ML15266A509

Planned Licensing Action Submittals for All Power Reactor Licensees

ML15266A509
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/25/2015
From:	Boland A, Kokajko L Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Division of Policy and Rulemaking
To:
Garmoe A, NRR/DPR, 415-3814
References
TAC MF6726 RIS-15-016
Download: ML15266A509 (9)

See also: RIS 2015-16

Text

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20555-0001

November 25, 2015

NRC REGULATORY ISSUE SUMMARY 2015-16

PLANNED LICENSING ACTION SUBMITTALS FOR ALL POWER REACTOR LICENSEES

ADDRESSEES

All holders of an operating license or construction permit for a nuclear power reactor under

Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Domestic Licensing of

Production and Utilization Facilities, except those who have permanently ceased operations

and have certified that fuel has been permanently removed from the reactor vessel.

INTENT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this regulatory issue summary (RIS)

to ask licensees to provide information regarding the licensing actions they plan to submit to the

NRC for review over the next 3 calendar years, and power uprate applications they plan to

submit to the NRC for review over the next 5 calendar years. The NRC plans to continue to

request this information of licensees on an annual basis. Submittal of the requested information

is strictly voluntary. No specific action or written response is required.

The NRC is issuing this RIS for the following purposes:

(1) To assist the NRC in determining resource and budget needs with respect to future

licensing activities and other anticipated 10 CFR Part 50, Domestic Licensing of

Production and Utilization Facilities, licensing actions.

(2) To assist the NRC in planning the technical resources needed to conduct reviews of the

licensing activities for the next 3 calendar years.

(3) To assist the NRC in planning for the review of power uprates that will be submitted in

the next 5 calendar years.

This RIS is intended to promote early communication with NRC licensees regarding the 10 CFR Part 50 planned licensing activities. This information will assist the NRC in budgeting for and

allocating its resources for licensing reviews. This RIS does not transmit or imply any new or

changed requirements or staff positions. Although no specific action or written response is

required, submission of the requested information will enable the agency to more efficiently and

effectively plan its licensing work.

ML15266A509

RIS 2015-16

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

To meet the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, the NRC

has continued to develop a series of initiatives to improve the agency's planning process.

Among those initiatives, the NRC has implemented an integrated planning, budgeting, and

performance measurement process. This process applies the business principles of goal

setting, strategy development, resource allocation, and performance measurement to NRC

activities. Among other benefits, the integrated process strongly ties the agency's budget and

resource allocation process to its strategic plan, its strategic arenas, and its performance goals

and measures. In addition, to ensure that performance measures and corresponding resource

allocations are as accurate as possible, the NRC periodically assesses the appropriateness of

the information and assumptions used in the budget development process.

The NRC formulates its budget by projecting 2 years beyond the current fiscal year in which it is

operating. To help the NRC plan its resources appropriately, information from the licensees

regarding their intentions to submit a licensing action will assist the NRC in planning for the

necessary resources during the budget process, as well as plan for any schedule needs in

preparation for the review before the submittal of the licensing action.

SUMMARY OF ISSUE

During the budget development process, the NRC allocates resources based on an assumed

number of licensing actions of certain types (e.g., license amendments, exemptions, relief

requests) that will be submitted for that particular fiscal year. To the degree that these

assumptions do not correlate to incoming requests, the agencys budget estimates can be

significantly incorrect in either total resources, specific skill sets, or both. This ultimately

impedes the NRCs ability to process licensing actions on a timely basis and can cause a

significant delay in processing licensing actions when the required resources are not available.

Specifically, licensing actions include requests for license amendments, renewals, and

transfers; requests for exemptions; relief requests from in-service inspection and testing

requirements; program reviews; review of topical reports submitted on a plant-specific basis;

and power uprate requests.

To more accurately forecast the resources needed to complete the requested licensing actions,

the NRC is asking that all power reactor licensees voluntarily provide information regarding the

number of licensing actions they plan to submit for NRC review for the next 3 calendar years,

and any planned power uprates they plan to submit in the next 5 calendar years. The

responses to this request are not binding and can be updated, as needed. The NRC plans to

continue to request this information of licensees on an annual basis. This information will

enable the agency to better meet its performance and timeliness goals under the agency's

strategic plan.

To adequately capture the resource impact of the various licensing action reviews, the NRC is

requesting that licensees provide information such as a brief title and description of each of their

planned licensing action submittals, an indication of whether the review would be first-of-a-kind

or an update, an estimate of when the request would be submitted to the NRC, and the

estimated requested completion date. Licensees would also assist the NRC by indicating if the

licensing action is routine or if it is outage-related. Based on the information received, the NRC

will determine the complexity of the review and the technical skill set needed to perform the

RIS 2015-16

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review, and develop preliminary review schedules. The NRC will use this information in

planning for future workload and as the basis for allocating future technical resources.

The NRC encourages continued communication between licensees and site-specific NRC

project managers with regard to plant licensing actions and schedules for submittal of licensing

actions. This RIS is not intended to replace the communications that take place between

licensees and project managers regarding current and planned licensing actions. The

continued communication will play a large role in improving project planning by the NRC.

However, as stated above, the information provided in the response to this RIS will help the

NRC improve project planning and resource allocation throughout the entire budget cycle.

VOLUNTARY RESPONSE

The NRC is developing budgetary, licensing, and project plans for its operating reactor licensing

program. To support this effort, the NRC is seeking new or updated information regarding

planned licensing action submittals, including schedules for submitting these various licensing

actions.

Additional information about requests for withholding proprietary information from public

disclosure is provided in RIS 2004-11, Supporting Information Associated with Requests for

Withholding Proprietary Information, dated June 29, 2004. The NRC asks potential applicants

to request withholding only for information that they would not customarily disclose to the public

and to provide, where necessary, the proprietary information in designated attachments to their

response to this RIS. Footnote 1 of this RIS provides further information on this topic.

If an addressee chooses to provide a voluntary response, the NRC would like to obtain the

information within 45 days of the date of this RIS. Respondents are requested to provide

answers to the following questions to the best of their ability, providing as much detail as

possible.

The following questions and the tables provided in Enclosures 1 and 2 have been provided as a

guide to assist licensees in providing information in a useful format to the NRC. These

templates have been revised from the initial request with the objective of normalizing the input

the NRC receives. Submittal of this information, in the given format, is strictly voluntary and

non-binding.

• For all planned licensing actions expected to be submitted in the next 3 calendar years,

the licensee is requested to provide the following information:

o plant name

o licensing action type (i.e., amendment, relief request, etc.)

o licensing action description

o projected submittal date

o whether the action is needed for an outage, and if so, the date the licensee will

need to have the action completed for the outage

o comments (to assist the staffs planning efforts)

RIS 2015-16

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• Licensees are requested to address if they plan to apply for a power uprate (please

indicate whether it is a measurement uncertainty recapture, stretch, or extended power

uprate) in the next 5 calendar years. (If the answer is no, please skip the next four

questions.)

o What percent increase in power from the current licensed thermal power (CLTP)

limit does the licensee plan to apply for? (Please write N/A in any unit that does

not apply or that is not planned for a power uprate.)

Unit 1______% Unit 2______% Unit 3______% Unit 4______%

o What is the planned increase from the CLTP limit in megawatts thermal?

Unit 1______MWt Unit 2______MWt Unit 3______MWt Unit 4______MWt

o What is the expected schedule for filing the application (month/year)? (If the

month is not known, please provide the quarter and/or year.)

Unit 1______ Unit 2______ Unit 3______ Unit 4______

o What is the expected date for power ascension with uprated conditions

(month/year)?

Unit 1______ Unit 2______ Unit 3______ Unit 4______

• Can the NRC staff make the above information public? Yes / No 1

Please note that there will not be a separate survey regarding the intent for the licensees to

submit a power uprate request to the NRC. This will be the only request to submit information

regarding planned submittals of power uprate requests. Any licensee that plans to submit a

power uprate request to the NRC within the next 5 calendar years is requested to respond to the

power uprate survey questions. The responses to this request are not binding and can be

updated as needed.

Please complete the survey accordingly with respect to any licensing action(s) that may be

planned in the respective timeframes requested. With regard to your response, please provide

the information in the format requested (using the enclosed spreadsheet forms) to

NRC_LicensingSurvey@nrc.gov to improve the agencys efforts in meeting licensing needs.

1 If a licensee requests withholding, the information provided will be initially withheld (pending review) from public

disclosure. In addition, under 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1)(ii), the NRC is waiving the affidavit requirements on its own

initiative, as approved by the Chief Information Officer on November 19, 2015; the NRC has determined that it is

appropriate to do so in this case because responses to the survey are voluntary and may therefore be considered by

the NRC to constitute proprietary information so long as the information is of a type that the submitter would not

customarily disclose to the public. The licensee should also understand that the NRC may have cause to review this

determination in the future (e.g., if the scope of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request includes a licensees

information). In all review situations, if the NRC makes a determination adverse to the above, the licensee will be

notified in advance of any planned public disclosure, consistent with 10 CFR 2.390(c). In addition, a licensee may

be requested to submit an affidavit at some future time, should circumstances warrant.

RIS 2015-16

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BACKFITTING AND ISSUE FINALITY DISCUSSION

This RIS asks the addressees to inform the NRC about planned licensing action submittals.

The RIS requires no action or written response. Any action on the part of addressees to collect

and transmit planned future licensing action and power uprate data in accordance with the

request contained in this RIS is strictly voluntary. Therefore, this RIS does not represent

backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50 109(a)(1), nor is it otherwise inconsistent with any issue

finality provision in 10 CFR Part 52. Consequently, the NRC staff did not perform a backfit

analysis for this RIS or further address the issue finality criteria in Part 52.

FEDERAL REGISTER NOTIFICATION

The NRC did not publish a notice of opportunity for public comment on this RIS in the Federal

Register because it relates to an administrative aspect of the regulatory process that involves

the voluntary submission of information on the part of addressees, and does not represent a

departure from current regulatory requirements.

CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT

This RIS is not a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 801-808).

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT

This RIS contains information collection requirements that are subject to the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

approved these information collections, approval number 3150-0221, which expires

July 31, 2017.

The burden to the public for these voluntary information collections is estimated to average

5 hours5.787037e-5 days <br />0.00139 hours <br />8.267196e-6 weeks <br />1.9025e-6 months <br /> per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data

sources, gathering and maintaining the date needed, and completing and reviewing the

information collection. Send comments on this burden estimate or any other aspect of these

information collections, including suggestions for reducing the burden, by mail to the FOIA,

Privacy, and Information Collections Branch (T-5F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to infocollects.resource@nrc.gov; and to the Desk

Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, NEOB-10202, (3150-0221), Office of

Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.

Public Protection Notification

The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a request for

information or an information collection requirement unless the requesting document displays a

currently valid OMB control number.

RIS 2015-16

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CONTACT

Please direct any questions about this matter to the technical contact listed below.

/RA/ /RA/

Anne T. Boland, Director Lawrence E. Kokajko, Director

Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Division of Policy and Rulemaking

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Technical Contact: Tracy Orf, NRR

301-415-2788

e-mail: Tracy.Orf@nrc.gov

Note: NRC generic communications may be found on the NRC public Web site,

http://www.nrc.gov, under NRC Library/Document Collections.

Enclosures:

1. Table of Estimated Licensing Actions

2. Table of Estimated Power Uprate Licensing Actions

ML15266A509 *via e-mail TAC MF6726

OFFICE NRR/DORL NRR/DORL NRR/DORL:BC QTE OE/EB

NAME ARoberts* TOrf* TTate* JDougherty* GFigueroa*

DATE 09/29/2015 10/02/2015 10/02/2015 09/24/2015 10/22/2015

OFFICE NRR/PMDA OIS OGC NRR/DPR/PGCB NRR/DPR/PGCB:LA

NAME LHill* TDonnell* SClark* AGarmoe ELee*

DATE 10/15/2015 10/27/2015 11/19/2015 11/19/2015 11/23/2015

OFFICE NRR/DPR/PGCB:BC NRR/DORL:D NRR/DPR:DD NRR/DPR:D

NAME TMensah* ABoland AMohseni LKokajko

DATE 11/24/2015 11/24/2015 11/24/2015 11/25/2015

RIS 2015-16

Table of Estimated Licensing Actions

[Unit No.] and [Docket No. ]

Outage

Outage Proprietary

Projected Submittal Related Date Comments

Plant Name and Unit Number(s) Licensing Action Type TSTF Number, if any Licensing Action Description/Title Related? Information

Date (Format as (As needed)

(Yes or No) ( Yes or No)

MM/DD/YYYY)

Enclosure 1

RIS 2015-16

Table of Estimated Power Uprate Licensing Actions

[Unit No.] and [Docket No. ]

Expected date for

Percent of power Planned increase Expected Can the NRC staff

Plant Name and Unit Licensing power ascension Comments

increase from from the CLTP in Schedule for make the information

Number(s) Action Type with uprated (As needed)

CLTP? megawatts thermal? filing? public? Yes or No

conditions?

Enclosure 2