32966 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 118 / Tuesday, June 19, 2001 / Notices

Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,

Maryland. Publicly available records

will be accessible electronically from

the ADAMS Public Library component

on the NRC Web site, http://

www.nrc.gov, (the Electronic Reading

Room). If you do not have access to

ADAMS or if there are problems in

accessing the documents located in

ADAMS, contact the NRC Public

Document Room (PDR) Reference staff

at 1–800–397–4209, or 301–415–4737,

or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 13th day

of June 2001.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Joseph E. Donoghue,

Senior Project Manager, Project Directorate

IV, Section 2, Division of Licensing Project

Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 01–15370 Filed 6–18–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

Discrimination Task Group; Notice of

Meetings

In August 2000, the NRC announced

the formation of a Discrimination Task

Group, which is evaluating the NRC

processes used in the handling of

discrimination allegations and

violations of employee protection

standards (Applicable regulations

include 10 CFR 30.7, 10 CFR 40.7. 10

CFR 50.7, 10 CFR 60.9, 10 CFR 61.9, 10

CFR 70.7, 10 CFR 76.7, 10 CFR 72.10,

10 CFR 150.20). The group is a

management-level review group which

is evaluating the Commission’s handling

of discrimination cases.

The group has developed draft

recommendations for changes to the

regulatory requirements, the

enforcement policy or other agency

guidelines as appropriate. The draft

recommendations have been released

for public comment and can be obtained

via the Office of Enforcement web site

at http://www.nrc.gov/OE/. Following a

pubic comment period on the draft that

expires on August 17, 2001, the Task

Group will develop a Commission Paper

outlining the final recommendations for

NRC offices to consider in making

changes to their processes.

The Task Group is holding several

public stakeholder meetings in various

areas of the country to solicit comment

on the draft recommendations for

changes in the Agency’s handling of

discrimination issues.

—A public meeting will be held in

Chattanooga, TN, on June 25, 2001, at

the USNRC Technical Training

Center, Osborne Office Center, 5746

Marlin Road, Chattanooga TN 37411

This will be an evening meeting from

7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

—A public meeting will be held, on July

11, 2001, at the USNRC Region III

offices located 801 Warrenville Road,

Lisle, IL 60532. This will be an

evening meeting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

—A public meeting will be held, on July

12, 2001, in Paducah, KY, at the

Paducah Community College

Engineering Building, Crounse Hall

Main Lecture Hall, 4810 Alben

Barkely Drive, Paducah, KY. This will

be an evening meeting from 7 p.m. to

9 p.m.

—A public meeting will be held on

August 9, 2001, at the San Luis

Obispo Public Library, Library

Conference Room, 995 Palm Street,

San Luis Obispo CA. This will be an

evening meeting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

—A public meeting will be held on

August 14, 2001, at the Waterford

Town Hall, 15 Rope Ferry Road,

Waterford, CT This will be an evening

meeting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

—A public meeting will be held on

August 16, 2001, at the USNRC offices

in the TWFN Auditorium, located at

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,

Maryland. The meeting will start at

9:30 a.m.

These meetings are open to the

members of the public. Oral or written

views regarding the NRC’s draft

recommendations for improving

processes for handling employee

protection issues may be presented by

the members of the public, including

members of the nuclear industry.

Persons desiring to make prepared oral

presentations or statements should

notify Mr. Barry Westreich (Telephone

301/415–3456, e-mail BCW@nrc.gov)

five days prior to the meeting date, if

possible, so that appropriate

arrangements can be made to allow

necessary time during the meeting for

such a presentation or statements. Use

of still, motion picture, and television

cameras as well as audio recording

devices will be permitted during these

meetings.

Further information regarding topics

of discussion, whether the meeting has

been canceled, rescheduled, or

relocated; may be obtained via the

Office of Enforcement web site at

http://www.nrc.gov/OE or by contacting

Mr. Barry Westreich between 8 a.m. and

4:30 p.m. EDT.

For those unable to attend one of the

public meetings on this issue, comments

on the draft report can be submitted via

the Office of Enforcement web site at

http://www.nrc.gov/OE. and may also be

submitted in writing addressed to Barry

Westreich, Office of Enforcement, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852.

This meeting will not be transcribed

but, if needed, a meeting report will be

available electronically for public

inspection on the Office of Enforcement

web site at http://www.nrc.gov/OE and

in the NRC Public Document Room or

from the Publicly Available Records

(PARS) component of NRC’s document

system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible

from the NRC web site at http://

www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html

(the Public Electronic Reading Room).

The Task Group Charter and other

pertinent documents related to Task

Group Activities will also be

periodically posted and updated on the

Office of Enforcement web site.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 11th Day

of June 2001.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Frank Congel,

Director, Office of Enforcement.

[FR Doc. 01–15372 Filed 6–18–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

Public Workshop on Future Licensing

Activities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) has scheduled a

public workshop to inform the public of

the current and proposed activities of

the NRC staff regarding future

applications and to solicit public

concerns and feedback on identified

issues and challenges.

DATES: July 25, 2001, from 9 a.m.–8

p.m.; July 26, 2001, from 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held

in the NRC’s Auditorium at Two White

Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike,

Rockville, Maryland 20852–2738.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Contact Eric Benner, Mail Stop O–12D1,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555–0001. Members

of the public may pre-register for this

meeting by contacting Eric Benner at

(800) 368–5642, ext. 1171, or by Internet

at ejb1@nrc.gov by July 20, 2001.

The NRC maintains an Agencywide

Documents Access and Management

System (ADAMS) which provides text

and image files of NRC’s public

documents. These documents may be

accessed through the NRC’s Public

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 118 / Tuesday, June 19, 2001 / Notices 32967

Electronic Reading Room on the Internet

at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/

Index.html. If you do not have access to

ADAMS or if there are problems in

accessing the documents located in

ADAMS, contact the NRC Public

Document Room (PDR) reference staff at

1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737 or by

e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Recently,

the nuclear industry has indicated that

they may be submitting licensing

applications in accordance with parts 50

and 52 of the Code of Federal

Regulations (10 CFR parts 50 and 52) in

the near future with the intent to build

and operate new nuclear power plants.

These submittals could include

applications for Early Site Permits,

Design Certifications, Combined

Licenses, and Operating Licenses.

Additional activities could include preapplication reviews related to these

submittals and requests to reactivate

Construction Permits to allow the

applicant to resume construction of

nuclear facilities.

The purpose of this workshop is to

inform the public of the current and

proposed activities of the NRC staff to

prepare for these potential future

licensing applications, discuss the

mechanisms available to the public for

providing input during these licensing

activities, and to solicit public feedback

on identified issues and challenges.

A final agenda and schedule will be

published on the NRC future licensing

web site when it is available: http://

www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/FLO/

index.htm

For each of the agenda topics, the

NRC staff will describe the activity and

the regulatory process governing the

activity, discuss the actions the NRC is

taking to prepare for the anticipated

submittal, and provide an estimate of

expected milestone dates, where

available. The staff will discuss how the

public can provide input to the staff

during different stages of the activity.

The remainder of the allotted time will

then be used for an open dialogue

among all workshop participants. The

NRC staff will then briefly summarize

the identified concerns.

In addition, the workshop will

contain two open sessions to allow

public participants to discuss issues not

addressed or to have further discussions

on the agenda items. The first of these

sessions will be on the evening of July

25, 2001, to allow participation by

individuals who cannot attend during

the work day and will include a brief

presentation by the NRC staff

summarizing all of the agenda items.

The second of these sessions will be

held on the morning of July 26, 2001.

Following the workshop, the NRC

staff will summarize and document the

identified concerns. The summary will

be sent to those workshop participants

who request a written copy, as well as

the Commission, and will be posted on

NRC’s future licensing website.

AGENDA TOPICS

Licensing Processes

Early Site Permits

10 CFR part 52 allows an applicant to

apply for an early site permit, which

provides for resolution of site safety,

environmental protection, and

emergency preparedness issues,

independent of a specific nuclear plant

review. The early site permit

application must address the safety and

environmental characteristics of the site

and evaluate potential physical

impediments to developing an

emergency evacuation plan.

Design Certification

The NRC may certify a standard plant

design through a rulemaking under 10

CFR part 52, independent of a specific

site. Among other requirements, the

design certification applicant must

demonstrate that its design complies

with current NRC regulations, provide a

probabilistic risk assessment, and

provide a proposed set of inspections,

tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria

that will demonstrate that the plant will

operate in accordance with the design

certification.

Combined License

A combined license, issued under 10

CFR part 52, authorizes construction of

the facility and specifies the

inspections, tests, and analyses that the

licensee must perform. It will also

specify the acceptance criteria that, if

met, are necessary to provide reasonable

assurance that the facility has been

constructed and will be operated in

conformity with the license and the

applicable regulations.

Construction Inspection

The NRC is reactivating the

construction inspection program

revision effort suspended in 1994. This

effort will include review and revisions

of applicable inspection guidance and

training for inspection of critical

attributes of construction processes and

activities.

Reactivation of Construction Permits

A licensee has indicated that it may

consider resumption of construction

and application for operation of an

unfinished nuclear power plant.

Resumption of construction would

require the normal NRC reviews and

inspections under the existing

Construction Permit and application for

operation would require the normal

NRC reviews for an Operating License

(OL) for the facility.

Regulatory Infrastructure

The NRC staff is planning to update

some of its regulations to facilitate its

review of new applications. The Nuclear

Energy Institute is considering

proposing a New Plant Regulatory

Framework.

Current Activities

Readiness Assessment, Organizational

Development, and Staffing

The NRC is performing a readiness

assessment to develop postulated

licensing scenarios for the future

application reviews, including resource

estimates and critical skills. In addition,

the NRC is determining the appropriate

organizational structure for future

licensing activities and will be staffed

accordingly.

Rulemaking

The NRC is currently revising several

rules: (1) A revision to 10 CFR part 52

to clarify and incorporate lessons

learned from previous design

certifications; (2) a revision to 10 CFR

Part 51 to address higher enrichment

fuel; and (3) a revision to 10 CFR Part

51 to clarify the scope of alternative site

reviews when applying for an Early Site

Permit.

Pre-application Reviews

The NRC Policy Statement on

advanced reactors encourages early

interaction between applicants and

vendors with the NRC. To that end, the

following four applicants and vendors

have initiated interactions with the NRC

regarding different advanced reactor

designs:

(1) Westinghouse ‘‘AP1000;’’ (2)

Exelon ‘‘Pebble Bed Modular Reactor’’

(PBMR); (3) Westinghouse

‘‘International Reactor Innovative and

Secure’’ (IRIS); and (4) General Atomics

‘‘Gas Turbine-Modular Helium Reactor’’

(GT–MHR).

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day

of June 2001.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Richard J. Barrett,

Acting Director, Future Licensing

Organization, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 01–15369 Filed 6–18–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P