ML12328A169
| ML12328A169 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/23/2012 |
| From: | Mark Lombard NRC/NMSS/SFST |
| To: | Mccullum R Nuclear Energy Institute |
| Berry R | |
| References | |
| Download: ML12328A169 (6) | |
Text
November 23, 2012 Rod McCullum Director, Used Fuel Programs Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006
SUBJECT:
CLARIFICATION TO QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO PART 72 REQUIREMENTS
Dear Mr. McCullum:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received questions from industry that you provided on November 13, 2012, regarding changes to the 10 CFR 72.30 requirements.
The enclosure provides a list of questions received along with responses provided by the NRC staff. This list is not all encompassing; but hopefully, will provide some clarification. We plan to have a public telecon on December 3, 2012, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the questions and responses. If additional questions arise in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact Rollie Berry of my staff at (301) 492-3332 or through email at Rollie.Berry@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark Lombard, Director Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Enclosure:
Part 72 Questions
Rod McCullum November 23, 2012 Director, Used Fuel Programs Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006
SUBJECT:
CLARIFICATION TO QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO PART 72 REQUIREMENTS
Dear Mr. McCullum:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received questions from industry that you provided on November 13, 2012, regarding changes to the 10 CFR 72.30 requirements.
The enclosure provides a list of questions received along with responses provided by the NRC staff. This list is not all encompassing; but hopefully, will provide some clarification. We plan to have a public telecon on December 3, 2012, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the questions and responses. If additional questions arise in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact Rollie Berry of my staff at (301) 492-3332 or through email at Rollie.Berry@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Mark Lombard, Director Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
Enclosure:
Part 72 Questions DISTRIBUTION:
SFST r/f; John Vera; Damaris Marcano G: SFST/Berry/Questions.docx ADAMS P8 Accession No.: ML12328A169 OFC: SFST SFST SFST NRR FSME OGC SFST SFST NAME: RBerry WWheatley JGoshen TFredrichs KKline BJones MSampson MLombard DATE: 11/14/12 11/20/12 11/20/12 11/15/12 11/15/12 11/21/12 11/21/12 11/23/12 C = COVER E = COVER & ENCLOSURE N = NO COPY OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Part 72 Questions Related to Implementation of 10 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 72.30 Question 1) To whom does a licensee specifically submit this information?
Answer 1) For the information required in 10 CFR 72.30, the submittal should be made in accordance with 10 CFR 72.4. In addition, a licensee could submit a courtesy copy of its reports to the project manager for its particular site.
Question 2) When is the 10 CFR 72.30 submittal due if a licensee has a Part 50 license? What if the licensee does not have a Part 50 license?
Answer 2) The submittal date in either case is December 17, 2012. This date is based on the Decommissioning Planning Rules (DPR) Federal Register notice (76 FR 35512; June 17, 2011), in which the NRC provided an 18 month implementation period beginning on June 17, 2011.
Question 3) The due date for the first submittal of the updated decommissioning funding plans (DFPs) is December 17, 2012, for licenses issued under Parts 30, 40, 70, and 72, and while that requirement is said to apply to both specific and general independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) licenses issued under 10 CFR Part 72, the DPR also states that for holders of power reactor licensees issued under 10 CFR Part 50 that have submitted a site-specific cost estimate following the permanent cessation of operations as required under 10 CFR 50.82, the due date for the first submittal of the status reports is March 31, 2013. For this case, please clarify the due date.
Answer 3) On page 35528 of the DPRs Federal Register Notice, in the first column, in Section S, the Commission states that power reactors in a shutdown status have until March 31, 2013, to submit the financial assurance status report required under 10 CFR 50.82. On page 35550 of the DPRs Federal Register notice, in the third column, in response to Comment H.24, the Commission states that licensees other than power reactors in shutdown status have until December 17, 2012, to meet the DFP requirements under 10 CFR 72.30.
Question 4) Is the DFP just applicable to the ISFSI? Or do licensees need to submit a DFP for the Part 50 licensed power plant currently being decommissioned? Some licensees believe the DFP for the ISFSI is due December 17, 2012, but additional reporting requirements (including a possible DFP) for the Part 50 license must be met by March 31, 2013. Please confirm.
Answer 4) Yes, the ISFSI DFP required by Part 72 is due on December 17, 2012. This is a separate requirement from the new financial assurance status (FAS) report required for a Part 50 licensed power plant currently being decommissioned. The FAS report is not required on December 17, 2012. Requirements contained in Part 50, if applicable, must be met by March 31, 2013.
Enclosure
Question 5) Some Part 72 general licensees (GLs) have asked if they need to make a separate submittal by December 17, 2012 per the DPR. They were under the impression that submittals made under their Part 50 license would cover the ISFSI (like many other Part 50 programs).
Despite the message sent to NEI (ADAMS No. ML12283A254), some licensees are not clear about separate reporting by Part 72 GLs given the normal process of having the ISFSI covered in the Part 50 reports. Can the NRC clarify? If a separate report is required for GLs this December, do the triennial reports thereafter also need to be separate?
Answer 5) A submittal for the ISFSI is needed on or before December 17, 2012. Some information provided in a decommissioning funding status (DFS) report pursuant to 10 CFR 50.75(f)(1) or (2), submitted at an earlier date, may be relevant. However, the DFP for an ISFSI requires information that is not required for the DFS report. The licensee needs to submit its ISFSI DFP to meet the additional requirements. If previously submitted information is used to satisfy some of the DFP requirements, the licensee may reference the earlier DFS report.
Question 6) We have a Part 50 license for a reactor plant that is defueled and currently being decommissioned. All spent fuel is in our ISFSI, which has a Part 72 license. For the past several years we have submitted annual decommissioning funding assurance reports under Part 50, but the reports include the ISFSI, including spent fuel management. The new rule mentions a DFP. It is not clear to me at this point if we need to submit a DFP and if so, is it due December 17, 2012?
Answer 6) Yes, a DFP is required for the ISFSI and the submittal date for the DFP is on or before December 17, 2012.
Question 7) Is a licensee able to withdraw funds from the Trust Account for valid radiological decommissioning costs that occur before NRC approval of the Final Radiological Decommissioning Plan? This is based on an interpretation supported by NUREG-1757, top of Page 2-5, which states, in part: When a DP is required, the written notification serves to initiate the decommissioning process, and the licensee must submit a DP within 12 months of the notification date. The licensee must begin decommissioning in accordance with the DP, following the NRCs approval of the DP.
Answer 7) No, licensees may not withdraw funds before NRC approval of the decommissioning plan. For example, 10 CFR 72.54(e)(2) provides that, (f)ollowing approval of the decommissioning plan, a licensee may reduce the amount of the financial assurance.
Question 8) Is the below statement correct? To comply with 10 CFR 50.75(f)(2), Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Atomic must continue to submit to the NRC, on an annual basis by March 31, a financial assurance status report regarding decommissioning funding that must include, at a minimum: the amount of decommissioning funds estimated to be required pursuant to 10 CFR 50.75(b) and (c); the amount accumulated to the end of the calendar year preceding the date of the report; a schedule of the annual amounts remaining to be collected; the assumptions used regarding rates of escalation in decommissioning costs, rates of earnings on decommissioning funds, and rates of other factors used in funding projections; any contracts upon which the licensee is relying pursuant to paragraph (e)(1)(v) of section 50.75; any modifications occurring to a licensee's current method of providing financial assurance since the last submitted report; and any material changes to trust agreements.
Answer 8) Yes, the statement is correct.
Question 9) Is the below statement correct? To comply with the new 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(v),
Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Atomic must submit to the NRC, on an annual basis by March 31, a financial assurance status report regarding the decommissioning funding.
The report must include the following information, current through the end of the previous calendar year: (A) The amount spent on decommissioning, both cumulative and over the previous calendar year, the remaining balance of any decommissioning funds, and the amount provided by other financial assurance methods being relied upon; (B) An estimate of the costs to complete decommissioning, reflecting any difference between actual and estimated costs for work performed during the year, and the decommissioning criteria upon which the estimate is based; (C) Any modifications occurring to a licensees current method of providing financial assurance since the last submitted report; and (D) Any material changes to trust agreements or financial assurance contracts. The requirements of the new 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(v) and (vii) coincide with the existing requirement of 10 CFR 50.75(f)(2).
Answer 9) To the extent that Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Atomic must comply with the new 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(v) requirements, each licensees compliance would consist of the submission to the NRC, on an annual basis by March 31, of a financial assurance status report regarding decommissioning funding that includes the information listed in the question. However, if any one of the licensees has completed its final radiation surveys and demonstrated that residual radioactivity has been reduced to levels that permit termination of its license, then the licensee does not need to comply with the new § 50.82(a)(8)(v).
Question 10) Is the below statement correct? To comply with the new 10 CFR 50.82(a)(8)(vii),
Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Atomic must submit to the NRC, on an annual basis by March 31, a report on the status of its funding for managing irradiated fuel. The report must include the following information, current through the end of the previous calendar year:
(A) The amount of funds accumulated to cover the cost of managing the irradiated fuel; (B) The projected cost of managing irradiated fuel until title to the fuel and possession of the fuel is transferred to the Secretary of Energy; and (C) If the funds accumulated do not cover the projected cost, a plan to obtain additional funds to cover the cost.
Answer 10) Yes, the statement is correct.
Question 11) Is the below statement correct? To comply with the new 10 CFR 72.30(c),
Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Yankee Atomic are expected submit an update to their decommissioning cost estimates by December 17, 2012. This update will specifically consider the effect of the following events on decommissioning costs: (1) Spills of radioactive material producing additional residual radioactivity in onsite subsurface material; (2) Facility modifications; (3) Changes in authorized possession limits; and (4) Actual remediation costs that exceed the previous cost estimate. Following this submittal, an update must be submitted at a frequency not to exceed 3 years - which could coincide with the filing of the above 3 reports.
Answer 11) Yes, the statement is correct. And yes, at future dates the filing of these reports can coincide.
Question 12) It is not clear if the 10 CFR 72.30(c) updated decommissioning funding plan (i.e.,
decommissioning cost estimate) was required to be submitted by December 17, 2012 by Part 50 licensees with a general Part 72 ISFSI because Part 50 licensees have previously submitted decommissioning funding plans. Can the NRC please clarify?
Answer 12) Same answer as Answer 5 above.
Question 13) I am writing to obtain clarification regarding the reporting requirements under 10 CFR 72.30(c):
Every three years Xcel Energy is required to update its ISFSI decommissioning funding plan at the request of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The information gathered in support of the Minnesota PUC activities is similar to and satisfies the requirements of 10 CFR 72.30(c). The ISFSI decommissioning funding plan was last updated in 2011. Information from the 2011 plan update was extracted and submitted to NRC to support the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant ISFSI license renewal application earlier in 2012 (ML12065A073). As such we believe Xcel Energy has met the 10 CFR 72.30(c) reporting requirements for the Prairie Island ISFSI and is not required to make an additional submittal by December 17, 2012.
Our question is whether it is acceptable to extract and submit similar information from the Xcel Energy 2011 ISFSI decommissioning funding plan for the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant ISFSI (also submitted to the Minnesota PUC in 2011) by December 17, 2012 and submit subsequent decommissioning funding plan updates for both the Monticello and Prairie Island ISFSIs on a three (3) year frequency corresponding to the cycle in place to support the Minnesota PUC. In other words, the plan would next be updated and submitted to the Minnesota PUC and NRC in 2014.
Answer 13) Once the DFP for each ISFSI is submitted on or before December 17, 2012, the next iteration needs to be submitted within 3 years. As long as the cycle does not exceed 3 years, the submittal dates can coincide with other submittals. If the submittal is drawing from previous information, the licensee needs to either update the previous information or explain why there has not been substantial change.