NRC Makes Oklo Advanced Reactor Application Publicly Available

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release

No: 20-019 March 27, 2020

CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200

NRC Makes Oklo Advanced Reactor Application Publicly Available

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received an application from Oklo Power LLC for a license to build and operate the company's Aurora compact fast reactor in Idaho. The application is now available for public review on the NRC website.

Oklo filed the application on March 11, seeking NRC approval of an advanced reactor cooled by a substance other than water. The proposed Aurora design would use heat pipes to transport heat from the reactor core to a power conversion system, which then would be used to generate electricity. The NRC staff began pre-application discussions with Oklo in November 2016.

The NRC staff is determining whether the application has sufficient information to complete the agency’s review. If the application is determined to be complete, the staff will docket it and publish an opportunity to request a hearing on the Combined License portion of the application. Information about Combined Licenses is available on the NRC website.

 20-019.pdf

Full steam ahead - TMI - 2: FRN - Consideration of Approval of Transfer

Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2; Consideration of Approval of Transfer of License and Conforming Amendment

• by the  Nuclear Regulatory Commission on  03/26/2020.

… 6721; email: Ted.Smith@ nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I … for Docket ID  NRC-2020-0082. •  NRC's Agencywide Documents … evidence, consistent with the  NRC's regulations, policies, … All documents filed in NRC …

NRC Approves License Renewal for Honeywell Uranium Conversion Facility

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release

No: 20-018 March 25, 2020

CONTACT: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200

 

NRC Approves License Renewal for Honeywell Uranium Conversion Facility

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating license of Honeywell International’s uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Ill., for an additional 40 years. The new license expires on March 24, 2060.

 

Uranium conversion is an important step in the nuclear fuel cycle. Honeywell receives uranium oxide from mills and in-situ recovery facilities and converts it to uranium hexafluoride. The UF6 is then transported to other facilities, where it is enriched and subsequently made into fuel for use in commercial nuclear power reactors.

 

Honeywell submitted its license renewal application in February 2017. In its review, the NRC staff focused on Honeywell’s decommissioning funding, the environmental effects of the facility for the duration of the license, facility changes and safety basis, and the controls to monitor material degradation and aging for the duration of a license term. The staff concluded that renewing the license would not pose an undue risk to public health and safety and would not significantly affect the quality of the environment. The staff’s review is documented in a final safety evaluation report, published this month, and an environmental assessment published in October 2019.

 

The facility is currently in a “ready-idle” status with a reduced amount of material on site.

 

20-018.pdf

Request for an Anniversary Message on March 28

Dear Friends of Three Miles Island,

I hope that you are doing well at this critical moment. One year has already passed and the 41-year anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster is coming soon. I am amazed at myself to be in a completely different landscape from the last year when I met you at the TMI 40th anniversary. In the sense of invisible fear, I feel here in New York City, it might be some similarity what happened 41 years ago at the Three Mile Island. 

This month, due to the effects of the coronavirus, internal events were no longer possible, and we planed the outside memorial gatherings of Fukushima and Three Mile Island nuclear accidents. We managed to hold the Fukushima memorial gathering. Unfortunately, Three Mile Island memorial gathering is not possible due to the coronavirus curfew. 

I thought that the lessons learned from the experience of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster could help us understand the current fear of coronavirus, and think about our environmental issues with empathy. We made our Facebook page “Voices from the heart”. Please email me your message yasuyotanaka@yahoo.com and let other survivors and related people know about it. We will post your message on March 28th and pray together.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/629996441155181/

"Voices from the Heart” signals strength in unity from the perspectives of many.  It means seeking out and amplifying our most honest voices from within by sharing collective experiences, knowledge, and information, thereby creating and nurturing the common ground for our expression. Our goal is to connect individuals and communities to learn from the past and present and to explore the next steps to achieving a sustainable world together.

I was not good at Facebook, but I will do it from now to stay connected with you and learn from each other. I hope that the current difficult situation will give us the opportunity to review and improve our society and the world.

Thank you,

Yasuyo Tanaka

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss Performance of URENCO USA Facility

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release

No: II-20-003 March 23, 2020

Contact: Roger Hannah, 404-997-4417 Joey Ledford, 404-997-4416

 

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss Performance of URENCO USA Facility

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the results of a performance review of the URENCO USA uranium enrichment facility in Eunice, N.M., during a virtual meeting scheduled for March 30.

 

The session will be held from 3-5 p.m. Eastern Time (1-3 p.m. Mountain Time) with NRC officials from the Region II office in Atlanta and URENCO officials from the Eunice facility. The meeting can be accessed by the public and media via Skype. NRC officials will be available following the formal portion of the meeting to answer questions. For individuals without access to Skype, a telephone conference number will also be available.

 

The NRC staff assessed performance of the URENCO facility during the period beginning Jan. 1, 2018, and ending Dec. 31, 2019, in safety operations, safeguards, radiological controls, facility support and other areas. Although the safeguards, or security-related, area was assessed, that information is not publicly available due to its sensitive nature. The NRC staff review determined that URENCO continued to conduct its activities safely and securely, protecting public health and the environment.

 

The review found that none of the program areas needed improvement, thus the NRC will continue its normal inspection program for such facilities. The NRC does not have resident inspectors at the Eunice facility, but fuel facility inspectors from its Atlanta regional office conduct periodic inspections of various aspects of the operation.

 

A copy of the NRC letter to the company regarding the performance review is publicly available on the NRC website.

 

For virtual meeting access or telephone call-in information, contact either Brannen J. Adkins at 404-997-4620 (email: Brannen.Adkins@nrc.gov) or Lindsey Cooke at 404-997-4836 (email: Lindsey.Cooke@nrc.gov).

 

20-003.ii_.pdf

NRC Meeting with Nuclear Industry to Discuss COVID-19 Regulatory Impacts

See the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meeting announcement,linked here, and reproduced below:

Title: [NRC] Meeting with Nuclear Industry to Discuss COVID-19 Regulatory Impacts.

Dates and Times: March 20, 2020, 02:00 PM to 03:30 PM Eastern Time

Teleconference: Bridge Number (888) 469-2187; Pass Code9610583

Category: This is a Category 2 meeting. The public is invited to participate in this meeting by discussing regulatory issues with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at designated points identified on the agenda.

Purpose: The purpose of the meeting is to discuss with the nuclear industry regulatory impacts due to COVID-19.

Contact: NRC staffers -- Ed Miller, 301-415-2481, Ed.Miller@nrc.gov; Mike Mahoney, 301-415-3867, Michael.Manoney@nrc.gov.

Participants: NRC staff listed above, plus external industry participants -- Nuclear Energy Institute; Entergy; NextEra.

Here is an audio recording of today's NRC teleconference meeting:
https://lhalevy.audioacrobat.com/download/lhalevy-20200320144127-5648.mp3

Thank you to Libbe HaLevy, Producer/Host, Nuclear Hotseat, for making this recording.

ML20079D897.pdf

TMI - "Amended Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report"

TMI2LicenseTransferApplication.11-12-2019.pdf