWP process was performed, incorporating a 5-year workload planning horizon.

The pilot demonstrated that the enhanced SWP framework and process, when fully implemented, can identify short- and long-term strategies and action plans that are comprehensive and provide important insights into training needs to address gaps and overages in workforce needs. These outcomes will improve the agencys human capital management activities, help identify employee opportunities for career growth, and provide for a greater understanding of the future workload of the NRC. On June 8, 2018, the pilot implementation team proposed proceeding with all the recommendations in the Enhanced Strategic Workforce Planning Lessons-Learned Pilot Report, including implementing Phase II of the enhanced SWP process. Phase II includes the five major program offices, two corporate offices, and the four regional offices, which accounts for approximately 79 percent of the workforce. The actions planned for SWP Phase II are outlined in the table in the response to Question 1, above. The enhanced SWP process is designed to be implemented on an annual cycle to develop strategies to address workforce needs in both budget execution year + 1 year and budget execution year + 5 years. At the conclusion of Phase II in June 2019, the Office of the Executive Director for Operations and the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) will determine the extent to which the remaining agency offices should be included.

When fully implemented, SWP will result in a 5-year workload projection that can be used in the budget formulation process and SWP.

3. Please provide the total number of staff and corporate support staff full-time equivalent (FTE), budgeted vs actual, for the agency and in each of the following offices: NRR, NRO, Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR), Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), Uranium Recovery, Decommissioning, and each regional office. Please provide this information for the current month, each of the previous eleven months, and projections for each of the twelve months going forward.

Please do not divide by twelve.

1 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

3

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Agency Level FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 236.9 1435.3 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 235.7 1671.0 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 234.5 1905.5 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 234.3 2139.8 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 234.7 2374.5 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 233.8 2608.3 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 232.2 2840.5 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 231.0 3071.5 3195 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 230.0 230.0 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 229.5 459.5 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 229.1 688.6 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 226.7 915.3 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 225.6 1140.9 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 223.8 1364.7 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 223.3 1588.0 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 223.2 1811.2 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 223.5 2034.7 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 223.5 2258.2 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 223.6 2481.8 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 223.7 2705.5 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 223.6 2929.1 3114 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes staff in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ).

4

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for FTE Budget the Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 34.4 208.3 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 34.3 242.6 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 34.1 276.7 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 34.0 310.7 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 33.9 344.6 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 34.0 378.6 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 33.7 412.3 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 33.6 445.9 451 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 33.5 33.5 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 34.3 67.8 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 34.4 102.2 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 33.9 136.1 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 33.6 169.7 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 33.5 203.2 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 33.7 236.9 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 33.8 270.7 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 33.9 304.6 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 33.9 338.5 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 34.0 372.5 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 34.0 406.5 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 33.9 440.4 445 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in NRR.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 FY 2019 NRR resources decrease from FY 2018 Enacted primarily as a result of NRR/NRO pre-merger consolidation activities transitioning to Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).

FY 2019 FTE projections currently exclude FY 2019 budget approved FTE realignments.

Projections will be updated upon completion of personnel actions.

7 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

5

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of New Reactors FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 20.6 127.8 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 20.5 148.3 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 20.3 168.6 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 20.1 188.7 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 19.7 208.4 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 19.4 227.8 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 19.4 247.2 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 19.2 266.4 275 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 18.9 18.9 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 18.2 37.1 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 18.0 55.1 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 17.6 72.7 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 16.8 89.5 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 16.2 105.7 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 15.9 121.6 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 15.9 137.5 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 15.8 153.3 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 15.8 169.1 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 15.8 184.9 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 15.9 200.8 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 15.9 216.7 250 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in NRO.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 FY 2019 NRO resources decrease from FY 2018 Enacted primarily as a result of NRR/NRO pre-merger consolidation activities transitioning to OCIO. FY 2019 FTE projections shown here do not include approved FTE realignments. Projections will be updated upon completion of the related personnel actions.

7 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

6

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 23.3 137.8 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 23.0 160.8 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 22.7 183.5 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 22.6 206.1 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 22.4 228.5 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 22.2 250.7 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 22.2 272.9 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 22.4 295.3 312 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 22.1 22.1 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 22.0 44.1 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 22.0 66.1 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 22.0 88.1 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 21.9 110.0 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 21.7 131.7 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 21.6 153.3 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 21.6 174.9 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 21.6 196.5 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 21.7 218.2 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 21.7 239.9 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 21.7 261.6 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 21.7 283.3 285 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Provides all staff in NMSS, including FTE for Uranium Recovery and Reactor Decommissioning.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

7

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 15.3 90.8 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 15.4 106.2 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 15.3 121.5 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 15.6 137.1 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 16.1 153.2 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 15.9 169.1 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 15.4 184.5 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 15.3 199.8 201 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 15.4 15.4 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 15.4 30.8 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 15.3 46.1 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 15.1 61.2 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 14.9 76.1 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 14.8 90.9 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 14.8 105.7 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 14.8 120.5 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 15.0 135.5 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 15.0 150.5 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 15.0 165.5 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 15.0 180.5 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 15.0 195.5 208 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in RES.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

8

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 12.9 78.3 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 12.7 91.0 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 12.8 103.8 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 12.9 116.7 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 12.9 129.6 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 12.8 142.4 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 12.8 155.2 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 12.6 167.8 176 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 12.5 12.5 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 12.5 25.0 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 12.3 37.3 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 12.4 49.7 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 12.5 62.2 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 12.4 74.6 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 12.4 87.0 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 12.4 99.4 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 12.4 111.8 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 12.4 124.2 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 12.3 136.5 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 12.3 148.8 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 12.3 161.1 165 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in NSIR.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

6 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

9

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Uranium Recovery FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

FY to Date Period Projected FTE Annual Budget FTE for the Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 1.3 7.8 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 1.3 9.1 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 1.3 10.4 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 1.3 11.7 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 1.3 13.0 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 1.3 14.3 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 1.3 15.6 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 1.3 16.9 30 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 0.7 0.7 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 0.7 1.4 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 0.7 2.1 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 0.7 2.8 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 0.7 3.5 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 0.7 4.2 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 0.7 4.9 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 0.7 5.6 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 0.7 6.3 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 0.7 7.0 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 0.7 7.7 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 0.7 8.4 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 0.7 9.1 15 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in the Uranium Recovery Branch of NMSS, and relevant staff in the following:

Environmental Review Branch, NMSS; Division of Materials Safety, Security, State, and Tribal Programs, NMSS; Fuel Cycle and Decommissioning Branch, Region IV; Office of General Counsel (OGC); and Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel (ASLB).

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

10

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Decommissioning FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 3.2 19.6 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 3.2 22.8 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 3.1 25.9 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 3.0 28.9 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 2.9 31.8 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 2.9 34.7 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 3.0 37.7 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 3.0 40.7 37 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 3.2 3.2 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 3.1 6.3 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 2.3 8.6 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 2.3 10.9 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 2.3 13.2 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 2.3 15.5 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 2.3 17.8 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 2.3 20.1 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 2.3 22.4 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 2.3 24.7 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 2.3 27.0 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 2.3 29.3 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 2.3 31.6 35 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in the Reactor and Materials Decommissioning Branches of NMSS, plus relevant contributions from staff in OGC, Region I (R-1), and Region III (R-III). No mission support staff, second level and above supervisory staff, or staff support from other offices is included.

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

11

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 14.8 91.1 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 14.8 105.9 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 14.8 120.7 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 14.9 135.6 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 15.0 150.6 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 14.9 165.5 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 14.8 180.3 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 14.7 195.0 198 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 14.6 14.6 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 14.5 29.1 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 14.4 43.5 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 14.2 57.7 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 14.2 71.9 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 14.2 86.1 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 14.2 100.3 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 14.1 114.4 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 14.1 128.5 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 14.0 142.5 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 14.0 156.5 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 14.0 170.5 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 14.0 184.5 195 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in R-I.

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

12

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 19.2 116.8 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 19.2 136.0 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 19.1 155.1 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 18.8 173.9 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 18.8 192.7 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 18.5 211.2 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 18.3 229.5 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 18.1 247.6 253 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 17.8 17.8 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 17.8 35.6 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 18.0 53.6 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 17.9 71.5 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 17.7 89.2 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 17.6 106.8 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 17.6 124.4 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 17.6 142.0 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 17.6 159.6 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 17.6 177.2 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 17.6 194.8 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 17.6 212.4 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 17.6 230.0 245 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in Region II (R-II).

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

13

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 13.9 84.9 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 13.9 98.8 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 13.8 112.6 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 13.8 126.4 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 13.9 140.3 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 13.7 154.0 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 13.7 167.7 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 13.8 181.5 188 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 13.8 13.8 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 13.7 27.5 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 13.8 41.3 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 13.6 54.9 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 13.3 68.2 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 13.2 81.4 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 13.2 94.6 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 13.2 107.8 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 13.2 121.0 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 13.2 134.2 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 13.2 147.4 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 13.2 160.6 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 13.2 173.8 184 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in R-III.

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

14

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Annual Period FTE for the FTE Budget Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 12.9 76.5 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 12.9 89.4 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 12.8 102.2 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 12.7 114.9 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 12.9 127.8 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 13.1 140.9 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 12.9 153.8 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 12.9 166.7 175 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 12.8 12.8 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 12.7 25.5 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 12.6 38.1 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 12.5 50.6 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 12.4 63.0 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 12.5 75.5 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 12.4 87.9 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 12.5 100.4 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 12.6 113.0 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 12.6 125.6 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 12.7 138.3 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 12.7 151.0 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 12.7 163.7 169 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in Region IV (R-IV).

5 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

15

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Corporate Support Functions FTE Actuals and Projections 11 Months Prior and 12 Months Future Data as of 2/16/2019 Actual/

Projected FY to Date Period FTE for the FTE Period 02/18/2018 - 03/17/2018 34.9 214.1 03/18/2018 - 04/14/2018 34.6 248.7 04/15/2018 - 05/12/2018 34.5 283.2 05/13/2018 - 06/09/2018 34.6 317.8 06/10/2018 - 07/07/2018 35.0 352.8 07/08/2018 - 08/04/2018 35.1 387.9 08/05/2018 - 09/01/2018 34.8 422.7 09/02/2018 - 09/29/2018 34.5 457.2 510 FY 2018 09/30/2018 - 10/27/2018 34.6 34.6 10/28/2018 - 11/24/2018 34.6 69.2 11/25/2018 - 12/22/2018 34.7 103.9 12/23/2018 - 01/19/2019 34.5 138.4 01/20/2019 - 02/16/2019 34.9 173.3 02/17/2019 - 03/16/2019 35.1 208.4 03/17/2019 - 04/13/2019 35.0 243.4 04/14/2019 - 05/11/2019 35.0 278.4 05/12/2019 - 06/08/2019 35.0 313.4 06/09/2019 - 07/06/2019 35.0 348.4 07/07/2019 - 08/03/2019 35.0 383.4 08/04/2019 - 08/31/2019 35.0 418.4 09/01/2019 - 09/28/2019 35.0 453.4 515 FY 2019 Notes: 1 Data are reported in two-pay-period groups because of the biweekly payroll cycle.

2 Actual/projected FTE for the period reflects FTE utilization (or projected utilization).

3 Projection is approximately 1/12th of total year FTE expenditures, adjusted for known future gains and losses through the end of the FY.

4 Includes all staff in the following corporate support offices: Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO),

OCIO, Office of Administration, Office of Small Business and Civil Rights, and OCHCO.

5 Includes reimbursable FTE for work performed for other Federal agencies and non-Federal organizations.

FY 2019 Corporate Support Functions resources increase from FY 2018 Enacted primarily as a result of NRR/NRO pre-merger consolidation activities transitioning to OCIO. FY 2019 FTE projections currently exclude FY 2019 budget approved FTE realignments. Projections will be updated upon completion of personnel actions.

6 Information based on the FY 2020 budget request will be included in the next monthly report, given the recent release of the Presidents FY 2020 budget request and the NRCs FY 2020 CBJ.

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4. Please describe the status of actions taken or planned to reduce corporate support costs, including efforts to reduce office space in the Three While Flint North (3WFN) building and in the regional offices. Please include goals for space reductions and cost savings, as well as the estimated date to achieve those goals.

The NRC remains committed to identifying and achieving efficiencies in the corporate support area, including office space reductions and the related cost savings. In the SRM to the Project Aim Report, the Commission directed the staff to re-baseline the agencys workloadfocusing on statutory mandates, as well as work pertaining to the agencys safety and security mission.

In addition, in SECY-16-0035, Additional Re-baselining Products, the NRC staff identified other actions that could provide additional efficiencies in the long-term. Planned corporate support reductions are shown in the table below, which will be updated in future reports as the reductions are achieved.

Product Line Total $

Description FTE Status FY (M)*

Additional Re-baselining Products (SECY-16-0035)

Administrative Reduce Office Space in 3WFN -5.4 0 In process FY 2019 -

Services FY 2020 Administrative Reduce Office Space in the Regions -1.2 0 In process FY 2019 -

Services FY 2022 Administrative Workstation Efficiencies TBD TBD In process FY 2019 Services and Information Technology (IT)

Subtotal - Additional Re-baselining Reductions -$6.6 0.0 Other Corporate Support Reductions IT IT Infrastructure Support - the agency expects to -3.6 0 In process FY 2018 -

realize a 10 to 15 percent drop in contract 2019 expenses resulting from a new acquisition strategy.

Administrative Utility Savings - Reduction in annual electrical -0.7 0 In process FY 2019 Services consumption and the related annual cost.

Administrative Printed Material Savings - Reduction in the -0.1 0 In process FY 2019 -

Services amount of printed materials produced for NRC FY 2020 personnel and external stakeholders, both on-site and procured with the Government Publishing Office.

Subtotal - Other Corporate Support -$4.4 0.0 Total -$11.0 0.0

  • Total includes any FTE cost.

Reduction of Office Space NRC office space is currently comprised of a Headquarters Campus in Rockville, MD (One White Flint North (OWFN), Two White Flint North (TWFN), and partial space in 3WFN), a warehouse, four regional office buildings, and a technical training center. From FY 2013 through FY 2015, NRC relinquished a net total of 364,997 useable square feet (USF) at its headquarters by shedding a total of eight floors in the 3WFN building and four temporary satellite locations. As of October 1, 2018, the agencys headquarters office space consisted of OWFN; TWFN; and four floors, lobby level conference room space, and the B1 level of 3WFN.

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On September 21, 2018, pursuant to the annual reporting requirements of the Federal Property Management Reform Act of 2016, the staff submitted its final FY 2019 through FY 2023 Real Property Efficiency Plan to the Federal Real Property Council. The plan outlined NRCs space reduction strategy over the 5 year period. NRC plans to relinquish an additional 151,000 USF of office space at its headquarters location and four regional office locations, from FY 2019 through FY 2022. This space consists of four and a half floors in 3WFN totaling 103,000 USF, and approximately 48,000 USF at the regional locations, by consolidating at headquarters and within each regional office location.

Regarding space in 3WFN, the NRC plans to complete the relinquishment of the remaining three and a half floors in 3WFN by FY 2020 by releasing the third floor of 3WFN in FY 2019 and floors eight, nine, and half of the fourth floor in FY 2020. In addition, NIH has signed an Occupancy Agreement (OA) to backfill the former cafeteria space in 3WFN, for the purposes of converting the space into a conference center, as well as the third, eighth, and ninth floors. In February 2019, NRC negotiated additional space reductions in 3WFN by releasing a portion of the fourth floor to NIH. NIH has agreed to backfill the space and GSA will present them with an updated OA once the final measurements are confirmed. The release of space in 3WFN in FY 2020 will result in a total annual reduction of $5.4 million in office space and security costs for the NRC.

Significantly reducing costs by releasing the space in the regions will be a challenge due to the non-cancelable terms of the occupancy agreements and leases in Regions I, II, and IV. The NRC is working with GSA to identify potential tenants to backfill the space. Regional office space reductions can be achieved by reconfiguring the existing space to use fewer square feet, thereby allowing for unused blocks of space to be released. With the exception of NRCs Region III office in Lisle, IL, rent reductions will not be achieved until GSA identifies and places a new tenant into the released space or until such time as the terms of the NRCs current leases allow. The current square footage estimates and schedules for release are as follows: Region III, Lisle, IL, 7,000 USF in mid-FY 2019 timeframe, Region II, Atlanta, GA, 15,000 USF in late FY 2019, Region IV, Arlington, TX, 11,000 USF in FY 2021, and Region I, King of Prussia, PA, 15,000 USF in FY 2022. The annual reduction in costs for the regional office space is anticipated to average approximately $300,000 per regional office, for a total of $1.2 million.

The timing and scope of the regional reductions will be refined as NRC works to finalize each locations relinquishment plan.

With all of the planned space reductions, the NRC anticipates an annual total rent reduction of

$5.7 million and a security cost reduction of $0.9 million beginning in FY 2022, as compared to FY 2018. The NRCs updated proposed agency-wide total space reduction goals for each FY are shown in the table below.

NRC Square Foot Reduction Goals FY 2019 - FY 2022 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Office Target (Net SF Reduction) 54,190 70,810 11,000 15,000 Reduction in IT Infrastructure Support Costs To date, the NRC has realized more than 60 percent of the expected $3.6 million in cost reductions through contract modifications; transitions to government-wide acquisition vehicles and more cost-effective competitive contract awards; transfer of leased end-user and infrastructure assets to NRC ownership; revised eligibility for Government-Furnished Equipment; and award of the Security Operations Center, Mobility, and End User Computing Call Orders under the new Global Infrastructure and Development Acquisition (GLINDA) Blanket Purchase Agreements. The balance of the expected cost reductions will be realized in FY 2019 18

and beyond through transition to the GLINDA Systems, Network, and Cross-Cutting Services Call Order.

5. Please describe the status of efforts to provide greater transparency, timeliness, and itemization in invoices to applicants and licensees, including any progress toward electronic invoicing (eBilling) and payment. Please include near-term (within 6 months), medium-term (6 to 12 months), and long-term (greater than 12 months) milestones.2 Improvements to invoices showing itemized charges by standard codes for greater transparency and timeliness.

Near-Term:

  • The NRC will continue to evaluate feedback on the changes to the invoices.

Medium-Term:

  • OCFO is working with an intra-agency working group to implement a standardized Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 170 (fees for service) fee billing validation process and establish standardized roles and responsibilities. The working group will develop, pilot, and finalize the process. OCFO will provide training to all staff involved in the billing process. In November 2018, OCFO implemented system enhancements required to facilitate the new standardized process, and is estimating a June 30, 2019, completion date.

Progress towards eBilling and payment.

The NRC is in the development phase of the eBilling project. Near-term, medium-term, and long-term tasks include the following:

Near-Term:

  • Obtain an addendum to the short-term NRC Authorization Official approval to allow the sample of external stakeholders to participate in the Pilot (in progress)
  • Obtain NRC Authorization Official full approval to operate the system (in progress).
  • Conduct eBilling pilot 1 session with internal and external stakeholders.

Medium-Term:

  • Build the eBilling solution tool (in progress).
  • Conduct eBilling pilot 2 session with internal and external stakeholders.

Long-Term:

  • Deploy the phased approach of the eBilling solution tool on or about October 2019.
  • Provide stakeholders with status of eBilling project on a bimonthly basis (in progress).
  • Provide the nine participating eBilling pilot project licensees with status of eBilling project on a monthly basis (in progress).

2 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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6. Please provide a list of all new research initiated during the reporting period. For each new project, please provide the estimated timeframe and resources necessary for completion, and a description of the safety significance of the research.3 During the month of February 2019, the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research initiated research on or substantially revised the following research:

Estimated Estimated Safety Significance of Name of New or Revised Project Completion Resources Research Activity No New or Revised Research Activities to Report for February 2019 Comments:

The table above provides information about projects that were reviewed and approved during the monthly reporting period that exceed 300 staff hours or $500K of program support.

URANIUM RECOVERY

7. For major uranium recovery licensing actions, please provide a table including the date the application was filed, the duration of the application review, the originally forecasted completion date, the currently forecasted completion date, and the total current amount of fees billed to the licensee/applicant for the review.4 Major Uranium Recovery Licensing Actions (1)

The State of Wyoming assumed regulatory responsibilities for uranium recovery activities within their state on September 30, 2018. The NRC does not currently have any major uranium recovery actions under active review.

See item #8 below for other actions still pending before the agency.

Originally Currently Licensing Duration of Site/Facility Date of Forecasted Forecasted Total Current Fees Licensee Action Review (2)

Name Submittal Completion Completion Billed (4)

Type (months)

Date Date(3)

No Major Uranium Recovery Licensing actions currently under active review.

Notes:

1. NRC staff completed a self-assessment of the uranium recovery licensing process in 2017. The review compared the uranium recovery licensing process to other licensing groups within the NRC to identify best practices. The review identified several recommendations for improvements to the uranium recovery licensing process. A number of these recommendations, such as the use of schedule letters to communicate changes in review schedules and developing tools to better track project status, have already been implemented. In addition, in 2016, the uranium recovery program 3

No new information was added to this section since the last report.

4 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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established an agency metric that tracks the percentage of major milestones completed on schedule. The uranium recovery staff anticipates that implementing these changes will result in future efficiencies in the uranium recovery licensing process.

2. The duration of review is the total amount of time the application has been under consideration, starting when the application was accepted for review by the NRC staff.

The NRCs goal is to complete major reviews within 36 months from acceptance of the application. The duration of review includes periods of delay that could be attributed to the NRC staff, the licensee, or both.

3. Completed actions will remain in the table for this report until the final fees under 10 CFR Part 170 can be included in the Total Current Fees Billed column.
4. Fees for license-specific services under 10 CFR Part 170 are billed quarterly.
8. For major uranium recovery licensing actions, please provide a brief description of the status of each review, including projected budget and timeline for both the environmental impact statement and the safety evaluation report (SER).5 The table below provides the status of major uranium recovery licensing actions pending before the agency, the timeline for completing the associated EISs and SERs, and the total projected budget per project. As noted above, the NRC does not currently have any major uranium recovery licensing actions under review.

The NRC does not formulate its budget at the project level. The budget for the Uranium Recovery Program is formulated at a higher level using budget models for the number, type, and complexity of reviews anticipated. The projected budget information reported below includes the program staff and contract support resource estimates to perform the safety and environmental reviews from submittal to licensing decision, excluding resources for OGCs reviews, hearings, mission support, supervisory support, travel, and allocated agency corporate support resources. The estimates are based on budget models for different types (such as expansions, renewals, and new licenses) and complexities of major licensing action reviews.

The NRC staffs goal is to complete the review of major licensing actions within 3 years; however, the staff estimates that smaller, less complex applications may be reviewed in 2 years, while larger, more complex, applications may require up to 4 years to review.

Uranium Application Review Status and Projected Budget Recovery Accepted Applicant for Review Cameco North 08/28/07 The SER for the North Trend expansion was completed in Trend July 2013. On December 16, 2015, the licensee Expansion(1) requested the NRC staff to stop its review of the North (NE) Trend application and to instead focus its efforts on the review of the Marsland expansion. The NRC staff has suspended its work related to the development of the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and conduct of Section 106 consultations pursuant to the NHPA. In addition, the hearing to address contentions related to groundwater is on hold, pending completion of the NRC staffs environmental review. By letter dated April 4, 2018, Cameco reiterated its request that the staff continue to hold its review in abeyance.

The projected total budget to conduct the review is 3.0 FTE and $600K.

5 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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Uranium Application Review Status and Projected Budget Recovery Accepted Applicant for Review Hydro 06/24/13 The sites, located very close to Navajo Nation lands, were Resources, licensed in 1998. Construction has not yet commenced.

Inc. (HRI) The license renewal review was placed in abeyance on License November 13, 2014, while HRI continues its work with the Renewal Navajo Nation Council. In March 2016, the NRC (NM) approved the transfer of control of the license from the HRI parent company, Uranium Resources, Inc., to Laramide Resources. The parties finalized the transaction in January 2017. The schedule for remaining milestones associated with the licensing review is to be determined.

The projected total budget to conduct the review is 2.6 FTE.

Cameco Three Crow is an expansion of the operating Crow Butte Three Crow facility located in Crawford, NE. The NRC staff started its Expansion(1) acceptance review on March 3, 2011 and was waiting for (NE) the licensee to complete changes in its design prior to acceptance. However, in November 2014, the licensee requested that the NRC staff place the review on hold and instead focus efforts on the review of the Marsland expansion. The acceptance review process remains on hold.

Notes:

1. On February 9, 2018, Cameco announced that it is ceasing U.S. operations due to an expectation of prolonged poor uranium market conditions. At the request of the licensee, the NRC staff has placed its licensing reviews on hold while seeking further information from Cameco regarding its licensing plans.
9. For minor uranium recovery licensing actions, please provide the following information each reporting period, including any months previously reported, in this format:
a. Size of inventory;
b. Number of acceptance reviews completed on time;
c. The number of items completed in the period being reported; and
d. Of the items completed in the reporting period, the number completed within the forecasted schedule.
e. Please identify any unusually complex items omitted from the inventory and provide the age of the item, a brief description of the item, the justification for omitting it from the inventory size, and an explanation for any review exceeding its original schedule by 125 percent.

Number of Unusually Number of Number of Items Complex Acceptance Items Completed Items Reviews Completed Within Omitted Size of Completed During Forecasted from Month/Year Inventory on Time(1) Month Schedule(2) Inventory Nov-2017 21 NA 2 1 0 Dec-2017 21 1 0 0 0 22

Jan-2018 21(3) 1 1 1 0 Feb-2018 19 2 2 2 0 Mar-2018 11 NA 8 8 0 Apr-2018 10 3 2 2 0 May-2018 9 NA 1 1 0 June-2018 8 NA 1 1 0 July-2018 9(4) 3(4) 1 1 0 Aug-2018 7(4) NA 2 2 0 Sept-2018 1(5) NA 3 3 0 Oct-2018 1 0 0 0 0 Nov-2018 2 1 0 0 0 Dec-2018 1 NA 1 1 0 Jan-2019 1 NA 0 0 0 Feb-2019 1 NA 0 0 0 Notes:

1. NA means not applicable - no acceptance reviews were due in the corresponding month.
2. This column represents the total number of minor licensing actions completed within the staffs forecasted schedule in a particular month. At times, the uranium recovery staff has to divert resources from minor licensing actions to address oversight of operating sites, emergent issues, and major licensing actions. When this occurs, the NRC staff tries to accommodate the licensees priorities for completion of minor licensing actions.

However, this has impacted the staffs ability to complete minor licensing actions within the forecasted schedule.

3. The size of the inventory for January has been decreased to account for the completion of a licensing action on January 31, 2018.
4. The size of the inventory for July and August has been increased to account for an additional action that was under review by the NRC staff.
5. On September 30, 2018, the NRC relinquished its oversight responsibilities for uranium recovery facilities to the State of Wyoming under the NRCs Agreement State program.

Three of the minor licensing actions completed in September were completed within the forecasted schedule. The remaining three licensing actions were transferred to the State of Wyoming for completion.

10. Please provide a concise summary of the status of the process for the State of Wyoming to become an Agreement State.6 On September 10, 2018, the Commission approved the proposed Agreement and on September 25, 2018, Chairman Svinicki and Governor Mead of Wyoming signed the Agreement, with an effective date of September 30, 2018.
11. Please provide a concise summary of the specific actions planned to improve the efficiency of reviews conducted for compliance with the NHPA, including implementation dates for completion. Please describe any progress made during the reporting period.7 6

No new information was added to this section since the last report.

7 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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The Section 106 process under the NHPA requires Federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) a reasonable opportunity to comment. Based on lessons learned in the uranium recovery licensing functional area, the NRC has taken a number of actions to facilitate and enhance its Section 106 reviews. Because each licensing or regulatory action differs in scope, the specific activities identified to carry out NRCs obligations under NHPA differ from one licensing or regulatory action to another. The following specific actions have been identified and are being carried out to improve and facilitate compliance with the NHPA Section 106 process.

For efficiency, the NRC conducts the Section 106 process in coordination with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process. To the extent possible, the NRCs completion date for its NHPA Section 106 review for a specific licensing action aligns with the date for publishing the final NEPA environmental review document.

In FY 2013, the NRC entered into an interagency agreement with the ACHP, under which the ACHP established a dedicated liaison to provide the NRC with technical assistance with Section 106 reviews of specific licensing actions, as well as relevant training and guidance. In FY 2018, ACHP provided the following webinars to NRC staff on the Section 106 process of the NHPA to continue to improve the efficiency of the reviews:

  • Planning to Involve the Public in Section 106 (Completed on April 26, 2018)
  • Defining the Area of Potential Effect (Completed on May 17, 2018)
  • Reasonable and Good Faith Effort (Completed on June 12, 2018)
  • Confidentiality & Section 304 (Completed on July 10, 2018)
  • Innovative Mitigation (Completed on August 14, 2018)
  • Planning for Successful Agreements (Completed on September 11, 2018)

Additionally, the NRC is planning to publish an Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) for conducting the Section 106 process specific to uranium recovery licensing actions, Guidance for Conducting the Section 106 Process of the National Historic Preservation Act for Uranium Recovery Licensing Actions, by mid-2019.

To further improve the agencys NHPA and NEPA processes for licensing activities, the NRC has updated several documents regarding tribal consultation. The NRC published the final Tribal Policy Statement in the Federal Register (FR) on January 9, 2017 (82 FR 2402), and revised its Tribal Protocol Manual. The Tribal Protocol Manual is intended to facilitate effective consultations and interactions between the NRC and Tribes.

Consistent with NRCs memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the NRC staff coordinates with BLM the performance of NEPA and NHPA Section 106 reviews related to facilities that require an NRC license to possess and use source and byproduct materials, on public lands under BLMs regulatory authority. The goal of the MOU is to limit, to the extent possible, duplication of consultation, review, and evaluation efforts on a project.

Activities implemented over the past several years have enhanced and facilitated NRCs Section 106 reviews for uranium recovery licensing actions. For example, the NRC staff continues to proactively reach out and interact with Tribes as early as possible to share information and explain the scope of the licensing actions via letters, e-mails, teleconference calls, and webinars prior to potential tribal site visits. The NRC staff will continue to evaluate its approach to the Section 106 process to identify additional activities that could be taken to better facilitate the process.

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12. Please provide a concise summary of the progress of the pilot project to establish flat fees for uranium recovery licensees, including specific near-term (6 months), medium-term (6 - 12 months), and long-term (greater than 10 months) milestones necessary to complete the pilot program.8 As directed by the Commission and required by the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA), the NRC staff is in the process of conducting a flat fee pilot initiative for routine uranium recovery licensing actions. As described in the staff paper SECY-16-0097, Fee Setting Improvements and Fiscal Year 2017 Proposed Fee Rule, this pilot will involve evaluation of data to collect a representative sample of the costs for various licensing reviews. The staff believes that using data from the previous data recording structure that had less granularity could result in a proposed flat fee that is skewed either high or low for the work delivered. Collecting representative samples of data under the new data recording structure will allow NRC to determine a flat fee that is fair and equitable.

The agency completed development of a new data recording structure on June 30, 2017. By September 30, 2017, the NRC trained staff to record the data using the new structure.

Concurrently, the staff began outreach to Agreement States with uranium recovery licensees to understand their fee schedule development process. The new data structure was deployed on October 1, 2017. During FY 2018, the NRC staff recorded time and attendance and began analysis of the data, which indicated the hours spent on specific work products, using the new data structure. The NRC staff reached out to the affected stakeholder in December 2018 to get feedback on the results of the preliminary data.

On January 14, 2019, NEIMA was signed into law. This law requires the NRC to complete the flat fee pilot initiative and provide a report describing the results to the appropriate congressional committees no later than January 14, 2020.

Near-Term:

  • The analysis and draft recommendations will be completed by the end of April 2019.

The NRC staff anticipates sending recommendations to the Commission as part of the SECY paper for the FY 2020 proposed fee rule by August, 2019.

Medium-Term:

  • The Commission will provide the report to Congress as required by NEIMA. The FY 2020 proposed fee rule is expected to be published for public comment in January 2020.

Long-Term:

  • The FY 2020 final fee rule is scheduled to be published by May 2020.

8 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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LICENSING

13. For operating reactors, new reactors, and uranium recovery licensees, please provide the following information regarding license amendment reviews:

13.a Please provide the following information for the current reporting period, including any information previously reported in the last six months:

i. Size of inventory; ii. The number of items completed in the period being reported; iii. Percentage of acceptance reviews completed on time; iv. The percentage of these items completed within the forecasted schedule;
v. The percentage of these items completed within 125 percent of the forecasted schedule; vi. The percentage of items completed within ten months; vii. The average age for items completed during the month being reported; viii. The ages of the quickest three items completed; and ix. The ages of the slowest three items completed.

Operating Reactors Percentage Percentage Average No. of Percentage of Items of Items Percentage Age for Ages of the Ages of the Size of Items of Completed Completed of Items Items Quickest Slowest Month/Year Inventory Completed Acceptance within the within 125% Completed Completed Three Items Three Items (Note 1) in the Reviews Forecasted of within 10 During Completed Completed Report Completed Schedule Forecasted Months Report (months) (months)

Period on Time (Note 2) Schedule Period (Note 3) (months)

Aug 2018 584 67 100% 97% 97% 86% 10.5 <1 4 4 12 12 12 Sept 2018 606 42 100% 84% 100% 44% 9.7 <1 2 3 25 25 13 Oct 2018 578 65 100% 88% 95% 64% 7.8 1 1 1 14 14 14 Nov 2018 581 68 85% 100% 100% 84% 7.7 <1 <1 2 13 13 12 Dec 2018 566 60 100% 98% 100% 83% 8.1 <1 <1 <1 12 12 12 Jan 2019 550 74 100% 91% 93% 82% 8.0 <1 1 3 14 15 15 Feb 2019 593 45 100% 95% 100% 77% 7.69 <1 1< 2 12 12 12 26

Note 1: Similar to the licensing actions reported in the yearly CBJ, the inventory does not include unusually complex or Fukushima related licensing actions.

Note 2: Internal processes track licensing action completions within forecasted scheduled (+ 1 month) [this percentage does not include unusually complex or Fukushima related licensing actions].

Note 3: Internal processes track licensing action completions within 125 percent of the forecasted schedule [this percentage does not include unusually complex or Fukushima related licensing actions].

New Reactors Average Percentage No. of Percentage Percentage Age for of Items Percentage Ages of the Ages of the Items of of Items Items Completed of Items Quickest Slowest Three Size of Completed Acceptance Completed Completed Month/Year within 125% Completed Three Items Items Inventory in the Reviews within the During of within 10 Completed Completed Report Completed Forecasted Report Forecasted Months (months) (months)

Period on Time Schedule Period Schedule (months)

Aug-2018 18 5 80% 100% 100% 100% 5 2 3 3 1 4 3 2

Sept-2018 14 3 66% 66% 100% 66% 8 5 8 12 1 8 5 2

Oct-2018 14 3 100% 100% 100% 100% 5 4 5 5 5 5 4 Nov-2018 15 2 50% 100% 100% 100% 7 5 8 N/A 8 5 N/A Dec-2018 17 1 100% 100% 100% 100% 3 3 N/A N/A 3 N/A N/A Jan-2019 13 4 100% 100% 100% 100% 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 Feb-2019 11 2 100% 100% 100% 100% 5 5 5 N/A 5 5 N/A 27

Uranium Recovery Percent Average Percentage Number of Percentage Percentage age of Age for of Items Items of of Items Items Items Ages of the Ages of the Completed Size of Completed Acceptance Completed Comple Completed Quickest Three Slowest Three Month/Year within 125%

Inventory in the Reviews within ted during Items Completed Items Completed of Report Completed Forecasted within Report (months) (months)

Forecasted Period on Time Schedule 10 Period Schedule Months (months)(1)

Aug-2018 7(2) 4 N/A 100% 100% 0% 55.3 15.5 64 66 76 64 66 Sept-2018(3) 1 3 N/A 100% 100% 67% 14.2 2 7 33.5 2 7 33.5 Oct-2018 1 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Nov-2018 2 0 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Dec-2018 1 1 N/A 100% 100% 100% 5.2 5.2 N/A N/A 5.2 N/A N/A Jan-2019 1 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Feb-2019 1 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Note 1: The uranium recovery staffs goal is to complete major licensing actions within 36 months of acceptance and minor licensing actions within 12 months of acceptance. At times, the uranium recovery staff has to divert resources from minor licensing actions to address oversight of operating sites, emergent issues, and major licensing actions. When this occurs, the NRC staff tries to accommodate the licensees priorities when determining which minor licensing actions to complete first.

Note 2: The size of the inventory for July and August has been increased to account for an additional action that was under review by the NRC staff.

Note 3: On September 30, 2018, the NRC relinquished its oversight responsibilities for uranium recovery facilities to the State of Wyoming under the NRCs Agreement State program. Three of the minor licensing actions completed in September were completed within the forecasted schedule. The remaining three licensing actions were transferred to the State of Wyoming for completion.

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13.b For the reporting period, please also provide the following for license amendment requests (LARs):

i. The number not accepted for review; and ii. A list of the requests that were withdrawn or denied after being accepted for review including the age of the request at the time it was withdrawn or denied.

Operating Reactors List the Requests that were No. of LARs Not Age of the Request at the Month/Year Withdrawn or Denied after Accepted for Review Time it was Withdrawn or Being Accepted for Review Denied (months)

February 2019 0 Withdrawn: Byron 1 & 2 - 6 Request for a One-Time Extension to Technical Specification 3.8.1, "AC Sources-Operating,"

Required Action A.2.

(EPID L-2018-LLA-0218)

New Reactors List the Requests that were No. of LARs Not Age of the Request at the Month/Year Withdrawn or Denied after Accepted for Review Time it was Withdrawn or Being Accepted for Review Denied (months)

February 2019 0 N/A N/A Uranium Recovery No. of Amendment List of the Requests that were Age of the Request at the Month/Year Requests Not Withdrawn or Denied after Time it was Withdrawn or Accepted for Review being Accepted for Review Denied (months)

February 2019 0 N/A N/A 29

13.c Please identify items considered unusually complex items (e.g. criticality reviews, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 805 reviews) and omitted from the [licensing amendment] inventory including: the age of the item, a brief description of the item, the justification for omitting it from the inventory size and an explanation for any review exceeding its original schedule by 125 percent.

Operating Reactors Note: Unusually complex license amendments are not included in the internal performance measures as they do not lend themselves to realistic forecasted schedule development. Rather, they are given escalated management attention to ensure progress is being made towards resolving outstanding issues and completing the reviews in a timely manner.

30

Age Review Description9 Justification (Months)

Sequoyah Units 1 & 2 - Updated Final Safety Analysis Reports Regarding Resolution depended on a topical 78 Changes to Hydrologic Analysis report that has not yet been approved Saint Lucie Units 1 & 2 - TSTF-505 Review Risk-Informed and Voluminous 51 Palo Verde Units 1, 2, & 3 - TSTF-505 Review Risk-Informed and Voluminous 43 Davis-Besse Unit 1 -NFPA 805 Review Risk-Informed and Voluminous 39 Point Beach Units 1 & 2 - Risk-Informed Approach to Resolve Construction Risk-informed and first-of-a-kind 22 Truss Design Code Non-conformances review Wolf Creek Generating Station 1- Transition to Westinghouse Core Design Voluminous review 21 and Safety Analyses McGuire Units 1 & 2 - Reactor Vessel Internals Aging Management Plan Need for significant reanalysis or 13 License Renewal Commitment additional analysis by the licensee was identified during the review Indian Point Nuclear Generating 2 - Spent Fuel Storage and Criticality Safety First-of-a-kind review 13 Analysis Technical Specifications Brunswick Units 1 & 2 - Adopt 10 CFR 50.69, "Risk-Informed Categorization Risk-informed and first-of-a-kind 12 and Treatment of Structures, Systems and Components [SSCs] for Nuclear review Power Reactors Watts Bar Nuclear Plant 1 & 2 - Request Authorization to Load Tritium Voluminous review 12 Producing Burnable Absorber Rods (TPBARs)

Browns Ferry 1, 2, & 3 - MELLLA+ Core Flow Operating Range Expansion Dependent on Advisory Committee on 11 Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) review Hatch - NFPA 805 Review Risk-Informed and Voluminous 8 Palo Verde 1,2 & 3 - Framatome High Thermal Performance Fuel - First-of-a-kind review 4 Amendment & Exemption New Reactors 9

To increase readability/usability, the NRC staff has condensed the previously provided narrative discussion into a more concise table format that continues to provide the requested information.

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  • None 13.d Please describe any steps taken to provide transparency into the progress of license amendment reviews, such as publicly available, real-time tracking of the completion of review schedule milestones.

Operating Reactors The routine interactions between licensees/applicants and the NRC project manager, as well as status meetings that are open to the public, provide the same information, and possibly more insights, to a licensee regarding the status of an individual licensing review than would a tracking system. Therefore, the NRC does not currently use such a system.

These routine communications include the status and schedules of licensing actions. During these conversations, the schedules for each licensing action are discussed, including schedule expectations, when to expect RAIs, and when to expect the safety evaluation (SE), if approved. In addition, the project managers and their direct supervisors are accessible to the licensees by phone or e-mail if any other issues arise.

The NRC staff began publishing monthly performance metrics on the NRC public website in March 2018. While metrics do not provide insight into specific licensing reviews, the metrics provide information on the age of the existing inventory as a whole, along with the number of reviews completed. Information is also posted on the average adherence to initial schedules and resource estimates.

The NRC continues to refine its licensing process for operating reactors. Through the use of controls and metrics, the staff is currently meeting nearly all of the Congressionally-reported metrics for the quantity of licensing actions reviewed annually, and the percentage of actions completed within one year. The NRC considers the current performance metrics appropriate to balance efficiency with safety. These measures recognize that schedule performance can be affected by applicant, licensee, or NRC performance, and may need fluidity to account for emerging safety or security issues, or changes in licensee plans.

The NRC has launched several initiatives to focus on leveraging existing licensing processes to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability as a regulator, while maintaining a continued strong safety focus. For example, an initiative analyzed the issues that caused the backlog in processing amendment requests for reactor licensees, including issues related to the RAI process, and provided recommendations to NRR management regarding enhancements to the licensing review process. Such efforts resulted in reducing the inventory of licensing actions greater than one year old by more than 95 percent and enabled the staff to maintain this inventory at historically low levels. The staffs continual efforts in this area have significantly improved the NRCs ability to monitor safety reviews and improve predictability.

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New Reactors For NRO license amendment reviews, only the final safety evaluation report (FSER) completion date is tracked as a milestone. In the amendment request, the licensee provides a date by which they request to have the amendment issued to best support their current construction schedule. The staff identifies a date for issuing the FSER that supports the staffs workload, while avoiding impact to the construction schedule, to the extent practicable. The date is then sent to the licensee in a letter accepting the amendment application for review within 30 days of receiving the application (unless the amendment is complex). If complications are encountered during the amendments safety review, the staff and the licensee will discuss and NRC will document a new date in a subsequent letter to the licensee. All letters containing the date(s) for completion of the staffs review are made publicly available.

In addition to this, if RAIs are needed and the content is not sensitive, these requests are made available to the public. If the licensee has questions for the NRC staff (and the topic is not sensitive), the discussion occurs during one of the regularly scheduled public calls. If an audit is held, both the plan and the summary of the audit are public once they are completed.

Uranium Recovery To ensure transparency in the process of licensing reviews, the NRCs uranium recovery staff provides the status of major licensing actions on the agencys public web page. For minor licensing actions, staff discusses these schedules during phone calls with licensees. In addition, for major licensing action reviews, the uranium recovery staff issues schedule letters at the beginning of each review and subsequent letters are issued, if the schedule changes.

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14. For decommissioning transition reviews, please provide the following information for the reporting period, including any months previously reported:
a. Size of inventory;
b. The number of items completed in the reporting period;
c. Of the items completed in the reporting period, the number completed within the originally forecasted schedule;
d. The number of items completed within 125 percent of the forecasted schedule;
e. Please identify any unusually complex items omitted from the inventory including: the age of the item, a brief description of the item, the justification for omitting it from the inventory size and an explanation for any review exceeding its original schedule by 125 percent.

Decommissioning Transition Open Inventory and Closed Reviews Month Open Inventory Total Closed Reviews Total (Note 1)

November 2017 19 1 December 2017 15 4 January 2018 14 1 February 2018 15 0 March 2018 12 7 April 2018 14 0 May 2018 16 0 June 2018 12 4 July 2018 14 0 August 2018 16 0 September 2018 16 1 October 2018 20 5 November 2018 28 0 December 2018 26 4 January 2019 25 1 February 2019 30 0 Note 1: The inventory includes licensing actions and other licensing tasks specifically related to an operating reactor plant transitioning into a decommissioning plant.

Information responsive to #14c-e is included in the response to #13 above.

15. Please provide a list of TSTF "travelers" under review, including the date filed, the milestone schedule for completing the review, and the estimated date for final agency action. Please provide an explanation for any review exceeding the original schedule by 125 percent.

Traveler Under Review Date Filed Milestone Schedule Estimated (Draft SE) Date for Final Agency Action (Final SE)

TSTF-541, Add Exceptions to 09/10/2013 TBD* TBD*

Surveillance Requirements When the Safety Function is Being Performed 34

Traveler Under Review Date Filed Milestone Schedule Estimated (Draft SE) Date for Final Agency Action (Final SE)

TSTF-568, "Clarify Applicability of 12/19/2017 TBD* TBD*

BWR/4 TS 3.6.2.5 and TS 3.6.3.2" TSTF-569, Revise Response Time 02/08/2018 05/31/2019 10/31/2019 Testing Definition

  • The NRC staff has paused its work while the TSTF is developing revisions to the travelers.

There were no traveler reviews that exceeded the original schedule by 125 percent.

16. Please describe the actions planned and/or taken to ensure that the TSTF traveler process achieves the regulatory efficiencies that were initially projected. Please include progress reports with regard to any TSTF travelers adopted by the industry.

The TSTF proposes changes to the Standard Technical Specifications (STS) via a traveler submitted for NRC review and approval. The traveler process was collaboratively developed between NRC and the nuclear industry 20 years ago as a means to revise the STS to gain regulatory efficiencies and enhance safety. Since then, the NRC has approved over 360 travelers, and has a mature process for review and approval of plant-specific LARs to adopt approved STS changes.

Over the last several years NRC introduced two enhancements to the traveler review process:

(1) increased transparency and documentation through publication of SEs; and (2) ensuring that all appropriate technical branches are involved early and working as a team to ensure consistency. More recently, NRC and the TSTF adopted two additional best practices to make reviews more efficient and effective: (1) establishing teams of reviewers who develop expertise on a given traveler; and (2) leveraging the staff expertise on a particular traveler through timely submission of plant specific requests for adoption. The NRC is seeing early successes from these enhancements in the reviews of licensees adoption of TSTF-542, Reactor Pressure Vessel Water Inventory Control. Average review times for recent traveler adoptions have dropped to 10 months, in part as a result of these above efficiencies.

The NRC will continue working with the TSTF to make improvements to the STS. In recent years, requested changes from industry stakeholders have become more complex (e.g., risk-informed STS changes). To ensure the traveler process achieves the regulatory efficiencies that were initially intended, and to align on priorities, the NRC holds quarterly public meetings and monthly status calls with the TSTF.

One traveler was approved since the last report. This brings a total of two approved travelers by the NRC in 2019. Three travelers are under review. The latest status report of travelers currently under review is publicly available (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML19058A023); this report is updated quarterly.

17. For each ongoing license renewal review, please provide the date each application was filed, the duration of the review, the original milestone schedule based on 22 months for uncontested applications and 30 months for contested applications, the actual completion dates for milestones, and the scheduled date for completion of the review. Please provide an explanation for any review exceeding the original schedule by 125 percent.

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Seabrook 1 Application Review Time from Acceptance Review Date (Months) 103 Original Current Completion Milestone Schedule Schedule Date License Renewal Application Receipt 06/01/2010 06/01/2010 Publish Federal Register Notice (FRN)-

Acceptance/rejection and opportunity for 07/23/2010 07/21/2010 hearing Public Meeting- Environmental Scoping 08/19/2010 08/19/2010 meeting Deadline for filing hearing requests and 09/21/2010 10/20/2010 petitions for intervention Issue draft SEIS 05/13/2011 08/01/2011 Issue SER with open items 07/2011 06/08/2012 1st ACRS subcommittee meeting 09/2011 07/10/2012 Issue 2 draft SEIS nd 12/2012 04/22/2013 Issue final SEIS 01/07/2012 07/29/2015 2nd ACRS subcommittee meeting N/A 10/31/2018 3 ACRS subcommittee meeting rd N/A 11/15/2018 Issue final SER 01/2012 09/28/2018 ACRS Full Committee meeting 02/2012 01/03/2019 NRR Director Decision (no hearing) 04/02/2012 03/2019 03/12/2019 The Seabrook license renewal application schedule letters are publicly available in ADAMS at Accession Nos. ML101690417, ML110890319, ML11178A365, ML12074A096, ML12109A427, ML12352A075, ML13298A091, ML14148A218, ML14223B144, ML15041A449, ML15107A300, ML15293A157, and ML16074A246.

In 2011, the Seabrook schedule was updated to ensure that the applicant addressed issues related to the ASR of concrete and the severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMA) analysis.

In 2012, subsequent to the NRC staff issuing the draft SEIS, the applicant made significant changes to the SAMA analysis. Additionally, in 2012, the final licensing decisions were suspended pending completion of the Continued Storage rulemaking; the licensing reviews continued to move forward. The second draft SEIS was issued in April 2013 and in August 2013 an agreement regarding a contention associated with the SEIS was reached. On August 26, 2014, the Continued Storage rule was approved and the Commission lifted the suspension on final licensing decisions. The NRC staff issued the final SEIS in 2015.

In August 2016, NextEra submitted a license amendment request (LAR) to the current license to adopt a methodology for the analysis of seismic Category I structures with concrete affected by ASR. This methodology is a basis for aging management programs in the license renewal application. On October 6, 2017, the ASLB admitted a contention on the ASR LAR. The staff issued its SER for the Seabrook license renewal review on September 28, 2018 and met with the ACRS License Renewal Subcommittee on October 31, 2018, to present the results of its review of the ASR methodology for the LAR and the aging management programs for the license renewal review that are based on the ASR methodology. The staff met with the ACRS License Renewal Subcommittee again on November 15, 2018, and presented the results of its safety review of the license renewal application and closure of the open items documented in the 2012 evaluation. The ACRS subcommittee provided its recommendations to the full 36

committee on December 6, 2018. The ACRS provided its recommendation letters to the Commission on December 14 and 19, 2018, regarding closure of the open item on ASR for the license renewal SE and for issuance of the Seabrook renewed license. The NRC staff has completed its reviews of the ASR license amendment request and license renewal application, including the aging management programs related to the ASR issue. The NRC staff held a public meeting in the Seabrook area on February 13, 2019, to discuss its plans for issuance of the licensing actions. Also on February 13, 2019, the C-10 Research and Education Foundation, Inc. (C-10) filed an emergency petition with the Commission requesting that, among other things, it immediately order the suspension of the NRC staffs licensing decisions on the license amendment request and license renewal application. The petition is pending before the Commission. The staff has confirmed that nothing raised at the public meeting would cause it to revisit the safety evaluation for the license amendment and the renewed license. Therefore, the NRC issued the license amendment on March 11, 2019, and the renewed license on March 12, 2019. The hearing on the license amendment request is scheduled for mid-to-late 2019.

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18. Please provide the status of ongoing license renewal reviews.

Application Accepted Applicant Review Status for Long-Term Application Reviews for Review Seabrook 1 07/21/2010 In August 2016, NextEra submitted a LAR to the current license to adopt a methodology for the analysis of seismic Category I structures with concrete affected by ASR. This methodology is a basis for aging management programs in the license renewal application. The ASLB admitted a contention on the ASR LAR. The staff issued its SER for the license renewal on September 28, 2018.

The staff met with the ACRS on October 31, 2018, to present the results of its safety review on the ASR LAR. The staff also met with the ACRS subcommittee and presented the results of its safety review on the license renewal application on November 15, 2018.

The ACRS subcommittee provided its recommendations for the license renewal review to the full committee on December 6, 2018.

The ACRS provided its recommendation letters to the Commission on December 14 and 19, 2018, regarding closure of the open item on ASR for the license renewal SE and for issuance of the Seabrook renewed license. The NRC staff has completed its reviews of the ASR license amendment request and license renewal application, including the aging management programs related to the ASR issue.

The NRC staff held a public meeting in the Seabrook area on February 13, 2019, to discuss its plans for issuance of the licensing actions. Also on February 13, 2019, the C-10 Research and Education Foundation, Inc. (C-10) filed an emergency petition with the Commission requesting that, among other things, it immediately order the suspension of the NRC staffs licensing decisions on the license amendment request and license renewal application. The petition is pending before the Commission. The staff has confirmed that nothing raised at the public meeting or in the petition would cause it to revisit the SE for the license amendment and the SER for the renewed license. Therefore, consistent with the Atomic Energy Act and the Commissions regulations, the NRC staff issued the license amendment on March 11, 2019, and the renewed license on March 12, 2019. The hearing on the license amendment request is scheduled for mid-to-late 2019.

19. Please provide the status of the NRCs readiness to review applications for SLR.10 In August 2014, the Commission affirmed that no revisions to either the safety or environmental regulations are needed to support the assessment of a SLR application. However, the Commission directed the staff to update license renewal guidance, as needed, to provide additional clarity on the implementation of the license renewal regulatory framework. The main guidance documents for initial license renewal are:

10 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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  • Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report, Revision 2; and
  • Standard Review Plan for Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants, Supplement 1:

Operating License Renewal (Revision 1).

The guidance in these documents is based on plant operation up to 60 years. The staff evaluated this guidance to determine what, if any, revisions were necessary to address issues for plant operations up to 80 years under SLR. The staff determined that no revisions were needed to the NRC guidance document entitled, Standard Review Plans for Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants, to support environmental reviews from 60 to 80 years.

However, the staff determined that the GALL Report and the SRP-LR should be updated to facilitate more effective and efficient reviews of SLR applications.

On July 14, 2017, the NRC published Generic Aging Lessons Learned for Subsequent License Renewal (GALL-SLR) Report (NUREG-2191, Volumes 1 and 2), and Standard Review Plan for Review of Subsequent License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (SRP-SLR)

(NUREG-2192). On December 29, 2017, the NRC staff published NUREG-2221, Technical Bases for Changes in the Subsequent License Renewal Guidance Documents NUREG-2191 and NUREG-2192, and NUREG-2222, Disposition of Public Comments on the Draft Subsequent License Renewal Guidance Documents NUREG-2191 and NUREG-2192.

On November 6, 2015, Dominion Virginia Power notified the NRC of its intent to submit an SLR application in the first quarter of 2019 for Surry Power Station. On November 9, 2017, Dominion Energy Virginia notified the NRC of its intent to pursue SLR for North Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2, in the 4th quarter of 2020. As noted above, on January 30, 2018, Florida Power &

Light Company submitted the first SLR application for Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Units 3 and 4. On July 10, 2018, the NRC received Exelons application for SLR for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3. In addition, on October 15, 2018, the NRC received Dominions application for SLR for the Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2.

On December 20, 2017, the staff issued a letter to Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) providing interim approval for use of guidance documents NEI 17-01, Industry Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR Part 54 for Subsequent License Renewal [SLR], and NEI 17-04, Model SLR New and Significant Assessment Approach for SAMA, Revision 0. These documents will provide interim guidance to licensees that have notified the NRC of their intent to submit SLR applications while formal NRC endorsement of the NEI guidance document is considered. The NRC expects that issuance of formal revisions to Regulatory Guides (RGs) 1.188, Standard Format and Content for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses, and 4.2, Preparation of Environmental Reports for Nuclear Power Plant License Renewal Applications, by the end of FY 2020, will supersede the interim guidance.

20. Once SLR reviews begin, please report progress similarly to current license renewal reviews, including: the date each application was filed, the duration of the review, the original milestone schedule based on an 18-month review, the actual completion dates for milestones, and the scheduled date for completion of the review.

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Turkey Point The staff issued the acceptance letter dated April 26, 2018, with the review schedule. The notice of application acceptance and opportunity for hearing was published in the FR on May 2, 2018.

The staff is conducting a detailed environmental and safety review of the Turkey Point SLRA.

Between May 7 and May 18, 2018, the staff conducted an audit of Florida Power & Light Companys (FPLs) operating experience information in support of the staffs safety review. The results of the operating experience audit were issued on July 23, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18183A445). The staff performed its in-office regulatory audit between June 18 and July 13, 2018, to (1) review the applicants scoping and screening methodology used to identify SSCs within the scope of license renewal and subject to aging management review (AMR) and (2) (a) examine FPLs AMPs, AMR items, and time-limited aging analyses (TLAAs) for Turkey Point; (b) verify FPLs claims of consistency with the corresponding GALL-SLR Report AMPs, and AMR items, and (c) assess the adequacy of the TLAAs. The in-office audit report was issued on October 15, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18230B482). The NRC staff also performed an issue-specific on-site audit at Turkey Point during August 2731, 2018, to inform its review of the applicants approach to aging management of irradiated concrete for SLR. This audit was extended with the staff reviewing documents off-site periodically during September and October 2018. The audit closed on October 26, 2018, and an audit report was issued on January 25, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18341A024).

On May 22, 2018, the staff issued an FRN announcing its intent to conduct the environmental scoping process and to prepare an environmental impact statement. On May 31, 2018, the staff held two public environmental scoping meetings in Homestead, FL, near the Turkey Point site.

Between June 19 and June 22, 2018, the staff was on-site to conduct an environmental audit in support of the staffs review of the SLRA. The results of the audit were issued on August 1, 2018.

In early August, three petitions for leave to intervene were submitted for the Turkey Point SLRA by (1) Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Miami Waterkeeper (Joint Petitioners), (2) Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), and (3) Mr. Albert Gomez. The applicant and staff filed answers to the petitions. The ASLB held oral arguments on the petitions on December 4, 2018, in Homestead, FL. The parties subsequently filed additional statements regarding the admissibility of two contentions associated with alternative cooling water systems. On March 7, 2019, the ASLB denied Mr. Gomezs petition for failure to file an admissible contention; granted the petitions filed by the Joint Petitioners and SACE; admitted four contentions (as revised) for litigation; and referred one portion of its ruling to the Commission.

The partial government shutdown impacted the interim schedule milestones for the environmental review. Specifically, the shutdown delayed the National Park Service (a cooperating agency on this review) from performing a review of those portions of the NRCs draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) pertaining to the areas in and around Biscayne National Park. As a result, the milestones for the issuance of the draft SEIS have been delayed from January to March 2019, the draft SEIS public meeting has moved to April 2019, and the end of the draft SEIS public comment period has been revised to May 2019. At this time, it is not clear if there will be an impact to the schedule for issuance of the final SEIS as this is dependent on the comments received on the draft SEIS. A schedule change notification was provided to the applicant on January 31, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19028A417).

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Turkey Point Application Review Time from Acceptance Review Date (Months) 10 Original Current Completion Milestone Schedule Schedule Date 01/30/2018, as Receive subsequent license renewal 01/2018 supplemented on application (SLRA) 04/10/2018 Publish FRN - License Renewal 04/2018 04/18/2018 Application availability Publish FRN - Acceptance/Rejection 05/2018 05/02/2018 and Opportunity for Hearing Publish FRN - Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact 05/2018 05/22/2018 Statement and Environmental Scoping Public Meeting - License Renewal Overview and Environmental Scoping 05/2018 05/31/2018 meeting Environmental scoping period ends 06/2018 06/21/2018 Deadline for filing hearing requests and 07/2018 08/01/2018*

petitions for intervention Issue SEIS 01/2019 03/2019 Public Meeting - draft SEIS meeting, if 04/2019 02/2019 needed End of draft SEIS comment period 03/2019 05/2019 Issue SER 04/2019 ACRS subcommittee meeting 05/2019 Issue final SEIS 08/2019 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FRN Published - availability of final 08/2019 SEIS ACRS Full Committee meeting 07/2019 Decision - Director, NRR 10/2019 (assuming no hearing)

Peach Bottom On July 10, 2018, the NRC received its second application for SLR from Exelon Generating Co.

for Peach Bottom Units 2 and 3. The application was made publicly available on July 26, 2018.

The staff informed the applicant in a letter dated August 27, 2018, that the application was accepted for detailed technical review.

The staff is conducting its detailed environmental and safety review of the Peach Bottom SLRA.

From September 17-28, 2018, the staff conducted an audit of Exelons operating experience information as part of the staffs safety review and issued its audit report on February 26, 2019.

In addition, the staff performed a site tour of Peach Bottom on October 3-4, 2018, completed an environmental audit on November 7-8, 2018, and issued its audit report on January 31, 2019.

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Also, an in-office audit of the Peach Bottom SLRA and its supporting documentation was performed from November 13 through December 14, 2018. An additional in-office audit for specific technical areas was completed in January 2019.

In November, a petition for hearing was submitted by Beyond Nuclear, Inc. Staff and applicant answers to the petition were filed December 14, 2018. The oral argument on the request was held on March 27, 2019.

Peach Bottom Application Review Time from Acceptance Review Date (Months) 7 Milestone Scheduled Actual Receive SLRA 07/10/2018 07/10/2018 Publish FRN - LRA availability 08/2018 08/01/2018 Publish FRN - docketing acceptance/rejection and opportunity for 09/2018 09/06/2018 hearing Publish FRN - Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 09/2018 09/10/2018 Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process Public Meeting - Overview of SLR Process and Environmental 09/25/2018 09/25/2018 Scoping Process Environmental scoping process period ends 10/2018 10/10/2018 Deadline for filing hearing requests and petitions for intervention 11/2018 11/19/2018 Issue draft SEIS 07/2019 Issue SER 09/2019 Public Meeting - draft SEIS meeting, if needed 09/2019 End of draft SEIS comment period 09/2019 ACRS subcommittee meeting 10/2019 ACRS Full Committee meeting 12/2019 Issue final SEIS 01/2020 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FRN Published - availability 02/2020 of final SEIS Decision - Director, NRR 03/2020 (assuming no hearing) 42

Surry On October 15, 2018, Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion Energy Virginia or Dominion) submitted its application for subsequent renewal for Surry Power Station, Units 1 and

2. The application was made publicly available on October 24, 2018. The staff informed the applicant in a letter dated December 3, 2018, that the application was accepted for detailed technical review. An operating experience audit for the Surry SLRA was performed by the staff from December 6-19, 2018, and the staff issued its audit report on March 4, 2019. The NRC held a public meeting to provide an overview of the SLR process and the associated environmental scoping on January 8, 2019, in Surry, VA. On March 1, 2019, the staff completed an in-office audit of the applicants aging management programs.

Surry Application Review Time from Acceptance Review Date (Months) 3 Milestone Scheduled Actual Receive SLRA 10/15/2018 10/15/2018 188 Publish FRN - LRA availability 11/2018 11/01/2018 Publish FRN - docketing acceptance/rejection and opportunity for 12/2018 12/17/2018 hearing Publish FRN - Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 12/2018 12/21/2018 Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process Public Meeting - Overview of SLR Process and Environmental 01/2019 01/08/2019 Scoping Process Environmental scoping process period ends 02/2019 01/22/2019 Deadline for filing hearing requests and petitions for intervention 02/2019 02/15/2019 Issue draft SEIS 09/2019 Public Meeting - draft SEIS meeting, if needed 10/2019 Issue SER 11/2019 End of draft SEIS comment period 11/2019 ACRS subcommittee meeting 02/2020 ACRS Full Committee meeting 03/2020 Issue final SEIS 03/2020 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FRN Published - availability 03/2020 of final SEIS Decision - Director, NRR 06/2020 43

21. For each ongoing power uprate review, please provide:
a. The date the application was filed;
b. The duration of the review;
c. The original milestone schedule;
d. The actual completion dates for the milestones; and
e. The scheduled date for completion of the review based on the metrics in SECY 0070.11 Plant Name Uprate Date Planned Actual Planned Actual Notes Type Filed Issue Issue Review Review (Note 1) Date Date Duration Duration (Months) (Months)

(Note 2)

None Note 1: MUR = measurement uncertainty recapture power uprate EPU = extended power uprate Note 2: For licensing actions, with an application date of October 1, 2016, or later, the duration of the review of the licensing action will be measured starting when the acceptance review is complete.

22. Please provide a brief status of power uprate application reviews.12 No power uprate reviews are ongoing at this time.

11 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

12 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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23. Please provide the following information below regarding RAI issued by each of the following offices: NRR, NRO, NSIR, Uranium Recovery, and Decommissioning. The number of RAIs includes the total number of questions or requests contained in a letter or email. For example, if a letter requests five items, the number of RAIs is five. For each office and for the period being reported, please provide:
a. Number of RAIs issued;
b. The number of RAIs issued prior to preparation of a draft SE with open items;
c. The number of RAIs issued in an additional round, subsequent to previous RAIs, in specific technical area or by a technical branch;
d. The percentage of RAI responses provided by licensees within 30 days of the date mutually agreed upon;
e. The number of RAIs prepared or responses reviewed by contractors; and
f. The number of RAIs prepared or responses reviewed by NRC staff.
g. Once sufficient date becomes available please provide 12-month rolling average number of RAIs issued by each office.

NOTE: Information for NSIR is included within each of the other entities or programs reporting below.

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Number of RAIs The Issued in an Percentage of 12 Month The Number of Additional RAI The Rolling Number of RAIs Issued Round, Responses Number Average, RAI Number of Prior to the Subsequent to Provided by of RAIs Number Month/Year Responses RAIs Issued Preparation of Previous RAI's in Licensees prepared of RAIs Reviewed a Draft SE with Specific within 30 by NRC Issued by by NRC Open Items Technical Area or Days or the staff Each Staff by a Technical Date Mutually Office Branch Agreed Upon Feb-2019 103 Note 1 3 100% 103 30 144 Note 2 45

Note 1: The database systems do not have readily available information that distinguishes between item 23a and 23b. Accurately compiling the number of RAI questions issued prior to preparation of a draft SE with open items would require extensive manual document searches and analysis to cover the significant volume of project reviews. The count of RAIs is presented collectively under Item 23a.

Note 2: The NRC employs contractors to supplement the staff in selected critical skill areas; however, all RAIs identified by contractors are evaluated by NRC staff to verify that they are necessary to support a regulatory finding. If the RAIs are necessary, they are formally prepared and issued by NRC staff. The NRC does not track the number of draft RAIs prepared by contractors. In addition, the NRC staff is responsible for making the final determination on the acceptability of all RAI responses.

Office of New Reactors Number of RAIs Number of Percentage of RAIs Number of Number of Issued in an RAIs Issued Responses RAIs RAIs Additional Round, Prior to Provided by the Prepared or Prepared or Number of Subsequent to Preparation Applicant/Licensee Responses Responses 12-Month RAIs Previous RAIs, in Project Name of a Draft within 30 Days or Reviewed by Reviewed Rolling Issued in Specific Technical SER with the Date Mutually Contractors by NRC Average Feb 2019 Area or by Open Items Agreed Upon in in Staff in Technical Branch in Feb 2019 Feb 2019 Feb 2019 in Feb 2019 Feb 2019 (Note 2) (Note 2)

(Note 1)

U.S. Advanced 0 0 N/A N/A 0 0 0 Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR) DC Advanced 0 0 N/A N/A 0 0 0 Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) DC Renewal (General Electric Hitachi (GEH))

Clinch River 0 0 N/A N/A 0 0 1 Early Site Permit (ESP) 46

Number of RAIs Number of Percentage of RAIs Number of Number of Issued in an RAIs Issued Responses RAIs RAIs Additional Round, Prior to Provided by the Prepared or Prepared or Number of Subsequent to Preparation Applicant/Licensee Responses Responses 12-Month RAIs Previous RAIs, in Project Name of a Draft within 30 Days or Reviewed by Reviewed Rolling Issued in Specific Technical SER with the Date Mutually Contractors by NRC Average Feb 2019 Area or by Open Items Agreed Upon in in Staff in Technical Branch in Feb 2019 Feb 2019 Feb 2019 in Feb 2019 Feb 2019 (Note 2) (Note 2)

(Note 1)

NuScale Small 1 0 N/A N/A 0 139 25 Modular Reactor (SMR)

DC NuScale 0 0 N/A N/A 0 7 4 Topical Reports Vogtle LARs 2 2 N/A N/A 0 2 4 Note 1: NRO does not currently have an electronic system to track how many RAIs are issued in an additional round as a subsequent RAI to a previous RAI issued. To develop this capability within the current electronic system used to track RAIs would be labor and resource intensive.

Note 2: The NRC employs contractors to supplement the staff in selected critical skill areas; however, all RAIs identified by contractors are evaluated by NRC staff to verify that they are necessary to support a regulatory finding. If the RAIs are necessary, they are formally prepared and issued by NRC staff. The NRC does not track the number of draft RAIs prepared by contractors. In addition, the NRC staff is responsible for making the final determination on the acceptability of all RAI responses.

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Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Uranium Recovery Number of The RAIs Percentage Issued in of RAI Number of an 12 Month Responses The The RAIs Additional The The Rolling Provided Number of Number of Issued Round, Number of Number Average, Number by RAI RAI Prior to the Subsequent RAIs of RAIs Number Month/Year of RAIs Licensees Responses Responses Preparation to Previous prepared prepared of RAIs Issued within 30 Reviewed Reviewed of a Draft RAIs in by by NRC Issued by Days or by by NRC SE with Specific Contractors staff Each the Date Contractors Staff Open Items Technical Office Mutually Area or by Agreed a Technical Upon Branch Feb-2019 0 0 0 N/A 0 0 0 0 0.58 48

Reactor Decommissioning Number of The RAIs Percentage Issued in of RAI Number of an 12 Month Responses The The RAIs Additional The The Rolling Provided Number of Number of Issued Round, Number of Number Average, Number by RAI RAI Prior to the Subsequent RAIs of RAIs Number of Month/Year of RAIs Licensees Responses Responses Preparation to Previous prepared prepared RAIs Issued within 30 Reviewed Reviewed of a Draft RAIs in by by NRC Issued by Days or by by NRC SE with Specific Contractors staff Each the Date Contractors Staff Open Items Technical Office Mutually Area or by Agreed a Technical Upon Branch Feb-2019 1 0 0 100% 0 0 1 4 0.83 49

24. Please provide the status of specific actions taken or planned to ensure greater discipline, management oversight, and transparency in the use of the RAI process and to limit RAIs to those necessary for making regulatory decisions. The description should include:

management oversight and accountability, the training necessary to provide consistency and sustainable improvement across the applicable program business lines, efforts to establish consistent procedures in relevant offices, and any gaps or trends identified by management or through internal reviews including periodic internal RAI audits.

Efforts to establish consistent procedures throughout the agency are being initiated by the establishment of a working group to align, where appropriate, licensing strategies across the agency including the RAI process. This effort, which is in the initial stages, will include representatives from NMSS, NRR, NRO, NSIR, and OGC.

NRR Activities NRR continues to take actions to sustain the improvements in the RAI guidance and the accountability in the process. In April 2018, mandatory RAI refresher training was conducted for applicable NRR, NSIR, and NRO staff. The training emphasized (a) the explicit identification of the applicable technical and regulatory bases for RAIs; (b) ensuring that the RAIs issued are relevant to the licensing action being reviewed; (c) the requirements and expectations regarding the RAI administrative processes and records management; and (d) the expectation associated with achieving the RAI issuance target of 5 days. Lessons learned from the NRR RAI process will be incorporated or expanded to update applicable standalone office-level guidance for other NRC programs such as license renewal and non-power production utilization facilities activities. Additionally, an NRR desk-top audit review guide and associated RAI quality review template for conducting subsequent RAI audits have been piloted. The pilot was completed in October 2018 and it was determined that the sampled RAIs met quality expectations but needed improvement on administrative processing. The pilot recommended that subsequent RAI audits may not be necessary because quality meets expectations. However, the pilot recommended that additional guidance and training be provided to the administrative staff to improve RAI administrative processing. NRR management is considering these recommendations.

NRO Activities NRO has taken several steps to ensure that its RAIs are consistently of high quality and are necessary to make a safety finding. In 2016, senior managers in NRO undertook initiatives to examine licensing activities with a goal of promoting a continued strong safety focus, consistency, efficiency, and clarity in our reviews of new reactor licensing applications. These initiatives included revising the RAI process to promote the consistent generation of high quality RAIs.

In October 2016, the NRO RAI process was revised (ADAMS Accession No. ML16280A389) to include a new quality check audit process where, in addition to the technical branchs supervisor, the division management of both the technical and project management organizations review an RAI before it is issued to the applicant or licensee. In addition, the NRO Office Director reviews a sample of RAIs to keep abreast of high-priority issues identified in reviews and to support NROs emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency as it focuses on safety, security, and environmentally significant matters.

On October 7, 2016, the NRO Office Director issued a memorandum titled Effective Use of Request for Additional Information, Audit, and Confirmatory Analysis in New Reactor Licensing 50

Review, to all NRO staff, which emphasized the goals of the RAI process, described the revised process, and included a job aid that contains best practices for preparing RAIs.

The staff has incorporated many lessons-learned into its review of the active DC and ESP applications. The 2016 initiative to improve the focus of RAIs has improved the quality and safety focus of these requests. The staff is also using the regulatory audit tool earlier in the process to better inform the staff about the bases supporting the applications and therefore, better focus the staffs RAIs on information that directly relates to the staff reaching safety findings.

In early 2018, the staff conducted an audit to assess the effectiveness of the revised NRO RAI process. The audit evaluated whether the revised RAI process has yielded tangible improvements to NROs licensing process, and if the revised RAI process should be maintained, modified, or eliminated. The audit team evaluated the quality of final RAIs and the effectiveness of the current RAI routing process to make recommendations for improvement to both the current and the future RAI processes. Phase 1 of the audit was a focused, short-term effort to assess the quality of RAIs, to identify examples of high quality RAIs that can be shared with the staff, and to provide constructive, focused feedback to management and staff if concerns were identified. In this phase, the RAI audit team found the quality of the RAIs from the current review process was generally high. Therefore, NRO modified its RAI process such that the leadership for the division from which the RAI originates will now perform the final technical review and approval of all RAIs and removed the requirement for the Office Director to review all RAIs before they are issued. The Director of NRO will only review RAIs on a sampling basis to keep abreast of high-priority issues identified in reviews, and to support the focus on safety, security, and environmentally significant matters.

In August 2018, NRO completed a significant update to its guidance on the development, processing, and issuance of RAIs. The updated guidance identifies the key attributes of high quality RAIs and provides direction for the staff in formulating RAIs to emphasize these attributes. One key attribute is ensuring that each RAI includes the safety, security, risk, and/or environmental significance of the question. This facilitates NRCs focus on the most risk and safety significant aspects of our reviews.

NMSS Activities In NMSS, internal guidance for uranium recovery and waste program reviews includes the expectation that RAIs will be developed in conjunction with the draft SER to ensure that each RAI is necessary to reach a safety finding. In addition, the guidance contains the expectation to include a reference in the RAI to the specific relevant requirement and encourages staff to conduct telephone conferences with licensees and applicants to efficiently resolve technical issues on RAIs. The NRC staff recently finalized an internal self-assessment that identifies possible efficiency improvements within the Uranium Recovery Program. The self-assessment includes recommendations for improving the efficiency of the RAI process, such as issuing RAIs as they are written rather than as a group, and reemphasizing the expectation that staff develop the draft SE and RAIs in concert.

NMSS is also in the process of studying RAI approaches used by other offices at the NRC, developing office procedures, revising guidance, and evaluating the development of job aids to incorporate applicable RAI approaches from other NRC branches, divisions and offices.

Following completion of this effort, NMSS will develop a training plan, as needed, to implement the resulting RAI process products.

In addition, NMSS is revising NUREG-1556, Volume 20, Guidance about Administrative Licensing Procedures. Information in this NUREG regarding RAIs for materials licensing 51

actions is being updated to improve consistency and management oversight between NRC headquarters and regional materials licensing staff.

In August 2016, NMSSs Division of Spent Fuel Management (DSFM) issued Division Instruction (DI) 26, DSFM-26, Rev., 0, which provided management expectations and guidance to employees with regard to meeting division and business line goals of being an independent, transparent, and effective regulator. In DSFM-26, management has specifically indicated that DSFMs goal is one round of RAIs for a typical review and a maximum of two rounds of RAIs. RAIs and the applicants responses need to converge on the information needed for making a regulatory finding. As part of the management oversight process, the staff has been seeking concurrence by the division-level management, in-addition to branch-level, when a second round of RAIs is being considered during the review of an application. In addition, the staff has developed further guidance on preparing RAIs that are clear, complete, and specific with respect to the requested information, the justification for the request, and the associated regulatory basis. This guidance has been discussed with all the reviewers as part of continuous training, supplemented by a desk guide and a quick reference card. In the first quarter of 2019, the division completed a self-assessment on spent fuel storage and transportation licensing RAIs that were issued in FY 2017. The self-assessment evaluated the clarity and effectiveness of RAls issued by DSFM, and identified potential improvements to the RAI development process. The staff is currently evaluating the recommendations to develop an implementation plan of actionable enhancements. Implementation of these enhancements is anticipated by the fourth quarter of FY 2019.

The Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review (FCSE) conducted a review of the FCSE RAI process during the second quarter of FY 2017. Staff reviewed audit reports from the NRCs OIG and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Statement of Facts (GAO Job Code 100910). The NRC staff assessment report is at ADAMS Accession No. ML17102A783. The NRC staff also reviewed the internal policies and interviewed subject matter experts in NRR, NRO, and NMSS. The results of this assessment, including staffs recommendations and proposed actions for implementing recommended improvements, were documented in a report to FCSE management on May 25, 2017. The report proposed revisions to the FCSE Licensing Review Handbook, including:

  • Periodically reinforcing expectations of key aspects in the RAI process during licensing seminars or division meetings;
  • Promoting a more consistent and uniform use and application of the guidance, particularly following the instructions on interactions with the licensee, drafting the SER as a tool to identify any RAIs, having a sound regulatory basis for the RAIs, and maintaining licensing reviews aligned with its scope;
  • The addition of clear instructions specifying that RAIs should not request information available elsewhere; and
  • Continuing with current management oversight practice for RAIs process, such as elevating any challenges encountered during the RAI process to Division management for their awareness and involvement.

FCSE has conducted three licensing seminars on RAIs for Project Managers and Technical Reviewers, as well as a team meeting for those involved in the license renewal application review for Honeywell International. The guidance in the Licensing Review Handbook was updated to address the recommendations documented in the report to FCSE management. The final document was issued on October 31, 2018.

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No adverse findings were identified in the Final GAO Report GAO-17-344, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Efforts Intended to Improve Procedures for Requesting Additional Information for Licensing Action are Underway, dated May 25, 2017.

Efforts to establish consistent procedures throughout the agency are being initiated by a working group to align, where appropriate, licensing strategies across the agency including the RAI process. This effort includes representatives from NMSS, NRR, NRO, NSIR, and OGC.

25. In keeping with the Commissions policy statement on the use of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), please describe the agencys actions to enhance the integration of risk information across the agencys activities to improve the technical basis for regulatory activities, to increase efficiency, and to improve effectiveness. Please include actions taken or planned (including milestones, where appropriate) for improving the realism of PRA information used in regulatory decision-making, for training staff to more effectively apply risk information, for updating agency processes and procedures accordingly, and for improving consistency among NRC offices and regions.

As directed by the Commission in SRM-M170511, the staff issued SECY-17-0112, which summarizes its plans to increase staff capabilities to use risk information in decision-making activities. The paper describes five overarching strategies and summarizes associated staff actions and plans. Strategy I evaluates and updates risk-informed decision-making (RIDM) guidance to foster a collaborative review process and a broadened understanding of risk and risk insights. Strategy II develops a graded approach for using risk information in licensing reviews. Strategy III enhances training requirements related to RIDM for managers and staff.

Strategy IV advances NRC and industry risk-informed initiatives, and Strategy V enhances communication on risk-informed activities. As directed by SRM-M170511, the staff will provide periodic updates to the Commission on its progress.

Each strategy with examples of specific actions taken or planned (including milestones, where appropriate) is summarized in the table below. Additional details are available in SECY-17-0112 and in an action plan that leverages best practices in RIDM from the operating and new reactor programs (current revision at ADAMS Accession No. ML18211A439). Though strategies and actions mainly focus on the reactor program, Strategies III and V will be coordinated across all agency offices and the regions, as appropriate. In addition, risk-informed approaches as applied in the materials safety and waste management arenas are described, along with reactor safety and cross cutting activities, on the Risk-Informed Activities page on the NRC public Web site (https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/risk-informed/rpp.html).

Strategy Actions/Milestones Description/Background I. Evaluate and Update

  • A revision to NUREG-1855, Treatment of Uncertainties Guidance Associated with PRAs in Risk-Informed Decision Making was published in March 2017 (ADAMS Accession Updated or new guidance No. ML17062A466).

will be developed to more

  • A revision to RG 1.174 An Approach for Using Probabilistic fully equip staff with the Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on tools necessary to use Plant-Specific Changes to The Licensing Basis was quantitative or qualitative published ahead of schedule in January 2018 (ADAMS risk information in both Accession No. ML17317A256).

traditionally deterministic

  • New and revised inspection procedures and field guides are and formal risk-informed being developed for risk-informed initiatives.

reactor licensing reviews.

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Strategy Actions/Milestones Description/Background

  • Action plan task 4 included a review of branch technical Importantly, all other position (BTP) 8-8, On-site (Emergency Diesel Generators) strategies also involve and Offsite Power Sources Allowed Outage Time Extensions, guidance development to determine if clarification is needed for use of a 14-day activities. backstop for deterministic evaluations; applicability of the guidance to one-time and permanent extensions; and defense-in-depth considerations, particularly with respect to mitigating the consequences of a loss of offsite power coincident with a loss-of-coolant accident with a single failure.

Milestone: The staff issued its RIDM Phase 1 Findings and Recommendations report on June 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A205; Enclosure 4 consists of proposed changes to BTP 8-8 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A214)). The staff completed the Phase 2 report on January 30, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19007A339).

II. Develop a Graded

  • The staff created a tool to guide technical reviewers to Approach for Using Risk consider plant design features when formulating the scope Information in Licensing and depth of new reactor review activities. This tool was Reviews successfully applied to the NuScale design certification review and is a critical element of the ongoing enhanced safety-A graded approach seeks focused review of this design.

to leverage risk insights

  • The NRC has made significant progress on initiatives to across the spectrum of enhance the regulatory framework for non-light water reactors licensing review types (i.e., (non-LWRs) with risk-informed performance-based deterministic and formal technology-inclusive approaches. The actions for advanced risk-informed submittals). A reactor reviews are described more fully in response to framework that supports a question 52.

graded risk-informed review

  • Action plan task 3 involves developing a graded approach for approach is already using risk information more broadly in operating reactor described in NUREG-0800 licensing reviews. This involves creating tools to facilitate the (ADAMS Accession Nos. consideration of both qualitative and quantitative risk insights ML070630046 and in licensing reviews. Action plan task 1 seeks to expand the ML13207A315). use of license review teams with enhanced collaboration between the engineering staff and the PRA practitioners.

Milestone: The staff issued its RIDM Phase 1 Findings and Recommendations report on June 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A205). The staff developed additional milestones for the Phase 2 report. Implementation milestones were assigned to responsible NRR Divisions for completion in FY19. The milestones address schedules for staff training and detailed RIDM implemented guidance document revisions.

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Strategy Actions/Milestones Description/Background III. Enhance Training

  • A new course for NRC managers (Perspectives on Risk Requirements Related to Informed Decision-Making for NRC Managers) has been RIDM for Managers and developed and presented for the first time. It focuses on Staff applications of PRA and describes how risk insights can inform decision making. The pilot courses success is The NRC provides over 30 currently being evaluated and management will determine if formal staff training courses the course will be made mandatory for all supervisors and on technical and regulatory senior managers in the reactor program. Milestone:

aspects associated with Conducted pilot course on June 14, 2018.

RIDM. Courses are

  • The staff continues to offer the Risk-Informed Thinking available to all staff Workshop that provides participants with hands-on members; however, experience in applying RIDM using scenarios of practical currently, only some NRC agency work.

employees are required to

  • The staff plans to update position-specific qualification take these courses. requirements to include the newly developed Risk-Informed Furthermore, many courses Thinking Workshop for reactor program staff.

focus on the technical

  • The staff is evaluating whether aspects of the Risk-Informed aspects of PRA as opposed Thinking Workshop could be integrated with appropriate to describing how risk modules of the Fundamentals of Reactor Licensing Workshop information can be used to for Technical Reviewers. This evaluation is still ongoing.

inform regulatory decisions.

  • Action plan task 2 seeks to broaden the definition of risk beyond just a quantitative value. It re-emphasizes the definition of risk to ensure awareness and common understanding between the staff and managers and clarifies the concepts of risk insights in regulatory applications. The staff issued its RIDM Phase 1 Findings and Recommendations report on June 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18169A205). Computer Based Training was implemented for the staff responsible for assessing RIDM in licensing reviews. A new course was developed for managers and staff to teach the concepts in NUREG-1855.

The course is in iLearn and on the NRC public website available to external stakeholders. The course was made available in June 2018.

  • A training manual for NUREG-1855 is being developed. This manual will provide actual examples to show how to apply the guidance in NUREG-1855. Milestone: Complete the manual by June 30, 2019.

IV. Advance Risk-Informed

  • Fire PRA realism: The staff is engaged with industry to Initiatives evaluate and improve, where applicable, fire PRA realism.

Existing processes allow licensees to propose method The NRC primarily uses the improvements through the fire PRA frequently asked question Risk Informed Steering (FAQ) process, by submitting a license amendment request, Committee (RISC) to or by submitting a topical report. The staff has conducted a advance risk-informed fire PRA public workshop and four fire PRA public meetings initiatives. RISC is a senior with industry stakeholders since the third quarter of 2017 to management committee elicit new fire PRA FAQs and research activities. NRC has with members from each of completed five fire PRA FAQs to improve realism and is the program offices. The actively working with the Electric Power Research Institute 55

Strategy Actions/Milestones Description/Background industry also has a RISC (EPRI) under its MOU to improve fire PRA methods in several composed of senior areas. The NRC and NEI also are working on four additional managers. Since inception FAQs. The staff will conduct a public workshop in early April in 2014, the NRC and to resolve questions with similar work ongoing under the industry RISCs meet EPRI/NRC MOU. In addition, industry is working on an quarterly. The NRC RISCs alternate method to NUREG-2180 to allow credit for Very objectives include the Early Warning Detection Systems. NRC staff has provided following: engage industry comments on the industry's earlier proposals in this area, and and listen to concerns expert elicitation on this issue was initiated in November relative to the use of PRA to 2018.

support regulatory decision-

  • Realism in the ROP: The NRC continuously maintains and making; communicate NRC improves guidance documents and NRC risk tools used to actions in the area of risk- support ROP activities. One such tool is the Risk informed decision-making; Assessment Standardization Project Handbook (RASP discuss what initiative can Handbook). In March 2017, the staff transmitted plans to be taken by the NRC to discuss industry concerns associated with the RASP incentivize industry to Handbook. As a result of public meetings, industry proposed continue to develop PRAs pursuing the issue on common cause failure (CCF) as the to help both reduce highest priority and discussed alternatives. Industry provided uncertainty and provide a a document regarding CCF modeling for staff review on framework to make December 8, 2017, with a revised White Paper on January decisions in light of 26, 2018. Following review of the White Paper, the staff uncertainty; and discuss shared its comments with external stakeholders at a industry actions necessary December 12, 2018, public meeting. The staff is exploring to achieve the vision for options for a quantitative approach that would categorize the future use of PRA to effects of CCF based on the cause of the failure as well as to support regulatory allow licensees to provide plant-specific CCF defense decisions. strategies for the Significance Determination Process. Credit for Diverse and Flexible Coping Strategies (FLEX) in RIDM:

A brief summary of RISC FLEX is currently being credited in multiple risk-informed actions to improve the applications. The NRC staff has developed several guidance realism of PRA information documents to promote consistency and efficiency in used in regulatory decision- applications in these areas. The staff is continuing to monitor making are provided the licensees use of FLEX and is evaluating the need for here. SECY 17-0112 additional guidance changes. provides additional information on all Additional activities that advance risk-informed initiatives outside active RISC initiatives the RISC include:

including TS Initiative 4b,

  • Cooperative Research Activities with EPRI. To conserve The Peer Review Facts and resources and to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, both Observations Closure the NRC and EPRI have agreed to cooperate in selected Process, 10 CFR 50.69, research efforts and to share information and/or costs PRA Methods Vetting whenever such cooperation and cost sharing is appropriate Process, and Risk and mutually beneficial. A MOU with EPRI (ADAMS Aggregation. Accession No. ML16223A497) currently covers a number of risk-related topics, including fire, seismic, PRA methods, Activities supplemental to treatment of uncertainties, and flooding.

the RISC that also advance

Strategy Actions/Milestones Description/Background risk-informed initiatives are for Risk-Informed Activities. RG 1.200 provides the staff also briefly described here. position of what constitutes an acceptable base PRA and is the agencys vehicle for endorsing the industry consensus PRA standards and related PRA peer review guidance.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers' ASME/ANS will publish and NEI has recently published updated industry documents related to PRA standards and peer reviews, respectively. RG 1.200 will be revised to reflect the NRCs endorsement of pertinent industry documents.

  • Consensus Standards Development: The NRC actively participates in the development and maintenance of consensus standards. This includes PRA standards for all operating reactors, design certification, and combined licenses for advanced LWRs and non-LWR nuclear power plants; these standards address all risk levels of PRA, all reactor operating modes, and all hazards. NRC participation ensures that the NRCs views are considered in the development of the standard and industry guidance. For example, the staff issued two separate letters in May 2017 and March 2018 regarding closure of findings from peer reviews and external hazard PRA peer-review guidance, respectively.

V. Enhance Communication

  • Staff with risk/PRA expertise are sharing knowledge and on Risk-Informed experience through presentations at branch and division Activities meetings across the offices on topics such as risk-informed screening tools for operating and new reactor reviews.

The NRC is enhancing Knowledge and experience is also being shared through communication to ensure working group and review team meetings. Seminars on RIDM that its stakeholders are for NRC inspectors and enhanced inclusion of RIDM topics at aware of new and regional and senior reactor analyst counterpart meetings are enhanced risk training now included in the current Regional RIDM action planning.

courses and guidance,

  • The RIDM Action Plan, dated November 28, 2018 (ADAMS ongoing RIDM initiatives, Accession No. ML18317A117) contained a communication and plans and experience plan with key messages.

using risk information.

26. The NRC has a long-standing effort to establish an efficient, reliable, and predictable licensing process for power reactors to transition from analog to digital instrumentation and control systems for safety-related applications. Please provide the date this effort began, a milestone schedule for implementation of the licensing process including the actual milestone completion dates, and the scheduled date for completion.

The NRC is implementing an integrated strategy plan to modernize the NRC regulatory infrastructure for digital instrumentation and controls (I&C), through strategic and tactical modernization plans (MPs). The plan focuses on topics identified through discussions with stakeholders that will provide confidence in transitioning from analog to digital control systems (Integrated Action Plan - ADAMS Accession No. ML17102B307).

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MP #1A: Develop guidance for near term implementation of digital upgrades without prior NRC approval under 10 CFR 50.59 (limited scope of systems)(endorsement clarification of NEI 01-01 via RIS supplement)

Activity Completion Date13 NRC begins effort: March 2017 Prepare preliminary drafts of RIS 2002-22, Supplement 1, clarifying the staffs previous endorsement of NEI 01-01 Issue Draft RIS for Public Comment July 2017 (complete)

Issue revised Draft RIS for 2nd Public Comment Period March 2018 (complete)

RIS issued May 2018 (complete)

MP #1B: NRC review and endorsement, as appropriate, of industry technical guidance for addressing common cause failure in digital I&C (NEI 16-16)

Activity Completion Date NRC begins effort: December 2016 Begin staff evaluation of the partial draft of NEI 16-16 received December 22, 2016, and develop staff comments and gap analysis NEI submits complete NEI 16-16 to the NRC for review NEI plans to submit a revised NEI 16-16 by the 1st quarter of 2019.

NRC decision on technical adequacy and whether to issue To be determined a potential interim endorsement letter NRC formally enters NEI 16-16 into the RG development To be determined process (if decision is made to endorse)

MP #1C: Modernize NRCs current position on defense against potential common cause failure in I&C systems and components Activity Completion Date NRC efforts begin: July 2017 Begin staff review to identify if there are policy issues that need to be taken to the Commission Present SECY paper to Commission for information September 2018 (complete)

MP #1D: Revise BTP 7-19, Guidance for Evaluation of Diversity and Defense-in-Depth in Digital Computer-Based Instrumentation and Control Systems Activity Completion Date NRC efforts begin: January 2019. A public Revise licensing review guidance to incorporate CCF meeting to discuss the guiding principles, as presented in the SECY paper (MP staffs plans to revise

  1. 1C) and address comments from industry stakeholders. BTP 7-19 was held January 31, 2019.

(complete)

Complete preliminary draft revision to BTP 7-19 April 2019 13 Actual completion dates noted with (complete).

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MP #1D: Revise BTP 7-19, Guidance for Evaluation of Diversity and Defense-in-Depth in Digital Computer-Based Instrumentation and Control Systems Activity Completion Date Provide preliminary draft revision to BTP 7-19 to industry May 2019 stakeholders and conduct workshop Finalize draft revision to BTP 7-19 June 2019 Issue proposed revision to BTP 7-19 for public comment September 2019 Issue Revision 7 to BTP 7-19 May 2020 MP #2A: Issue durable guidance for implementation of digital upgrades without NRC approval under 10 CFR 50.59 (full scope of systems)

- Endorsement review of NEI 96-07, Appendix D Activity Completion Date NRC efforts begin: April 2016 Initiate review and stakeholder interactions of NEI guidance document, NEI 96-07, Appendix D, Guidelines for 10 CFR 50.59 Evaluations NRC decision on technical adequacy and whether to issue a On December 20, potential interim endorsement letter 2018, the staff issued a letter to NEI documenting the App D comments that remain unresolved. (complete)

NRC formally enters NEI 96-07 Appendix D into the RG Staff expects NEI to development process (if decision is made to endorse) submit letter requesting endorsement of App D by January 2019.

(complete)

Issue RG endorsing, with exceptions, NEI 96-07, June 2019 Appendix D MP #2B: 50.59 Guidance Implementation and Inspection Training Activity Completion Date B1. Complete Inspector Training on RIS 2002-22, June 2019 Supplement 1 (new item as a result of the issuance of RIS 2002-22 under MP #1A)

B2. Complete Lessons Learned Public Meeting on RIS February 27, 2019 2002-22, Supplement 1 Implementation (complete)

B3. Conduct Inspector Training on Appendix D TBD (dependent on the completion of MP #2A)

MP #3: Review Industrys process for using commercially available digital equipment Activity Completion Date NRC efforts begin: April 2016 Public Meeting to discuss resolution of RIS 2016-05 public comments EPRI publishes research results March 2019 NEI Submits NEI 17-06 for NRC Review Expected by July 2019.

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MP #3: Review Industrys process for using commercially available digital equipment Activity Completion Date NRC makes decision on technical adequacy October 2019 NRC staff completes audits of Safety Integrity Level NRC is monitoring certification organizations and accrediting entities EPRIs investigative and research activities to evaluate third party process certification for digital equipment.

The staffs proposed schedule to complete the audits is June 2019-November 2019.

NRC formally enters NEI 17-06 into the RG development December 2019 process (if decision is made to endorse)

MP #4A: Streamline the licensing process guidance - update to ISG-06 Activity Completion Date NRC begins effort: February 2017 Conduct a series of public stakeholder meetings (e.g., public workshops) for additional feedback Issue final Draft revision of ISG-06 for public comment August 2018 (complete)

Issue final revision of ISG-06 December 2018 (complete)

MP #4B: Develop strategic activities for long-term improvements to the regulatory infrastructure Activity Completion Date NRC begins effort to develop strategic plan to modernize October 2017 overall regulatory infrastructure Consider evaluation of lessons learned from MP 1-4A April 2018 (complete) progress Coordinate with stakeholders to identify potential regulatory July 2018 gaps and potential options for improving the regulatory (complete) infrastructure Develop additional detailed modernization plan for November 2018 implementing tactical and strategic improvements to the (complete) regulatory infrastructure 60

MP #4B: Develop strategic activities for long-term improvements to the regulatory infrastructure Activity Completion Date Begin broad assessment of modernization improvement. January 2019. A public The assessment will be categorized into three areas: 1) meeting to discuss the identification and implementation of significant structural staffs assessment changes to the regulations or major RGs to reduce plans was held complexity, and focus on the fundamental safety principles January 31, 2019.

that are appropriate for all designs; (2) improvement to (complete)

NRC review efficiency and enhancement of existing guidance to be more performance-based, and risk-informed; and (3) development of guidance to provide enhanced predictability of reviews and ensure that no unnecessary impediments exist in the review of digital technologies.

Complete draft assessment of the overall digital I&C March 2019 regulatory infrastructure Complete final assessment April 2019

27. Please describe actions taken and/or planned to prepare to review industry requests to use Accident Tolerant Fuel in existing reactors, including but not limited to actions taken and/or planned for lead test assemblies and fuel loads. Please include a milestone schedule and brief project plan for both evolutionary and revolutionary designs.

The staff issued the final version of the NRCs accident tolerant fuel (ATF) project plan Project Plan to Prepare the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Efficient and Effective Licensing of Accident Tolerant Fuels (ADAMS Accession No. ML18261A414) on September 30, 2018. The project plan outlines the strategy for timely licensing of near-term and longer-term ATF designs.

It covers all aspects of ATF regulation, including fabrication, transportation, the in-reactor performance, and storage. The plan also contains tasks related to regulatory and infrastructure refinement, computational tools and methods to support SEs, and accounts for interactions with our external stakeholders including industry, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),

international entities and non-governmental organizations.

The final project plan incorporates stakeholder feedback received through four NRC public meetings, a FR noticed comment period, an ACRS subcommittee meeting, an NRC Commission briefing, and numerous other meetings with licensees, nuclear fuel vendors, and the DOE. The staff is actively implementing the project plan, which, in the near-term, entails enhanced engagement with the nuclear fuel vendors pursuing ATF concepts on their qualification plans, and commencing exercises to identify the phenomena important to safety (i.e., phenomenon identification and ranking tables (PIRTs)) for each concept.

On February 20-21, 2019, the staff participated in the eighth EPRI/Idaho National Lab/Department of Energy joint workshop on ATF. During the workshop, the staff met with the nuclear fuel vendors to understand their fuel qualification plans and individual licensing strategies. On February 26-28, 2019, the staff also held four public meetings with nuclear vendors. The staff has initiated the PIRT exercise for the chromium-coated cladding ATF concept by issuing a draft report Degradation and Failure Phenomena of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts: Chromium Coated Zirconium Alloy Cladding (ADAMS Accession No. ML19036A716). The staff expect to issue the final report by June 2019, following an expert elicitation exercise to augment the report in April 2019, in preparation for the issuance of an ISG document by the end of calendar year 2019.

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The staff understands that the industry is planning to seek extensions of current fuel burnup limits. Industry has performed a gap analysis related to data needs to support a burnup extension and published a white paper detailing their work. The NRC staff will consider this information during interactions with the individual fuel vendors over the next several months as the staff seeks to understand potential licensing strategies. The fuel enrichment and burnup increases have implications not just for in-core reactor performance, but they also have ramifications for other aspects of the fuel cycle (e.g., fuel manufacturing, spent fuel storage, and transportation). Moreover, the increased enrichment will require relief from the 5 percent U-235 enrichment limit imposed by 10 CFR 50.68.

The staff continues to engage stakeholders, particularly DOE and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on mitigation plans for the closure of the Halden Reactor in Norway, a key research facility utilized by stakeholders throughout the world. The NRC staff has assessed the impact on the agencys planned anticipatory and confirmatory research efforts. Also, several nuclear fuel vendors were planning to use Halden for experimental testing of ATF concepts. To date, these vendors have indicated that they do not expect any delays in deployment for near-term ATF concepts due to Haldens shutdown.

The staff has also made publicly available a generic communication (ADAMS Accession No. ML18270A019) to obtain timeline details, fuel qualification plans, and licensing strategy information from nuclear fuel vendors pursuing the various ATF concepts and has submitted the document to the Office of Management and Budget for clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The responses will allow the NRC to better prepare for future ATF licensing work and ensure it is adequately resourced to support timely reviews.

As indicated in previous reports, the NRC steering committee for lead test assemblies (LTAs) developed a draft letter to NEI regarding the use of LTAs in commercial operating nuclear reactors, which once finalized, will clarify and supersede the NRC staffs positions stated in its June 29, 2017, letter. The draft letter was published for public comment on June 7, 2018, for 20 days (83 FR 26503). The comment period was extended for an additional 20 days and closed on July 23, 2018 (83 FR 30989). Over 250 comment letters were received. The NRC staff has reviewed the comments and is currently in the process of revising the letter. A separate comment response document also will be released to the public, together with the final letter.

28. Please describe actions taken and/or planned to improve the quality of cost benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking, including the development of metrics for assessing the quality of cost-benefit analyses. Please include milestones for completing these actions and the guidance that is currently under revision.14 The NRC has taken specific actions to improve the quality of cost-benefit analyses conducted in association with new requirements, backfit analyses, or rulemaking. The key milestones for these actions are described below.

On March 19, 2013, the Commission issued a SRM regarding SECY-12-0157, Consideration of Additional Requirements for Containment Venting Systems for Boiling Water Reactors with Mark I and Mark II Containments (ADAMS Accession No. ML13078A017), directing the staff to seek detailed Commission guidance on the use of qualitative factors.

14 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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On March 20, 2013, the Commission issued SRM-SECY-12-0110, Staff Requirements -

SECY-12-0110 - Consideration of Economic Consequences within the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Regulatory Framework, directing the staff to identify potential changes to current methodologies and tools to perform cost-benefit analysis in support of regulatory, backfit, and environmental analyses. The Commission also directed the staff to provide a regulatory gap analysis before developing new cost-benefit guidance. On January 2, 2014, in response to SRM-SECY-12-0110, the staff submitted SECY-14-0002, Plan for Updating the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Cost-Benefit Guidance. In SECY-14-0002, the staff identified potential changes to current methodologies and tools related to performing cost-benefit analysis in support of regulatory, backfit, and environmental analyses. The staff informed the Commission of its planned two-phase approach for revising the content and structure of cost-benefit guidance documents. Phase 1 aligns regulatory guidance across NRCs business lines by restructuring and incorporating non-policy revisions to NRC cost-benefit guidance. This phase is underway, as described below. In Phase 2, staff will identify and analyze potential policy issues that could affect the NRCs cost-benefit guidance and present these issues to the Commission for consideration and approval. The staff then will incorporate final updates to guidance for conducting cost-benefit analyses that support backfitting decisions.

On August 14, 2014, in response to SRM-SECY-12-0157, the staff submitted SECY-14-0087, Qualitative Consideration of Factors in the Development of Regulatory Analyses and Backfit Analyses. In SECY-14-0087, the staff proposed updating the cost-benefit guidance to include a set of methods that could be used for the consideration of qualitative factors within a cost-benefit analysis for regulatory and backfit analyses.

On December 16, 2014, in response to Commission direction to provide a regulatory gap analysis before developing new cost-benefit guidance, the staff submitted SECY-14-0143, Regulatory Gap Analysis of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Cost Benefit Regulations, Guidance and Practices. In SECY-14-0143, the staff described the review of current NRC guidance, methodologies, and tools used for cost-benefit determinations. The staff also described the results of its review of the NRC regulatory analyses that had been completed and identified differences across NRC business lines (e.g., material users, fuel cycle facilities, new and operating reactors) and procedures (i.e., regulatory analyses, backfit analyses). Finally, SECY-14-0143 included staffs gap analysis, and identified where additional guidance is needed to ensure consistency across the agency.

On March 4, 2015, the Commission issued SRM-SECY-14-0087. The Commission approved the staffs plans for updating guidance regarding the use of qualitative factors, including the treatment of uncertainties, and directed the staff to focus the update on capturing best practices for the consideration of qualitative factors. The Commission also directed the staff to provide a toolkit for analysts regarding the consideration of qualitative factors.

In July 2015 and May 2017, the staff held two public meetings on the proposed cost-benefit guidance updates. The staff also held a public workshop in March 2016 to discuss proposed changes to the cost-benefit guidance. Meeting participants included industry representatives, government and nongovernment organizations, and other interested parties.

The Phase 1 update identified in SECY-14-0002 and described above is underway. In April 2017, the NRC issued draft NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5, Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and published a notice requesting public comment in the FR (82 FR 18163; April 17, 2017). The staff received three comment submissions with a total of 58 individual comments from industry stakeholders and members of the public. The NRC staff considered this input when revising the NUREG.

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The staff submitted the draft final NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5, and five appendices to the Commission via a notation vote paper dated March 28, 2018 (SECY-18-0042). The following appendices are included in this update:

  • Appendix A, Qualitative Factors Assessment Tools
  • Appendix B, Cost Estimating and Best Practices
  • Appendix C, Treatment of Uncertainty
  • Appendix D, Guidance on Regulatory Analysis Related to ASME Rules
  • Appendix E, Special Circumstances and Relationship to Other Procedural Requirements Metrics for assessing the quality of cost-benefit analyses are contained in NUREG/BR-0058, Appendix B. Enclosure B-4 to Appendix B discusses the expectations for quality cost estimates and details the steps to ensure high-quality cost-benefit analyses are developed and presented to agency management. Additionally, the enclosure describes the steps to verify the quality of a cost-benefit analysis through various techniques for checking accuracy.

The Commission is reviewing the draft final Revision 5 of NUREG/BR-0058. After the Commission provides direction, the staff will conduct Phase 2 of the activity, as described in SECY-14-0002.

29. Please provide the status of the revised guidance currently under development to clarify the use of qualitative factors, including milestones and the projected date for completion. In addition to this revised guidance, please list and briefly describe any actions taken and/or planned to improve the use of quantitative factors in regulatory analyses required for rulemaking, in the regulatory analyses required under the Backfit Rule, and in the ROP Significance Determination Process.15 As noted above, the staff completed the draft final Revision 5 of NUREG/BR-0058 and provided the document to the Commission for its review (SECY-18-0042) on March 28, 2018.

In the interim, a draft of the NUREG was issued for public comment and is available for interim staff use. In conducting its regulatory analyses, the staff is implementing the best practices and lessons learned that are contained within this draft revision of NUREG/BR-0058.

In revising this cost-benefit guidance, the staff focused on improving methods for quantitative analyses, including the treatment of uncertainty and the development of realistic estimates of the cost of implementing proposed requirements. Specifically, the staff developed two appendices to NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5 to guide the staff in these areas:

  • Appendix B, Cost Estimating and Best Practices, provides expanded guidance on incorporating cost-estimating best practices, including estimating life-cycle costs.
  • Appendix C, The Treatment of Uncertainty, expands on the existing guidance for performing uncertainty and sensitivity analyses for cost-benefit analyses.

In addition to the improved methods for quantitative analyses, the revised cost-benefit guidance directs the staff to quantify the estimates of costs and benefits to the extent possible. However, the staff acknowledges that some attributes in regulatory analyses are difficult to quantify, and 15 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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require additional resources to develop a strictly quantitative analysis. To address this gap, staff developed a toolkit to enable analysts to clearly present analyses of qualitative results in a transparent way that decision makers, and stakeholders can understand.

  • Appendix A, Qualitative Factors Assessment Tools, identifies best practices for the consideration of qualitative factors and describes a number of methods that can be used to support the NRCs evidence-based, quantitative, and analytical approach to decision-making. The guidance clearly states that these methods (1) should only be used when quantification may not be practical, (2) are not a substitute for collecting accurate information to develop realistic cost estimates, and (3) do not constitute an expansion of the consideration of qualitative factors in regulatory, backfit, or environmental analyses.

Revision 5 of NUREG/BR-0058 is intended to meet the following objectives:

  • Refocus and expand guidance on cost-benefit analysis across the agency
  • Emphasize quantification and provides methods for creating realistic estimates
  • Provide methods for assessing factors that are difficult to quantify
  • Incorporate cost estimating best practices identified in GAO guidance and in recommendations from GAO in GAO-15-98, Nuclear Regulatory Commission: NRC Needs to Improve Its Cost Estimates by Incorporating More Best Practices, dated December 12, 2014
  • Expand guidance on the treatment of uncertainties
  • Enhance transparency of analysis for the decision-maker With regard to the use of qualitative factors in the ROPs Significance Determination Process, the SRM for SECY-13-0137 directed the staff, in part, to evaluate the need to provide additional clarity on the use of qualitative factors for operating reactors to provide more transparency and predictability to the process. The staff completed its evaluation, which was documented in of SECY-18-0045, Reactor Oversight Process Self-Assessment for Calendar Year 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18059A155). To address the results of this evaluation, the staff prepared a revision to Appendix M of IMC 0609, Significance Determination Process Using Qualitative Criteria. This revision, issued on January 10, 2019, clarifies the entry criteria for Appendix M and provides better guidance on the application of existing decision-making attributes in the appendix without, expanding its use. The revised Appendix M was issued on January 10, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18183A043).
30. Please provide a list of all final generic regulatory actions issued in the last 3 years. Please include:
a. Whether the item was reviewed by CRGR;
b. Whether the CRGR review was formal or informal;
c. The CRGR recommendation; and
d. The NRCs conclusions with respect to compliance with the Backfitting Rule (i.e., no backfitting, cost-justified substantial increase, compliance exception, adequate protection exception).

The majority of the final generic regulatory actions that the NRC issues do not lead to backfitting. In addition, as discussed in response #34, the agency is working to enhance oversight to prevent unintended and unsupported backfits. The NRC issues many types of final generic regulatory actions, such as rules, orders, bulletins, generic letters (GLs), RISs, RGs, standard review plans (SRPs), and ISGs.

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The CRGR Charter, Revision 9 clarifies which issues should be forwarded to the Committee for review where new or revised generic requirements could propose backfits or new staff positions.

Items for CRGR review are forwarded by the agencys program offices or are directed for review by the EDO. The table below illustrates that only a few final generic agency actions are reviewed by the CRGR to assess if generic backfitting concerns exist. Most backfitting issues are resolved during management review and legal review, or identified during interactions with external stakeholders. Rules, orders, bulletins, GLs, and RISs are final generic regulatory actions that are reviewed and evaluated to screen for potential backfitting concerns and new staff positions. CRGR performs a review of these items in a formal setting with the sponsoring office representatives when certain criteria are met, including:

  • Stakeholders or NRC staff identify concerns regarding backfitting or regulatory analysis
  • The EDO directs the review or an office director requests review
  • Use of the compliance exception or the adequate protection exceptions to justify backfitting
  • For rulemaking, if there are finality concerns or possible backfitting qualitative factors were used to justify a rulemaking with significant costs, or substantial statistical uncertainty exists in the qualitative benefit determination in the backfit analysis.

In June 2018, the CRGR Charter, Revision 9, formally adopted criteria for reviewing rulemaking activities. The CRGR began piloting the criteria and guidance in June 2017, when the CRGR reviewed a draft proposed rule on cybersecurity at fuel cycle facilities. Subsequently, CRGR has reviewed several rulemakings over the past year, including a draft final rule on enhanced weapons, firearms background checks, and security event notifications. During its review of these packages, the CRGR requested additional information to ensure that the staff was not unnecessarily imposing backfits on the licensees.

RGs, standard review plans, and ISG, are only reviewed by CRGR when concerns are raised during staff review regarding potential backfitting. These documents are intended to provide acceptable approaches for licensees or applicants to meet NRC requirements, or for the NRC staff to confirm the adequacy of proposed approaches. Additionally, adopting new RGs is intended to be voluntary for licensees and applicants. For limited instances where RGs may result in potential backfits or new staff positions, the CRGR conducts a review.

The table below provides NRC final generic regulatory actions issued within the last 3 years.

For the response, the staff has included final rules, orders, bulletins, RISs, and GLs.

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review 10 CFR List of Approved Spent 02/19/2019 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks:

Holtec International HI-STORM 100 16 None - indicates that the item was administrative in nature or did not meet thresholds for CRGR backfitting review. Routine Reviews - were conducted by the members without a meeting. Complex Reviews - those items for which a meeting was conducted to assess potential backfitting concerns.

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Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review Multipurpose Canister Cask System, COC No. 1014, Amendment Nos. 11 and 12 10 CFR List of Approved Spent 02/19/2019 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks:

NAC International, Inc.,

NAC-MPC Storage System, COC No.

1025, Amendment No.

7&8 10 CFR List of Approved Spent 02/15/2019 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks:

Transnuclear, Inc.,

Standardized Advanced NUHOMS Storage System, Certificate of Compliance (COC) No.

1029, Amendment No.

4 10 CFR Update to Fees for 02/11/2019 None NA No Backfitting Part 9 Search and Review of Agency Records by NRC Personnel 10 CFR List of Approved Spent 12/26/2018 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks:

Transnuclear Inc.,

Standardized NUHOMS Cask System (Amendment No. 15) 10 CFR List of Approved Spent 12/19/2018 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks:

NAC International, Inc.,

NAC-UMS Storage System, COC No.

1015, Amendment No.

6 RIS-18-06 Clarification of the 12/10/2018 None NA No Backfitting Requirements for 67

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review Reactor Pressure Vessel Upper Head Bare Metal Visual Examinations 10 CFR Miscellaneous 11/21/2018 None NA No Backfitting Parts 37, Corrections -

40, 70, 71, Organizational 72, 73, 76, Changes and 95 10 CFR Miscellaneous 11/20/2018 None NA No Backfitting Parts 26, Corrections 30, 40, 50, 70, 73, and 110 RIS-18-05 Supplier Oversight 10/05/2018 None NA No Backfitting Issues Identified During Recent NRC Vendor Inspections 10 CFR Inflation Adjustments to 09/24/18 None NA No Backfitting Part 140 the Price-Anderson Act Financial Protection Regulations RIS-18-04 Notice of Issuance of 09/11/18 None NA No Backfitting Enforcement Guidance MemorandumInterim Guidance for Dispositioning Apparent Violations of 10 CFR Parts 34, 36, and 39 Requirements Resulting From the Use of Direct Ion Storage Dosimetry During Licensed Activities 10 CFR Medical Use of 07/16/18 None NA No Backfitting Parts 30, Byproduct Material 32, and 35 Medical Event Definitions, Training 68

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review and Experience, and Clarifying Amendments 10 CFR Miscellaneous 06/28/18 None NA No Backfitting Parts 1, 2, Corrections 34, 37, 50, 70, 71, 73, and 140 10 CFR Revision of Fee 06/25/18 None NA No Backfitting Parts 170 Schedules; Fee and 171 Recovery for FY 2018 RIS-18-03 National Terrorism 06/01/18 None NA No Backfitting Advisory System and Protective Measures for the Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Material RIS-02-22, Clarifications on 05/31/18 Routine NA No Backfitting Supplement Endorsement of NEI Review 1 Guidance in Designing Digital Upgrades in Instrumentation and Control Systems 10 CFR Modified Small 05/04/18 None NA No Backfitting Part 75 Quantities Protocol RIS-17-01, Human Reliability and 03/29/18 None NA No Backfitting Rev. 1 Human Performance Database RIS-18-02 Preparation and 03/26/18 None NA No Backfitting Scheduling of Operator Licensing Examinations RIS-18-01 Common Violations 01/22/18 None NA No Backfitting Cited During First 2 Years of 10 CFR Part and 37, "Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 69

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review Quantities of 03/01/18 Radioactive Material,"

Implementation and Guidance Documents Available to Support Rule Implementation 10 CFR Approval of ASME 01/17/18 None NA No Backfitting Part 50 Code Cases 10 CFR 2 Adjustment of Civil 01/12/18 None NA No Backfitting and 13 Penalties for Inflation for FY 2018 RIS-17-08 Process for Scheduling 12/21/17 None NA No Backfitting and Allocating Resources for FYs 2020 through 2022 for the Review of New Licensing Applications for LWRs and Non-LWRs 10 CFR Miscellaneous 11/15/17 None NA No Backfitting Parts 2, 9, Corrections 40, 50, 61, 71, 73, and 110 RIS-17-06 NRC Policy on Use of 09/19/17 None NA No Backfitting Combination Dosimetry Devices During Industrial Radiographic Operations RIS-17-05 Administration of 09/13/17 None NA No Backfitting 10 CFR Part 72 COC Corrections and Revisions RIS-17-04 Clarification on the 08/30/17 Routine NA No Backfitting Implementation of Review Compensatory Measures for Protective Strategy Deficiencies or 70

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review Degraded or Inoperable Security Systems, Equipment, or Components 10 CFR ASME Codes and 07/18/17 None NA Two changes Part 50 Code Cases resulted in an adequate protection backfit exception (Code Case N-729-4 and Code Case N-770-2) 10 CFR Fee Recovery for 06/30/17 None NA No Backfitting Parts 170 FY 2017 and 171 RIS-17-03 Preparation and 04/05/17 None NA No Backfitting Scheduling of Operator Licensing Examinations RIS-17-02 Applicability of 10 CFR 02/08/17 None NA No Backfitting Part 37 to Non-Manufacturing and Distribution Service Provider Licensees RIS-17-01 Human Reliability and 02/02/17 None NA No Backfitting Human Performance Database 10 CFR Adjustment of Civil 01/24/17 None NA No Backfitting Parts 2 and Penalties for Inflation 13 10 CFR List of Approved Spent Published 6 None NA No Backfitting Part 72 Fuel Storage Casks COC rules in 2017 10 CFR Increase in the 12/30/16 None NA No Backfitting Part 140 Maximum Amount of Primary Nuclear Liability Insurance 71

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review 10 CFR Update to Incorporate 12/30/16 None NA No Backfitting Parts 2 and Freedom of Information 9 Act Improvement Act of 2016 Requirements RIS-16-12 NRC Employee Access 11/22/16 None NA No Backfitting to Switchyards at Licensee Facilities RIS-16-11 Requests to Dispose of 11/13/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting Very Low-Level Review Radioactive Waste Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2002 RIS-15-19, Decommissioning 09/27/16 None NA No Backfitting Rev. 1 Timeliness Rule Implementation and Associated Regulatory Relief RIS-16-10 LARs for Changes to 08/05/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting Emergency Response Review Organization Staffing and Augmentation 10 CFR Update to Transcript 07/20/16 None NA No Backfitting Part 2 Correction Procedures 10 CFR Adjustment of Civil 07/01/16 None NA No Backfitting Parts 2 and Penalties for Inflation 13 10 CFR Fee Recovery for 06/24/16 None NA No Backfitting Parts 9, FY 2016 170, and 171 RIS-16-09 Preparation and 06/16/16 None NA No Backfitting Scheduling of Operator Licensing Examinations RIS-16-08 Process for Scheduling 06/07/16 None NA No Backfitting and Allocating Resources in FY 2019 for the Review of New 72

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review Licensing Applications for LWRs and Non-LWRs 10 CFR Variable Annual Fee 05/24/16 None NA No Backfitting Parts 170 Structure for SMRs and 171 RIS-16-07 Containment Shell or 05/09/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting Liner Moisture Barrier Review Inspection RIS-16-06 NRC Regulation of 05/09/16 None NA No Backfitting Radium-226 Under Military Control and for Coordination on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Response Actions at Department of Defense Sites with Radioactive Materials RIS-16-05 Embedded Digital 04/29/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting Devices in Safety- Review Related Systems RIS-16-04 Clarification of 10 CFR 04/19/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting 50.46 Reporting Review Requirements and Recent Issues with Related Guidance Not Approved for Use RIS-16-03 10 CFR 50.59 Issues 04/13/16 None NA No Backfitting Identified in NRC's San Onofre Steam Generator Tube Degradation Lessons Learned Report GL-16-01 Monitoring of Neutron- 04/07/16 Complex Endorsed No Backfitting Absorbing Materials in Review Spent Fuels Pools 73

Summary of Final Generic Regulatory Actions over the Last 3 Years Item # Title Issuance CRGR16 CRGR NRC Date Review Recommen Backfitting dation Review RIS-16-02 Design Basis Issues 03/23/16 None NA No Backfitting Related to Tube-to-Tubesheet Joints in Pressurized-Water Reactor Steam Generators RIS-16-01 NEI Guidance for the 03/16/16 Routine Endorsed No Backfitting Use of Accreditation in Review Lieu of Commercial Grade Surveys for Procurement of Laboratory Calibration and Test Services

31. Please provide a list and brief description of all facility specific backfits issued in the reporting period.17 None
32. For matters reviewed by the CRGR, please provide 12-month and 3-year rolling averages for the following metrics:
a. For the number of issues reviewed formally18: the percentage accepted for imposition on industry and the percentage rejected based on cost-benefit or Backfit concerns; and
b. For the number of issues reviewed informally: the percentage accepted for imposition on industry and the percentage rejected based on cost-benefit or Backfit concerns.

12-Month Summary of CRGR Review Decisions of Potential Backfit Issues Percentage Accepted or Percentage Rejected Percentage Review Type & Endorsed with Based on Backfit Endorsed without Outcome Backfitting Concerns Backfitting Routine Reviews 0% 0% 100%

Complex Reviews 100.0% 0% 0%

17 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

18 In accordance with the new terminology for CRGR reviews as described in the June 2018 Revision 9 of the CRGR charter (ADAMS Accession No. ML17355A532), and as mentioned in the August monthly report the terms formal and informal are now replaced with the terms complex and routine, respectively. Consequently, this terminology will not be included in future monthly reports.

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3-Year Summary of CRGR Review Decisions of Potential Backfit Issues Percentage Accepted or Percentage Rejected Percentage Review Type & Endorsed with Based on Backfit Endorsed without Outcome Backfitting Concerns Backfitting Routine Reviews 0% 0% 100.0%

Complex Reviews 37.5% 12.5% 50.0%

Comments:

1. As of February 28, 2019, for the rolling 3-year period, the CRGR has completed 18 reviews for potential backfits, including 10 routine reviews and 8 complex reviews. In the past 12-months, the CRGR has completed 2 routine reviews and 1 complex reviews.

These percentages omit ongoing CRGR reviews.

2. These tables provide summaries of CRGR review results for the rolling 12-month and 3-year periods. The percentage accepted includes CRGR endorsements of generic documents that may lead to licensee backfits, the percentage rejected are reviews in which the CRGR disapproved documents due to backfit concerns, and the percentage endorsed were reviews in which the CRGR found no backfit implications.

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33. Please provide the status of the application of the Backfit Rule in the licensing and inspection programs across the agency, including:
a. The need for training on the requirements and application of 10 CFR 50.109;
b. The need for a process, training, and/or oversight in addressing inspection issues that may redefine or reinterpret the original licensing basis (e.g., unresolved issues, task interface agreements, disputed violations) to ensure that new requirements are not imposed through the inspection program;
c. A review of proposed regulatory changes that are currently in process to ensure that regulatory actions are appropriately informed by the requirements of 10 CFR 50.109.

Examples of such actions could include but are not limited to the following:

i. The Draft Regulatory Issue Summary on Service Life addressing the treatment of vendor recommendations within the regulatory framework; ii. 10 CFR 50.46(c) rulemaking for which the justification utilizes the adequate protection provisions of the backfit rule to obviate the need to compare the benefits of public health and safety with the cost of compliance for the three major portions of the rule; iii. Use of the compliance exception backfit as proposed by the NRC staff to address the "open phase condition (OPC)" issue; and iv. Possible alteration of the risk reduction credit given for Incipient Fire Protection after the modifications have been installed and received approval from the NRC crediting the technology.
d. Please describe the progress made during each reporting period.19 a, b, & d. Consistent with the EDO approved milestones in Response 34, the agency developed and implemented refresher training throughout the agency for those with responsibilities that take backfit into consideration. This refresher or reset training was completed in January 2018. In addition, the agency developed and implemented enhanced backfit training for identified staff with backfitting responsibilities in multiple headquarters offices and all regions.

This training included interactive examples and case studies to apply backfitting concepts to daily work activities. All sessions were completed by July 31, 2018. Over 1,400 NRC staff received this new training.

More detailed backfitting guidance and procedures will be developed throughout FY 2019 as discussed in Response 34.

c. The agency has incorporated the recent lessons learned from the Exelon backfit appeal decision and the Commissions direction in SRM-COMSECY-16-0020 into its reviews of proposed regulatory changes and decision making.

The table below provides a summary of the status of regulatory changes and issues as of February 28, 2019.

19 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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Status of Select Regulatory Activities Title Status of Regulatory Change Backfitting Considerations RIS on Service Life - RIS (ADAMS Accession No. ML17177A060) While the CRGR found Disposition of was issued for public comment and the public that the draft RIS did not Information Related comments have been dispositioned. contain any specific to the Time Period backfits or new staff That Safety-Related positions, it did not Structures, Systems, endorse the RIS in its or Components are RIS was reviewed by CRGR on September current form. The CRGR Installed 12 and 14, 2017. CRGR Meeting Nos. #446, indicated that a RIS may

  1. 447 (ADAMS Accession No. not be appropriate for ML17276B156). addressing these issues.

The RIS was officially withdrawn in a FRN dated September 12, 2018 (83 FR 46199).

10 CFR 50.46(c) The NRC staff prepared a regulatory analysis Based on established Rulemaking for the 10 CFR 50.46c draft final rule criteria at the time, the (ADAMS Accession No. ML15323A122) to CRGR was not required identify the benefits and costs of the to review the rulemaking particular regulatory approach for addressing to assess potential emergency core cooling system backfits. The rulemaking performance. The regulatory analysis is currently with the focuses on the marginal difference in benefits Commission for its and costs for each alternative relative to the consideration.

no action baseline alternative for the three major portions of the rule, which is consistent with the requirements of the backfit rule (10 CFR 50.109), Commission direction, and the ongoing revisions to the agencys cost-benefit guidance (e.g., NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5).

Proposed Rule, The proposed rule (ADAMS Accession No. CRGR completed its 10 CFR 73.53, ML17145A342), if approved, would require review in two meetings, Requirements for certain Fuel Cycle Facility licensees to June 27 and July 12, Cyber Security at establish, implement, and maintain a cyber 2017. This rule contained Nuclear Fuel Cycle security program that can detect, protect backfitting and was Facilities and against, and respond to a cyber-attack endorsed by the CRGR.

associated draft RG, capable of causing one or more of the This rulemaking is (DG) 5062 Cyber consequences of concern as defined in the currently with the Security Programs proposed rule. Commission for its for Nuclear Fuel consideration.

Cycle Facilities RG 5.77, Revision 1, This RG describes an approach that the NRC This item has been Insider Mitigation staff considers acceptable for an insider closed. The staff did not Program identify a backfitting 77

Status of Select Regulatory Activities Title Status of Regulatory Change Backfitting Considerations mitigation program for nuclear power reactors concern. This RG is that contain protected or vital areas. currently being reviewed by the Commission.

34. Please provide a description of actions taken and/or planned to address recommendations made by the CRGR in their report "U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Implementation of Backfitting and Issue Finality Requirements," dated June 27, 2017. Please include a milestone schedule for completing action on each recommendation.

The actions identified in the CRGR Review Report and approved by the EDO in a memo dated July 19, 2017, have been organized into the following activities:

Backfitting Enhancement Tasks from the June 27, 2017, CRGR Review Report Item Task Lead Due Date Status 1 Update agency-level guidance on NRR 05/02/2018 Completed backfitting and issue finality to reflect Commission direction on the use of the compliance exception to the backfit rule and submit for Commission approval.

2 Update office-level implementing NRR, TBD On hold20 guidance on backfitting and issue finality, NMSS, and the Enforcement Manual to reflect NRO, Commission-approved agencywide NSIR, RES, guidance. all Regions, OE 3 Develop and conduct "reset" training for CRGR 02/28/2018 Completed managers and staff on backfitting and issue finality.

4 Conduct interactive training on backfitting CRGR 08/17/2018 Completed and issue finality for all staff with backfitting responsibilities.

5 Develop or update training and/or CRGR, TBD On hold developmental activities on backfitting NRR, and issue finality for inclusion in NMSS, office/regional qualification procedures. NRO, NSIR, RES, all Regions 6 Revise office qualification procedures to CRGR, TBD On hold require initial and refresher training and NRR, developmental activities on backfitting NMSS, and issue finality. (Formerly part of Item NRO, 20 Activity on hold consistent with SRM-SECY-17-0006 dated October 29, 2018, in which the Commission directed the staff to hold further development on agency procedures and guidance governing backfitting pending further Commission direction.

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Backfitting Enhancement Tasks from the June 27, 2017, CRGR Review Report Item Task Lead Due Date Status

  1. 5) NSIR, RES, all Regions 7 Make available "just-in-time" training and CRGR 10/31/2018 Completed references on backfitting and issue finality.

8 Add backfitting information to agency CRGR 09/18/2017 Completed knowledge management Web site.

9 Prepare a NUREG/Knowledge CRGR 08/31/2019 On track Management report on the history and activities of the CRGR.

10 Create a backfitting Community of CRGR 08/31/2017 Completed Practice with office points of contact.

11 Conduct an effectiveness review of CRGR 07/27/2020 On track actions taken in response to the June 27, 2017, CRGR report.

12 Propose a revision to the charter for the CRGR 06/29/2018 Completed CRGR to reflect rulemaking criteria, incorporate recent Commission direction, and enhance rigor of CRGR assessments.

13 Report on the availability of key docketed OCIO 02/28/2018 Completed information categories and the resources needed to make information more readily retrievable.

14 Report on the resources needed to CRGR 10/02/2017 Completed implement the actions in the July 19, 2017, EDO tasking on backfitting.

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REACTOR INSPECTION

35. Please provide the ROP findings for year-to-date and 3-year rolling metrics, including the total number and for each region for green, white, yellow, and red findings.

Location # of 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Findings Nationally Total 824 821 704 560 457 0 NSIR (all regions) 18 26 19 N/A N/A N/A (Note 1)

Green 167 169 155 126 105 0 White 3 4 2 2 1 0 Yellow 0 1 0 0 0 0 RI Red 0 0 0 0 0 0 GTG 1 1 0 0 0 0 Security Total 171 175 157 128 106 0

  1. OP Units 26 25 25 25 25 24 Green 148 159 151 119 109 0 White 4 1 0 3 0 0 Yellow 0 0 0 0 0 0 RII Red 0 0 0 0 0 0 GTG 0 0 1 2 0 0 Security Total 152 160 152 124 109 0
  1. OP Units 32 32 33 33 33 33 Green 221 202 177 133 109 0 White 4 5 1 4 2 0 Yellow 0 0 0 0 0 0 RIII Red 0 0 0 0 0 0 GTG 1 1 1 0 0 0 Security Total 226 208 179 137 111 0
  1. OP Units 23 23 23 23 23 23 Green 249 248 196 167 131 0 White 5 2 1 2 0 0 Yellow 2 1 0 0 0 0 RIV Red 0 0 0 0 0 0 GTG 1 1 0 2 0 0 Security Total 257 252 197 171 131 0
  1. OP Units 19 19 19 19 18 18 NSIR: Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response GTG Security: Greater-than-green security
  1. OP Units: Number of operating units Note:
1. Starting in FY 2017, these finding are included in the findings for each region.

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36. Please provide the percentage of Final Significance Determinations made within 90 Days for all potentially Greater-Than-Green findings, monthly for one-year rolling metrics and annually for the past 10 years.

1-Year Rolling Metric Month Percent Met March 2018 N/A April 2018 100 May 2018 N/A June 2018 N/A July 2018 N/A August 2018 N/A September 2018 N/A October 2018 N/A November 2018 N/A December 2018 100 January 2019 N/A February 2019 N/A 10-Year Annual Determinations Within 90 Days Year Percent Met 2009 100 2010 93 2011 100 2012 100 2013 100 2014 86 2015 88 2016 100 2017 93 2018 100 Comments:

This metric, reported in the NRCs CBJ, measures the time from the issuance date of the first official correspondence that describes the inspection finding, until the final significance determination letter is sent to the licensee, which is expected to be 90 days or less.

37. For each reporting period, please describe each instance where IMC 609 Appendix M, "Significance Determination Process Using Qualitative Criteria," has been applied in the ROP Significance Determination Process, including the justification for doing so.21 Appendix M was not used to disposition any findings during this reporting period.
38. Please provide the status of potential changes to the ROP, and identify any changes that may require Commission approval prior to implementation.

Significant potential changes to the ROP include the following:

21 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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  • The NRC staff is in the process of conducting an assessment of key components of the ROP - including the reactor assessment process and the baseline inspection program -

based on feedback from both internal and external stakeholders. The staff plans to provide the Commission with a paper in mid-2019 on this initiative.

  • Changes to the engineering inspections that will improve effectiveness and efficiency of the inspections. The changes will be implemented in FY 2020.
39. Please describe the progress toward utilizing an industry consensus document as a means of accomplishing predictability and consistency in operability determinations.

The NRC is engaged with nuclear industry stakeholders on their efforts to develop a consensus document for operability determinations. On June 26, 2018, the NRC staff held a public meeting with nuclear industry stakeholders where they presented issues for the staffs consideration in revising IMC 0326, Operability Determinations & Functionality Assessments for Conditions Adverse to Quality or Safety, to improve efficiency and regulatory predictability in operability determinations. The NRC and the industry will discuss industrys observations in more detail through a series of public meetings covering six areas where the industry has identified potential opportunities to enhance efficiency and regulatory predictability for operability determinations. To date, the NRC staff has held four of these focused public meetings and is evaluating the feedback on IMC 0326. The latest public meeting on ASME code evaluations was held February 15, 2019. The next public meeting will take place on April 3, 2019. During this meeting, the NRC plans to provide feedback to the industry on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers code compliance relationship with operability determinations.

40. For each Design Bases Assurance (DBA) Inspection (formerly known as the Component Design Basis Inspection) completed in the last three years, please list the duration, amount of fees billed, and percentage of fees used to reimburse contractors.

The fees are grouped per DBA inspection in order to allow easier review by the reader and facilitate comparison between the costs of DBA inspections performed at each site. Monthly comparison of DBA inspection fees will not provide an accurate representation of each licensees charges due to the fact that the DBA inspections span 2 months.

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83 84 85 2018 Design Bases Assurance (DBA) Inspections Costs, Shown Alphabetically By Site

$700,000.00

$600,000.00

$500,000.00

$400,000.00 Dollars

$300,000.00 35%

36%

$200,000.00 44%

47% 48% 43%

51% 38% 57%

61% 56% 61% 54% 61% 51% 56% 56%

$100,000.00 65% 64% 9% 31%

46% 56% 45%

49% 53% 44% 52% 57%

39% 55% 44% 39% 46% 39% 49% 62% 91% 69% 44% 43%

54%

Note: EQ inspections are not included unless otherwise Site - Report Number indicated. NRC Staff Hours Cost Contractor Cost 86

41. Please provide the status of the holistic review of engineering inspection procedures and any actions taken and/or planned because of the review.22 In late November 2018, SECY-18-0113 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18144A567) was provided to the Commission with recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the engineering inspections. Many of the recommendations contained in the Commission paper are also reflected in a staff memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML18103A174) that captures the recommendations of the ROP Engineering Inspection Working Group to improve the ROP engineering inspections.

NRR management and staff are also currently working with the industry to review and provide feedback on an industry initiative associated with the use of licensee self-assessments in the engineering inspection program.

22 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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NEW REACTORS

42. Please provide a table showing the funds budgeted, the resources spent, and the total Part 170 fees billed each year for the last ten years for NRO.

FY 09 FY 10 FY 11 FY 12 FY 13 FY 14 FY 15 FY 16 FY 17 FY 18 FY 19 Enacted ($M) 106.10 102.66 101.27 94.11 92.49 103.49 87.58 81.92 64.34 65.46 55.55 Expended ($M) 81.16 90.55 89.75 76.06 89.16 67.03 61.46 62.63 54.84 51.69 18.21 Part 170 Billed ($M) 75.73 71.83 60.28 60.18 59.79 60.15 55.67 46.44 7.64 Enacted: Beginning in FY 2018, the NRC eliminated the allocation of mission indirect resources in the agency's budget request to increase transparency (see NRC FY 2018 CBJ page 161 for detailed explanation). To allow for comparison of historical budget data, FY 2009 - FY 2017 are presented in a consistent manner.

Expended: Expenditures include contracts, travel and FTE utilization as of February 28, 2019. The expenditure includes both fee and non-fee recoverable costs for NRO.

Part 170 Billed: For FY 2009 - FY 2010, the data in the legacy billing system is not available at the office level. The next quarterly billing is scheduled for April 2019.

43. For each design certification, Construction and Operating License (COL), and ESP application reviewed since 2007, please provide:
a. The date of the first pre-application meeting;
b. The date the application was filed;
c. Whether the acceptance review was completed in 60 days;
d. The originally scheduled dates for completion of the SER and environmental impact statement;
e. The actual dates for completion of the SER and environmental impact statement;
f. For ongoing reviews, the projected date for final agency action;
g. For terminated or suspended reviews, the dates of the termination or suspension; and the total fees billed for each review.23 23 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

U.S. APWR DC 05/12/2006 12/31/2007 Yes FSER: 06/2012 Application is Not N/A $78,228,988 FEIS: N/A currently Scheduled under review (Note 2)

APR1400 DC 11/05/2009 12/23/2014 Yes FSER: 09/2018 FSER: 09/2019 N/A $61,857,613 FEIS: N/A 09/28/2018 ABWR DC 02/23/2010 12/07/2010 Yes FSER: 03/2018 Application is Schedule N/A $6,295,635 Renewal (GEH) FEIS: N/A currently currently under review under review Turkey Point 02/10/2009 06/30/2009 Yes FSER: 12/2012 FSER: COLs N/A $34,790,538*

COL FEIS: 10/2012 12/2016 issued on FEIS: 04/12/2018 10/2016 Clinch River 12/14/2010 05/12/2016 No FSER: 08/2019 Application is 02/2020 N/A $10,736,697 ESP (Note 3) FEIS: 06/2019 currently under review NuScale SMR 07/09/2008 01/06/2017 Yes FSER: 09/2020 Application is 01/2021 N/A $36,873,952 DC FEIS: N/A currently under review North Anna Information 09/25/2003 Yes FSER: 06/2005 FSER: ESP issued N/A $8,579,177 ESP not known FEIS: 06/2005 08/2006 on FEIS: 11/27/2007 12/2006 89

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

Vogtle ESP Information 08/15/2006 Yes FSER: 05/2008 FSER: ESP issued N/A $11,680,269 not known FEIS: 05/2008 02/2009 on FEIS: 08/26/2009 08/2008 South Texas Information 09/20/2007 Yes FSER: 09/2011 FSER: COL 6/22/2018 $58,469,726 Project COL not known FEIS: 03/2011 09/2015 terminated (withdrawal FEIS: on request) 02/2011 07/12/2018 Bellefonte COL Information 10/30/2007 Yes FSER: 02/2011 Application N/A 03/28/2016 $21,916,556 not known FEIS: 01/2010 withdrawn by (withdrawal the applicant request) 12/02/2016 Withdrawn North Anna Information 11/26/2007 Yes FSER: 08/2010 FSER: COLs N/A $33,032,004*

COL not known FEIS: 12/2009 01/2017 issued on FSEIS: 06/02/2017 02/2010 Lee COL Information 12/12/2007 Yes FSER: 02/2011 FSER: COLs N/A $22,778,515 not known FEIS: 03/2010 08/2016 issued on FEIS: 12/19/2016 12/2013 90

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

U.S. EPR DC 02/08/2005 12/11/2007 Yes FSER: 05/2011 Application N/A 02/25/2015 $82,585,674 FEIS: N/A review is (suspension suspended at request) the applicants request Shearon Harris Information 02/18/2008 Yes FSER: 04/2011 Application N/A 05/02/2013 $10,106,258 COL not known FEIS: 05/2010 review is (suspension suspended at request) the applicants request Vogtle COL Information 03/28/2008 Yes FSER: 12/2010 FSER: COLs N/A $29,770,625 not known FEIS: 01/2010 08/2011 issued on FEIS: 02/10/2012 04/2011 V.C. Summer Information 03/27/2008 Yes FSER: 02/2011 FSER: COLs 12/27/2017 $28,057,913 COL not known FEIS: 02/2011 08/2011 issued on (termination FEIS: 03/30/20125 request) 04/2011 Levy COL Information 07/30/2008 Yes FSER: 05/2011 FSER: COL 01/25/2018 $26,901,490*

not known FEIS: 09/2010 05/2016 terminated (termination FEIS: on request) 04/2012 04/26/2018 91

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

Fermi COL Information 09/18/2008 Yes FSER: 03/2012 FSER: COL issued N/A $25,704,722*

not known FEIS: 08/2011 11/2014 on FEIS: 05/01/2015 01/2013 Comanche Information 09/18/2008 Yes FSER: 12/2011 FSER: N/A N/A 11/07/2013 $23,278,377 Peak COL not known FEIS: 01/2011 FEIS: (suspension 05/2011 request)

Application review is suspended at the applicants request River Bend Information 09/25/2008 Yes A review Application N/A 01/09/2009 $1,350,316 COL not known schedule was withdrawn by (suspension not developed the applicant request) for this application 12/04/2015 (withdrawal request)

Callaway COL Information 07/24/2008 No A review Application N/A 06/23/2009 $4,066,138 not known schedule was withdrawn by (suspension not developed the applicant request) for this application 08/12/2015 (withdrawal request) 92

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

Bell Bend COL Information 10/10/2008 Yes FSER: 03/2012 FSER: N/A N/A 02/25/2015 $20,026,574 not known FEIS: 03/2011 FEIS: (suspension 04/2016 request)

Application withdrawn by 08/30/2016 the applicant (withdrawal request)

PSEG ESP Information 05/25/2010 Yes FSER: 07/2013 FSER: ESP issued N/A $17,917,093 not known FEIS: 03/2013 09/2015 on FEIS: 05/05/2016 11/2015 ABWR DC Information 10/27/2010 Yes A review Application N/A 06/09/2016 $686,911 Renewal not known schedule was withdrawn by (withdrawal (Toshiba) not developed the applicant request) for this application Victoria County Information 03/25/2010 Yes FSER: 04/2013 Application N/A 08/28/2012 $6,146,248 ESP not known FEIS: 08/2013 withdrawn by (withdrawal the applicant request)

Calvert Cliffs Information 07/13/2007 No FSER: 07/2012 FSER: N/A N/A 02/27/2015 $31,400,772 COL not known (Part 1 of FEIS: 03/2010 FEIS: (suspension application) 05/2011 request)

Application 03/14/2008 Yes withdrawn by 06/08/2015 (Part 2 of the applicant (withdrawal application) request) 93

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

Nine Mile Point Information 09/30/2008 Yes A review Application N/A 12/01/2009 $2,687,822 COL not known schedule was withdrawn by (suspension not developed the applicant request) for this 11/26/2013 application (withdrawal request)

Grand Gulf Information 02/27/2008 Yes FSER: 03/2011 Application N/A 02/09/2015 $4,719,505 COL not known FEIS: 05/2010 withdrawn by (withdrawal the applicant request)

Grand Gulf ESP Information 10/21/2003 Yes FSER: 10/2005 FSER: ESP issued N/A $5,352,875 not known FEIS: 10/2005 10/2005 on FEIS: 04/05/2007 04/2006 Clinton ESP Information 09/25/2003 Yes FSER: 08/2005 FSER: ESP issued N/A $5,186,587 not known FEIS: 08/2005 02/2006 on FEIS: 03/15/2007 07/2006 AP1000 DC Information 05/26/2007 Yes FSER: 08/2010 FSER: Final Rule N/A $33,036,394 Amendment not known FEIS: N/A 08/2011 published FEIS: N/A on 12/30/2011 Economic 6/20-21/2002 08/24/2005 No FSER: 06/2009 FSER: Final Rule N/A $68,153,802 Simplified FEIS: N/A 03/2011 published Boiling Water Supplement on Reactor DC FSER: 10/15/2014 09/2014 FEIS: N/A 94

Date of Original Withdrawal Acceptance Review Actual FSER Date of or Total Fees Date the Review Schedule and FEIS (or Projected First Pre- Suspension Billed for Each Project Name Application Completed Dates for EA) Date for Application Request (for Review was Filed in 60 Days FSER and Completion Final NRC Meeting terminated (Note 4)

(Note 1) FEIS (or EA) Dates Action projects Completion only)

ABWR DC Information 06/30/2009 Yes FSER: 04/2010 FSER: Final Rule N/A $1,145,852 Amendment not known FEIS: N/A 10/2010 published FEIS: N/A on 12/16/2011 Victoria County Information 09/03/2008 Yes A review Application N/A 06/11/2010 $1,493,183 COL not known schedule was withdrawn by (withdrawal not developed the applicant request) for this application

  • Reflects refund for erroneous charges related to contested hearings Note 1: NROs acceptance review metric is to complete the acceptance review within 60 days and to issue a letter to the applicant documenting the staffs findings on acceptability within 75 days.

Note 2: The NRC is performing the review of the US APWR at a very reduced pace at the request of the applicant and will continue at this pace until notified by the applicant of a change in its plans. Therefore, no completion date has been established.

Note 3: The acceptance review for the Clinch River ESP application was extended at the request of the applicant, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), by letter dated August 19, 2016.

Note 4: The NRCs 10 CFR Part 170 charges are billed on a quarterly basis. Therefore, updates will be provided in this report to Question 43.h during the reporting periods for January, April, July, and October.

Note 5: On July 31, 2017, one of the V.C. Summer Units 2 & 3 licensees, South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) announced its decision to terminate construction at the site. On December 27, 2017, SCE&G requested termination of the V.C. Summer Units 2 & 3 combined licenses. On January 8, 2018, the other licensee, Santee Cooper, opposed termination of the combined licenses.

These requests are currently under review. On January 25, 2018, as part of a proposed merger between Dominion Energy and SCANA, Dominion, SCANA, and SCE&G applied for an indirect transfer of SCANA and SCE&Gs 2/3 ownership interest in V.C.

Summer Unit 1, the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, and its 55% interest in V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 to Dominion Energy. On September 7, 2018, the NRC approved this indirect transfer. Santee Coopers ownership interest in V.C. Summer Units 1, 2, 3, and the ISFSI is not affected.

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44. Please provide a concise summary of the status of ongoing design certification, COL, and ESP application reviews. Please include a discussion of the issuance of RAls and receipt of responses.

In addition to the updates provided here, each of the DC, COL, and ESP milestone schedules that are under review are publicly available on the NRC website.

DC Applications The NRC employs a 6 Phase schedule to monitor progress towards completion of the safety review. These phases are:

  • Phase 1 - Preliminary SER with RAIs issued to applicant
  • Phase 2 - SER with Open Items issued
  • Phase 3 - Response to ACRS regarding SER with Open Items issued
  • Phase 4 - Advanced SER with no Open Items issued
  • Phase 5 - Response to ACRS regarding SER with no Open Items issued
  • Phase 6 - Final SER issued US-APWR Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) submitted its US-APWR DC application on December 31, 2007. The staff is currently in Phase 2 of the review. By letter dated November 5, 2013, MHI initiated a coordinated slowdown of NRC licensing activities in order to focus its resources towards supporting the restart of the Mitsubishi-designed reactors in Japan following the Fukushima event. The NRC staff has been performing the review of the US-APWR DC application at a very reduced pace and will continue at this reduced pace until further notice from the applicant. As of February 28, 2019, the staff has issued 5,683 RAIs and the applicant has responded to 5,534 of them.

NuScale On January 6, 2017, NuScale submitted the first SMR DC application for review by the NRC.

On March 15, 2017, the NRC completed its acceptance review and docketed the application.

The staff then issued the acceptance review letter to NuScale on March 23, 2017 and developed a full review schedule with public milestones that was transmitted to NuScale on May 22, 2017. On April 11, 2018, the staff completed Phase 1 of the review. The staffs review is currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3. To date the NRC has identified 29 significantly challenging issues requiring resolution and that have the potential to adversely affect the review schedule.

Of these 29 issues, 13 are now considered resolved. On January 17, 2019, the staff issued a letter to NuScale communicating the current status of the DC application review. The letter stated that overall, NuScale and the staff have made substantial progress in bringing issues to closure, and the staff anticipates meeting the Phase 2 public milestone date of May 16, 2019, for the majority of the review areas. However, because of delays in the resolution of several challenging issues, some parts of the review may not meet this public milestone.

Notwithstanding the likelihood that the Phase 2 milestone may be partially missed, the staff assesses that the overall 42-month schedule can still be met, if there is timely resolution of the remaining issues. As of February 28, 2019, the staff has issued 514 RAIs, which included 1,309 questions and the applicant has responded to 1,262 of these questions. Of the 514 RAIs issued, 299 RAIs (~58%) are now closed. As of February 28, 2019, NuScale has responded to approximately 45 percent of RAI questions within the 60 days agreed to in the staffs May 22, 2017, schedule letter for the design certification review.

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DC Renewal Applications ABWR Renewal GEH On December 7, 2010, GEH submitted an application for renewal of the ABWR DC. The NRC staff is currently preparing the SE with no open items. The NRC staff issued a letter to GEH on July 20, 2012, describing 28 design changes that GEH should have included in the application. By letter dated September 17, 2012, GEH stated it planned to address the 28 items in its Revision 6 of the ABWR DCD. By letter dated February 19, 2016, GEH submitted its revised application incorporating the changes to the ABWR DCD. On August 30, 2016, the staff issued a schedule letter to GEH based on resolving all open items by January 2017. However, some open items associated with the review of the application remain unresolved. On August 3, 2017, the staff issued a letter to GEH stating that the NRC will not be able to meet the original schedule outlined in the August 30, 2016, letter due to unresolved issues with the application. The letter also stated that the NRC will issue a revised schedule letter to GEH after additional interactions with the applicant are held to resolve these issues and the staff receives complete responses to the NRCs RAIs. As of February 28, 2019, the staff has issued 37 RAIs and the applicant has responded to all of them.

ESP Applications The NRC employs a 4 Phase schedule to monitor the progress towards completion of the safety review. These phases are:

  • Phase A - Preliminary SER and RAIs issued to the applicant
  • Phase B - Advanced SER with No Open Items Developed
  • Phase C - ACRS meeting on Advanced SER
  • Phase D - Final SER issued The NRC also employs a 4 Phase schedule to monitor completion of the environmental impact statement. These phases are:
  • Phase 1 - Scoping Summary Report issued
  • Phase 3 - Responses to draft DEIS comments completed
  • Phase 4 - Final EIS issued to EPA Clinch River On May 12, 2016, TVA submitted an ESP application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. By letter dated August 11, 2016, TVA identified certain aspects of the application for which it intended to provide supplemental information. The NRC responded to TVA in a letter dated August 19, 2016, and informed TVA that its application would remain in a tendered but not docketed status until all of the supplemental information was provided to NRC. By December 15, 2016, TVA had provided the supplemental information in support of its application, and by letter dated January 5, 2017, the NRC staff informed TVA that its application, as supplemented, was acceptable for docketing and detailed technical review.

NRC staff began its detailed technical review of the ESP application in January 2017 and developed a full review schedule with public milestones that was transmitted to TVA on March 17, 2017. The Phase A safety review for all chapters of the application was completed by the staff on August 4, 2017. The staff completed Phase B of its review on October 17, 2018.

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Phase C review activities took place in parallel with Phase B for some SEs sections. On December 6, 2018, the NRC staff completed safety public milestone, Phase C - ACRS Review and Meetings on Advanced SEs. Phase C was scheduled to be completed by March 26, 2019, thus the staffs review is currently significantly ahead of schedule. As of February 28, 2019, the staff has issued 50 safety-related RAI questions and the applicant has responded to all 50 RAI questions. One hundred percent of the RAI questions issued and responded to are closed. The final SER is currently scheduled to be issued in August 2019. For the environmental review, NRC staff completed Phase 1 of the review on October 30, 2017. Additionally, the NRC staff completed Phase 2 by issuing the draft EIS on April 27, 2018. The public comment period for the draft EIS closed on July 13, 2018. Based on one of the comments received from the applicant, the staff issued one environmental RAI question in September 2018, and the applicant responded to the RAI in October 2018. The final EIS is scheduled to be completed by June 2019.

On June 12, 2017, the SACE, Tennessee Environmental Coalition, and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed petitions seeking a hearing. The ASLB denied the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense Leagues petition to intervene and granted the SACE and the TECs joint petition to intervene and admitted two contentions. Separately, TVA appealed the admission of the two contentions to the Commission, and the Commission upheld the admission of one contention and dismissed the other. In April 2018, the staff published its draft EIS two months ahead of the public milestone. On May 21, 2018, SACE/TEC submitted two new contentions on the draft EIS. On July 31, 2018, the ASLB issued a memorandum and order (LBP-18-04) denying the Intervenors motion for leave to file new contentions, granted TVAs and the NRC Staffs Motions to dismiss the remaining admitted contention, and terminated the contested proceeding. The Boards decision was not appealed. The Commission will conduct the mandatory hearing on the application. The schedule for the mandatory hearing will be established after the final EIS and FSER are completed.

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45. For reactors under construction, please provide:

Project Name Project Type Licensing Status Vogtle Unit 3 COL Holder COL issued on 02/10/2012 Vogtle Unit 4 COL Holder COL issued on 02/10/2012

a. The number of NRC inspections and ITAAC reviews forecast to be completed per month versus the number completed each month; NRC Inspections ITAAC Inspections:

Comments:

The graph above tracks, by month, the number of ITAAC inspections completed and the number of ITAAC inspections not completed for ITAAC Closure Notifications (ICNs) that had been received. For each ITAAC, there are predetermined inspections to be completed in order to provide assurance that the licensee has met the design commitments and that the ITAAC acceptance criteria are met. An ITAAC inspection is comprised of multiple inspection activities that may be performed over days, weeks, or months.

For this graph, the term ITAAC Inspections Completed means that all the associated NRC inspection activities tied to that ITAAC have been completed, verified, and marked Inspection Complete in the NRC database. The term ITAAC Inspections Not Complete for ICNs Submitted represents the number of ITAACs for which the completed box in the NRC database has not been checked for ICNs that had been submitted by the licensee.

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Because of the coordination between the NRCs inspections and the licensees construction activities, the majority of the required inspections are scheduled and completed prior to the ICN submittal. The completion of these ITAAC-related inspections closely mirrors the completion status of the licensees (Southern Nuclear Operating Company) associated work activities. Changes to the licensees construction schedule due to weather conditions, work sequencing, and other factors impact when NRC inspections can be performed.

ITAAC Closure Notifications Reviews:

The NRCs goal is to complete 90 percent of ICN reviews within 60 days. However, some ICN reviews may be completed in significantly less time. Conversely, complex ICN reviews may require more than 60 days to complete. For this reason, it is difficult for the NRC to forecast in which month a specific ICN review will be completed based on its submittal date. Therefore, the NRC relies on the metrics reported in its response to question 45.b.

b. The percentage of NRC inspections and the percentage of ITAAC reviews completed within 30 days and within two months; New Reactor Inspection Status:

Comments:

This graph represents the percentage of NRC inspections associated with ITAAC that have been completed with respect to the total number of inspections required for the Vogtle facility. Planned inspection activities are evaluated and updated to ensure they align with licensees work activities.

For this graph, the term ITAAC Inspections Completed means a specific inspection activity/plan is completed, verified, and approved in the NRC database. Monthly, this number 100

of completed ITAAC inspection activities is compared to the total number of all the required ITAAC inspection activities/plans for the Vogtle Units 3 and 4 ITAAC inspection program.

Once all the associated ITAAC inspection activities are completed, verified, and approved, then Inspection Complete is marked in the NRC database. This information is presented earlier in Graph 45.a.

The graph reports Program Inspections Completed since the start of construction for the Vogtle facility, which include both programs required for construction and operation of Units 3 and 4. There are a total of five construction programs, which include Quality Assurance, Fitness for Duty, and ITAAC Management. In addition, there are a total of 20 operational programs, which include Fire Protection, Emergency Preparedness, Reactor Operator Training, and Security. The graph depicts the percentage of planned inspections that are completed, and does not account for the level of effort required for inspections.

The percentage of Vogtle 3&4 ITAAC Inspections Completed has decreased over the last three months due to the increase in the development of electrical inspection plans. Based on risked-informed insights and inspection lessons learned, the staff revised these inspection plans to ensure that they were appropriately scoped for the work. Although there was an increase in the number of inspection plans, this effort allowed the estimate of the total number of inspection hours in the area of electrical to decrease. The integrated test program is also creating inspection plans for ITAAC related component and pre-operational testing requirements. The majority of this current effort to create and/or revise inspection plans is expected to continue until the anticipated completion by mid-year 2019. Region II Division of Construction Oversight continuously revisits the inspection plans and associated processes with respect to the changes in Southern Nuclear Operating Companys construction schedule and licensing requirements to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the inspection plans and to maintain readiness.

Timeliness of ITAAC Closure Notification Reviews:

Comments:

This bar chart shows the percentage of ICN reviews completed each month within 30 days and within 60 days. For the reporting period of February 2018, no new ICNs were received for 101

review for both units, while one ICN was approved and no resubmittals were required. The ITAAC metric of 60 days was met.

c. For ITAAC reviews completed during the reporting period, please provide the date when the NRC received the ITAAC closure notice and the date when the review was completed.

For the current reporting period of February 2019, one ICN review was completed.

46. For reactors under construction, please provide:
a. The number of license amendment reviews forecast to be completed in the reporting period;
b. The number completed in the reporting period; and
c. The number of those that were completed within 30 days.

Number of License Amendment Reviews Number of Those that Reporting Number Completed in the Forecast to be were Completed Period Reporting Period Completed in the within 30 Days Reporting Period February 2019 1 2 0

47. For reactors under construction, please provide the budgeted resources versus actual expenditures each month for the last 24 months.

The NRC does not formulate the budget on a monthly basis. The annual budget for construction resources is provided below. The monthly budgeted resources provided below are calculated as 1/12th of the annual budgeted construction resources.

FY 2017 Enacted Budget ($K) $14,191 FY 2018 Enacted Budget ($K) $10,467 FY 2019 Enacted Budget ($K) $10,203 Budgeted Resources Total Expended Month

($K) ($K)

Mar-2017 $1,183 $1,048 Apr-2017 $1,183 $859 May-2017 $1,183 $990 June-2017 $1,183 $1,058 July-2017 $1,183 $1,129 Aug-2017 $1,183 $886 Sept-2017 $1,183 $808 102

FY 2017 Enacted Budget ($K) $14,191 FY 2018 Enacted Budget ($K) $10,467 FY 2019 Enacted Budget ($K) $10,203 Budgeted Resources Total Expended Month

($K) ($K)

Oct-2017 $872 $753 Nov-2017 $872 $763 Dec-2017 $872 $623 Jan-2018 $872 $770 Feb-2018 $872 $767 Mar-2018 $872 $879 Apr-2018 $872 $895 May-2018 $872 $858 June-2018 $872 $788 July-2018 $872 $776 Aug-2018 $872 $884 Sept-2018 $872 $678 Oct-2018 $850 $785 Nov-2018 $850 $765 Dec-2018 $850 $736 Jan-2019 $850 $700 Feb-2019 $850 $684

48. Please provide a concise summary of the status of licensing and inspection for Vogtle 3 &

4, including any challenges to the timely resolution of: licensing issues, 10 CFR Part 52 interpretations, completion of inspections, or completion of ITAAC reviews.24 The NRC issued COLs to SNC and several co-owners on February 10, 2012, for two AP1000 units at the Vogtle site near Augusta, GA. As construction progresses, the NRC has increased the pace of construction inspections to verify compliance with the agencys regulations and to ensure that the new plants are constructed in accordance with their COLs. A summary of the license amendment inventory for Vogtle 3 & 4 is included in response to question 13. There are currently no challenges with timely resolution of licensing issues for Vogtle 3 & 4.

The graphs provided in Item 45 of this report represent the completion status of ITAAC inspections and ICN reviews. The completion of these ITAAC-related inspections closely mirrors the completion status of the licensees work activities associated with the ITAAC. The graphs also display the percentage of completed program inspections, which are separate from the ITAAC-related inspections, and include both construction and operational programs. For ITAAC reviews, the NRC tracks the timeliness of ICNs reviewed and closed. In the past year the NRC has increased communication with the licensee and other external stakeholders through various public meetings and workshops to improve processes that support ICN closure, including inspection related activities. The NRC is implementing an integrated project plan that overlays key NRC activities on top of the licensees construction and start-up schedule. In 24 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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addition, the Vogtle Readiness Group (VRG) was created to provide division-level management attention to the timely implementation of the integrated project plan. NRC management is in regular contact with the VRG and the licensee to ensure effective communication and the timely resolution of issues.

Additionally, NRC has established metrics to represent the different aspects of the ICN review process and the inspection program. The metrics track performance, reinforce accountability, and communicate issues needing attention at the appropriate management levels. These metrics enhance early engagement of NRC management and are key internal and external communications tools. With the improvements identified to the processes and increased communication with the licensee, the staff does not foresee any major challenges in 2019.

49. Please describe any actions taken in the past 3 years or planned to improve the efficiency of new plant reviews, including milestone schedules to implement efficiency improvements.

Please include any concerns arising from review experience in the past 3 years.25 The NRC proactively identifies ways to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its new reactor reviews. For oversight of licensing activities at the Vogtle site, NRO senior managers have established quarterly meetings with the licensee executives to monitor progress of licensing activities supporting construction at the site. The Licensing Action Review Meetings provide an opportunity for both the NRC and SNC to be strategic in identifying and resolving topics that are needed to support construction.

Similarly, for the NuScale review, the NRC senior managers meet with NuScale executives quarterly. These meetings provide executives from both organizations the opportunity to discuss progress on known review challenges, to identify emerging issues, and to establish timelines for resolving these emerging issues to keep the project review on schedule.

Starting in mid-2017, the NRO management team developed and implemented new internal metrics to better track the timeliness related to the review of LARs supporting Vogtle licensing efforts. These metrics have identified license amendments that have been under lengthy reviews and have focused managements attention on the actions necessary to complete these reviews. The management and project managers meet biweekly to identify amendment requests that may require elevated management attention and to track the progress of license amendments, with particular attention to amendment requests that have been in review for 120 days or longer. NRO management has set an internal goal of completing all license amendment reviews within 180 days of their acceptance. With additional management attention and better use of pre-application meetings, NRO has been able to improve the timeliness of reviews.

NRO has also incorporated many of the lessons-learned from previous new reactor reviews into its review activities for the active DC and ESP applications. As discussed in response to question 24, NRO implemented an initiative in 2018 to improve the quality and safety focus of RAIs. The staff is also enhancing use of the regulatory audit tool.

25 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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NRO has instituted an Enhanced Safety Focus Review initiative for the NuScale design certification review. This initiative focuses the staffs review on first-of-a-kind or high safety, high risk areas of the design, and simplifies the review of lower safety or risk significant areas.

In addition, the NRC has made significant progress on initiatives to enhance the regulatory framework for non-LWRs. For example, in December 2017, the NRC issued the Regulatory Review Roadmap for Non-Light Water Reactors, which described flexible review options including the use of a staged-review process and the use of conceptual design assessments during the pre-application period. The actions for advanced reactor reviews are described more fully in response to question 52.

50. Please provide a list of any unresolved policy issues with regard to the licensing of SMRs.

Please include an approximate date for when each issue was first raised, any actions taken or planned to resolve the issue, the milestone scheduled for resolution, and the projected date for resolution.26 Issue Title/Applicability Status References I. Appropriate Source In the December 29, 2011, memorandum to the Term, Dose Commission, the staff stated it would remain Staff Draft Calculations, and engaged with SMR stakeholders regarding White Paper Siting for SMRs applications of mechanistic source term (MST) (11/29/17) methods, review of pre-application white papers Applicability: SMRs and and topical reports it receives from potential SECY-16-0012 non-LWRs SMR applicants concerning source term issues (02/07/16) that discuss design-specific proposals to address MST, and considerations of research Commission and development in this area. If necessary, the Memo staff would propose revised review guidance or (06/20/14) regulations, or propose new guidance to support reviews of SMRs. Commission Memo In Commission memoranda dated May 30, (05/30/13) 2013, and June 20, 2014, the staff provided updates on interactions with DOE and nuclear Commission industry organizations regarding MST. On Memo February 7, 2016, the staff provided the (12/29/11)

Commission SECY-16-0012, which addressed this item. The paper concluded that (1) SMR and non-LWR applicants can employ modern analysis tools to demonstrate quantitatively the safety features of those designs, and (2) MST analysis methods can also be used by applicants to demonstrate the ability of the enhanced safety features of plant designs to mitigate accident releases, allow future COL applicants to consider reduced distances to Exclusion Area Boundaries and Low Population Zones and potentially increase proximity to population centers.

26 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

105

Issue Title/Applicability Status References Disposition: The staff has engaged with interested stakeholders on this issue in 2017.

The staff developed a draft white paper summarizing the assessment of current siting regulations, guidance, and Commission policy and discussed it in a public meeting on December 14, 2017. During a May 3, 2018, public meeting, NEI provided feedback on this topic on behalf of the nuclear industry. The NEI stated their position that RG 4.7, General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations, should be updated to scale the population density guidance based on the smaller source term and lower probability of release anticipated for SMRs and advanced reactors. The staff is working with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop a draft technical report to identify potential alternative siting criteria for SMRs and non-LWRs that recognizes the possible reduced offsite releases for advanced reactor designs.

The report will provide insights to the staff for informing its plans to develop additional regulatory guidance, as appropriate, for SMR and non-LWR siting. The paper is scheduled to be finalized by mid-2019. The staff will report to the Commission on any proposed actions, as described in SECY-16-0012.

II. Offsite Emergency In SECY-11-0152, the staff identified a possible SECY-18-0103 Planning (EP) approach for a scalable EP zone for SMRs. The 10/12/18 Requirements for NRO staff is working with NSIR and NRR on an SMRs and other new internal working group to review these issues Final technology. further. As part of the approach, the staff would Regulatory liaise with other stakeholders (Department of Basis Applicability: SMRs and Homeland Security/Federal Emergency (10/16/17) non-LWRs Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of State, SRM-SECY Department of Commerce, NEI, American 0069 (06/22/16)

Nuclear Society (ANS), and the public), consider NEI position papers on this topic and develop SECY-16-0069 recommendations. (05/31/16)

In a May 30, 2013, Commission memorandum, SRM-SECY the staff provided updates on its EP activities. 0077 (08/04/15)

The staff stated that it would not propose new SECY-15-0077 policy or revise guidance for specific changes to (05/29/15)

EP requirements absent specific proposals from industry stakeholders. NEI Response to NRC On December 23, 2013, NEI submitted a white 106

Issue Title/Applicability Status References paper on this topic. The staff conducted a public Questions on meeting to discuss the white paper on White Paper April 8, 2014, issued follow-up questions to NEI (11/19/14) on June 11, 2014, and received NEI responses in November 2014. On May 29, 2015, the staff NRC Letter to issued SECY-15-0077 regarding EP for SMRs NEI (R. Bell) and non-LWRs. On August 4, 2015, the (06/11/14)

Commission approved the staff's recommendation to initiate a rulemaking. The NEI White Paper (12/23/13) staff developed SECY-16-0069, which discussed the rulemaking plan and schedule.

Commission On June 22, 2016, the Commission approved Memo the staff's plan and schedule for the rulemaking. (05/30/13)

Disposition: The rulemaking will address EP SECY-11-0152 issues for future SMRs, non-LWRs, and other (10/28/11) new design technologies such as isotope producing facilities. The Commission directed the staff to utilize exemptions in the interim (e.g.,

for the TVA ESP) until completion of the EP rulemaking. The draft regulatory basis was published for public comment in the FR on April 13, 2017. A public meeting was held May 10, 2017, to discuss the draft regulatory basis. The public comment period closed on June 27, 2017.

After considering the public comments, the staff issued the final regulatory basis on October 16, 2017. The staff discussed this rulemaking during a June 14, 2018, stakeholder meeting.

The staff released the draft proposed rule language on August 1, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18213A264) to support ACRS briefings on August 22 and October 4, 2018. The proposed rule was provided to the Commission for its consideration in SECY-18-0103 on October 12, 2018.

III. Insurance and In SECY-11-0178, the staff identified a potential SECY-11-0178 Liability for SMRs inequity between the insurance requirements for (12/22/11) facilities with power reactors that produce Applicability: SMRs and electrical power equal or greater than 100 MWe non-LWRs per unit and multi-module facilities with SMR designs that individually produce less than 100 MWe, but, in combination, produce more than 100 MWe. Specifically, the staff raised the question of whether, under the current Price-Anderson Act and associated regulatory language, insurance and indemnity coverage would be sufficient to pay all public claims in the case of an insurable event at a multi-module 107

Issue Title/Applicability Status References facility where an individual module is sized at less than 100 MWe.

Since completing that paper, the staff prepared a comparative analysis of different SMR designs to further explore the potential inequity. The staff is also evaluating the differences in potential consequences for postulated accidents for non-LWR designs in relation to insurance and liability requirements. The staff is using these analyses, and other inputs, to identify whether to recommend any changes to the Price-Anderson Act for SMRs and non-LWRs.

Disposition: In accordance with the latest version of the Price-Anderson Act, the NRC will prepare a report to Congress, and an associated SECY paper, for the Commissions consideration, recommending the need for continuation or modification of the provisions of the Price-Anderson Act by December 31, 2021.

This report and SECY paper will address any changes that the staff recommends for non-LWRs and SMRs.

The staff engaged stakeholders on this topic during a November 2, 2017, public meeting and the staff will continue to keep stakeholders informed as the report to Congress is prepared.

IV. Security and In SECY-11-0184, the staff informed the SRM-SECY Safeguards Commission of its determination that the current 0076 Requirements for regulatory framework is adequate to certify, (11/20/18)

SMRs approve, and license light-water SMRs, the manufacturing of SMR fuel, transportation of Applicability: SMRs and special nuclear material and irradiated fuel, and SECY-18-0076 non-LWRs the interim storage of irradiated fuel proposed (08/01/18) for light-water SMRs under 10 CFR Parts 50, 52, 70, 71, and 72, respectively. The staff also determined that security and material control Staff Draft and accounting requirements in 10 CFR Parts White Paper 72, 73, and 74, respectively, are also adequate. (11/29/17)

In the case of non-LWRs, the staff's preliminary NEI White conclusion is that the current security regulatory Paper framework is comprehensive and sufficiently (12/14/16) robust to certify, approve, and license non-LWRs. Sufficient provisions are available to SECY-11-0184 provide flexibility for designers and applicants to (12/29/11) meet performance-based and prescriptive security requirements and to apply methods or approaches to achieve the objective of high 108

Issue Title/Applicability Status References assurance that activities involving special nuclear materials are not inimical to the common defense and security and do not constitute an unreasonable risk to public health. On December 14, 2016, NEI submitted a white paper on a "Proposed Consequence-Based Physical Security Framework for Small Modular Reactors and Other New Technologies." This paper "... proposes an approach to security that considers the enhanced safety and security incorporated into these designs and provides a more effective and efficient means to protect the public health and safety." In the transmittal letter, NEI requests that "... the NRC establish regulatory positions on this approach and the associated policy and technical issues." NEI submitted a fee waiver request for NRCs review of this white paper.

Disposition: The NRC approved NEI's fee waiver request and met with NEI on May 3, 2017, to discuss the review of their submittal.

The NRC provided feedback on NEIs white paper in July 2017, and met with NEI again on October 12, 2017. The staff prepared a draft white paper to facilitate stakeholder interactions.

The staff discussed this white paper with NEI and other stakeholders on December 13, 2017.

The staff considered stakeholder input and prepared SECY-18-0076, Options for Physical Security For Light-Water Small Modular Reactors And Non-Light-Water Reactors, which was sent to the Commission on August 1, 2018.

On November 19, 2018, the Commission directed the staff to initiate a limited-scope revision to regulations and guidance related to physical security for advanced reactors and approved, subject to edits, a related rulemaking plan. During a December 13, 2018, Advanced Reactor Stakeholder meeting, participants discussed the scope of potential changes to physical security requirements. The staff is preparing a draft regulatory basis to issue for public comment in late FY 2019 as described in the rulemaking plan.

V. Functional In SECY-93-0092, Issues Pertaining to the SRM-SECY Containment Advanced Reactor (PRISM, MHGTR, and PIUS) 0096 (12/04/18)

Performance and Candu 3 Designs and their Relationship to Current Regulatory Requirements, the staff Applicability: Non-LWRs proposed to evaluate the acceptability of SECY-18-0096 109

Issue Title/Applicability Status References proposed designs using a standard based upon 09/28/18 containment functional performance rather than to rely exclusively on prescriptive containment Staff Draft design criteria. The staff also informed the White Paper Commission that it intended to approach this by (11/27/17) comparing containment performance with the accident evaluation criteria. In SRM-SECY SECY-05-0006 0092, the Commission approved the staff's (01/07/05) recommendation.

SRM-SECY Subsequently, in SECY-03-0047, the staff 0047 (06/26/03) recommended that the Commission approve the use of functional performance requirements to SECY-03-0047 establish the acceptability of a containment or (03/28/03) confinement structure (i.e., a non-pressure retaining building may be acceptable provided SRM-SECY the performance requirements can be met) and 092 (07/30/93) the staff proposed that functional performance requirements be developed. In SRM-SECY SECY-93-092 0047, the Commission disapproved the staffs (04/08/93) recommendation stating that there was insufficient information at the time for the Commission to prejudge the best options and make a decision on the viability of a confinement building. The Commission directed the staff to develop performance requirements and criteria working closely with industry experts (e.g.,

designers, EPRI, etc.) and other stakeholders regarding options in this area, taking into account such features as core, fuel, and cooling systems design. The Commission also directed the staff to pursue the development of functional performance standards and then submit options and recommendations to the Commission.

In SECY-05-0006, the staff discussed many of the concepts developed in previous communications between the staff and Commission on the topic of functional containment performance and, as directed in SRM-SECY-03-0047, outlined the attributes for a functional containment. The topic of functional containment was also addressed as part of the next-generation nuclear plant project in the context of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. In light of the broad range of non-light water designs under consideration, the staff engaged the Commission to confirm whether the existing Commission direction in SRM-SECY-93-0092 should be applied more broadly to 110

Issue Title/Applicability Status References additional advanced reactor designs and to propose a risk-informed, performance-based approach to establishing performance criteria for structures, systems, and components and corresponding programs to limit the release of radioactive materials from advanced reactors.

Disposition: The staff has engaged stakeholders on this topic at several public meetings. The staff prepared a draft white paper on functional containment performance to facilitate stakeholder interactions. The staff discussed this white paper with stakeholders on December 14, 2017, and February 1, 2018, and with the ACRS on February 22 and April 5, 2018. The ACRS provided a letter on May 10, 2018. The staff considered ACRS and stakeholder feedback and prepared SECY 0096, Functional Containment Performance Criteria for Non-Light-Water-Reactors, that was provided to the Commission on September 28, 2018. In SECY-18-0096, the staff recommended Commission approval of a proposed methodology for establishing functional containment performance criteria for non-LWRs in a manner that is technology inclusive, risk informed, and performance based.

In SRM-SECY-18-0096, the Commission approved the staffs proposed methodology for establishing functional containment performance criteria for non-LWRs. The Commission also requested that the staff continue to keep them informed as it develops the licensing framework for non-LWRs and notify the Commission if future policy issues arise as this work progresses. The staff is incorporating the methodology for functional containment performance criteria in ongoing activities, such as the preparation of DG-1353, future revisions of RG 1.232, and interactions with specific designers.

51. Please provide a list of any unresolved policy issues with regard to the licensing of advanced non-LWRs. Please include an approximate date for when each issue was first raised, any actions taken or planned to resolve the issue, the milestone schedule, and the projected date for resolution.27 27 No new information was added to this section since the last report.

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See response to question 50. All of the SMR policy issues listed in that response are also applicable to non-light water designs. In addition, there is one non-light water specific issue included on that list: functional containment performance.

52. Please describe the status of preparations to review non-LWR applications including a milestone schedule and completion dates.

The agency has developed a vision and strategy to assure NRC readiness to conduct its mission for these technologies effectively and efficiently as described in NRC Vision and Strategy: Safely Achieving Effective and Efficient Non-Light Water Reactor Mission Readiness, which was published in the FR on July 21, 2016, for stakeholder input. The NRC updated this document (ADAMS Accession No. ML16356A670) to reflect stakeholder feedback and made it publicly available in December of 2016.

The NRCs non-LWR vision and strategy has three strategic objectivesenhancing technical readiness, optimizing regulatory readiness, and optimizing communication. The NRC has developed implementation action plans (IAPs) to identify the specific activities the NRC will conduct in the near-term (0-5 years), mid-term (5-10 years), and long-term (beyond 10 years) timeframes to achieve non-LWR readiness. In the fall of 2016, the NRC released its draft near-term IAPs to obtain stakeholder feedback. The staff also developed draft mid- and long-term IAPs, which were released to the public in February of 2017. The staff updated its IAPs to reflect stakeholder feedback in July of 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17165A069 and ML17164A173).

The staff issued SECY-19-0009, "Advanced Reactor Program Status" (ADAMS Accession No. ML18346A075) on January 17, 2019. This paper provides the status of the NRC staff's activities related to advanced reactors, including the progress and path forward on each of the IAP strategies. It also provides an overview of the various external factors influencing the staff's activities to prepare for possible licensing and deployment of advanced reactors.

There are 6 individual strategies addressed in the near-term IAPs. These strategies, and the activities in support of each strategy, are discussed below.

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy

1) Acquire/develop sufficient
  • NRC contracted with the Oak Ridge National knowledge, technical Laboratory to develop a 12-module training course on skills, and capacity to Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs). The course provided perform non-LWR background on various MSR concepts presently under regulatory activities development, including history of earlier MSR projects, descriptions of conceptual designs, and expected technical and regulatory challenges. About 90 NRC staff attended the training along with several DOE staff in three separate 2-day sessions in May, August, and November 2017. Additional training on sodium-cooled fast reactors was held on March 26-27, 2019, and additional training on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors is scheduled for April 16-17, 2019.
  • NRC developed models of the competencies required for reviewing advanced reactor designs. Project managers and technical reviewers in NRO are 112

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy currently in the process of assessing their skills against the models. Supervisors will also be able to complete an independent assessment of their employees skills. Based on assessment results, any skill gaps that may exist can be identified and the system will help the employee identify developmental activities and create an individual development plan to close those gaps.

2) Acquire/develop sufficient
  • The staff attended DOE and NRC-sponsored computer codes and tools workshops and technology working groups, sought to perform non-LWR additional information through pre-application regulatory reviews interactions, and focused its training efforts to better understand the reactor systems under development.

In the near-term, these efforts are focused on the following areas: Reactor Kinetics and Criticality, Fuel Performance, Thermal-Fluid Phenomena, Severe Accident Phenomena, Offsite Consequence Analysis, Materials and Component Integrity, and PRA.

  • An initial screening of analysis codes for design-basis and beyond-design-basis event simulation was completed, and a suite of tools for further examination and consideration has been identified. The code suite comprises both NRC-developed and DOE-developed codes. Future efforts will evaluate codes in the code suite against analysis requirements.
  • A PIRT exercise was conducted for molten salt reactors. The PIRT focused attention on fuel salt MSRs due to their novel and unique feature of fuel being part of the coolant. The PIRT is considered preliminary in that design specifics are not available, but it is useful in that several phenomena requiring simulation could be identified based on existing information.
  • The staff completed a PRA report that summarizes previous work and issues for non-LWRs and identifies several policy decisions that may need to be made for non-LWRs.
  • On August 21, 2018, DOE briefed the ACRS on advanced computer models for reactor safety applications including models under development for non-LWRs. A follow-up ACRS briefing was held November 16, 2018, where the NRC staff briefed the ACRS on the role of confirmatory calculations in regulatory decision making, and non-LWR developers 113

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy discussed their plans for modeling and simulation tools.

  • In FY 2019, the staff will continue to engage with the stakeholders, including the ACRS on May 1, 2019, and plans to complete reports that will provide a coherent basis and technical rationale for the selection of computer codes, and related development activities, in support of safety reviews of non-LWR designs. The reports will describe the factors used to select the codes, the work necessary to achieve readiness to support the safety reviews, and the approach that will be taken in prioritizing resources for code development activities.
3) Develop guidance for a
  • In October 2017, the staff issued a preliminary draft of flexible non-LWR A Regulatory Review Roadmap for Non-Light Water regulatory review process Reactors (ADAMS Accession No. ML17279B177),

within the bounds of and discussed it with stakeholders on November 2, existing regulations, 2017. The NRC issued the final regulatory review including the use of roadmap on December 26, 2017 (ADAMS Accession conceptual design No. ML17312B567).

reviews and staged-review processes

  • In June 2017, the NRC issued a preliminary draft document, "Nuclear Power Reactor Testing Needs and Prototype Plants for Advanced Reactor Designs,"

to solicit stakeholder feedback (ADAMS Accession No. ML17025A353). This document describes the relevant regulations governing the testing requirements for advanced reactors, describes the process for determining testing needs to meet the NRC's regulatory requirements, clarifies when a prototype plant might be needed and how it might differ from the proposed standard plant design, and describes licensing strategies and options that include the use of a prototype plant to meet the NRC's testing requirements. The NRC addressed stakeholder feedback and issued the final prototype document as part of the Regulatory Review Roadmap on December 26, 2017.

  • On February 3, 2017, the NRC issued DG-1330, "Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors" for formal public comment.

The staff briefed the ACRS subcommittee on the draft final RG in February 2018 and the ACRS Full Committee in March 2018. On April 3, 2018, the NRC issued the final RG 1.232 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17325A611), along with the, "Public Comment Resolution Table" (ADAMS Accession No.

114

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy ML17325A616). The notice of availability of RG 1.232 was published in the FR on April 9, 2018.

  • The NRC has engaged with the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP) being led by Southern Company, coordinated by the NEI, and cost-shared by DOE. The LMP's objective is to develop technology-inclusive, risk-informed, and performance based regulatory guidance for licensing non-LWRs for the NRC's consideration and possible endorsement. The NRC has reviewed four LMP white papers and sent a letter to the LMP on February 21, 2018, concluding its review of the white papers. On March 29, 2018, industry submitted a working draft of a consolidated guidance document titled "Risk-Informed Performance-Based Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactor Licensing Basis Development," to support discussions during an April 5 and 6, 2018 public meeting. The NRC also held public meetings on June 5 and 6, 2018, August 21, 2018, and September 13, 2018 to discuss Southern Companys updated draft LMP document and to obtain stakeholder feedback on the NRC staff's working draft of DG-1353 regarding potential endorsement of the LMP document. The staff and industry also briefed the ACRS Future Plant Subcommittee on June 19 and October 30, 2018. In preparation for the October 30, 2018, ACRS meeting, the industry issued a September 28, 2018, revision of the LMP document (as NEI 18-04) and the NRC staff released its September 28, 2018, working draft of DG-1353. The staff briefed the ACRS Full Committee on February 6, 2019, and plans to issue DG-1353 for public comment in March 2019.
4) Facilitate industry codes
  • The staff is actively participating in subgroups and and standards needed to working groups associated with the development of support the non-LWR life ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel (B&PV) Code, cycle (including fuels and Section III, Division 5. The staff is also participating in materials) the Task Group on ASME/NRC Liaison for Division 5 that seeks NRC, DOE, and industry stakeholder input in identifying gaps in ASME B&PV Code Section III, Division 5, which need to be resolved prior to considering endorsement in 10 CFR 50.55a. The staff discussed this topic during a public meeting on December 14, 2017. ASME sent a letter to the staff confirming that advanced reactor developers support NRC endorsement of the 2017 edition of ASME Section III, Division 5. Therefore, the staff is initiating the endorsement process. ASME also plans to submit 115

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy a technical basis document for the 2017 edition. The staff discussed its plans for endorsement of ASME Section III Division 5 during the NRCs annual standards forum on September 11, 2018, and during a periodic advanced reactor stakeholder meeting held on September 13, 2018.

  • The staff is actively participating on several ANS standards working groups and consensus committees related to non-LWR safety standards and the joint ASME/ANS non-LWR PRA standard. On February 7, 2019, the NRC Standards Executive issued a letter to ASME Board Chair and ANS Standards Board Chair (ADAMS Accession No. ML19031C904) communicating the priority of various PRA standard development activities. The NRC has identified completion of the non-LWR PRA standard as a high priority consistent with NEIMA.
  • On September 26, 2017, the NRC held the second annual NRC Standards Forum, which was attended by representatives from many standards development organizations, representatives from industry (NEI, the EPRI, and Technology Working Groups for non-LWRs), and representatives from DOE and DOE national labs. A portion of this years standards forum was devoted to non-LWRs with the intent of working with stakeholders to identify new codes and standards needed for non-LWR development and to facilitate the codes and standards development and eventual endorsement by the NRC, as appropriate. A follow-up workshop on advanced reactor standards development was hosted by ANS and the NRC on May 2, 2018. On September 11, 2018, the staff held the third annual NRC Standards Forum, during which ANS provided an update on advanced reactor codes and standards development activities.
5) Identify and resolve
  • The NRCs key activities related to the resolution of technology-inclusive (not policy issues in support of near-term IAP strategy 5 specific to a particular are discussed in response to questions 50 and 51 non-LWR design or above. In addition, an April 2018 Commission briefing category) policy issues on advanced reactors included an overview of near that impact regulatory term policy issues.

reviews, siting, permitting, and/or licensing of non-LWR nuclear power plants

6) Develop and implement a
  • The NRC is conducting public meetings with structured, integrated stakeholders every 4 to 6 weeks. The most recent of 116

Strategy Activities in support of the strategy strategy to communicate these meetings was held on March 28, 2019. The with internal and external NRC uses these stakeholder meetings to solicit input stakeholders having on policy and process issues related to the possible interests in non-LWR licensing and regulation of non-LWR technologies.

technologies

  • The NRC and DOE hosted a series of three Advanced Non-LWR Workshops. The most recent workshop was held on April 25 and 26, 2017. This series of workshops focused on opening a dialogue between key stakeholders to discuss challenges in the commercialization of non-LWR technologies and to discuss possible solutions.
  • On November 10, 2016, the NRC and DOE signed an MOU (ADAMS Accession No. ML16215A382) on the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN)

Initiative. GAIN is an initiative that is intended to provide the nuclear energy community with increased access to the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move new or advanced nuclear reactor designs toward commercialization while ensuring the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the existing nuclear fleet. As described in the MOU, the NRC is responsible for providing DOE and the nuclear energy community with accurate, current information on the NRCs regulations and licensing processes.

  • The NRC will continue to share information with various international groups, including the NEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Generation IV International Forum, and the NRCs international regulatory counterparts. The NRC chairs NEAs ad hoc group for international regulators of non-LWRs known as the Group on the Safety of Advanced Reactors. The purpose of the group is to bring interested regulators together to discuss common interests, practices, and problems, and address both the regulatory interests and research needs.

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