June 11, 2008 

Mr. George S. Dunlop 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) 

Department of the Army 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Works 

108 Army Pentagon 

Washington, D.C. 20310-0108 

Dear Mr. Dunlop: 

I am responding to your April 28, 2008, letter to Mr. Luis A. Reyes, then Executive Director for 

Operations for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). I am pleased that you agree it 

is appropriate to revise the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NRC and U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) regarding the regulation of nuclear power plants. The current 

MOU was signed in 1975 before the NRC established the one-step licensing process described 

in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals 

for Nuclear Power Plants.” Other rule changes, such as the revised limited work authorization 

rule, have also made revising the MOU an important issue. 

As your letter states, the MOU needs to recognize the roles and responsibilities of each agency. 

Because of the Corps role in regulating the jurisdictional waters of the United States, it is 

appropriate in certain instances for the Corps to participate as a cooperating agency, with the 

NRC as the lead agency, on environmental impact statements for proposed new nuclear power 

plants. For example, the applicant for the combined license (COL) for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear 

Power Plant, Unit 3, in Lusby, MD, has a COL application before the NRC and a permit request 

pending before your Baltimore District. The Baltimore District of the Corps requested to 

participate as a cooperating agency for the Calvert Cliffs COL application, and the NRC is 

willing to accept the Corps as a cooperating agency for the Calvert Cliffs application. However, 

we believe the MOU should provide flexibility to handle each application in the most effective 

manner, and in some cases, this may require different approaches. 

The NRC staff has already had discussions with your staff and we will continue to work together 

to update the MOU. 

Sincerely, 

/RA/ 

Michael R. Johnson, Director 

Office of New Reactors 
June 11, 2008 

Mr. George S. Dunlop 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) 

Department of the Army 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Works 

108 Army Pentagon 

Washington, D.C. 20310-0108 

Dear Mr. Dunlop: 

I am responding to your April 28, 2008, letter to Mr. Luis A. Reyes, then Executive Director for 

Operations for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). I am pleased that you agree it 

is appropriate to revise the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NRC and U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) regarding the regulation of nuclear power plants. The current 

MOU was signed in 1975 before the NRC established the one-step licensing process described 

in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals 

for Nuclear Power Plants.” Other rule changes, such as the revised limited work authorization 

rule, have also made revising the MOU an important issue. 

As your letter states, the MOU needs to recognize the roles and responsibilities of each agency. 

Because of the Corps role in regulating the jurisdictional waters of the United States, it is 

appropriate in certain instances for the Corps to participate as a cooperating agency, with the 

NRC as the lead agency, on environmental impact statements for proposed new nuclear power 

plants. For example, the applicant for the combined license (COL) for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear 

Power Plant, Unit 3, in Lusby, MD, has a COL application before the NRC and a permit request 

pending before your Baltimore District. The Baltimore District of the Corps requested to 

participate as a cooperating agency for the Calvert Cliffs COL application, and the NRC is 

willing to accept the Corps as a cooperating agency for the Calvert Cliffs application. However, 

we believe the MOU should provide flexibility to handle each application in the most effective 

manner, and in some cases, this may require different approaches. 

The NRC staff has already had discussions with your staff and we will continue to work together 

to update the MOU. 

Sincerely, 

/RA/ 

Michael R. Johnson, Director 

Office of New Reactors 

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DATE 6/5/2008 6/11/2008 6/11/2008 6/11/2008 06/11/2008 

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