Operating Reactor Licensing Action Estimates
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
WASHINGTON D.C. 20555-0001
May 6, 1998
|NRC ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER 98-03:||OPERATING REACTOR LICENSING ACTION ESTIMATES|
All power reactor licensees.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this administrative letter to request that addressees, on a voluntary basis, submit information pertaining to estimates of the number of licensing actions that will be submitted for NRC's review in upcoming fiscal years. The submittal of this information is strictly voluntary. No specific action or written response is required.
In recent years, the NRC has undertaken a series of initiatives to improve the Commission's planning process. Beginning with the NRC Strategic Assessment and Rebaselining initiative in 1995, the NRC has implemented an integrated planning, budgeting, and performance measurement system to ensure that the business principles of goal setting, strategy development, resource assessment, and performance measurement undergird NRC activities. These initiatives meet the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. Among other things, the integrated process results in an agency budget that is strongly tied to individual performance measures.
The Strategic Assessment and Rebaselining initiative included opportunities for involvement and comment by a wide cross section of NRC stakeholders, including members of the general public and regulated communities. To ensure that certain individual performance measures and resulting resource forecasts are as accurate as possible, the NRC periodically assesses the currency of the information and assumptions used in the performance plan and the budget development process.
One element in the strategic planning process with significant resource implications is the number of licensing actions reviewed by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) in a budget cycle. For planning purposes, licensing actions may be defined as requests for license amendments, exemptions, and reliefs. To improve the accuracy of the resource forecasts, the NRC is requesting that all power reactor licensees, including those that have determined to permanently cease operations and have submitted certification pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(1), provide, on a voluntary basis, estimates of the number of new licensing action requests they plan to submit in upcoming fiscal years.
Specifically, licensees are requested to provide (1) a simple numerical estimate of the licensing actions expected to be submitted in the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 and (2) an estimate of the number of licensing actions expected to be submitted in FY 1999. To adequately capture the larger resource impact of certain licensing reviews, licensees are requested to identify by brief title those licensing actions that are expected to generate complex reviews, such as power uprate requests, license renewal requests, and dry cask storage applications.
In the future, the NRC expects to issue similar requests for voluntary licensing action estimates on an annual basis. The next request will likely be issued in the fall 1998 time frame and will request licensing action submittal estimates for FY 1999 and FY 2000.
Licensees are requested to voluntarily provide estimates of FY 1999 licensing action submittals to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Document Control Desk, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, with a copy to Michael L. Boyle, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O-14 E4, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, within 45 days of receipt of this letter.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
The voluntary information collections contained in this request are covered by the Office of Management and Budget clearance number 3150-0011, which expires September 30, 2000. The public reporting burden for this voluntary collection of information is estimated to average 10 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Records Management Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, and to the Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, NEOB-10202 (3150-0011), Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. 20503.
This administrative letter requires no specific action or written response. If you have any questions about this letter, please contact the contact listed below or the appropriate Office of NRR project manager.
|orig /s/'d by
David B. Matthews FOR
Jack W. Roe, Acting Director
Division of Reactor Program Management
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
|Contact:||Michael L. Boyle, NRR
(NUDOCS Accession Number 9805010070)