May 17, 2016 

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Clean Air 

 and Nuclear Safety 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Madam Chairwoman: 

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am pleased to submit 

the NRC’s semiannual report on the status of licensing and other regulatory activities. 

The enclosed report covers activities conducted by the NRC from October 2015 through 

March 2016. It includes a list of rulemaking activities, including their priority and schedule, as 

requested in the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations 

Act, 2016. 

During this reporting period, the NRC was actively reviewing seven license renewal 

applications for a total of 11 reactors. On October 22, 2015, the NRC issued the Tennessee 

Valley Authority a 40-year operating license for Watts Bar Unit 2 located in Spring City, TN, 

about 60 miles southwest of Knoxville, TN. This is the first U.S. reactor the NRC has authorized 

to operate since 1996. On February 12, 2016, the NRC issued two combined licenses 

authorizing Nuclear Innovation North America to build and operate two advanced boiling-water 

reactors at the South Texas Project site, which is 90 miles southwest of Houston, TX. The staff 

also continued reviewing five new reactor combined license applications for eight proposed new 

reactors. 

In early March 2016, the NRC issued annual assessment letters to the nation’s 

99 operating commercial nuclear power plants regarding their 2015 performance. All but three 

plants placed in the NRC’s two highest (out of four) performance categories. Eighty-five of 

those plants fully met all safety and security performance objectives and will continue to receive 

baseline inspections. Eleven reactors needed to resolve one or two items of low safety 

significance and will receive additional inspections and follow-up of the licensee’s corrective 

actions. Three of those 11 plants have resolved their issues since the reporting period ended 

and have transitioned to the highest performing level. Three reactors, Arkansas Nuclear One 1 

and 2 (in Arkansas), and Pilgrim (in Massachusetts), placed in the fourth performance category 

and require the highest level of NRC regulatory oversight. Arkansas Nuclear One 1 and 2, were 

in this performance category because of two safety findings of substantial significance. Pilgrim 

was placed in this category because of long-standing performance issues of low-to-moderate 

significance. NRC oversight of these reactors will include several additional inspections and 

frequent NRC management involvement to confirm the reactors are addressing the performance 

issues. In the coming months, the NRC will host a public meeting or other event in the vicinity 

of each plant to discuss the details of the annual assessment results. 

The NRC also continues to address post-Fukushima safety enhancements and lessons 

learned. The enclosed report describes the agency’s Fukushima-related actions during the 

reporting period. 
 - 2 - 

Other Noteworthy Activities and Accomplishments of the Past 6 Months 

The agency made strong progress in implementing Project Aim, the NRC’s effort to 

improve efficiency and meet the challenges of an evolving workload while still achieving the 

agency’s public health and safety mission. During fall 2015, NRC offices and senior 

management conducted a prioritization of the NRC’s work. The staff used this product to 

develop its recommendations on rebaselining the agency’s workload, which it sent to the 

Commission on January 29, 2016. The staff’s recommendations included 151 items that could 

be shed, deferred, or completed with fewer resources. In March 2016, the staff submitted to the 

Commission additional actions to realize longer-term efficiencies that will be achieved through 

2018 and beyond. The staff also revised the NRC’s “add/shed/defer” process to draw on the 

prioritization for reallocating resources to handle emergent (unbudgeted) work, and piloted the 

revised process in a tabletop exercise. On February 22, 2016, the Commission approved the 

staff’s recommendation to create four centers of expertise in the following areas: (1) rulemaking, 

(2) allegations, (3) external hazards evaluations, and (4) technical specifications. 

On November 17, 2015, the NRC issued its Performance and Accountability Report for 

fiscal year 2015 detailing the agency’s program and financial performance. It reflects the 

agency’s achievement of its safety and security strategic goals and objectives and their related 

performance indicators. The report also points out the agency’s sound financial position for the 

12th consecutive year; an independent auditor found no material weaknesses or significant 

deficiencies in the agency’s financial statements. 

The public comment period on NRC’s draft NUREG-2184, “Supplement to the U.S. 

Department of Energy’s Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the 

Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye 

County, Nevada,” closed on November 20, 2015. NRC staff has reviewed the comments and 

developed responses. The staff expects to publish the final NUREG-2184 in May 2016. 

On February 29, 2016, the NRC issued a construction permit to SHINE Medical 

Technologies, Inc. for a first-of-a-kind facility dedicated to medical isotope production. This 

permit allows SHINE to build a facility in Janesville, WI, for the production of molybdenum-99 

(Mo-99) and other radioisotopes. Mo-99 is used to create technetium-99m, an isotope used in 

millions of medical diagnostic procedures each year in the U.S. The new SHINE facility will 

support U.S. Government efforts to establish a reliable domestic supply of Mo-99. This is the 

first construction permit that the NRC has issued since 1985 for either a non-power utilization 

facility or a production facility. 

From March 8-10, 2016, the NRC welcomed approximately 3,000 people to its 28th

annual Regulatory Information Conference in Rockville, MD. The conference offers attendees, 

which included industry executives, representatives from State governments, nongovernmental 

organizations, individual community members, and representatives from dozens of foreign 

countries, an opportunity to discuss issues related to the safety and security of commercial 

nuclear facilities and current regulatory activities. Technical sessions addressed significant 

domestic and international issues such as cybersecurity, subsequent license renewal, advanced 

and small modular reactors, spent fuel research activities, and the Reactor Oversight Process. 

Rulemaking activities during the reporting period included an advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking seeking public comments on potential changes to agency regulations 
 - 3 - 

governing the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The ANPR addressed lessons learned 

from the plants that have already gone, or are currently going, through the decommissioning 

process, the advisability of requiring a licensee’s Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activity 

Report to be approved by the NRC, the appropriateness of maintaining the three existing 

options for decommissioning and the timeframes associated with those options, the appropriate 

role of state and local governments and non-governmental stakeholders in the decommissioning 

process, and other issues. 

The agency also sought public comment on a proposed rule that would establish a 

variable annual fee structure for light-water, small modular reactors, while the annual fee 

methodology for large light-water reactors would remain unchanged. 

I am pleased to report that the NRC remains a top place to work in the Federal 

government according the results of the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (which were 

issued during this reporting period). The agency exceeded government wide results in a 

number of areas. For example, the NRC tied for third among large agencies in global 

satisfaction and ranked fifth in overall employee engagement. Of the seven major indices 

measured by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the NRC either remained constant or 

improved by one or two percentage points when compared to 2014 results. 

Finally, from October 2015 through March 2016, the agency conducted approximately 

430 public meetings—both in the Washington, DC, area and around the country—addressing a 

full range of NRC issues. The meetings included Commission, advisory committee, licensing 

board, and staff-sponsored events. Also during this time, the NRC received 428 new Freedom 

of Information Act (FOIA) requests and closed 400 pending FOIA requests. 

Please feel free to contact me or Eugene Dacus, Director of the Office of Congressional 

Affairs, at (301) 415-1776, if you have any questions or need additional information. 

 Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

 Stephen G. Burns 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc: Senator Thomas R. Carper
Identical letter sent to: 

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Clean Air 

 and Nuclear Safety 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Thomas R. Carper 

The Honorable James Inhofe 

Chairman, Committee on Environment 

 and Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Barbara Boxer 

The Honorable Fred Upton 

Chairman, Committee on Energy 

 and Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. 

The Honorable Ed Whitfield 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Power 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Bobby L. Rush 

The Honorable John Shimkus 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Environment 

 and the Economy 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Paul Tonko 

The Honorable Mike Simpson 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy 

 and Water Development 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Marcy Kaptur 

The Honorable Lamar Alexander 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy 

 and Water Development 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Dianne Feinstein