INFORMATION REPORT

February 8, 2007 SECY-07-0029

For: The Commissioners

From: Michael R. Johnson, Assistant for Operations, Office of the EDO

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING

FEBRUARY 2, 2007

Contents Enclosure

Nuclear Reactor Regulation A

New Reactors B*

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards C

Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs D*

Nuclear Regulatory Research E

Nuclear Security and Incident Response F

Administration G

Information Services H

Chief Financial Officer I*

Human Resources J

Small Business and Civil Rights K*

Enforcement L*

Public Affairs M

International Programs N*

Secretary O

Region I P*

Region II P

Region III P*

Region IV P

Executive Director for Operations Q*

Congressional Affairs R

*No input this week.

/RA/

Michael R. Johnson 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO

Contact:

R. Taylor, OEDO
February 8, 2007 SECY-07-0029

For: The Commissioners

From: Michael R. Johnson, Assistant for Operations, Office of the EDO

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING

FEBRUARY 2, 2007

Contents Enclosure

Nuclear Reactor Regulation A

New Reactors B*

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards C

Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs D*

Nuclear Regulatory Research E

Nuclear Security and Incident Response F

Administration G

Information Services H

Chief Financial Officer I*

Human Resources J

Small Business and Civil Rights K*

Enforcement L*

Public Affairs M

International Programs N*

Secretary O

Region I P*

Region II P

Region III P*

Region IV P

Executive Director for Operations Q*

Congressional Affairs R

*No input this week.

/RA/

Michael R. Johnson

Assistant for Operations, OEDO

Contact:

R. Taylor, OEDO

DISTRIBUTION:

EDO R/F

AO R/F Document Name: C:\WIR\week202.WPD

OEDO AO/OEDO

RTaylor:paa MRJohnson

02/08/07 02/12/07
WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 2, 2007

The Weekly Information Report is compiled by the Office of the EDO and includes highlights of

Headquarters and Regional Office activities. 

Contact: R. Taylor, OEDO by E-mail: rxt2@nrc.gov. 

Use GO TO (Ctrl+Home) to advance to the page number for a specific Office.

PgDn and PgUp can also be used to advance through the text.

OFFICE Page OFFICE Page

NRR 2 OE *

NRO * OPA 17

NMSS 4 OIP *

FSME * SECY 19

RES 9 Region I *

NSIR 10 Region II 21

ADM 11 Region III *

OIS 12 Region IV 23

CFO * EDO *

HR 16 OCA 24

SBCR *

*No input this week
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE A

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Staff Holds Public Meetings to Solicit Comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental

Impact Statement for the License Renewal of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

On January 24, 2007, the staff conducted two meetings in Plymouth, MA, to solicit comments

from the public on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS), regarding

the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station License Renewal Review. The Draft Supplement 29,

published on December 8, 2006, is a plant-specific supplement to the “Generic Environmental

Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants” (NUREG-1437). Approximately 150

people attended the meetings, including members of the public and representatives of the NRC

staff, EarthTech, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., local citizen organizations, and local news

media. Public comments and questions were mainly focused on severe accident mitigation

alternatives, radiological impacts on human health, and the plant’s cooling system on aquatic

resources.

As part of the public outreach effort, the staff held an open house for one hour prior to the start

of each meeting. The open house provided members of the public with an opportunity to talk

informally with NRC staff and view informational displays and brochures.

The public comment period ends on February 28, 2007. At the conclusion of the comment

period, the staff will evaluate the comments received and revise the DSEIS if necessary. The

final supplemental environmental impact statement is scheduled to be published in 

July 2007.

LaSalle County Station - Public Meeting with Exelon Generating Company

On January 26, 2007, a public pre-application meeting was held with Exelon Generating

Company (EGC or the licensee) to discuss EGC's planned re-submittals of the rod control

management system (RCMS) and the ultimate heat sink (UHS) temperature amendments

related to the LaSalle County Station, Units 1 and 2 (LaSalle). This was the second meeting

with the EGC staff to discuss the licensee's planned re-submittal regarding RCMS after it was

withdrawn by LaSalle approximately 6 months ago. The planned re-submittal follows a LaSalle

amendment request on UHS temperature submitted by the licensee in April 2006 which was

denied by the staff in November 2006. The focus of the meeting was to address the staff’s

bases of its denial. A follow-up meeting is planned to continue the technical discussion on UHS

temperature with the licensee.

Millstone Nuclear Power Station Audit for Corrective Actions

During the week of January 22, 2007, the staff visited the Dominion Nuclear’s Millstone Nuclear

Power Station, Unit 2 (Millstone) site near New London, Connecticut. The purpose of the visit

was to audit Dominion Nuclear's sump performance corrective actions for Generic Letter 2004-

02, “Potential Impact of Debris Blockage on Emergency Recirculation During Design Basis

Accidents at Pressurized Water Reactors.” The audit team conducted numerous meetings with

Millstone’s technical representatives, and will continue to review information provided by the
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE A

licensee in house. The staff is preparing a report to document the areas reviewed and open

items identified. The staff will continue to perform audits at selective plants to monitor

corrective actions in order to resolve Generic Safety Issue 191, “Assessment of Debris

Accumulation on PWR Sump Pump Performance.”
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE C

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Participation in Nuclear Energy Agency’s (NEA) Symposium on Safety Cases

On January 23-25, 2007, the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA)

participated in the NEA Symposium, “Safety Cases for the Deep Disposal of Radioactive

Waste: Where Do We Stand?,” in Paris, France. The symposium addressed: (i) practical

experiences on preparing for, developing and documenting a safety case; (ii) experiences on

the regulatory perspective of safety cases; (iii) progress on safety cases made in the last

decade, the actual state of the art, and the observed trends; (iv) assessment of the relevance of

international contributions in this field; and (v) NEA and other international organization’s future

working programs regarding safety cases. The staff presented a paper on developing

independent performance assessment capability to support regulatory reviews, and presented a

poster, on behalf of the NRC staff, on preclosure safety analysis for seismically initiated event

sequences. NEA will prepare a proceedings document, containing all papers presented at the

symposium, and a meeting summary, both made available through its website at

http://www.nea.fr. 

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Meeting on Spent Fuel and High Level

Waste

On January 29-31, 2007, staff participated in an ASTM Subcommittee meeting on Spent Fuel

and High Level Waste, in Costa Mesa, CA. CNWRA staff, with NRC staff participating via

teleconference, attended the meeting. NRC staff discussed the revision of ASTM C1174, which

provides standards for long-term prediction of materials, and gave a presentation on hydride

effects on cladding in the disposal of high-level waste. CNWRA staff participated in various

guidance development activities, and presented a paper on cladding stress for hydride reorientation and delayed hydride cracking. 

Staff Meets with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

On January 30, 2007, the NRC staff publicly met with representatives from NEI and EPRI on

NRC high-level waste program staff guidance. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and

understand NEI and EPRI technical comments on NRC Interim Staff Guidance HLWRS-ISG01, titled “Review Methodology for Seismically Initiated Event Sequences.” The comments had

been previously described in a December 2006 NEI and EPRI presentation to the Advisory

Committee on Nuclear Waste. NRC staff will respond to the technical comments in a follow-up

letter to NEI .

Meetings with Transnuclear (TN) and Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), Associated with

Light Weight Transfer Cask 

On January 25, 2007, staff met with TN and OPPD in separate meetings. TN indicated it would

provide an amendment request, in March 2007, requesting that the light-weight transfer cask

design be added to 10 CFR 72.214, via rulemaking, by March 2008, for OPPD’s next dry cask

storage campaign at the Fort Calhoun Station. In addition to allowing the use of the light-weight
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE C

transfer cask, TN indicated that the amendment request would propose simplifying the technical

specifications for the Standardized NUHOMS® design. The staff indicated that, given the

scope and complexity of the amendment request, TN’s proposed schedule was problematic. 

In a separate meeting, OPPD indicated it was exploring two options for the next dry cask

storage campaign namely, to (a) use the light-weight transfer cask, or (b) upgrade the spent

fuel pool building crane and support structure to accommodate a standard weight (100-ton)

transfer cask. OPPD indicated that it must load canisters before the Fall 2009 refueling outage,

to maintain full core off-load capability. OPPD stated its preferred option is use of the

light-weight transfer cask, and that it would have additional information about the costs

associated with upgrading the crane and the crane support structure, in early Fall 2007. OPPD

indicated that it expected to make a decision in late 2007 on which option to pursue, with a

target date for a dry cask storage campaign of October 2008. 

NRC Staff Hosts Meeting of the Forum on Stakeholder Confidence Core Group

On January 29-30, 2007, the core group of the Nuclear Energy Agency/Forum on Stakeholder

Confidence (FSC) met at NRC headquarters. High Level Waste Repository Safety staff served

as host to this year’s core group meeting. The core group includes members from France,

Sweden, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare

the agenda for the FSC annual meeting that will take place in Paris, France, June 6-9, 2007,

and make preliminary arrangements for the annual FSC country workshop in the fall. 
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE E

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Public Meeting to Discuss Comments on Regulatory Guides (RGs) that Support New Reactor

Licensing

On January 30, 2007, the staff conducted the subject meeting to give the staff and interested

stakeholders an opportunity to discuss public comments on those RGs which some

commenters requested either be significantly revised or withdrawn. The meeting provided a

forum for the exchange of information and the discussion of comments received on those

regulatory guides.

Information Exchange Meeting with the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety

(IRSN)

On January 25-26, 2007, staff from the offices of RES, Nuclear Reactor Regulation, and New

Reactors participated in the subject meeting. The main topic areas for this meeting were

reactivity-initiated accidents and loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) acceptance criteria, LOCA

break size redefinition and LOCA evaluation methods. The NRC and IRSN staff discussed

potential areas of cooperation in these areas and are pursuing specific exchanges of data.

Implementing Agreement Between the NRC and the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN) of

the Kingdom of Spain in the Area of Nuclear Safety Research

The subject Implementing Agreement was signed by the NRC’s Executive Director for

Operations on January 31, 2007. This Implementing Agreement defines the terms and

conditions by which the NRC and the CSN will continue cooperation in the area of nuclear

safety research which includes: (1) probabilistic risk assessment, (2) human performance,

(3) advanced instrumentation, (4) severe accident program, (5) high burnup fuel, (6) aging,

(7) site characterization, (8) radionuclide transport in the environment and (9) radioactive waste

management, storage and disposal. This Implementing Agreement will enter into force upon

signature, with effect from September 21, 2006, and will remain in effect for 5 years. The next

step is for the Implementing Agreement to be sent to Spain for counter-signature. 
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE F

Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Preliminary Notifications

1. PNO-I-06-013A - Princeton University, Office of Environmental Health and Safety,

LEAKING STRONTIUM-90 PLATED SOURCE IDENTIFIED AT UNIVERSITY (UPDATE)

2. PNO-III-07-002 - Conam Inspection, POTENTIAL OVEREXPOSURE OF A

RADIOGRAPHER
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE G

Office of Administration (ADM)

Items of Interest 

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Criticality Control of Fuel Within Dry Storage Casks or Transportation Packages in a Spent Fuel

Pool; Confirmation of Effective Date (AH95 - Part 50)

On January 26, 2007, the NRC published a document in the Federal Register (71 FR 66648)

confirming the January 30, 2007, effective date for a direct final rule that amends its regulations

that govern domestic licensing of production and utilization facilities. The direct final rule

clarifies that the requirements governing criticality control for spent fuel pool storage racks do

not apply to the fuel within a spent fuel transportation package or storage cask when a package

or cask is in a spent fuel pool.

List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Standardized NUHOMS® System Revision 9

(AI03 - Part 72)

On February 1, 2007, the NRC published a direct final rule in the Federal Register (72 FR 4615)

that amends the entry for the Standardized NUHOMS® cask system in the list of approved

spent fuel storage casks (Amendment 9) (AI03 - Part 72). This action approves additional fuel

assemblies for storage in a specific dry shielded canister. The direct final rule becomes

effective April 17, 2007.

On February 1, 2007, the NRC published the companion proposed rule to this direct final rule in

the Federal Register (72 FR 24660). The comment period closes March 5, 2007.
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE H

Office of Information Services (OIS)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) Requests Received During the Period

of January 26 through February 1, 2007:

Exelon Generation Company, NRC acceptance of the Exelon Quality

Assurance Program based on NQA-1-1994 (ML021070541)

FOIA/PA-2007-0095

Contract NRC1004398 for onsite office support services, awarded

contract, related attachments & exhibits, task/delivery/purchase

orders, & list of proposal submitters

FOIA/PA-2007-0096

Supposed private issues from our homes/home offices getting stolen

i.e., virtual tour, movies, and TV shows 

FOIA/PA-2007-0097

Office of Inspector General investigation cases, multiple case

numbers, first 5 pages of closing memo or final report

FOIA/PA-2007-0098

Open or pending FOIA requests, NRC’s ten oldest FOIA/PA-2007-0099

SF-311, the classification management program data, all years FOIA/PA-2007-0100

Contract NRC-27-01-001, Ivy Planning Group LLC, Section B pricing FOIA/PA-2007-0101

Huntington Empire Soils, Inc., 398 Lincoln Boulevard, Middlesex, NJ

08846, license number 29-30191-01, all records

FOIA/PA-2007-0102

Contract NRC-27-01-001, Ivy Planning Group, award date, duration,

contract type & program office/technical POCs

FOIA/PA-2007-0103

Contract NRC-10-04-398, including attachments and modifications FOIA/PA-2007-0104

Senator Pete Domenici, all correspondence to and from NRC from

January 1, 2003 to present

FOIA/PA-2007-0105

Senator Jeff Bingaman, all correspondence to and from NRC from

January 1, 2000 to present

FOIA/PA-2007-0106
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE J

Office of Human Resources (HR)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Arrivals

BARNES, TERRESSA SECRETARY NRR

CURRIE, BRUCE CIVIL RIGHT SPECIALIST SBCR

FIELDS, MELVIN PROJECT MANAGER NRR

GOLD, MARAGARET SR. PROGRAM ANALYST OIS

KELLY, GLENN SR. RELIABILITY AND RISK ANALYST NRO

LIEBERMAN, JAMES CONSULTANT OGC

LOHR, EDWARD HEALTH PHYSICIST FSME

MCKOY-MOORE, LARNIECE MANAGEMENT ANALYST OGC

MEEHAN, BARBARA, SENIOR CONTRACT SPECIALIST ADM

MILLER, FREDERICK SR. BUDGET ANALYST CFO

RAND, JENNIFER SR. BUDGET ANALYST CFO

SASTRE FUENTE, EDUARDO GENERAL ENGINEER (NSPDP) NRR

SMITH, EBONY STUDENT CLERK NRR

STRASMA, RICHARD SENIOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER RIII

TIEN, KIRK REACTOR SYSTEMS ENGR (THERM-HYD) RES

WELSH, ASHA STUDENT CLERK OPA

Retirement

DANDOIS, DIANE ACCOUNTANT CFO

FIELDS, MEL SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER NRR

HARBAUGH, CYNTHIA SR. SECURITY SPECIALIST (FACILITIES) ADM

KELLY, GLENN SENIOR RELIABILITY AND RISK ANALYST NRR

LINVILLE, JAMES SPECIAL ASSISTANT OIP

PATTERSON, CHARLES SENIOR RESIDENT INSPECTOR (PWR/TL) RII

PAUL, RICHARD DIRECTOR, OI FIELD OFFICE OI
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE J

STRASMA, RICHARD SENIOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER RIII

Departures

BENVENUTO, PABLO RESIDENT INSPECTOR (PWR) R-IV

LANE, SUSAN STRUCTURAL ENGINEER NRR

NG, SAI WAH GENERAL ENGINEER (NSPDP) NRR
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE M

Office of Public Affairs (OPA)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

OPA received significant media inquiries on the following:

Security requirements for nuclear plants and the agency’s new Design Basis Threat rule.

Oyster Creek license renewal. 

NRC’s high ranking in an OPM survey of the best places to work in the federal government.

Other Public Affairs Items:

OPA assisted at public meetings on the Vermont Yankee license renewal application, and the

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards meeting on the Oyster Creek renewal.

Commissioner McGaffigan was interviewed by the Las Vegas Sun and National Public Radio.

Commissioner Merrifield was interviewed by The Washington Post.

Press Releases

Headquarters:

07-011 NRC Solicits Comments on Proposed Enforcement Policy Revisions (1/29)

07-012 NRC Approves Final Rule Amending Security Requirements (1/29)

07-013 Statement from Chairman Dale Klein on Commission’s Affirmation of the Final

DBT Rule (1/29)

07-014 NRC Issues License to RMD Operations of Colorado for Extracting Uranium

from Municipal Water Supplies (1/30)

07-015 NRC Scores Near Top of Government-Wide Human Capital Survey (1/30)

07-016 NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet in Rockville, Maryland,

Feb. 13-15 (1/31)

07-017 NRC to Meet with Public to Discuss Revisions, Additions to Physical Security

Requirements for Nuclear Power Plants (1/31)

07-018 Note to Editors: NRC 2008 Budget Briefing (2/1)

07-019 NRC Proposes to Amend Licensing, Inspection and Annual Fees Rule (2/2)

Regions:

I-07-005 NRC Proposes $3,250 Civil Penalty for Mount Laurel, N.J., Firm over Theft of

Nuclear Gauge from Pennsylvania Site (1/31)
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE O

Office of the Secretary (SECY)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Document Released

to Public

Date Subject

Information Papers

- SECY-07-0016 01/24/07 Weekly Information Report - Week Ending

January 12, 2007

Memoranda

1. M070129 01/29/07 Affirmation Session: SECY-06-0219 - Final

Rulemaking to Revise 10 CFR 73.1, Design Basis

Threat (DBT) Requirements

2. M070201A 02/01/07 Staff Requirements-Affirmation Session: I. SECY07-0010 - USEC, Inc. (American Centrifuge Plant);

II. SECY-07-0020 - David Geisen, “Order (Denying

Government’s Request to Stay Proceeding)”

(January 12, 2007)

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to Congress, dated January 24, 2007, provides the status of NRC’s rulemaking

efforts to implement Section 651(e) of the 2005 EPAct on “Treatment of AcceleratorProduced and Other Radioactive Material as Byproduct Material.”

2. Letter to Gary Kepplinger, GAO, dated January 22, 2007, responds to letter concerning

provisions of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meeting on Materials,

Metallurgy, and Reactor Fuels, notice of meeting (2/21/07). 

2. Proposed rule. 10 CFR Parts 40, 72, 74, and 150, RIN: 3150-AH85, Regulatory

Improvements to the Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards System.
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE P

Region II (RII)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Turkey Point Public Meeting

On February 1, 2007, staff held a public meeting with representatives from Florida Power and

Light Company regarding the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant. The purpose of the meeting was to

discuss the progress of cross-cutting issues with the licensee.
February 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE P

Region IV (RIV)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

Senior Management Change at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station

On January 31, 2007, Arizona Public Service announced that Mr. Bob Bement, former

Organizational Effectiveness Team Manager at INPO, has been selected as Operations Vice

President at Palo Verde effective February 1, 2007.
February 2, 2007 

Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA)

Items of Interest

Week Ending February 2, 2007

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS SCHEDULE, NO. 2

 OCA

Contact

 DATE &

 PLACE

TIME COMMITTEE SUBJECT 

Sahm 01/30/2007

406 Dirksen

9:00 Senate Environment and Public

Works(Senators Boxer / Inhofe)

Senators’ Perspectives onGlobal Climate Change

< N/A

Decker 01/30/2007

2123

Rayburn

10:00 House Energy and Commerce -

Oversight and Investigations(Representatives Stupak /Whitfield)

Security at DOE Facilities,Especially Los AlamosNational Laboratory

< Gregory Frie

< Glenn Podo

Security Off

< Danielle Bry

on Governm

< Clay Sell, D< Thomas D’A< William Des

and Chief foNNSA

< Linda Wilba

NNSA

< Thomas Pyk

DOE

< Michael Ana

National Lab

Decker 02/07/2007

366 Dirksen

9:30 Senate Energy and Natural

Resources(Senators Bingaman / Domenici)

Proposed FY2008 Budget forthe Department of Energy

< Secretary S