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Reactor License Renewal Process
The license renewal process requires that both a technical review of
safety issues and an environmental review be performed for each
application. NRC regulations, 10
CFR Part 51 and 10
CFR Part 54, contain the requirements for these reviews and various
other publications provide general process guidance to both the applicant
and the reviewer.
On this page:
License Renewal Principles
The license renewal process and application requirements for commercial
power reactors are based on two key principles:
- the regulatory process, continued into the extended period of
operation, is adequate to ensure that the current licensing basis of all
currently operating plants
provides an acceptable level of safety,
with the possible exception of the detrimental effects of aging on
certain systems, structures, and components, and
possibly a few other
issues related to safety only during the period of extended operation,
and
- each plant's current licensing basis is required to be maintained
during the renewal term.
Application
Prior to submission of a renewal application, an applicant should have
analyzed the management of aging effects in sufficient detail to conclude
that the plant can be operated safely during the period of extended
operation. The renewal application is the principal document in which the
applicant provides the information needed to understand the basis upon
which this conclusion has been reached.
The license renewal application includes general information and
technical information in compliance with 10
CFR Part 54. The license renewal application must contain technical
information and evaluations about the different types of plant aging that
might be encountered in the specific plant and how the licensee will
manage or mitigate those aging effects. This information must be
sufficiently detailed to permit the NRC staff to determine whether the
effects of aging will be managed such that the plant can be operated
during the period of extended operation without undue risk to health and
safety of the public. The NRC staff performs a safety review of the
information provided in the application, requesting additional information
from the applicant as necessary, and draws conclusions about whether the
plant can be operated during the period of extended operation without
undue risk to health and safety of the public.
For a simple flow chart, please refer to the License Renewal process
illustration.
The general information contained in the license renewal application is
much the same as that provided with the initial operating license
application. For more
information, please refer to 10
CFR 54.17 and 54.19.
The Commission's regulations at 10
CFR 54.21 require that each application for a renewal license for a
nuclear plant include information related to the following:
Technical Information (10 CFR 54.21)
The applicant has to provide NRC an evaluation that addresses the
technical aspects of plant aging and describes the ways those effects will
be managed over the life
of the nuclear plant (see 10
CFR 54.21 for more information). This includes the following
information:
Integrated Plant Assessment
An Integrated Pant Assessment that identifies and lists structures and
components subject to an aging management review (AMR). These include
"passive" structures and components that perform their intended function
without moving parts or without a change in configuration or properties.
These include such components as the reactor vessel, the steam generators,
piping, component supports, seismic Category I structures, etc. To be in
scope, the item must also be "long-lived" to be considered during the
license renewal process. Long-lived means the item is not subject to
replacement based on a qualified life or specified time period.
Current Licensing Basis
Current Licensing Basis(CLB) changes during NRC review of the
application. Each year following submittal of the license renewal
application and at least 3 months before scheduled completion of the NRC
review, an amendment to the renewal application must be submitted that
indentifies any change to the CLB of the facility that materially affects
the contents of the license renewal application, including the Final
Safety Analysis Report supplement.
Time limited Aging Analyses
An evaluation of Time limited Aging Analyses (TLAAs), which are
calculations or analyses that involve systems, structures, and components
within scope of the rule, consider the effects of aging, and involve
assumptions based on the original 40 year operating term. For license
renewal, TLAAs must be (a) verified to bound the renewal period; (b)
reanalyzed (recalculated) to determine if it will bound the renewal
period; or (c) the applicant must show that the aging effects encompassed
by
the calculation will be managed.
Final Safety Analysis Report
A supplement to the Final Safety Analysis Report, which provides a
summary description of the programs and activities for managing the
effects of aging and evaluation of TLAAs for the period of extended
operation.
Technical Specifications (10 CFR 54.22)
Technical specification changes or additions, with justification,
necessary to manage the effects of aging during the period of extended
operation must be included in the license renewal application. See 10
CFR 54.22 for more information.
Standard Review Plan, Generic Aging Lessons
Learned (GALL) Report and Regulatory Guide
The NRC issued Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1104, “Standard Format and
Content for Applications To Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses”;
a draft Standard Review Plan for License Renewal (SRP-LR), “Standard
Review Plan for the Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear
Power Plants”; and a draft Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) report for
public comment on August 31, 2000. These documents describe methods
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing the license renewal rule (10
CFR Part 54), as well as techniques used by the NRC staff in
evaluating applications for license renewals. For more information, please
go to the Improved Regulatory Guidance for public comment.
Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1104 was issued for public comment as
part of the implementation of the license renewal rule. This draft
regulatory guide is being developed to provide a uniform format and
content acceptable to the staff for structuring and presenting the
information to be compiled and submitted in an application for renewal of
a nuclear power plant operating license. DG-1104 proposes to endorse
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) guidance document NEI 95-10, "Industry
Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10
CFR Part 54--The License Renewal Rule," Revision 2, dated August 2000,
as an acceptable method for complying with the requirements of the license
renewal rule. DG-1104 supersedes Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1047, which was
issued for public comment in August 1996 to propose endorsement of NEI
95-10, Revision 0, dated March 1, 1996.
The draft SRP-LR dated August 2000, has been revised to
incorporate information from the GALL report and lessons learned from the
staff review of the initial license renewal applications. The SRP-LR
provides guidance to the NRC staff for reviewing applications for license
renewal. The principle purpose of the SRP-LR is to assure quality and
uniformity of staff reviews and to present a well-defined base from which
to evaluate applicants programs and activities for the period of extended
operation.
The draft GALL report represents an evaluation that documents
which generic existing programs should be augmented for license renewal
and which generic programs adequately manage aging effects without change.
The draft GALL report builds on a previous report, NUREG/CR-6490, "Nuclear
Power Plant Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL)," dated December 1996,
which is a systematic compilation of plant aging information. The NRC
staff held a public workshop on December 6, 1999, to invite early public
participation in the development of license renewal guidance documents.
The NRC staff made an early draft GALL report publicly available at the
public workshop. The GALL report is a technical basis document for the
SRP-LR. The GALL report should be treated in the same manneras an approved
topical report that is applicable generically.
Environmental Review
In addition to its mission of protecting public health and safety under
the Atomic Energy Act, the NRC is charged with protection of the
environment in the use of nuclear materials. Each license renewal
applicant must include a supplement to the environmental report which
contains an analysis of the plant's impact on the environment if allowed
to continue operation beyond the initial license. The NRC performs
plant-specific reviews of environmental impacts of operating life
extension in accordance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
the requirements of 10
CFR Part 51, "Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic
Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions." This review continues on a
separate "track" from the safety reviews of the technical information.
Environmental requirements for the renewal of power reactor operating
licenses are contained in NRC's regulations, 10
CFR Part 51. The environmental protection regulations in 10
CFR Part 51 were revised on December 18, 1996, to improve regulatory
efficiency in environmental reviews for license renewal and codify the
findings documented in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for
License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, (NUREG-1437).
For a simple flow chart, please refer to the environmental review
process illustration.
Generic Environmental Impact Statement
The Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) examines the possible
environmental impacts that could occur as a result of renewing any
commercial nuclear power plant license, and, to the extent possible,
establishes the bounds and significance of these potential impacts. For
each type of environmental impact, the GEIS attempts to establish generic
findings covering as many plants as possible. While plant and
site-specific information is used in developing an envelope of generic
findings, the NRC does not intend for the GEIS to be a compilation of
individual plant environmental impact statements. Instead, this report may
be incorporated, by an applicant, into a license renewal application
environmental report. The GEIS makes maximum use of environmental and
safety documentation from original licensing proceedings and information
from state and Federal regulatory agencies, the nuclear utility industry,
the open literature, operating experience, and professional contacts. It
allows the applicant to concentrate on those impacts that must be
evaluated on a plant-specific basis. Information provided on the plant
specific issues will either disposition the issue as not applicable or
present an analysis of the issue using site-specific information.
Mitigation and alternatives to reduce adverse impacts must also be
discussed. This approach, the use of a generic environmental impact
statement with a plant-specific supplement, improves the efficiency of the
licensing process for licensees and the NRC.
Scoping Process
A scoping process is conducted to define the proposed action, to
determine the scope of the EIS and identify the significant issues to be
analyzed in depth. A public scoping meeting is held near the nuclear plant
seeking license renewal. Based on this process and the staff's independent
review, the NRC will issue a preliminary recommendation on the
acceptability of a license renewal action with regard to environmental
impact. A draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS is released for
public comment and a public meeting is then held to discuss the findings.
After comments are addressed, the NRC publishes a final plant-specific
supplement to the GEIS and provides a final recommendation regarding the
license renewal application to the Commission. Transcripts of
environmental scoping meetings and public
meeting on the draft
supplements related to license renewal are available through the NRC Public Document
Room.
Standard Review Plan and Regulatory Guide
In 1997, the NRC issued draft NUREG-1555, "Environmental
Standard Review Plan -- Standard Review Plans for Environmental Reviews
for Nuclear Power Plants," (ESRP) for public review and comment. After
considering public comments, changes in the regulatory process, and the
experience gained from the initial license renewal applications, the NRC
issued the updated ESRP in February 2000. The updated ESRP is contained in
two documents, NUREG-1555, "Environmental Standard Review Plan --
Standard Review Plans for Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants"
and its Supplement 1, for Operating License Renewal. These
documents replace the ESRP (NUREG-0555) originally issued in 1978, for
construction permit reviews. The companion regulatory guides for the
development of Environmental Reports are Regulatory Guide 4.2,
"Preparation of Environmental Reports for Nuclear Power Stations," and its
Supplement 1, "Preparation of Supplemental Environmental Reports
for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses." The
final version of Supplement 1 was published September 2000, and
replaces DG-4005.
High Level Waste
Development of complete environmental guidance with regard to license
renewal also required consideration of the generic and cumulative impacts
of transportation of High Level Waste (HLW). Since 10
CFR Part 51, Section 51.53
(c)(3)(ii)(M) states, in part, "The review of impacts shall also discuss
the generic and cumulative impacts associated with transportation
operation in the vicinity of a high-level waste repository site. The
candidate site at Yucca Mountain should be used for the purpose of impact
analysis as long as that site is under consideration for licensing."
A proposed rule that would reclassify this issue from consideration on
a plant specific basis to a generic basis was issued in February of 1999.
The NRC issued the final rule on September 3, 1999, and it became
effective October 4, 1999. The analysis contained in NUREG-1437,
Volume 1, Addendum 1 provides the technical basis for the rulemaking.
Review Time
It is currently expected that the NRC staff will complete its review of
the application within 30 months from receipt. A nuclear power plant
licensee may apply for a license renewal as early as 20 years or as late
as 5 years before the expiration of its current license.
Inspection Program
The license renewal inspection program is implemented prior to the
approval of an application for a renewed license, to verify that an
applicant, requesting a renewed license under 10
CFR Part 54, meets the requirements of the rule and has implemented
license renewal programs and activities consistent with their license
renewal application and the NRC's safety evaluation report.
The primary objectives of license renewal inspection activities are to
review the documentation, implementation, and effectiveness of the
programs and activities associated with an applicant's license renewal
program to verify that there is reasonable assurance that the effects of
aging will be adequately managed such that the intended function of
components and structures within the scope of license renewal will be
maintained consistent with the current licensing basis during the period
of extended operation.
For further information, please refer to Inspection Procedure 71002,
"License Renewal Inspection."
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