March 15, 2016 

The Honorable Harold Rogers 

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

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

request in the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2016. The NRC was directed to submit to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of 

Congress a plan and timetable for completing the remaining activities necessary to accept, 

docket, and support the review of the first application for subsequent license renewal. The plan 

and timetable are enclosed. 

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

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

Sincerely, 

/RA/ 

Stephen G. Burns 

Enclosure: 

As stated 

cc: Representative Nita Lowey 
 

Identical letter sent to: 

The Honorable Harold Rogers 

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Nita Lowey 

The Honorable Thad Cochran 

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Barbara Mikulski
 Enclosure 

Plan for Completing Activities to Support 

The Review of a Subsequent License 

Renewal Application 

The Commission has affirmed that no revisions to either the safety or environmental regulations 

are needed to support assessment of a subsequent license renewal application. However, the 

Commission directed the staff to continue to update license renewal guidance, as needed, to 

provide additional clarity on the implementation of the license renewal regulatory framework. 

The three main guidance documents for license renewal are: (1) “Standard Review Plan for 

Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants,” (Revision 2), (2) “Generic 

Aging Lessons Learned Report” (Revision 2), and (3) “Standard Review Plan for Environmental 

Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants, Supplement 1: Operating License Renewal” (Revision 1). 

The guidance in these documents is based on plant operation from 40 to 60 years. The staff 

evaluated this guidance to determine what, if any, revisions are necessary to address issues for 

60 to 80 years of plant operation for subsequent license renewal. The staff determined that no 

revisions were needed to the NRC guidance document entitled, “Standard Review Plans for 

Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants,” to support environmental reviews to 60 to 80 

years. However, the staff determined that the NRC guidance documents titled “Generic Aging 

Lessons Learned Report” and the “Standard Review Plan for License Renewal” should be 

updated to allow more effective and efficient review of subsequent license renewal applications. 

In mid-December of 2015, the NRC staff issued draft revisions to the two guidance documents 

for public comment to incorporate the staff’s evaluation of domestic and international operating 

experience of nuclear plants, lessons learned from the staff review of previous license renewal 

applications, and assessment of recent research findings. 

Since the draft guidance documents were issued, the staff has held numerous public meetings 

to discuss the proposed revisions and bases for the revisions. The most recent meetings were 

held on January 21, and February 19, 2016. Going forward, the staff will continue to conduct 

public outreach activities in order to provide information on the proposed changes to the 

guidance documents, solicit feedback on the proposed changes, and revise the documents, as 

appropriate, to reflect the feedback. 

The plan and timetable for the remaining activities are as follows: 

ACTIVITY TIMEFRAME 

Issue final Generic Aging Lessons Learned 

for Subsequent License Renewal Report 

(Volumes 1 and 2) and final Standard Review 

Plan for Review of Subsequent License 

Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power 

Plants, along with the technical basis for the 

revisions to these documents 

Middle of calendar year 2017 

Anticipated first subsequent license renewal 

application 

Early calendar year 2019 
-2- 

When the final guidance documents are issued in mid-2017, the staff will be fully prepared to 

effectively and efficiently review any subsequent license renewal applications that are 

submitted. 

In addition, the staff has conducted and will continue to pursue active and engaged outreach to 

stakeholders to identify issues relevant to subsequent license renewal. These efforts include 

quarterly public meetings with industry representatives, the public and other stakeholders 

including those who are considering submittal of subsequent license renewal applications. 

These outreach activities will enable potential applicants to prepare high quality applications, 

resulting in more effective and efficient NRC review of subsequent license renewal applications.