Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 174 / Thursday, September 9, 2010 / Notices 54917 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2010–0294] 

Criteria for Nominating Materials 

Licensees for the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission’s Agency 

Action Review Meeting 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Request for comment. 

SUMMARY: It is the policy of the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 

to have its senior managers conduct an 

annual Agency Action Review Meeting 

(AARM). The AARM is an integral part 

of the evaluative process used by the 

agency to ensure the operational safety 

performance of licensees. As a part of 

the AARM process, the NRC reviews the 

agency’s actions concerning fuel cycle 

facilities and other materials licensees 

(including Agreement State licensees) 

with significant performance concerns. 

In 2002, the NRC developed criteria for 

determining materials licensees that 

would be discussed at the AARM. The 

NRC revised the criteria to incorporate 

NRC’s current policies and procedures 

in 2008. The criteria that is currently 

used to determine materials licensees 

that will be discussed at the AARM may 

be found in Enclosure 2 of SECY–08– 

0135, ‘‘Revision of the Criteria for 

Identifying Nuclear Materials Licensees 

for Discussion at the Agency Action 

Review Meeting,’’ dated September 16, 

2008 (ADAMS Accession Number: 

ML082480564). 

Currently, the NRC is considering 

revisions to this criteria for Identifying 

Materials Licensees for Discussion at the 

AARM. A draft revised criterion found 

in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

below provides an additional criterion 

to address licensees previously 

discussed at the AARM. The reason this 

additional criterion has been added is to 

allow NRC’s senior management to 

address why the previously identified 

issues are not being resolved. The NRC 

is seeking public comment on this 

revised criterion. 

DATES: Please submit comments 

regarding the proposed criteria, by 

October 25, 2010. Comments received 

after this date will be considered if 

practical to do so, but the NRC staff is 

able to ensure consideration only for 

those comments received on or before 

this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any one of the following methods. 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2010– 

0294 in the subject line of your 

comments. Comments submitted in 

writing or in electronic form will be 

posted on the NRC Web site and on the 

Federal rulemaking Web site, http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Because your 

comments will not be edited to remove 

any identifying or contact information, 

the NRC cautions you against including 

any information in your submission that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed. 

The NRC requests that any party 

soliciting or aggregating comments 

received from other persons for 

submission to the NRC inform those 

persons that the NRC will not edit their 

comments to remove any identifying or 

contact information, and therefore, they 

should not include any information in 

their comments that they do not want 

publicly disclosed. 

Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for documents filed under Docket ID 

NRC–2010–0294. Address questions 

about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 

301–492–3668; e-mail 

Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. 

Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, 

Chief, Rules, Announcements and 

Directives Branch (RADB), Division of 

Administrative Services, Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05– 

B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, or by fax to RADB at (301) 492– 

3446. 

You can access publicly available 

documents related to this notice using 

the following methods: 

NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR): 

The public may examine and have 

copied, for a fee, publicly available 

documents at the NRC’s PDR, Public 

File Area O1 F21, One White Flint 

North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS): 

Publicly available documents created or 

received at the NRC are available 

electronically at the NRC’s Electronic 

Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, 

the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 

which provides text and image files of 

NRC’s public documents. If you do not 

have access to ADAMS or if there are 

problems in accessing the documents 

located in ADAMS, contact the NRC’s 

PDR reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 

301–415–4737, or by e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The Proposed 

Criteria for Identifying Materials 

Licensees for Discussion at the AARM is 

also available electronically under 

ADAMS Accession Number 

ML101900346. 

Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public 

comments and supporting materials 

related to this notice can be found at 

http://www.regulations.gov by searching 

on Docket ID: NRC–2010–0294. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Duane White by telephone at 301–415– 

6272, E-mail: Duane.White@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

In 2002, NRC developed a process for 

providing information to the 

Commission on significant nuclear 

materials issues and adverse licensee 

performance. This process was 

discussed in SECY–02–0216, ‘‘Proposed 

Process for Providing Information on 

Significant Nuclear Materials Issues and 

Adverse Licensee Performance,’’ dated 

December 11, 2002. As part of this 

process, the staff developed criteria to 

determine nuclear material licensees 

with significant performance problems 

that would be discussed at the AARM. 

In 2008, the NRC revised the criteria to 

provide additional clarification 

regarding the criteria requirements and 

to incorporate NRC’s current policy and 

procedures. 

Discussion 

NRC is preparing to revise the current 

criteria used to determine material 

licensees that will be discussed at the 

AARM. The agency currently identifies 

material licensees, including fuel cycle 

and Agreement State licensees, for 

AARM discussion based on operating 

performance, inspection results, and 

judgment of the severity of problems of 

safety performance. Although the 

revised AARM criteria will continue to 

be based upon the same principles as 

the existing criteria, the staff is 

proposing to include one additional 

element (i.e., criterion). This criterion 

focuses on those licensees previously 

discussed at the AARM who did not 

address or were ineffective in correcting 

their underlying issues. 

Current Criteria for Determining 

Materials Licensees for the AARM 

The current criteria for determining 

materials licensees for the AARM, as 

described in Enclosure 2 of SECY–08– 

0135, is as follows: (1) Strategic Plan— 

Licensee has an event that results in the 

failure to meet a strategic outcome for 

safety and security in the NRC Strategic 

Plan (NUREG–1614); (2) Significant 

Issue or Event—Licensee has an issue or 

event that results in an abnormal 

occurrence report to Congress (per NRC 

Management Directive 8.1), or a severity 

level I or II violation, as described in the 

NRC Enforcement Policy (including 

equivalent violations dispositioned by 

Alternative Dispute Resolution), or a 

level 3 or higher International Nuclear 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

54918 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 174 / Thursday, September 9, 2010 / Notices 

Event Scale Report to the International 

Atomic Energy Agency (per NRC 

Management Directive 5.12), and there 

are unique or unusual aspects of the 

licensee’s performance that warrant 

additional NRC oversight (e.g., a 

significant event, which requires an 

incident investigation team (IIT) or 

augmented inspection team (AIT)); or 

(3) Performance Trend—Licensee has 

multiple and/or repetitive significant 

program issues identified over more 

than one inspection, or inspection 

period, and the issues are supported by 

severity level I, II, or III violation, as 

described in the NRC Enforcement 

Policy (including equivalent violations 

dispositioned by Alternative Dispute 

Resolution). And, there are unique or 

unusual aspects of the licensee’s 

performance that warrant additional 

NRC oversight (e.g., oversight panel 

formed for order implementation). 

Proposed Criteria for Determining 

Materials Licensees for the AARM 

The NRC is proposing the following 

revision to the existing criteria for 

determining materials licensees with 

significant performance issues: (1) 

Strategic Plan—Licensee has an event 

that results in the failure to meet a 

strategic outcome for safety and security 

in the NRC Strategic Plan (NUREG– 

1614); (2) Significant Issue or Event— 

Licensee has an issue or event that 

results in an abnormal occurrence report 

to Congress (per NRC Management 

Directive 8.1), or a severity level I or II 

violation, as described in the NRC 

Enforcement Policy (including 

equivalent violations dispositioned by 

Alternative Dispute Resolution), or a 

level 3 or higher International Nuclear 

Event Scale Report to the International 

Atomic Energy Agency (per NRC 

Management Directive 5.12), and there 

are unique or unusual aspects of the 

licensee’s performance that warrant 

additional NRC oversight (e.g., a 

significant event, which requires an IIT 

or AIT); or (3) Performance Trend— 

Licensee has multiple and/or repetitive 

significant program issues identified 

over more than one inspection, or 

inspection period, and the issues are 

supported by severity level I, II, or III 

violation, as described in the NRC 

Enforcement Policy (including 

equivalent violations dispositioned by 

Alternative Dispute Resolution). And, 

there are unique or unusual aspects of 

the licensee’s performance that warrant 

additional NRC oversight (e.g., oversight 

panel formed for order implementation); 

or (4) Identified for Discussion at 

Previous AARM—Licensee corrective 

actions did not address or were 

ineffective in correcting the underlying 

issues that were previously discussed at 

the AARM. 

You can find NRC’s strategic plan 

(NUREG–1614) and the referenced 

management directives and enforcement 

policy on NRC’s public document 

collections Web page at http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day 

of August 2010. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Cynthia A. Carpenter, 

Deputy Director, Office of Federal and State 

Materials and Environmental Management 

Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2010–22481 Filed 9–8–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2010–0288] 

Draft Regulatory Guide, DG–1247, 

‘‘Design-Basis Hurricane and 

Hurricane Missiles for Nuclear Power 

Plants’’ and Supporting Technical 

Basis Documents NUREG/CR 7004 and 

7005 

DG–1247 is a proposed new 

regulatory guide. Issuance and 

Availability; Correction and Comment 

Period Extension: 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of issuance; correction 

and comment period extension. 

SUMMARY: On August 31, 2010 (75 FR 

53352), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) published a notice 

of issuance and availability of Draft 

Regulatory Guide (DG)—1247, ‘‘DesignBasis Hurricane and Hurricane Missiles 

for Nuclear Power Plants.’’ This Federal 

Register Notice did not provide all the 

information regarding the supporting 

technical basis documents NUREG/CR 

7004 and 7005. Due to this correction 

the comment period has been extended 

to November 5, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert G. Carpenter, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001, telephone (301) 251– 

7483, or e-mail 

Robert.Carpenter@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing for public 

comment a draft guide in the agency’s 

‘‘Regulatory Guide’’ series and the 

supporting technical basis documents, 

NUREG/CR 7004 and 7005. This series 

was developed to describe and make 

available to the public such information 

as methods that are acceptable to the 

NRC staff for implementing specific 

parts of the NRC’s regulations, 

techniques that the staff uses in 

evaluating specific problems or 

postulated accidents, and data that the 

staff needs in its review of applications 

for permits and licenses. 

The draft regulatory guide (DG), 

entitled, ‘‘Design-Basis Hurricane and 

Hurricane Missiles for Nuclear Power 

Plants,’’ is temporarily identified by its 

task number, DG–1247, which should be 

mentioned in all related 

correspondence. DG–1247 is a proposed 

new regulatory guide. 

This guide describes a method that 

the NRC staff considers acceptable to 

support reviews of applications that the 

agency expects to receive for new 

nuclear reactor construction permits or 

operating licenses under 10 CFR Part 50; 

design certifications under 10 CFR Part 

52, ‘‘Early Site Permits; Standard Design 

Certifications; and Combined Licenses 

for Nuclear Power Plants’’ (Ref. 9); and 

combined licenses under 10 CFR Part 52 

that do not reference a standard design. 

Specifically, this regulatory guide 

provides new guidance that the staff of 

the NRC considers acceptable for use in 

selecting the design-basis hurricane 

windspeeds and hurricane-generated 

missiles that a new nuclear power plant 

should be designed to withstand to 

prevent undue risk to the health and 

safety of the public. This guidance 

applies to the contiguous United States 

but does not address the determination 

of the design-basis hurricane and 

hurricane missiles for sites located 

along the Pacific coast or in Alaska, 

Hawaii, or Puerto Rico; the NRC will 

evaluate such determinations on a caseby-case basis. This guide also does not 

identify the specific structures, systems, 

and components that should be 

designed to withstand the effects of the 

design-basis hurricane or should be 

protected from hurricane-generated 

missiles and remain functional. Nor 

does this guide address other externally 

generated hazards, such as aviation 

crashes, nearby accidental explosions 

resulting in blast overpressure levels 

and explosion-borne debris and 

missiles, and turbine missiles. NUREG/ 

CR 7004 is the technical basis for 

regulatory guidance on design-basis 

hurricane-borne missile speeds and 

NUREG/CR 7005 is the technical basis 

for regulatory guidance on design-basis 

hurricane wind speeds for new nuclear 

power plants. 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES