INFORMATION REPORT 

November 13, 2007 SECY-07-0199

For: The Commissioners 

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

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

NOVEMBER 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/ 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

A.C. Ridge, OEDO 
November 13, 2007 SECY-07-0199

For: The Commissioners 

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

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

NOVEMBER 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/ 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

A.C. Ridge, OEDO 

DISTRIBUTION: 

EDO R/F 

AO R/F Document Name: G:\Melissa\WIR\week1102.DOC 

OEDO AO/OEDO 

ACRidge VLOrdaz ML073190307 

11/09/07 11/13/07 
WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 2, 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 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE A 

 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

Meeting with LaSalle on Spent Fuel Pool Storage and Boraflex Degradation

On October 20, 2007, a public meeting was held between the NRC staff and Exelon's LaSalle 

County Station (licensee) to discuss spent fuel pool (SFP) storage and Boraflex degradation, 

and to present an overview for a pre-submittal license amendment request (LAR). The licensee 

made a presentation summarizing Exelon's integrated approach to resolution, describing its 

criticality analysis, and indicating its plan to submit the LAR to change the Technical 

Specification limit on SFP storage capacity in the fourth quarter of 2007. 

Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute to Discuss GSI-191, Chemical Effects Testing

On October 24, 2007, the staff participated in a public meeting with representatives from the 

Nuclear Energy Institute and the Pressurized Water Reactor Owners Group regarding chemical 

effects and other issues related to containment sump performance regarding GSI-191 and 

Generic Letter 2004-02. The meeting featured presentations by two vendors describing their 

chemical effects test plans and a presentation by the staff describing recent results from 

confirmatory testing at the Argonne National Laboratory. Other topics included industry 

comments on draft staff review guidance to support reviews of licensee supplemental responses 

to Generic Letter 2004-02, “Potential Impact of Debris Blockage on Emergency Recirculation 

during Design Basis Accidents at Pressurized-Water Reactors.” 

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) Ruling for Pilgrim License Renewal

On October 30, 2007, the ASLB for Pilgrim License Renewal issued a ruling granting Entergy's 

Motion to dismiss Pilgrim Watch Contention 3 regarding Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives. 

Meeting with Government Accountability Office Regarding Fire Protection Safety at Nuclear 

Power Plants

On November 1, 2007, the staff provided an information briefing to the United States 

Government Accountability Office (GAO) staff on fire protection safety at nuclear power plants. 

This is the first meeting requested by GAO with NRR staff to discuss questions related to GAO’s 

selection criteria for upcoming plant visits, power reactor fire events, and National Fire Protection 

Association (NFPA) 805 transition fire probabilistic risk assessment expertise resource issues 

for industry and NRC. 

Public Meeting with the Technical Specifications Task Force Regarding Administrative 

Processing of Generic Changes to the Standard Technical Specifications

On November 1, 2007, the Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) and NRC staff conducted 

a public meeting regarding generic changes to the Standard Technical Specifications 

(Travelers). NRC and the TSTF discussed NRC administrative processes associated with TSTF 

Travelers, and reviewed the status of TSTF Travelers formally proposed by industry. The TSTF 

also presented and solicited NRC feedback on Travelers under consideration for submission to 

the NRC. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE B 

 Office of New Reactors (NRO) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

North Anna Public Outreach Meetings

On October 24, 2007, the staff conducted outreach meetings in Louisa County, VA regarding the 

anticipated North Anna combined operating license (COL) application. The meetings were the 

latest in the series pertaining to new reactors. The staff conducted an afternoon meeting in 

Louisa, VA with local county and town officials and conducted an evening public meeting in 

Mineral, VA. Approximately 150 people attended the public meeting, which included a two-hour 

question and answer session and received media coverage. 

 

Public Meeting with U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR) Design Centered 

Working Group (DCWG) 

 

On October 29, 2007, the staff met with the US-APWR DCWG (Mitsubishi and Luminant) to 

discuss the site specific seismic methodology that will be used at Comanche Peak, the 

environmental assessment plan for the transmission line corridors, and Luminant’s lessons 

learned program that will be incorporated into the COL application. As a result of this meeting, 

the staff and the US-APWR DCWG have agreed to hold meetings during the spring of 2008 on 

emergency planning, geology and seismic analysis, security planning, and on the detailed 

standardization matrix (Regulatory Issue Summary 2007-08) that will address what portions of 

the design certification will be implemented into the COL application. 

Receipt of Bellefonte Combined License Application

On October 30, 2007, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted an application for a COL for 

two AP1000 advanced passive pressurized water reactors in accordance with the requirements 

of 10 CFR Part 52. TVA intends to designate the reactors as Bellefonte Units 3 and 4. These 

units are proposed to be located at the existing Bellefonte facility near the town of Scottsboro in 

Jackson County, Alabama. In accordance with the agency's design centered review approach, 

the Bellefonte COL application has been designated as the reference plant COL application for 

the AP1000 design. 

Unistar Nuclear Letter Addressing Acceptance Review Issues of Calvert Cliffs, Unit 3 Partial 

Combined License Application

By letter dated October 30, 2007, UniStar Nuclear provided its plan for addressing the issues 

that the NRC staff identified during the acceptance review of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, 

Unit 3 partial COL application. The letter also provides the proposed changes to address some 

of the specific issues raised by NRC staff. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE B 

Meeting with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

On October 31, 2007, NRO met with representatives from the Canadian Nuclear Safety 

Commission (CNSC) and briefed them on the NRC's environmental review process and the 

proposed rule on consideration of aircraft impacts for new nuclear power reactor designs. The 

CNSC presentations addressed the Canadian licensing process, emergency planning, and plant 

security. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE C 

 Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

Nuclear Energy Agency, Integrated Group for the Safety Case Meeting

From October 24 to 26, 2007, the President of the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory 

Analyses participated in the 9th Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 

Development, Nuclear Energy Agency Integrated Group for the Safety Case in Paris, France. 

Information was exchanged on various topics, including thermodynamic databases and geologic 

stability related to the disposal of high-level waste. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE E 

 Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

Meeting at the Seabrook Station Concerning Shutdown Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA) Model 

From October 24 to 26, 2007, the staff met with Seabrook Station personnel to discuss 

Standardized Plant Analysis Risk Shutdown (SPAR-SD) models. The purpose of this meeting 

was to review the Seabrook-specific SPAR-SD model produced by the staff and to gather 

information on Seabrook's operations and procedures. In addition, the licensee described its 

shutdown PRA and modeling methods. The insights gained from this meeting will be used by 

the NRC to improve SPAR-SD model development. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE F 

 Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

PNO-IV-07-008C, Southern California Edison Co.

UPDATE – SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRUSH FIRES AND SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR 

GENERATING STATION (SONGS) STATUS 

PNO-IV-07-008D, Southern California Edison Co.

FINAL UPDATE – SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRUSH FIRES AND SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR 

GENERATING STATION STATUS 

PNO-III-07-013, Karmanos Cancer Center 

MEDICAL EVENT 

PNO-III-07-012A, Byron Station Unit 1 and 2

UPDATE TO DUAL UNIT SHUTDOWN 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE G 

 Office of Administration (ADM) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

10 CFR 72 List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: TN-68 Revision 1, Confirmation of 

Effective Date (AI21)

On October 26, 2007, the NRC published a document in the Federal Register (72 FR 60760) 

confirming the effective date of a direct final rule that amended the NRC's regulations to revise 

the TN-68 cask system listing to include Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) 

No. 1027. The direct final rule became effective October 30, 2007. 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE H 

 Office of Information Services (OIS) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

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

of October 26 through November 1, 2007: 

SECY-06-0073, “Summary of Decommissioning Funding Status 

Reports for Nuclear Power Reactors” 

FOIA/PA-2008-0024 

Standards used to select Administrative Law Judges, application for 

vacancy, and why named individual was not selected 

FOIA/PA-2008-0025 

Rushmore Air Force Station, maintenance activities involving nuclear 

weapons, 1952-62, radiological contamination 

FOIA/PA-2008-0026 

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s pre-licensing work on the 

advanced converter reactor (Referral by Department of State) 

FOIA/PA-2008-0027 

Seismic reference probability value for Central & Eastern United States 

(CEUS) nuclear power plants; nine letters to Dr. A. J. Murphy; 

Evaluation of 2002 USGS National Seismic Hazard Assessment Final 

Report and Revised Report; USGS report to NRC dated 11-30-04 

FOIA/PA-2008-0028 

Contract OIS-07-373, IV & V of NRC Systems, current contract, 

Statement of Work, work plan, and related documents 

FOIA/PA-2008-0029 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE J 

 Office of Human Resources (HR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

Arrivals

LIZARDI, JONATHAN REACTOR INSPECTOR NSPDP RII

Retirements

KANE, WILLIAM DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

FOR REACTOR AND 

PREPAREDNESS PROGRAMS

EDO

NAIDU, KAMALAKAR SENIOR REACTOR ENGINEER NRO

Departures

HUBBARD, VANESSA LYNN STUDENT MANAGEMENT 

ANALYST (COOP)

CFO

REBER, ERIC PROJECT MANAGER NMSS

SKARPAC, ERIC SECURITY ANALYST NSIR
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE M 

 Office of Public Affairs (OPA) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

OPA Received Significant Media Inquiries on the Following Topics:

Palo Verde security incident involving a pipe bomb. 

Inattentive guards incident at Peach Bottom nuclear plant. 

“No Fly Zone” proposal for Indian Point nuclear plant in New York. 

Uranium boom and the potential revitalization to local economy. 

Low-level waste strategic assessment. 

Unavailability of the public part of ADAMS via the Web. 

Other Public Affairs Items:

OPA conducted an in-person interview with a Japanese newspaper regarding the 

communication aspects of emergency preparedness. 

A Region III Public Affairs Officer participated in a taped interview for the Rockford Public Radio 

station and answered questions about the Byron nuclear plant pipe rust issue and the NRC’s 

special inspection. 

Press Releases

Headquarters:

07-142 NRC to Hold Public Meetings on Nuclear Power Plant Security and Emergency 

Preparedness in Rockville, Maryland (10/29) 

07-143 NRC to Discuss Proposed Aircraft Impact Assessment Rule November 15 in 

Rockville, MD (10/31) 

07-144 NRC’s William Travers to Become Advisor at the International Atomic Energy 

Agency (10/31) 

07-145 NRC Executives Honored with Presidential Awards (11/01) 

07-146 NRC Publishes Strategic Assessment of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Regulatory 

Program (11/02) 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE M 

Regions:

I-07-056 NRC Assigns New Senior Resident Inspector to Beaver Valley (10/31) 

II-07-051 NRC Issues a “Yellow” Finding to Farley Nuclear Plant for Valve Test Failures 

(11/01) 

IV-07-040 NRC Conducting Special Inspection at Arkansas Nuclear One (10/31) 

IV-07-041 

NRC to Hold Regulatory Conference with Omaha Public Power District on Fort 

Calhoun Nuclear Plant (11/01) 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE O 

 Office of the Secretary (SECY) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

Document Released 

to Public 

Date Subject 

Decision Documents

1. Commission Voting Record 

 on SECY-07-0162 

11/02/07 Final Rule to Amend 10 CFR Parts 19, 20, 

and 50: Occupational Dose Records, 

Labeling Containers, and the Total Effective 

Dose Equivalent (RIN 3150-AH40) 

Information Papers

1. SECY-07-0187 10/25/07 Weekly Information Report – Week Ending 

October 12, 2007 

2. SECY-07-0188 10/26/07 Weekly Information Report – Week Ending 

October 19, 2007 

3. SECY-07-0180 10/17/07 Strategic Assessment of Low-Level 

Radioactive Waste Regulatory Program 

Memoranda

1. M071102 11/02/07 Staff Requirements: Affirmation Session: I. 

SECY-07-0162 - Final Rule to Amend 10 

CFR Parts 19, 20, and 50: Occupational 

Dose Records, Labeling Containers, and the 

Total Effective Dose Equivalent (RIN 3150-

AH40) 

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to Congressman Edward Markey, dated October 25, 2007, responds to letter 

 concerning a recently awarded NRC contract to Information Systems Laboratories, Inc. 

2. Letter to S.K. Sharma, India, dated October 23, 2007, responds to invitation to visit the 

 Atomic Energy Regulation Board and India. 

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste and Materials, notice of 184th meeting (11/13 to11/15, 

2007). 

2. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, Subcommittee Meeting on Power Uprates 

 (Susquehanna), notice of meeting (11/14/2007). 
November 2, 2007 ENCLOSURE Q 

 Office of the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending November 2, 2007 

During the week of October 29, 2007, the EDO approved a final rule which incorporates by 

reference Revision 34 of Regulatory Guide 1.84, “Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case 

Acceptability, ASME Section III,” and Revision 15 of Regulatory Guide 1.147, “Inservice 

Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI.” These regulatory guides list ASME 

Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code Cases that the NRC has approved for use as 

alternatives to the requirements in the ASME BPV Code. This action permits NRC licensees to 

apply these Code Cases without obtaining prior NRC approval. 
November 2, 2007 

 Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA)  Items of Interest  Week Ending November 2, 2007 

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS SCHEDULE, NO. 35 

OCA 

Contact 

Date & 

Place Time Committee Subject 

Powell 10/31/07 

406 Dirksen 

10:00 Senate Environment and Public 

Works (Senators Boxer / Inhofe) 

Examination of the Licensing Process for the Yucca Mountain Repository 

• Senator Harry Re• Senator John Ens• Senator Jim DeM• Jim Gibbons – Go• Catherine Cortez 

State of Nevada 

• Edward Sproat – 

Radioactive Was

• Robert Meyers – 

Administrator, Off

• Michael Weber – 

Material Safety an

• James Kerr – Pre

Regulatory UtilitieCarolina Utilities C

• Ken Cook – Presi

Group