Public Workshop on License Renewal

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Notice of public workshop.

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has scheduled a public workshop to gather comments from stakeholders on programs for managing the effects of aging on nuclear power plants for license renewal. The agency is developing a Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) report that will document the basis for determining when existing aging management programs are adequate and when they should be modified or augmented for license renewal.

December 6, 1999, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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: Raj Anand, Mail Stop O-12G15, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 301-415-1146; Internet: rka@nrc.gov. If you are planning to attend the workshop, please notify Raj Anand.

Supplementary Information: The purpose of this workshop is to gather feedback on the NRC staff's plans to develop guidelines on which programs need to be augmented for renewal and which programs adequately manage effects without change. This issue is described in the Commission paper on Credit for Existing Programs for License Renewal, SECY 99-148 (Internet Link-www.nrc.gov/NRC/COMMISSION/SECYS/ 1999-148SCY.PDF). The Commission concluded that the NRC staff should develop a report on Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL), to generically document the bases for determining when existing programs are adequate and when existing programs should be augmented for license renewal. The GALL report would then be referenced in the standard review plan (SRP) for license renewal as the basis for identifying those programs that warrant attention during the staff's review of a license renewal application. Following opening remarks by representatives of the NRC, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the NRC staff will explain how the workshop will be conducted and describe the current plans for GALL, the SRP, and the Regulatory Guide that would endorse an update of the NEI guide for preparing a license renewal application (NEI 95-10, Industry Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR part 54--The License Renewal Rule). With that background, the workshop participants will be engaged in discussion of the adequacy and attributes of examples of programs that are expected to be relied on to manage aging effects in three broad areas: Regulated Programs, Reactive Programs, and General Practice Programs. In closing, the NRC staff will solicit comments on the plan and respond to questions from the participants. This workshop will be successful if the NRC can find areas of agreement on the attributes of adequate aging management programs for each of the three program areas. The participants will have an opportunity to comment on aging management programs, both generally and for specific programs. The participants will also have an opportunity to ask about the NRC's plans for license renewal reviews, and we will explain how to submit written comments for NRC consideration. To ensure that all of the ideas raised are recorded, the workshop will be transcribed and the NRC staff will prepare a summary report to categorize the comments. This one-day session attempts to cover a wide range of views and aging management programs. If your organization is interested in expressing a view on this matter as part of the opening remarks, please coordinate with Doug Walters at NEI or Dave Lochbaum at UCS, as appropriate. The tentative agenda for the workshop is as follows:

License Renewal Workshop Agenda

December 6, 1999

8:00 a.m. Registration--TWFN Auditorium 8:30 a.m. Opening remarks by NRC 8:45 a.m. Opening remarks by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 9:00 a.m. Opening remarks by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) 9:15 a.m. Introduction of workshop purpose by NRC Staff 9:30 a.m. Overview of Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) report, Standard Review Plan (SRP) and Regulatory Guide (NEI 95-10) 10:30 a.m. Break 10:45 a.m. Examples of Regulated Programs Environmental qualification of electrical equipment (Sec. 50.49), maintenance rule (Sec. 50.65), inservice inspection (Sec. 50.55a), containment inservice inspection (Sec. 50.55a), containment leak rate test (Appendix J), quality assurance (Appendix B), reactor vessel integrity (Appendices G and H), fire protection (Sec. 50.48), steam generator tube inspection (technical specification). 12:15 p.m. Lunch 1:15 p.m. Examples of Reactive Programs Service water program (Generic Letter 89-13), erosion/corrosion program (Bulletin 87-01, Generic Letter 89-08), coating program(Generic Letter 88-05), bolting program (Bulletin 82-02), control rod drive mechanism nozzle and other closure head penetration nozzles (Generic Letter 97-01) 2:45 p.m. Break 3:00 p.m. Examples of General Practice Programs Preventive maintenance, chemistry control, crane inspection 4:15 p.m. Participant comments and questions 4:45 p.m. Summary and conclusions 5:00 p.m. Adjourn

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of November, 1999.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Christopher I. Grimes, Chief, License Renewal and Standardization Branch, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 99-29843 Filed 11-15-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P