SECY-21-0021, Weekly Information Report - Week Ending February 12, 2021
| ML21049A127 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/23/2021 |
| From: | Catherine Haney NRC/EDO/AO |
| To: | Jeff Baran, Annie Caputo, Christopher Hanson, David Wright NRC/Chairman, NRC/OCM |
| Sara Mroz | |
| References | |
| SECY-21-0021 | |
| Download: ML21049A127 (9) | |
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INFORMATION REPORT FEBRUARY 23, 2021 SECY-21-0021 FOR: The Commissioners FROM: Catherine Haney Assistant for Operations Office of the Executive Director for Operations
SUBJECT:
WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 12, 2021 CONTENTS Enclosure Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer A Office of the Chief Information Officer B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation C Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards D Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response E Office of the Secretary F Signed by Haney, Cathy on 02/23/21 Catherine Haney Assistant for Operations, OEDO CONTACT: Sara Mroz, OEDO 301-415-2900
ML21049A127 OFFICE OEDO OEDO/AO NAME SMroz CHaney DATE 02/19/2021 02/23/2021 Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 ARRIVALS CORWIN, JULIE A SENIOR MANAGEMENT ANALYST OIG GASPERSON, DAVID FIELD PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER OPA GILLISPIE, LAKIESHA ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT NRR HANNAH, ROGER D SENIOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER OPA MOORE, MAURICE MANAGEMENT & PROGRAM ANALYST R-IV SPICER, LINDSEY HUMAN RESOURCES SPECIALIST R-III RETIREMENTS NONE DEPARTURES CRAWFORD, JOLENA M. SR. HR SPECIALIST (TEAM LEADER) OCHCO FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE A
Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) Requests and Appeals Received During the Period of February 8 - February 12 Request Description Tracking Requesters Requesters as submitted by requester Received Number Name Organization Date 2021-000099 Roald Teknisk A copy of two emails sent from 02/09/2021 Ramsdal Ukeblad Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the investigation of irregularities in some earlier research projects at the Halden reactor in Norway.
The emails were sent from Malgorzata.Sneve@dsa.no to Bruce.Watson@nrc.gov. The topic was: "Halden". The emails were sent on 3rd June 2020 and 13th May 2020.
2021-000100 Gregory S. A copy of the final report for 02/09/2021 Ahern Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Case Number 19005 2021-000101 Michael A copy of all processing notes, 02/09/2021 Ravnitzky emails, tracking folder materials, administrative notes, etc.
associated with the very unusual and unorthodox handling of a previous NRC FOIA request designated as 2020-000195 FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE B
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 NRC Hosted Public Workshop on Digital Instrumentation and Controls Licensing Activities On February 10, 2021, the NRC staff held a public workshop on digital instrumentation and controls (I&C) licensing with industry stakeholders. Discussion topics included digital I&C modifications under 10 CFR 50.59, license amendment review activities, and inspection processes. Representatives from Exelon, Dominion, and Southern Nuclear discussed plans for major digital modifications for their operating plants. Stakeholders also discussed specific lessons-learned in applying the alternate review process in digital I&C Interim Staff Guidance (ISG)-06, Licensing Process, Revision 2 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System Accession No. ML18269A259).
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE C
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 NRC Hosted Public Meeting on Alternatives to the Use of Credit Ratings Rulemaking On February 8, 2021, the NRC staff held a Category 3 public meeting to discuss the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) for the alternatives to the use of credit ratings rulemaking. Approximately 50 people attended the meeting, including representatives from the industry and the public. Staff will use input from the meeting to inform development of the NRCs proposed rule to meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The public comment period for the ANPR closes on March 8, 2021.
This rulemaking effort was approved by the Commission in November 2020 per SRM-SECY 0056 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking-Alternatives to the Use of Credit Ratings (RIN 3150-AJ92) (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML20328A126) and will require amending 10 CFR Part 30, Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material.
NRC Granted a Temporary Exemption to Lightbox Jewelry Inc.
On February 8, 2021, the NRC staff granted a temporary exemption (ADAMS Accession No. ML21025A312) to Lightbox Jewelry Inc. in response to a request dated January 11, 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21019A224). This exemption provides temporary relief from a license condition that addresses testing requirements to confirm that the radionuclide concentrations in irradiated gemstones are below the radionuclide concentrations defined as exempt. These tests cannot be reasonably conducted during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) because the primary testing provider ceased testing during the PHE. The licensee is actively seeking an alternative testing provider and will test four to five percent of their product by the end of the month. Previously tested gemstones have not exhibited any activity above background. The staff determined that the exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the public interest.
NRC Notified the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources of Deadline to Act On February 9, 2021, the NRC staff sent a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (ADAMS Accession No. ML21033B090), to notify the State of the reasonable period of time for it to act on NextEras Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Request in support of NextEras Subsequent License Renewal (SLR) Application for Point Beach, Units 1 and 2. The letter complies with a new Environmental Protection Agency CWA Section 401 Certification Final Rule (40 CFR 121), which became effective on September 11, 2020. The rule requires the Federal licensing agency to establish the reasonable period of time and to communicate that deadline to the appropriate certifying authority. In consideration of the NRCs 18-month SLR review schedule, the NRC staff established a 6-month timeframe for the State certifying authority to act. Under the EPA rule provisions, the certifying authoritys failure or refusal to act on a certification request within the reasonable period of time is considered a waiver.
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE D
Criteria for Development of Evacuation Time Estimate Studies NUREG Issuance 10 CFR Parts 50 and 52 (NRC-2008-0122)
On February 9, 2021, the NRC published a notice in the Federal Register (86 FR 8685) issuing Revision 1 to NUREG/CR-7002, Criteria for Development of Evacuation Time Estimate Studies (ADAMS Accession No. ML21013A504). This revised NUREG provides guidance to licensees to meet NRC requirements for development of evacuation time estimates (ETEs) to support emergency planning. This revision reflects the importance of various ETE model parameters based on the results of an applied research study on ETEs (ADAMS Accession No. ML20070M158). The format and criteria provided in this document will support consistent application of the ETE methodology and will facilitate consistent NRC review of ETE studies.
The revised guidance also supports the required decennial update to ETE studies that will commence when the 2020 census data is released later this year.
NRC Hosted Public Meeting on the Instructions for Completing Uniform Low-Level Waste Manifests On February 11, 2021, the NRC staff held a public meeting to discuss the status of industrys implementation of NUREG/BR-0204, Revision 3 Instructions for Completing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Uniform Low-Level Radioactive Waste Manifest (ADAMS Accession No. ML20178A433), and the associated Uniform Waste Manifest forms. More than 50 attendees participated in the meeting, including representatives from waste generators, disposal facilities, Agreement State regulators, software developers, and the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Participants provided updates on the current status of implementation efforts as well as challenges in characterizing waste. During the meeting, the NRC staff provided an overview of the implementing guidance in NUREG/BR-0204, Revision 3, discussed the proposed timeline to implement the revised forms by September 1, 2021, and answered questions from stakeholders.
NRC Canceled Meeting with Public Watchdogs Due to Communication Issues On February 11, 2021, due to communication difficulties, the meeting between the NRC petition review board (PRB) and the Public Watchdogs regarding its 2.206 petition request from October 13 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20294A388) was canceled. The purpose of this meeting was to provide an opportunity for the Public Watchdogs to provide additional information after PRBs initial assessment of not accepting the petition request. The meeting will be rescheduled for a later date.
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE D
Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 NRC Collaborates with United Kingdom Colleagues in Cyber Security Exercise On February 9, 2021, the NRC staff participated in a virtual briefing and demonstration of the United Kingdom (UK) National Nuclear Cyber Exercise 2021. The briefing included participants from multiple UK, US and Canadian organizations. During the briefing, the UK team described the exercise and explained the attack scenarios, including simulated cyber adversaries attacking representative systems from multiple nuclear facilities. The participants were also provided an opportunity to observe live exercise activities and short briefs from some of the incident response teams. This briefing provided the NRC participants with valuable experience on the capabilities of using virtual platforms and environments to conduct cyber exercises.
NRC Collaborates with the Department of Homeland Security on Cyber and Physical Security On February 9, 2021 NRC staff met virtually with counterparts from the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The meeting focused on cyber and physical security related topics of common interest, such as current collaboration areas between the two agencies and CISAs interface with nuclear power plant licensees. The meeting provided the opportunity to establish improvements in the working relationship between the two agencies.
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ENCLOSURE E
Office of the Secretary (SECY)
Items of Interest Week Ending FEBRUARY 12, 2021 Date of Document Released to Public Subject Document Decision Documents
- 1. Staff Requirements 02/11/2021 Request by Nextera Energy Duane Memorandum SECY-21-0006 Arnold, LLC for Exemptions from Certain Emergency Planning Requirements for the Duane Arnold Energy Center
- 2. Commission Voting Record 02/11/2021 Request by Nextera Energy Duane SECY-21-0006 Arnold, LLC for Exemptions from Certain Emergency Planning Requirements for the Duane Arnold Energy Center Information Papers
- 1. None Memoranda
- 1. None Commission Correspondence
- 1. None.
Federal Register Notices Issued