INFORMATION REPORT 

December 20, 2007 SECY-07-0220

For: The Commissioners 

From: Vonna L. Ordaz, Assistant for Operations, Office of the EDO 

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

DECEMBER 14, 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 by Mindy Landau Acting For/ 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

A.C. Ridge, OEDO 
December 21, 2007 SECY-07-0220

For: The Commissioners 

From: Vonna L. Ordaz, Assistant for Operations, Office of the EDO 

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

DECEMBER 14, 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/ 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

A.C. Ridge, OEDO 

DISTRIBUTION: 

EDO R/F 

AO R/F Document Name: G:\Melissa\WIR\Week1214.DOC 

OEDO AO/OEDO 

ACRidge VLOrdaz 

12/20/07 12/20/07 ML073541105 

 
WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 14, 2007

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

Headquarters and Regional Office activities. 

Contact: A.C. Ridge, OEDO by E-mail: acr1@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 6 SECY 19 

RES * Region I 20 

NSIR 10 Region II 21 

ADM 11 Region III 22 

OIS 12 Region IV 23 

CFO * EDO * 

HR 16 OCA 24 

SBCR * 

*No input this week 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE A 

 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Final Rule Published in Federal Register on December 4, 2007

On December 4, 2007, the NRC published a final rule amending regulations that would become 

effective January 3, 2008. The final rule, published on December 4, 2007 (72 FR 68043) related 

to the reporting of annual dose to workers, the definition of Total Effective Dose Equivalent 

(TEDE), the labeling of certain containers holding licensed material, and the determination of 

cumulative occupational radiation dose. The NRC is deferring the effective date of the final rule 

until Office of Budget and Management (OMB) review and clearance of the rule’s information 

collections is completed. NRC anticipates the new effective date for this rule will be 

February 15, 2008. The NRC will publish a subsequent document to confirm this effective date. 

Meeting of the Digital Instrumentation and Control Steering Committee with the Nuclear Energy 

Institute (NEI) to Address the Digital Instrumentation and Control Project Plan

On December 7, 2007, staff held a Category 2 public meeting of the Digital Instrumentation and 

Control Steering Committee to discuss the Digital Instrumentation and Control Project Plan. 

Participants included NEI representatives and staff from the NRC offices of NRR, Nuclear 

Regulatory Research (RES), New Reactors (NRO), Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards 

(NMSS), and Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR). The Steering Committee 

discussed activities that have occurred since the last meeting in October including the 

development of Interim Staff Guidance for Cyber Security, Risk Informing, Licensing Process, 

and Fuel Cycle Facilities. Also discussed during the meeting was the updated draft version of 

the project plan. The next public meeting of the steering committee should be in late January, 

2008. 

Public Meeting with the NEI Operator Licensing Focus Group (OLFG)

On December 11, 2007, the staff held a public meeting with the NEI OLFG. At the meeting, the 

staff and the NEI OLFG agreed, in principal, on the scope and methodology for performance 

testing nuclear power plant control room simulators, including the use of scenario-based testing. 

 Other major issues discussed at the meeting included a status update on operator licensing for 

new reactors, a status update on the implementation of the fatigue rule in 10 CFR 26, contractorprepared Nuclear Regulatory Commission written examinations, and eligibility requirements for 

senior reactor operator license applicants. 

Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 License Renewal Draft Supplemental Generic 

Environmental Impact Statement

On December 11, 2007, the staff issued the draft of NUREG-1437, AGeneric Environmental 

Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 33, Regarding Shearon 

Harris Nuclear Power Plant,@ for public comment. This supplemental environmental impact 

statement (SEIS) includes the staff=s preliminary analysis that considers the environmental 

effects of the proposed action, the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action, 

and mitigation measures available for reducing or avoiding adverse impacts. It also includes the 

staff=s preliminary recommendation regarding the proposed action: “the staff 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE A 

recommends that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license 

renewal for Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant are not so great that preserving the option of 

license renewal for energy planning decision makers would be unreasonable”. 

A 75-day public comment period is scheduled to begin on December 21, 2007, with the Notice of 

Availability of the draft SEIS with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The staff has 

scheduled public meetings on January 30, 2008, in Apex, North Carolina, to present its analyses 

and to accept public comments on the draft SEIS. 

Public Meeting with NEI

On December 12, 2007, the staff held a public meeting with NEI at NRC headquarters to discuss 

generic license renewal topics and license renewal process improvements. 

Public Meeting with NEI on Fatigue

On December 13, 2007, the staff participated in a Category 3 public meeting with NEI and 

industry representatives to discuss NEI-06-11 (Revision A), Managing Fatigue at Nuclear Power 

Reactor Sites. This document provides draft guidance for implementation of 10 CFR 26, 

Subpart I, Managing Fatigue. Topics of discussion included fatigue management guidance for 

the transition from plant construction to operation, guidance for control of work hours during an 

outage at a multi-unit site, and the appropriate use of a risk-informed process to determine the 

applicability of the work hour controls.
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE B 

 Office of New Reactors (NRO) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company

By letter dated December 5, 2007, MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company (MNEC) informed the 

NRC staff that it plans to submit a combined license (COL) application by December 2008. 

MNEC has not yet selected a reactor technology; however, MNEC is negotiating with Mitsubishi 

Nuclear Energy Systems, Inc. for the U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR) 

reactor. MNEC stated that it has already started the COL core borings program at a site near 

Boise, Idaho. The NRC staff has confirmed that the site is located in Payette County, Idaho and 

that MNEC plans to continue with the COL borings through March 2008. 

Receipt of Design Certification Application for the Evolutionary Power Reactor

On December 11, 2007, Areva submitted an application for a design certification for the 

Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 52. The 

NRC has already received one partial COL application for a COL that will reference the EPR 

design certification, and expects to receive 5 additional COL applications for EPRs over the next 

year. 

Receipt of Combined License Application for William States Lee III Nuclear Station 

On December 13, 2007, Duke Energy submitted a COL application for two AP1000 advanced 

passive pressurized water reactors in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 52. The 

proposed station, located in Cherokee County, South Carolina, has been designated the William 

States Lee III Nuclear Station (Lee Nuclear Station). This proposed location was the site of a 

three-unit construction project (Cherokee) that was canceled in the early 1980s with a 

construction permit. In accordance with the agency’s design-centered review approach, the Lee 

COL application will be the first “subsequent-COL” (S-COL) for the AP1000 design center and 

will benefit from the standard review performed on the TVA Bellefonte AP1000 “reference-COL” 

(R-COL) application for the AP1000 design. 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE C 

 Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Third Annual Fundamental Processes of Radionuclide Migration Workshop

From November 26 to 28, 2007, the President of the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory 

Analyses attended the third annual workshop of the Fundamental Processes of Radionuclide 

Migration, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He provided peer review comments on 34 science and 

technology papers. His comments focused on research results relevant to the development of 

safety cases for repository concepts currently being investigated in European countries. Fiftyone teams from various European countries presented results of their research, which focused 

on far-field processes such as diffusion, adsorption, colloid formation and migration, and 

heterogeneity scaling. 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE E 

 Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Certificate of Acclamation

On December 11, 2007, a Senior Materials Engineer of RES was awarded a Certificate of 

Acclamation by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The Award is for 

outstanding service and technical excellence in the development of the 2007 Edition of the 

ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section VIII, Division 2: Alternative Rules for 

Construction of Pressure Vessels. 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE F 

 Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Global Initiatives to Combat Nuclear Terrorism

On December 11, NSIR staff participated in a Global Initiatives to Combat Nuclear Terrorism 

working group meeting hosted by the Department of State. The working group was briefed on 

diplomatic outreach, ongoing and planned Global Initiative activities, and planned international 

exercises. Noteworthy discussion topics include a desire to have senior agency representatives 

reach out to non-Global Initiative countries when possible, and generation of Mo-99 using lowenriched uranium (LEU) instead of highly enriched uranium (HEU). 

New Reactor Applications 

On December 13, NSIR staff met with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) representatives 

at NRC Headquarters during their monthly coordination meeting for preparation of consultation 

on new reactor applications. The agenda included a discussion of the current new reactor 

applications schedule and planning a consultation visit to South Texas Project nuclear power 

plant. 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE H 

 Office of Information Services (OIS) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

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

of December 7 through December 13, 2007: 

Texas Instruments facility, Attleboro, MA, license SNM-23, surveys 

conducted in 1994-1995 regarding Ra-226 contamination FOIA/PA-2008-0060 

License applications for possession and exempt distribution of 

gemstones, all records; and Ideal Source Quality Assurance, Columbia, 

MO 65203 FOIA/PA-2008-0061 

Licenses issued for all research and development facilities for lamps 

and lighting products and/or all licenses that identify the licensee and 

the location of facilities FOIA/PA-2008-0062 

Purchase order SF1222107 for the procurement of firearms by the 

NRC’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and/or Office of 

Investigations (OI) in 1997 FOIA/PA-2008-0063 

Facilities given licenses by the State of Florida the year it became an 

agreement state FOIA/PA-2008-0064 

Active NRC licenses FOIA/PA-2008-0065 

South Texas Project Nuclear Operating combined license application, 

all records associated with compilation of acceptance review inputs of 

whether to docket an application, 9-20-07 to present FOIA/PA-2008-0066 

OIG investigation 07-52 on named individual FOIA/PA-2008-0067 

Nuclear Metals Inc., Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 

license SMB-179, SNM-65, records re: environmental conditions or 

decommissioning, 1957 to present FOIA/PA-2008-0068 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE J 

 Office of Human Resources (HR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Arrivals

GARCIA, MICHAEL ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE 

(CONSULTANT)

ASLBP 

JENKINS, KEVIN STUDENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 

ANALYST (CO-OP)

CFO 

KALKMAN, ADAM STUDENT CLERK OI / RIII 

LE, SOPHIE STUDENT SCIENTIST (CO-OP) FSME 

WASHINGTON, BRITTNEY STUDENT CLERK (TYPING) ADM 

Retirements

FLETCHER, JUANDA SECRETARY (OA) RES 

Departures

VEBLEN, LINDA GEOCHEMIST RES 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE O 

 Office of the Secretary (SECY) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Document Released 

to Public 

Date Subject 

Decision Documents

1. SRM-SECY-07-0177 12/10/07 Proposed Rule: Decommissioning Planning 

(10 CFR Parts 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, and 72; 

RIN: 3150-AH45) 

2. Commission Voting 

Record on 07-0177 

12/10/07 (same) 

3. SECY-07-0203 11/20/07 Rulemaking Plan: 10 CFR Part 110, “Export 

and Import of Nuclear Equipment and 

Material; Updates and Clarifications” 

4. SECY-07-0207 11/29/07 Multinational Design Evaluation Program – 

Stage 2 Pilot Project 

Information Papers

1. SECY-07-0213 12/6/07 Weekly Information Report – Week Ending 

November 30, 2007 

Memoranda

1. M071212A 12/12/07 Staff Requirements – Affirmation Session: I. 

SECY-07-0212 – Entergy Nuclear 

Operations, Inc. (Indian Point Nuclear 

Generating Units 2 and 3, Licensing Board 

Order (Censure of Sherwood Martinelli)(Dec. 

3, 2007) 

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to Congress, dated December, 2007, concerns NRC’s project to monitor the 

location of radioactive sources of concern, the National Source Tracking System (NSTS), 

now expected to begin operation in December 2008. 

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Independent External Review Panel to Identify Vulnerabilities in the U.S. NRC’s Materials 

Licensing Program, notice of meeting (January 8 – 11, 2008). 

2. Sally Shaw; Denial of Petition for Rulemaking, 10 CFR Part 51, Docket No. PRM-51-11.

3. Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, Crow Butte Resources, Inc. 

(License Amendment for the North Trend Expansion Area).
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE O 

4. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Meeting of the Subcommittee on Economic 

Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) Design Certification, notice of meeting 

(January 16 – 17, 2008). 

5. Proposed rule. 10 CFR Parts 60, 63, 73, and 74, RIN: 3150-A106, Geologic Repository 

Operations Area Security and Material Control and Accounting Requirements. 

6. Final rule, deferral of effective date: Occupational Dose Records, Labeling Containers, 

and the Total Effective Dose Equivalent, 10 CFR Parts 19, 20, and 50, RIN 3150-AH40. 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE P 

 Region II (RII) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

RII Leadership Retreat

On December 11-12, 2007, Regional Senior Managers, Branch Chiefs and Team Leaders 

participated in the Region II Leadership Retreat in Chattanooga, TN. The theme for the retreat 

was “Leading During Transition.” 
December 14, 2007 ENCLOSURE Q 

 Office of the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 14, 2007 

Proposed Rule Signed by EDO

On December 11, 2007, the Executive Director for Operations approved a proposed rule which 

revises 10 CFR Part 72.214, “List of approved spent fuel storage casks,” by revising the Holtec 

International HI-STORM 100 listing within the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks” to 

include Amendment No. 5. This amendment will make the following modifications to the 

Certificate of Compliance (CoC): (1) deletion of the requirement to perform thermal validation 

tests on thermal systems; (2) an increase in the design basis maximum decay heat loads, and 

introduction of a new decay heat regionalized scheme; (3) increase in the maximum fuel 

assembly weight for boiling water reactor fuel in the Multi-Purpose Canister (MPC)-68; (4) an 

increase in maximum fuel assembly weights; (5) changes to the assembly characteristics of 

16x16 pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies to be qualified for storage in the HI-STORM 

100 cask system; (6) a change in certain fuel storage locations in the MPC-32, MPC-24, MPC24E, and MPC-32; (7) elimination of the restriction that fuel debris can only be loaded into the 

MPC-24EF, MPC-32F, MPC-68F, and MPC-68FF canisters; (8) introduction of a requirement 

that all MPC confinement boundary components and any MPC components exposed to spent 

fuel pool water or the ambient environment be made of stainless steel or, for MPC internals, 

neutron absorber or aluminum; (9) the addition of a threshold heat load below which operation of 

the Supplemental Cooling System would not be required and modification of the design criteria 

to simplify the system; (10) editorial changes including clarification of the description of anchored 

casks, correction of editorial errors, clarification of the definitions of Loading Operations, Storage 

Operations, Transport Operations, Unloading Operations, Cask Loading Facility, and Transfer 

Cask; and (11) modification of the definition of non-fuel hardware to include the individual parts 

of the items defined as non-fuel hardware. 
December 14, 2007 

 Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA)  Items of Interest  Week Ending December 14, 2007 

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS SCHEDULE, NO. 41 

OCA Contact 

Date & Place Time Committee Subject Witnesses 

Sahm 12/11/07 

342 Dirksen 

10:00 Senate Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs (Senators Levin / Collins) 

“E-Government 2.0: Improving Innovation, Collaboration and Access” 

• Karen Evans – Adm

Electronic GovernmTechnology, OMB 

• John Lewis Needh

Sector Content Pa

• Ari Schwartz – Dep

Democracy and Te

• Jimmy Wales – Fo

Sahm 12/12/07 

2123 Rayburn 

9:30 House Energy and Commerce, 

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Representatives Stupak / Whitfield) 

“Energy Speculation: Is Greater Regulation Necessary to Stop Price Manipulation?” 

• Michael Greenberg

University of Maryla

• Laura Campbell – 

Energy ResourcesWater 

• Sean Cota – Presid

Bellows Falls, VT 

• Charles Vice – Chi

Intercontinental Ex

• Thomas LaSala – 

New York Mercant

• Joseph Kelliher – C

Regulatory Commi

• Walter Lukken – A

Futures Trading Co
December 14, 2007 

Sahm 12/13/07 

342 Dirksen 

10:00 Senate Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia (Senators Akaka / Voinovich) 

Efforts to prioritize federal government management, focusing on the creation of the position of chief management officer (CMO) at federal agencies 

• Not yet announced 

Decker 12/13/07 

311 Cannon 

1:00 House Select Intelligence 

Committee, Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management (Representatives Eshoo / Issa) 

Proposals that would change security clearance procedures 

• Not yet announced 

Shane / Dacus 

02/28/08 TBD 

TBD Senate Environment and Public 

Works, Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety (Senators Carper / Voinovich) 

Oversight Hearing on New Reactors 

• Commission will be