NRC’s Mixed Oxide 

 Fuel Infoweb

The NRC’s Mixed Oxide

Fuel website is back! It can

be found at

http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle

-fac/mox/licensing.html. The website

provides licensing information,

meeting summaries, updates related to

MOX, frequently asked questions and

you will also find past issues of the

Mixed Oxide Xchange. The DSER

was also recently added to the site.

An NRC quarterly newsletter providing licensing information on a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

 Mixed Oxide Xchange

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NUREG/BR-0284 June 2002 

 Vol. 2, No. 2 

Staff Issues Draft 

Safety Evaluation Report

On April 30, 2002, the NRC issued the Draft Safety

Evaluation Report (DSER) on the Construction Authorization

Request for the proposed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication

Facility (MFFF). The 479 page report documents the staff’s

review and draft conclusions concerning the Duke Cogema

Stone & Webster (DCS) Construction Authorization Request

(CAR) and its supporting information. In the DSER, the

NRC staff concluded that DCS has not completely met all of

the applicable requirements pertaining to construction of the

facility, which include the baseline design criteria.

(Continued on page 3 - See REPORT)

Delay in Issuing

Draft Environmental

Impact Statement

As reported in the last issue, the

Department of Energy (DOE) issued a

press release on January 23, 2002,

announcing their decision to dispose of

34 metric tons of surplus weapons grade

plutonium by turning the material into

mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In so doing,

the DOE decided not to pursue the

hybrid approach, under which some of

the plutonium would have been

immobilized.

On April 24, 2002, the NRC published,

in the Federal Register, a Notice of

Delay in Issuance of the Draft and Final

Environmental Impact Statements for

the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility. The

delay in issuance will allow the staff to

evaluate the environmental impacts of

the proposed changes to the MOX Fuel

Fabrication Facility(for example, the

impacts of new and altered equipment

plans, additional processing steps, and

additional wastes volumes).

(Continued on page 4 - See DELAY)
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 2 - June 2002

CLI-

 

ALPHABET SOUP

(commonly used acronyms in this newsletter)

ACRS Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards ER Environmental Report

BREDL Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League GANE Georgians Against Nuclear Energy

CAR Construction Authorization Request MFFF Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

DCS Duke Cogema Stone & Webster MOX Mixed Oxide Exchange

DOE U.S. Department of Energy NRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

DSER Draft Safety Evaluation Report PM Project Manager

EIS Environmental Impact Statement SER Safety Evaluation Report

MOX Hearing Update

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

have issued the following memoranda and orders over the past several months

relating to the adjudicatory proceeding on the CAR submitted by DCS.

February 6, 2002 The Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-02-04

requested briefs from the parties on whether an environmental contention based

on the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, was admissible. The Commission

has not yet ruled on the merits of this issue. 

February 12, 2002 The Board set forth directives and schedule for the conduct of discovery in the CAR

proceeding.

March 7, 2002 The Board granted in part a February 22, 2002 motion submitted by Georgians Against

Nuclear Energy (GANE) and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) to postpone

discovery pending submission by DCS of revisions to its CAR and Environmental Report. The discovery

schedule of February 12 was suspended.

March 7, 2002 In CLI-02-07, the Commission rejected GANE’s arguments that the NRC’s two-step

MOX proceeding—an initial hearing on the CAR and a later opportunity for hearing on whether DCS may

operate the proposed MOX facility—is illegal. The Commission affirmed an earlier Board decision on this

issue. 

April 3, 2002 In CLI-02-09, the Commission decided not to review the Board’s admission of GANE

contentions pertaining to material control and accounting, physical security, and the definition of “controlled

area.”

April 30, 2002 The Board issued a new schedule for the conduct of discovery in CAR proceeding,

replacing the Board’s February 12 discovery schedule. 
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 3 - June 2002

Tenative MOX

 Schedule

The schedule below provides dates for

future major MOX milestones.

July 15, 2002 - Projected date for DCS

to submit supplement to its ER.

October 30, 2002 - Projected date for

DCS to submit a revised CAR.

February 24, 2003 - Projected date for

Staff Issuance of draft EIS.

April 30, 2003 - Projected date for Staff

Issuance of draft SER, Rev. 1.

August 29, 2003 - Projected date for

Staff Issuance of Final EIS.

September 30, 2003 - Projected date for

Staff Issuance of Final SER.

Meeting

Summaries

Summaries of recent meetings with

NRC staff regarding the MOX Fuel

Fabrication Facility are listed

below.

March 27, 2002 - NRC and DCS

met to discuss nuclear criticality

safety and status of review items

related to the MFFF.

April 10, 2002 - The Advisory

Committee on Reactor Safeguards

(ACRS), Reactor Fuels

Subcommittee, met with NRC and

DCS to discuss the MFFF.

April 18, 2002 - The Board held a

telephone conference call with NRC

and DCS to discuss a new discovery

schedule.

(REPORT--Continued from page 1)

The DSER does not include the

staff’s evaluation of how recent

program changes in the Department

of Energy’s Surplus Plutonium

Disposition Program affect the design of the proposed MFFF. NRC will issue a revised DSER

after it has received and reviewed the supplemental CAR in which DCS will fully describe the

MFFF design changes.

As stated in the DSER’s Executive Summary, “The DSER is a snapshot of the NRC staff’s present

positions, based on information received to date. The staff’s review will continue, and the staff

expects to issue a revised draft and a final safety evaluation report on construction of the facility

after evaluating further information to be submitted by DCS.”
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 4 - June 2002

(DELAY - - Continued from page 1)

In its Federal Register Notice, the staff

solicited public comments on the NRC plans

to revise the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement (DEIS). The staff requested input

on:

1. How the immobilization of surplus

plutonium as a No Action Alternative should

be discussed in the DEIS, since DOE has

cancelled plans to build the Plutonium

Immobilization Plant.

2. Whether there are additional reasonable

alternatives not identified during scoping that

should be considered in the DEIS in light of

the program changes.

NRC staff requests your comments on

or before August 30, 2002. Written

comments should be mailed to

Mike Lesar, Chief, Rules and

Directives Branch, Division of

Administrative Services, Office of

Administration, Mail Stop T-6D59, U. S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,

DC 20555. Interested parties may also e-mail

their comments to teh@nrc.gov or

fax them to (301) 415-5398,

Attention: Tim Harris.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards

Mail Stop T-8A33

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

 Lead Editor: David D. Brown

 Editor: Sharon A. Steele

 Editor: Tamara Powell

 Design and Production: Danielle A. Hoadley

Mixed Oxide Xchange is published quarterly to highlight recent news and events associated with the NRC’s

licensing of a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility. We welcome your suggestions for improvement of this

newsletter. If you have comments or suggestions, you may contact us at moxfeedback@nrc.gov. To subscribe

or unsubscribe, please send an e-mail to subscribe@nrc.gov. All issues will be e-mailed unless you provide

your mailing address and indicate your preference to receive copies by U.S. Postal Service.