[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 15, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14012-14015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6341]



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[[Page 14013]]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Cost Beneficial Licensing Actions (CBLA) and Technical 
Specifications Improvement Program (TSIP) Public Workshop

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will conduct a public 
workshop on April 13, 1995, to discuss the Commission's Cost Beneficial 
Licensing Actions (CBLA) program, and its Administrative Letter 
addressing the program. The Administrative Letter was issued to inform 
licensees of the CBLA program. The CBLA program directs increased 
management attention to license amendments designated as cost 
beneficial licensing actions and provides for a more expeditious 
review. Participation in the CBLA program is voluntary. However, the 
purpose of the workshop is also to encourage licensees to develop CBLA 
programs if they have not already done so, and receive public comments 
on these activities.
    Current activities within the Technical Specification Improvement 
Program (TSIP) will also be discussed. The Technical Specification 
Improvement Program was developed to establish criteria for relocating 
certain technical specifications from the facility license to licensee-
controlled documents such as the final safety analysis report. In July 
1994 the NRC proposed to amend the Technical Specification regulations 
pertaining to nuclear power reactors in order to codify criteria for 
determining the content of technical specifications. Licensees may 
propose converting their current technical specifications either in 
parts, or at once (the preferred method) to the improved Standard 
Technical Specifications (STS). Participation in the TSIP is voluntary. 
The principal focus of this workshop will be on both CBLA programs, and 
conversion to STS at commercial power reactors. While the NRC 
presentations will be broad in nature, NRC staff representatives will 
be present to address specific questions with regard to the CBLA 
process or STS conversions.

DATES: March 24, 1995--Advance notification of intent to attend the 
workshop, desire to comment or make a statement during the workshop, or 
both is requested by the NRC. Participants are encouraged to submit 
written comments, summaries, or both to the staff by this date.
    April 13, 1995--The Workshop will be held at the NRC Auditorium 
from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.
    May 26, 1995--All written comments on matters covered by the 
workshop received by this date will be considered by the staff. Written 
comments received after May 26, 1995, will be considered to the extent 
practical. Written comments on the CBLA program and the TSIP will be 
accepted before, during, and after the workshop. Advance comments, 
which could serve to enhance the effectiveness of the workshop, are 
particularly solicited.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held in the NRC Auditorium. The NRC 
Auditorium is located on an underground level between the One White 
Flint North Building and the Two White Flint North Building at 11545 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The NRC buildings are 
located across from the entrance to the White Flint Metro Station.
    Notification of intent to attend, and desire to make a statement 
should be sent to Elizabeth L. Doolittle, Mail Stop 0-12-D-22, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. These 
notifications can also be transmitted via facsimile or telephone. The 
facsimile number is (301) 415-2279 and the telephone number is (301) 
415-1247. The facsimile cover sheet should contain the address 
information listed above. Letter or facsimile notifications should 
contain, and people giving notification via telephone should be 
prepared to provide, the following pre-registration information: full 
name of participants/attendees, name of organization or business, 
mailing address, daytime telephone, facsimile number, a statement 
concerning whether the person or organization wishes to provide 
comments or a statement during the workshop, a statement concerning 
whether the person or organization intends to provide written comments 
before or after the workshop, and any specific questions or comments 
that the participant or organization would like to be considered and/or 
addressed at the workshop.
    Copies of documents cited in the Supplementary Information section 
are available for inspection and/or for reproduction for a fee at the 
NRC Public Document Room, 2120 L Street NW (Lower Level), Washington, 
DC 20037.
    Written comments may be sent to the Chief, Rules Review and 
Directives Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001. Hand-delivered comments to Two White Flint North, 11545 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852 will be received between 7:30 
am and 4:15 pm on Federal Workdays.
    Copies of comments received and relevant reference documents may be 
examined at the NRC Public Document Room at 2120 L Street NW (Lower 
Level), Washington, DC, between the hours of 7:45 am and 4:15 pm on 
Federal workdays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Elizabeth L. Doolittle, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop 
OWFN 12-D-22, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, telephone (301) 415-1247.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Tentative Agenda
III. Workshop Content and Structure

I. Background

    Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' issued 
by President Clinton on September 30, 1993, required all agencies to 
perform a periodic review of existing regulations to eliminate 
unnecessary and unproductive requirements. Although the NRC already had 
several initiatives underway that were focused on improving the 
regulatory process by identifying and eliminating requirements that 
provided marginal safety benefits, in May 1994 the Commission 
established the policies, practices and framework for 
institutionalizing its ``Continuing Program for Regulatory 
Improvement.'' The Continuing Program for Regulatory Improvement 
described in SECY-94-090 consists of three NRC initiatives:
    1. The Marginal to Safety Program,
    2. The Regulatory Review Group Implementation Plan, and
    3. The Cost Beneficial Licensing Actions Program.
    The NRC initiated its Marginal to Safety Program (MSP) in the 1980s 
with the purpose of identifying requirements that were considered to be 
marginal to safety and impose a substantial regulatory burden on 
licensees, and therefore should be relaxed or eliminated. Over time the 
program was redirected to focus on petitions for rulemaking and 
regulatory guidance identified by industry, since industry was 
considered to be in the best position to identify inefficient 
regulations that impose heavy economic burden.
    Currently the NRC is proposing to modify its regulations in 10 CFR 
2.802 to provide guidance on the scope and level of detail needed on 
petitions for rulemaking to reduce regulatory burden. [[Page 14014]] 
    The NRC prepared its Regulatory Review Group (RRG) Implementation 
Plan in 1993 with the purpose of identifying topic areas within NRC's 
regulations and guidance where prescriptive requirements might be 
substituted with performance-based requirements and guidance. The RRG 
identified areas with significant potential for relief of burden with 
little or no adverse safety impact, as did NRC as part of the MIS 
program.
    More than 60 recommendations for changes to the NRC's regulations 
and guidance were made, and the NRC continues to make significant 
progress toward completing these changes.
    The NRC began its Cost Beneficial Licensing Actions (CBLA) program 
on a pilot basis in mid-1993, and beginning in calendar year 1994, the 
CBLA option was made available to all licensees with the purpose of 
encouraging licensees to request plant specific license amendments that 
reduce or eliminate license requirements that have an incrementally 
small effect on safety but a high economic burden. In the past, 
licensee submittals of marginal safety significance but high cost 
savings were given the lowest priority for NRC staff review, which may 
have discouraged licensees from submitting this type of request.
    On February 23, 1995, the NRC issued Administrative Letter 95-02, 
``Cost Beneficial Licensing Actions'' to inform addressees of the CBLA 
program. The letter explains that the CBLA program will direct 
increased management attention to license amendments designated as cost 
beneficial licensing actions and will provide for a more expeditious 
review of certain amendment requests. Participation in the CBLA program 
is voluntary. Placing additional emphasis on processing CBLAs was meant 
to directly improve safety by allowing licensees to shift resources 
from activities that improve safety by only an incrementally small 
amount to those that more significantly enhance safety.
    CBLAs are not new. Many licensee requests seek to modify or delete 
requirements that have a small effect on safety and are costly to 
implement. However, before June 1993, the NRR priority ranking system 
assigned the lowest priority (priority 4) to most licensing submittals 
addressing items that benefited safety an incrementally small amount 
without consideration of the cost of implementation or restriction of 
operational flexibility. As discussed in Administrative Letter 95-02, 
the priority ranking of CBLAs will be further increased within the 
current priority 3 ranking, so that a CBLA could be expected to be 
reviewed before other priority 3 licensing actions.
    To assist in developing the CBLA policy and tracking CBLAs, members 
of the NRC staff have been dedicated to serve in a CBLA group for a 
limited time. The CBLA group, led by Eugene V. Imbro, gives general 
CBLA policy guidance to NRC and licensee staffs, tracks and trends CBLA 
submittal and approval data, and works with the staff and industry to 
identify CBLAs with generic implications. The CBLA group has 
determined, based on licensee estimates, that CBLAs approved in 1994 
will result in an estimated industry lifetime saving in excess of 
$257.2 million. Although the NRC licensing project manager remains the 
primary point of contact for all licensing actions including CBLAs, 
licensees should contact Mr. Imbro on (303) 415-2969 if they have 
questions about the staff's implementation of the CBLA program.
    One goal of the Technical Specification Improvement Program is 
similar to the goal of the CBLA program, and that is to substantially 
reduce regulatory burden. And, like the CBLA program, participation in 
the Technical Specification Improvement Program is voluntary.
    In July 1994, the NRC proposed to amend technical specification 
regulations pertaining to nuclear power reactors through a rule change 
to 10 CFR 50.36, Technical Specifications. The purpose of the rule was 
to codify the July 1993, final policy statement criteria for 
determining the content of technical specifications. These criteria 
were developed in recognition that the broad use of technical 
specifications to impose requirements has diverted both NRC and 
licensee attention from the more important requirements in the 
technical specification documents. Broad use of technical 
specifications has resulted in an adverse but unquantifiable impact on 
safety. Under this rule change licensees may voluntarily use the 
criteria as a basis to propose relocation of existing technical 
specifications that do not meet any of the criteria, from the facility 
license to licensee-controlled documents, such as the final safety 
analysis report. Voluntary licensee conversion of current technical 
specifications in this manner is expected to produce an improvement in 
the safety of nuclear power plants through a reduction in unnecessary 
plant transients and more efficient use of NRC and industry resources. 
While the NRC will allow licensees to take advantage of the opportunity 
to convert their current technical specifications in parts, the NRC 
strongly encourages and gives priority to licensees considering 
complete conversion of their current technical specifications to the 
improved Standard Technical Specifications. The conversion to the 
improved Standard Technical Specifications can save licensees' 
financial and staff resources by relocating 30 to 40% of existing 
technical specifications to licensee-controlled documents and by 
incorporating the benefits of numerous Generic Letters, at once. While 
the benefits of converting to the new technical specifications are hard 
to quantify, licensee owners' groups project annual saving of between 
$150,000 and $1.13 million per unit. Licensees for about 40 units are 
currently pursuing conversion to the improved Standard Technical 
Specifications.

II. Tentative Agenda

April 13, 1995

7:30 a.m.  Registration
8:30 a.m.  Introduction
8:45 a.m.  CBLA Administrative Letter Overview
9:45 a.m.  BREAK
10:00 a.m.  Participant Presentations/Panel Discussion in Response to 
Participant Comments
11:45 a.m.  Lunch
1:00 p.m.  Technical Specification Improvement Program
2:30 p.m.  BREAK
2:45 p.m.  Participant Presentations/Panel Discussion in Response to 
Participant Comments
4:15 p.m.  Summary and Conclusions (NRC)
4:30 p.m.  Adjourn

III. Workshop Content and Structure

    The workshop is structured to include both NRC staff and licensees' 
presentations during the morning and afternoon. An opportunity for 
other questions and comments following the presentations is planned.
    Participants will be allowed to express their views during specific 
comment periods. Participants who wish to make statements will be 
scheduled in the order in which they notified the staff of their desire 
to make a statement, and as time permits. Comments will be taken from 
parties in the order in which they notified the staff of their intent 
to comment. The order of comments will be:
    (1) Parties who notified the staff by April 10, 1995;
    (2) Parties registering to comment before 8:30 am the day of the 
workshop; and
    (3) Parties who have not given prior notice.
    Participants wishing to make comments will be limited to 5 minutes. 
[[Page 14015]] These time limits may be adjusted depending on the 
number of presentations and comment. The workshop will be transcribed, 
and the transcript will be available at the NRC Public Document Room.
    To foster meaningful discussions during this session and to aid 
participants in preparing their presentations and comments, 
participants should consider the following set of questions:
    <bullet> What impact will the CBLA Administrative Letter have on 
those organizations that the NRC regulates?
    <bullet> Should the NRC develop a CBLA database that could be made 
available to the public?
    <bullet> What are the reasons that the CBLA program has not been 
used more widely by licensees?
    <bullet> What are the savings that can result from conversion to 
the improved Standard Technical Specifications?

    Dated In Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of March , 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene V. Imbro,
Director, RRG/CBLA Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-6341 Filed 3-14-95; 8:45 am]
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