NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. 00-165 October 20, 2000

NRC AMENDS REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations on notification and reporting

requirements for operating nuclear power plants.

The changes will retain reporting for significant events that the agency needs to review in its

efforts to identify and resolve safety issues. However, the changes will reduce or eliminate the

unnecessary reporting burden associated with events of little or no safety significance. Overall, these

changes will help the NRC and its licensees to better focus their efforts on the most safety significant

issues.

The amendments revise the requirements (10 CFR 50.72 and 50.73) to reduce the reporting

burden associated with events of little risk significance. They also extend the reporting times

consistent with the need for prompt NRC action.

Current regulations require initial notification of events from licensees to the NRC within one

hour, four hours, or 30 days depending on the level of emergency classification and the need for

prompt NRC action. Under the revised regulations, there are four types of reporting requirements (onehour, four-hour, eight-hour, and 60 days). For those events requiring immediate NRC action, such as

emergency declarations, reports will continue to be required within one hour. For those events where

there may be a need for the NRC to take a reasonably prompt action or respond to heightened public

concern, such as events that involve the health and safety of the public or onsite personnel for which a

news release is planned or notification to another government agency has been or will be made, reports

will be required within four hours. In the case of events where there may be a need for NRC action

within a day, such as initiating a special inspection, reports will be required within eight hours. An

example of such an event would be an event or condition that could keep a system from fulfilling its

safety function.

Written licensee event reports will be due within 60 days after discovery of a reportable event

or condition, instead of within 30 days as was previously required.

Details of the proposed rule changes were published in the Federal Register on July 6, 1999. A

draft report, “NUREG-1022, Revision 2, “Event Reporting Guidelines 10CFR 50.72 and 50.73,” was

made available for public comments concurrently with the proposed rule. The NRC also held public
meetings and a public workshop to discuss the proposed rule change in 1999 and 2000. The final rule

incorporates many of the comments received from members of the public and the industry.

The new rule and the supporting documents will be posted to the NRC’s homepage at:

http://ruleforum.llnl.gov and will be available for inspection at the Commission’s Public Document

Room located at NRC headquarters at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The revised

regulation will become effective 90 days after its publication in a forthcoming edition of the Federal

Register.

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