INFORMATION REPORT 

December 30, 2008 SECY-08-0198

For: The Commissioners 

From: Vonna L. Ordaz 

 Assistant for Operations 

 Office of the Executive Director for Operations 

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

DECEMBER 19, 2008 

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 Tamara E. Bloomer Acting For/ 

 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

S. Bagley, OEDO 
December 30, 2008 SECY-08-0198

For: The Commissioners 

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

Subject: WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING 

DECEMBER 19, 2008 

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 Tamara E. Bloomer Acting For/ 

Vonna L. Ordaz 

Assistant for Operations, OEDO 

Contact: 

S. Bagley, OEDO 

DISTRIBUTION: 

EDO R/F 

AO R/F Document Name: G:\AO\WIR\2008\Week1219.doc 

OEDO AO/OEDO 

SBagley VLOrdaz ML083659403

12/29/08 12/30/08 
WEEKLY INFORMATION REPORT - WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 19, 2008

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

Headquarters and Regional Office activities. 

Contact: Susan Bagley, OEDO by E-mail: Susan.Bagley@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 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE A 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 

Items of Interest 

Week Ending December 19, 2008 

AREVA (Erlangen, Germany) – Reactor Protection System/Engineered Safety Protection 

Feature Actuation System (RPS/ESFAS) Hardware Failure Testing

From December 3 to 11, 2008, the staff conducted an audit of AREVA’s ESFAS in Erlangen, 

Germany. The staff audited the factory acceptance test (FAT) for the Oconee RPS/ESPS digital 

upgrade license amendment request. The FAT procedures and tests observed appear to 

provide a rigorous test of the ESFAS application software to verify that system requirements 

have been appropriately incorporated into the system. The staff agreed to initiate a request for 

additional information on the subject of how the tests ensure that unintended functions (or 

unused code) are discovered and removed. 

Beaver Valley Power Station Spent Fuel Pool Reracking - Pre-Application Public Meeting

On December 11, 2008, the staff held a Category 1 public meeting with FirstEnergy Nuclear 

Operating Company (FENOC) to discuss the future Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 2, spent 

fuel pool reracking license amendment application. The meeting was attended by 

representatives from FENOC, Holtec, NEI, and NRC staff. The discussion primarily focused on 

the actions and documentation required for FENOC to submit their license amendment with 

specific discussion regarding Key Design Features, Structural/Mechanical Analysis, 

Safety/Accident Analysis, and Technical Specifications. The application is expected to be 

submitted in March 2009. 

Receipt of Arizona Public Service Company License Renewal Application for the Palo Verde 

Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS)

By a letter dated December 11, 2008, the Arizona Public Service Company submitted an 

application for renewal of the operating license for PVNGS Units 1, 2, and 3. The PVNGS plant 

is located in Maricopa County, Arizona, approximately 36 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona. The 

staff intends to perform an acceptance review. If the application is found acceptable for 

docketing, the staff intends to begin the environmental and safety reviews in accordance with the 

requirements of 10 CFR Parts 51 and 54. The receipt of the license renewal application for 

PVNGS brings the number of applications under review to 13. 

Staff Issues Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Unit 1 License Renewal

On December 17, 2008, the operating license for Shearon Harris NPP, Unit 1, was renewed 

authorizing operation for an additional 20 years. The new expiration date is October 24, 2046. 

The staff completed an on-time review as documented in the safety evaluation report, NUREG 

1916 Volumes 1 and 2 issued in August 2008 (ML0823409850), and the supplemental 

environmental impact statement, NUREG 1437 Supplement 33 issued August 2008 

(ML082250290). 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE A 

Fire Protection Steering Committee (FPSC) Meeting

On December 18, 2008, the NRC’s FPSC held a Category 2 public meeting with stakeholders. 

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss: fire protection issues in SECY 2008-0171, 10 

CFR50.48(c) - National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 805 implementation 

Guidance, and fire induced circuit failures. Information about the FPSC charter is available in 

the Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System, Accession No. ML072640666. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE B 

Office of New Reactors (NRO) 

Items of Interest 

Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Vendor Oversight Workshop for New Reactor Construction

On December 10 and 11, 2008, the staff held a workshop in Rockville, Maryland on vendor 

oversight for new reactor construction. The meeting was attended by vendors of nuclear 

components, NRC staff, NRC regulated utilities, license applicants, and other interested 

stakeholders. The topics of the workshop included commercial-grade dedication and 10 CFR 

Part 21 requirements. The staff made presentations on both days of the workshop, and 

answered questions as panelists during breakout sessions. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE D 

 Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs (FSME) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Uranium Recovery Meeting

On December 16, 2008, NRC staff met in Denver, Colorado with the uranium recovery (UR) 

industry and other participants on a procedural issue related to the anticipated increase in and 

variety of applications for new facilities, restarts, and expansions of in-situ recovery (ISR) 

operations. This was a focused workshop to solicit input on the licensing actions that require a 

new license versus the licensing actions that can be approved by license amendment. The staff 

presented status information on issues of interest to the stakeholders (e.g., status of license 

applications, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for ISR facilities, ISR Rulemaking, UR 

guidance updates). 

Advisory Committee on Medical Uses of Isotopes

On December 18, 2008, the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes convened a 

public teleconference meeting. The Committee discussed infiltrations of fluorine-18 and 

therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals as potential medical events. The Committee also discussed 

the appropriate training and experience requirements for NeoVista’s intraocular strontium-90 

EpiRad 90TM device. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE E 

 Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

European MELCOR User Group (EMUG) 2008 Annual Technical Meeting

On December 15-16, 2008, RES and Sandia National Laboratories attended the subject EMUG 

international meeting and made presentations on the status of MELCOR development and code 

applications (ML083370069). The meeting was organized and sponsored by the Paul Sherrer 

Institute in Switzerland in collaboration with the NRC. The purpose of the meeting was to 

exchange technical information on MELCOR code applications and user experience. A total of 

33 participants from various organizations in 12 countries attended the meeting and made 20 

presentations. 

RES Publication of Draft Regulatory Guide 1190 (DG-1190) “Manual Initiation of Protective 

Actions”

On December 18, 2008, the staff issued DG-1190 to provide an opportunity for public 

comments. The draft guide is proposed Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide 1.62, which describes a 

method that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in complying with the NRC’s regulations 

with respect to the means for manual initiation of protective actions provided by otherwise 

automatically initiated safety systems. DG-1190 is available on the NRC website at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/power-reactors/draft-index.html. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE F 

 Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Public Outreach

On December 16, 2008, NSIR staff with support from the Office of the General Counsel and the 

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research conducted a Category 3 public meeting with industry and 

the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to discuss proposed implementation guidance contained in 

NEI 06-06 (Fitness-for-Duty Program for New Nuclear Power Plant Construction). The meeting 

was held at NRC and its focus was the resolution of open items concerning NEI 06-06. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE H 

 Office of Information Services (OIS) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Information Collection Request to the Office of Management and Budget

On December 10, 2008, the Information and Records Services Division submitted an information 

collection request to the Office of Management and Budget for the Information Collection titled, 

“NRC Form 396, and Certification of Medical Examination by Facility Licensee.” Separately, the 

60-Day Notice for the information collection titled, “10 CFR 30, Rules of General Applicability to 

Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material” was published on December 10, 2008, in the Federal 

Register. 

Submission of Year End Quality Report and Peer Report

On December 11, 2008, staff from the Information and Records Services Division submitted the 

NRC’s Draft 2008 Year-End Information Quality Report and the Draft Fiscal Year 2008 Year End 

Peer Report to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In both categories, information 

quality and peer review, there were no instances in the past year where NRC received 

information correction requests or conducted a peer review. 

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

of December 12, 2008 through December 18, 2008: 

Report on Taiwan Nuclear Safety, Referral from Department of State REF-2009-0001** 

Investigation regarding named individual and Peach Bottom, between 

May and December 2008 FOIA/PA-2009-0052 

**REF = Referral requests from other agencies: a new DOJ requirement to track referrals 

separately from FOIA/PA requests. 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE J 

 Office of Human Resources (HR) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Arrivals 

Barry, Christopher Senior Instructional Systems Specialist HR 

Bird, John Consultant CFO 

Botwin, Harrison Student Engineer (Co-Op) NRO 

Cheung, Calvin General Engineer NRO 

Dennis, Deborah FOIA/Privacy Act Specialist OIS 

Gibson, James Student Engineer (Co-Op) NRO 

Jenkins, Kevin Financial Analyst (Co-Op) CFO 

Juris, Krista Student Security Specialist (Co-Op) ADM 

Min, Seung Kee Materials Engineer NRR 

Narick-Ebrey, Margaret Senior Program Analyst (Budget) NRR 

Sakadales, Antoinette Program Analyst (Inspection) NRO 

Thompson, Anna Student Contract Specialist (Co-Op) ADM 

Washington, Brittney Student Clerk ADM 

Departures

Cruz-Perez, Luis Student Engineer (Co-Op) NMSS 

Liang, Chu-yu Senior Reactor Engineer NRO 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE M 

 Office of Public Affairs (OPA) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

OPA Received Significant Media Inquiries on the Following:

Affirmation of a new security rule 

NRC’s receipt of the license renewal applications from Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in 

Arizona and Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Florida 

The NRC rules and regulations on foreign ownership of a nuclear power plant 

The winter storm impact on the nuclear power plants, specifically in the northeast 

Other Public Affairs Items

OPA coordinated an on-camera interview with NRC staff and Public Broadcasting System’s “The 

NewsHour” on advance small nuclear reactors (in particular Hyperion) and the licensing process 

and regulations for this new technology. 

Press Releases

Headquarters:

08-224 NRC Accepts Application for New Reactor at Nine Mile Point (12/15) 

08-225 NRC Accepts Application for New Reactor at Callaway (12/15) 

08-226 NRC Approves License Renewal for Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant for an 

Additional 20 Years (12/17) 

08-227 NRC Approves Final Rule Expanding Security Requirements for Nuclear Power 

Plants (12/17) 

08-228 NRC Meeting with Public January 6 on Environmental Scoping for Comanche 

Peak New Reactor Application (12/19) 

08-229 NRC Seeks Public Input on Draft Environmental Report for Three Mile Island 

Nuclear Plant License Renewal Application (12/19) 

Regions:

I-08-063 New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Millstone Station (12/15) 

I-08-064 NRC Begins Special Inspection at Millstone 3 Nuclear Power Plant (12/15) 

I-08-062 MEETING CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER - NRC to Discuss 

Results of License Renewal Inspection for Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant 

on December 16 (12/16) 

 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE O 

 Office of the Secretary (SECY) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Document Released 

to Public 

Date Subject 

Decision Documents 

1. SRM on SECY-08-0158 12/17/08 Proposal on the Potential Program to Pay 

Credit Monitoring Services 

 Commission Voting 

 Record on SECY- 

 08-0158 

12/17/08 (same) 

 

2. Commission Voting Record 

on SECY-08-0099 

12/17/08 Final Rule – Power Reactor Security 

Requirements (RIN 3150-AG63) 

Information Papers

1. SECY-08-0191 12/17/08 Weekly Information Report – Week Ending 

December 5, 2008 

Memoranda

1. M081217B 12/17/08 Staff Requirements – Affirmation Session: 

I. SECY-08-0099 – Final Rule – Power 

Reactor Security Requirements (RIN 3150-

AG63) 

Commission Correspondence

1. Letter to Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, dated December 14, 2008, provides 

NRC FY 2009 Annual Federal Plan on Executive Agency Actions to Assist Historically Black 

Colleges and Universities. 

2. Letter to Congressman Edward Markey, dated December 11, 2008, responds to letter 

regarding the NRC’s policies related to sharing documents with stakeholders. 

Federal Register Notices Issued

1. Notice of renewal of the Charter of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. 

2. Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, South Carolina Electric & Gas 

Company, Acting for Itself and as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Authority (also 

referred to as Santee Cooper), (Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Units 2 and 3). 

3. Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes, notice of meeting (1/22/2009). 
December 19, 2008 ENCLOSURE P 

 Region IV (RIV) 

 Items of Interest 

 Week Ending December 19, 2008 

Public Meeting with Arizona Public Service Company

On December 18, 2008, Region IV staff conducted a public meeting in Arlington, Texas, with 

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS) management to discuss the current status of 

the PVNGS Site Integrated Improvement Plan.