Denial of Petition for Rulemaking

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a petition for rulemaking submitted by Eric Epstein (PRM–54–5). The petition requests that the NRC amend its regulations that govern renewal of operating licenses for nuclear power plants. Specifically, the petitioner requests that the NRC conduct a comprehensive review of U.S. nuclear power plant licensees’ emergency planning during the license renewal proceedings. The NRC is denying the petition because the petition presents issues that the Commission carefully considered when it first adopted the license renewal rule and denied petitions for rulemaking submitted by Andrew J. Spano, County Executive, Westchester County, New York (PRM–54–02), and Mayor Joseph Scarpelli of Brick Township, New Jersey (PRM–54–03). The Commission’s position is that the NRC’s emergency planning system is part of a comprehensive regulatory process that is intended to provide continuing assurance that emergency planning for every nuclear plant is adequate. Thus, the Commission has already extensively considered and addressed the types of issues raised in the petition. Also, the petition fails to present any significant new information or arguments that would warrant the requested amendment.

Federal Register (pdf)

A Phila. law firm gone nuclear

Philadelphia-based Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, L.L.P., one of the nation's largest and most influential law firms, has become a major player in the resurgent movement to build the next generation of nuclear reactors.

After a decades-long hiatus, surging interest among utilities in construction of commercial nuclear power plants has produced a windfall of work for Morgan, which has quietly built the nation's largest practice dealing with nuclear reactors.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it expects to receive applications for 34 new reactors through 2010, and Morgan lawyers are representing some two-thirds of the utility companies involved in those projects.

Philly.com

Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received and
requests public comment on a petition for rulemaking filed by Mr. Eric
Joseph Epstein. The petition, docketed on January 3, 2000, has been
assigned Docket No. PRM-50-70. The petitioner requests that NRC amend
its financial assurance requirements for decommissioning nuclear power
reactors to: (1) Require uniform reporting and recordkeeping for all
``proportional owners'' of nuclear generating stations (defined by the
petitioner as partial owners of nuclear generating stations who are not
licensees); (2) modify and strengthen current nuclear decommissioning
accounting requirements for proportional owners; and (3) require
proportional owners to conduct a prudency review to determine a
balanced formula for decommissioning funding that includes not only
ratepayers and taxpayers but shareholders and board members of rural
electric cooperatives as well. The petitioner believes that the
proposed amendments would eliminate the funding gap for decommissioning
between nuclear power licensees and proportional owners of nuclear
generating stations.
Federal Register Environmental Documents

Concern over French nuclear leaks

A French nuclear monitoring body has expressed concern at the number of leaks from French nuclear power stations in recent weeks. The director of Criirad, an independent body, said the organisation was worried by the numbers of people contaminated by four separate incidents. In the most recent leaks, about 100 staff at Tricastin, in southern France, were exposed to low doses of radiation. It came two weeks after a leak forced the temporary closure of a reactor. There has also been a 10-fold increase in the number of incidents reported by people working in the French nuclear power industry, Criirad director Corinne Castanier said.

BBC News

ASLB judges wrap up Vt. Yankee hearings

Judges from the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board renewed their questioning of staff from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Nuclear Thursday on just how effective its computer model was in determining the effects of aging in the plant's piping. The three judges also had sharp words for the NRC staff about who was really in charge of its re-licensing review, at one point uttering the infamous words, "Where is the beef?" Alex Karlin, chairman of the three-judge panel, even compared the NRC's review process to a matruska doll, a set of nested Russian toys, where you open one doll, and find inside a successively smaller and smaller but identical doll, only to find nothing at the center.

Rutland Herald

Report doesn't urge guards at nuclear plants' entrances

Federal regulators, who have done much to beef up security at commercial nuclear power plants in the last seven years, are stopping short of requiring armed guards at the front door.

That decision should be left to plant owners, according to a 548-page U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission document that recommends several new security enhancements and would make permanent policies implemented in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Among the new requirements are policies intended to protect against cyber, or computer, assaults, and aircraft attacks.

Those recommendations await the approval of the commissioners of the NRC.

The refusal to require guards at plant entrances disappointed the Harrisburg-area watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, which filed the petition asking for the requirement nearly seven years ago.

"This regulator doesn't have the courage to stand up to the industry and issue a directive," said Scott Portzline, a security consultant to TMI-Alert, and main author of the petition.

The Patriot News

NRC Proposes $6,500 Fine Against PA Company For Violations Of NRC Requirements

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a $6,500 fine against Precision Calibration and Testing Corporation in York, Pa., for willful violations of NRC requirements.

NRC identified the violations during inspections and investigations conducted from March of 2007 through February of this year. Those violations include failure to report the company’s bankruptcy to the NRC as required; failure to implement security requirements in a timely manner; and failure to provide complete and accurate information to the NRC.

While the details of these violations are being withheld because they are related to security of the facility, NRC concluded that the violations were willful. The problems associated with the violations, which did not pose a threat to public health and safety, have been appropriately addressed.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission