ML003682966

Telephone Conversation Re NEIs Position on Developing Guidelines for Crediting Voluntary Industry Initiatives in Lieu of Regulatory Actions

ML003682966
Person / Time
Issue date:	02/11/2000
From:	Sheron B W NRC/NRR/ADPT
To:	Beedle R E Nuclear Energy Institute
References
TAC MA5312
Download: ML003682966 (9)

Text

February 11, 2000Mr. Ralph BeedleNuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street, N. W.

Washington, D. C. 20006-24996

SUBJECT:

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION REGARDING NEI's POSITION ONDEVELOPING GUIDELINES FOR CREDITING VOLUNTARY INDUSTRY INITIATIVES IN LIEU OF REGULATORY ACTIONS

Dear Mr. Beedle:

On February 6, 2000, Mr. Jack Strosnider and I had a telephone conversation with youregarding the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI's) position on the staff's proposal to develop guidelines for crediting voluntary industry initiatives (VIIs) in lieu of regulatory action. The purpose of this letter is to document that telephone conversation and our understanding that you would provide a letter stating NEI's position on this subject at a meeting scheduled for February 17, 2000, at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. During this telephone conversation, we discussed the history of our interactions on this subject,which is summarized in the enclosure. As the enclosure indicates, the staff has actively pursued involvement of external stakeholders, including NEI and the industry, as part of this initiative. The NRC staff has had discussions on this subject at several public meetings with NEI and other interested stakeholders, as described in the attachment. These discussions focused mainly on the intent and usage of VIIs, without significant input from the various stakeholders on specifics to be included in the proposed guidelines. On December 13, 1999, the NRC issued a Federal Register notice (64 FR 238) "... solicitingadditional stakeholder comments from interested parties on both the technical and regulatory aspects related to the development of guidelines to allow the drafting of a regulatory framework that supports the implementation of [VIIs]," from interested stakeholders, by January 15, 2000.

Mr. Strosnider expanded upon this solicitation during the December 21, 1999, meeting with your staff, stating that this included any comments, up to and including proposed guidelines in toto. The response date was chosen in order to allow the staff time to incorporate any comments received into the proposed guidelines. No response to the FR notice was received from NEI or any other stakeholders. Given the general nature of the discussions at the public meetings, it is our understanding that the industry has comments and concerns on the proposed guidelines.

However, we cannot address those concerns until the industry provides them to us.

Mr. Ralph Beedle-2-Given this history, I requested in our February 6, 2000, telephone conversation, that youprovide more specifics regarding NEI's position on the VII proposal and your plans for providing any additional industry input. At your request, we have scheduled a public meeting on this subject for 1:00 p.m. on February 17, 2000, to be held in room O-4B-6 at the NRC Headquarters. Per our telephone conversation, I understand that, at this meeting, you will provide a written statement detailing NEI's position and plans regarding the development of guidelines for crediting voluntary industry initiatives in lieu of regulatory actions, and that we will discuss future plans in this area. As indicated in the enclosure, the milestone for providing the proposed VII guidelines to theCommission is May 24, 2000. If NEI does not intend to provide any additional, detailed input, the staff will proceed to develop guidelines based on the general discussions and comments received during the several meetings on VIIs held to date, and provide these proposed guidelines to the Commission on the requested schedule. Alternatively, if NEI, or other interested stakeholders, want to provide more detailed comments and input, it may be possible to provide additional time to factor that input into development of these guidelines. However, we would need to know this no later than February 17, 2000, in order to pursue Commission approval for a revised schedule.The staff continues to believe that voluntary industry initiatives can play a major role inachieving our regulatory goals of maintaining safety; reducing unnecessary regulatory burden; improving efficiency, effectiveness, and realism; and improving public confidence. I appreciate your cooperation on this subject and look forward to our discussions on February 17, 2000.Sincerely,/RA by/Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosure:

As stated cc:Alex Marion, NEIDavid Modeen, NEI Owners Groups' Chairs PWR MRP Chair BWRVIP Chair Mr. Ray Shadis Mr. David Kraft, NEIS Mr. Ralph Beedle-2-Given this history, I requested in our February 6, 2000, telephone conversation, that youprovide more specifics regarding NEI's position on the VII proposal and your plans for providing any additional industry input. At your request, we have scheduled a public meeting on this subject for 1:00 p.m. on February 17, 2000, to be held in room O-4B-6 at the NRC Headquarters. Per our telephone conversation, I understand that, at this meeting, you will provide a written statement detailing NEI's position and plans regarding the development of guidelines for crediting voluntary industry initiatives in lieu of regulatory actions, and that we will discuss future plans in this area. As indicated in the enclosure, the milestone for providing the proposed VII guidelines to theCommission is May 24, 2000. If NEI does not intend to provide any additional, detailed input, the staff will proceed to develop guidelines based on the general discussions and comments received during the several meetings on VIIs held to date, and provide these proposed guidelines to the Commission on the requested schedule. Alternatively, if NEI, or other interested stakeholders, want to provide more detailed comments and input, it may be possible to provide additional time to factor that input into development of these guidelines. However, we would need to know this no later than February 17, 2000, in order to pursue Commission approval for a revised schedule.The staff continues to believe that voluntary industry initiatives can play a major role inachieving our regulatory goals of maintaining safety; reducing unnecessary regulatory burden; improving efficiency, effectiveness, realism; and improving public confidence. I appreciate your cooperation on this subject and look forward to our discussions on February 17, 2000.Sincerely, Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosure:

As statedcc:Alex Marion, NEIDavid Modeen, NEI Owners Groups' Chairs PWR MRP Chair BWRVIP Chair Mr. Ray Shadis Mr. David Kraft, NEISDistribution

Document Name: G:\EMCB\vol-init 99-063\Beedle Letter.wpdSam CollinsRoy ZimmermanRobert HermannBill BatemanRichard WessmanBill BatemanC. E. CarpenterTo receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box C=Copy w/o attachment/enclosure E=Copy with attachment/enclosure N = No copy OFFICED:DEADPT:NRR NAMEJRStrosnider:JRSBWSheron:BWS DATE02/09/200002/11/2000 ENCLOSUREThe initiative to develop guidelines for crediting industry voluntary initiatives in lieu of regulatoryaction is an outgrowth of the Commission's Direction Setting Initiative (DSI) 13 entitled "The Role of Industry and Use of Industry Initiatives" (SECY 97-303), dated December 31, 1997 and the associated staff requirements memorandum (SRM) issued on April 16, 1998. In accordance with the Commission's SRM, a public stakeholders meeting on DSI-13 was held in Rosemont, Illinois, on September 1, 1998. On March 2, 1999, the staff forwarded SECY 99-063 to the Commission proposing to develop guidelines for crediting voluntary industry initiatives in lieu of regulatory action providing an outline of the areas proposed to be addressed in the guidelines. On May 27, 1999, the Commission issued an SRM approving the staff's recommendations in SECY 99-063. The SRM directed the staff to move forward, working with the industry and other stakeholders, in the development of the process and guidelines for use of industry initiatives in the regulatory process. The Commission set a due date of May 24, 2000 for providing the proposed guidelines to the Commission for review prior to implementation.A second public meeting with interested stakeholders, including NEI and Owners Groupsmanagement representatives, was held on October 27, 1999, in Rosemont, Illinois, which is summarized in a meeting summary dated November 18, 1999. At the request of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), a third stakeholders meeting was held at the NRC Headquarters on December 21, 1999. Both of these meetings were noticed and discussed in advance with NEI and other stakeholders. Although the attendance at the October meeting was relatively small (seven external stakeholders), the panel at the meeting included management representatives from NRC, NEI, and two nuclear utilities. Other participants represented a vendor and industry consultants. A representative from the Nuclear Energy Information Services (NEIS) who had planned to attend was unfortunately unable to be at the meeting. Seven external stakeholders also participated in the December 21, 1999 meeting. Participants in this meeting included management from NEI, NRC and EPRI, as well as representatives from utilities and vendors.

Discussions at both of these meetings focused largely on the general concept and philosophy of crediting industry voluntary initiatives in lieu of regulatory action, and was less focused on the specific details to be included in the guidelines. During the December 21, 1999, meeting, the NEI representatives provided a one page flow chart outlining a proposed process for crediting industry initiatives. The NRC staff indicated it would review the flow chart and provide comments, which were provided to NEI by letter dated February 9, 2000. These meetings were transcribed, and the NRC staff intends to use the comments and suggestions made at these meetings in its development of the guidelines. During both the October 27, and the December 21, 1999, meetings, the NRC staff requestedthat stakeholders respond to the Federal Register notice (64 FR 238, dated December 13,1999), soliciting comments from "...interested parties on both the technical and regulatory aspects related to the development of guidelines to allow the drafting of a regulatory framework that supports the implementation of [VIIs]" by January 15, 2000. During both of these meetings, the NRC management suggested that NEI consider proposing a set of guidelines in response to the FR notice, up to and including proposed guidelines in toto. The staff noted thatit could propose a revised schedule to the Commission if the industry needed more time to develop such guidelines. Notwithstanding the above, the NRC did not receive any comments in response to the FR notice from NEI or any other party. On February 2, 2000, Messers. Strosnider, Bateman and Carpenter of my staff had a telephoneconversation with Mr. Marion and Mr. Modeen of your staff. During that conversation, Mr.

Strosnider asked if NEI planned to provide any further comments or input to the proposed guidelines. Mr. Marion indicated that some initial guiding principals would be provided by NEI to the staff in February 2000, and additional comments would be provided by early March 2000.

He also requested that NRC provide any comments on the flow chart that NEI had provided to the NRC during the December 21, 1999, public meeting; these were provided in a letter dated February 9, 2000.ENCLOSURE cc:Mr. Alex Marion, DirectorPrograms Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20006-3708Mr. David Modeen, DirectorEngineering Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20006-3708Mr. Anthony Pietrangelo, Director Licensing Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20006-3708Mr. Jim Davis, DirectorOperations Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20006-3708Ms. Lynnette Hendricks, DirectorPlant Support Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20006-3708Mr. Charles B. Brinkman, DirectorWashington Operations ABB-Combustion Engineering, Inc.

12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 330 Rockville, Maryland 20852Mr. H. A. Sepp, ManagerRegulatory and Licensing Engineering Westinghouse Electric Company P.O. Box 355 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-0355Mr. W. Glenn WarrenBWR Owners' Group Chairman Southern Nuclear Company 42 Inverness Parkway PO Box 1295 Birmingham, AL 35201Mr. James M. KennyBWR Owners' Group Vice Chairman PP&L, Inc.

Mail Code GENA6-1 Allentown, PA 18101-1179Mr. Thomas J. RauschRRG Chairman Commonwealth Edison Company Nuclear Fuel Services 1400 Opus Place, 4th Floor Downers Grove, IL 60515-5701Mr. Drew B. FettersPECO Energy Nuclear Group Headquarters MC 61A-3 965 Chesterbrook Blvd.

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MC GENA6-1 Two North Ninth Street Allentown, PA 18101 Mr. John KellyNew York Power Authority 14th Floor Mail Stop 14K Centroplex Building 123 Main Street White Plains, NY 10601Mr. Thomas G. HurstGE Nuclear Energy M/C 182 175 Curtner Avenue San Jose, CA 95125Mr. Thomas A. GreenGE Nuclear Energy M/C 182 175 Curtner Avenue San Jose, CA 95125Mr. Gordon C. Bischoff, Project DirectorCE Owners Group ABB Combustion Engineering Nuclear Power M.S. 9615-1932 2000 Day Hill Road Post Office Box 500 Windsor, CT 06095Mr. Ralph Phelps, ChairmanCE Owners Group Omaha Public Power District P.O. Box 399 Ft. Calhoun, NE 68023-0399Mr. Ian C. Rickard, DirectorNuclear Licensing ABB Combustion Engineering Nuclear Power 2000 Day Hill Road Post Office Box 500 Windsor, CT 06095Mr. Charles B. Brinkman, ManagerWashington Operations ABB Combustion Engineering Nuclear Power 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 330 Rockville, MD 20852Mr. H. A. Sepp, ManagerRegulatory and Licensing Engineering Westinghouse Electric Corporation P.O. Box 355 Pittsburgh, PA 15230-0355Mr. Andrew Drake, Project ManagerWestinghouse Owners Group Westinghouse Electric Corporation Mail Stop ECE 5-16 P.O. Box 355 Pittsburgh, PA 15230-0355Mr. Jack Bastin, DirectorRegulatory Affairs Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11921 Rockville Pike Suite 107 Rockville, MD 20852Randy Hutchinson, ChairmanB&WOG Executive Committee Vice President Operations Arkansas Nuclear One Entergy Operations, Inc.

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1700 Rockville Pike, Suite 525 Rockville, MD 20852-1631Mr. Gary L. VineSenior Washington Representative Electric Power Research Institute 2000 L Street, N.W., Suite 805 Washington, DC 20036Mr. James F. LangElectric Power Research Institute Post Office Box 217097 1300 W.T. Harris Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28262Mr. Bindi ChexalElectric Power Research Institute Post Office Box 10412 Palo Alto, CA 94303Mr. Raymond C. TorokProject Manager, Nuclear Power Group Electric Power Research Institute Post Office Box 10412 Palo Alto, CA 94303Bill Eaton, Executive Chair BWRVIP Inspection Committee Entergy Operations, Inc.

PO Box 756, Waterloo Rd Port Gibson, MS 39150-0756Harry P. Salmon, Executive Chairman BWRVIP Integration Task New York Power Authority 123 Main St., M/S 11 D White Plains, NY 10601-3104James P. Pelletier, BWRVIP Liaison to EPRI Nuclear Power Council Nebraska Public Power District 1200 Prospect Avenue PO Box 98 Brownville, NE 68321-0098Robert Carter, EPRI BWRVIP Assessment Manager Greg Selby, EPRI BWRVIP Inspection Manager EPRI NDE Center P. O. Box 217097 1300 W. T. Harris Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28221Joe Hagan, BWRVIP Vice ChairmanPEPCO Energy Co.

MC 62C-3 965 Chesterbrook Blvd Wayne, PA 19807-5691Steve Lewis, Technical ChairmanBWRVIP Assessment Task Entergy P. O. Box 756 Waterloo Road Port Gibson, MS 39150Carl Larsen, Technical Chairman BWRVIP Inspection Task P.O. Box 157 Vernon, VT 05354John Wilson, Technical Chairman BWRVIP Mitigation Task Clinton Power Station, M/C T-31C P.O. Box 678 Clinton, IL 61727Vaughn Wagoner, Technical Chairman BWRVIP Integration Task Carolina Power & Light Company One Hannover Square 9C1 P.O. Box 1551 Raleigh, NC 27612 Bruce McLeod, Technical Chairman BWRVIP Repair Task Southern Nuclear Operating Co.

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