Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material; Possession of a Critical Mass of Special Nuclear Material

Resumo

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations governing the domestic licensing of special nuclear material (SNM) for licensees authorized to possess a critical mass of SNM, that are engaged in one of the following activities: enriched uranium processing; fabrication of uranium fuel or fuel assemblies; uranium enrichment; enriched uranium hexafluoride conversion; plutonium processing; fabrication of mixed-oxide fuel or fuel assemblies; scrap recovery of special nuclear material; or any other activity involving a critical mass of SNM that the Commission determines could significantly affect public health and safety or the environment. The proposed amendments would identify appropriate consequence criteria and the level of protection needed to prevent or mitigate accidents that exceed these criteria; require affected licensees to perform an integrated safety analysis (ISA) to identify potential accidents at the facility and the items relied on for safety necessary to prevent these potential accidents and/or mitigate their consequences; require the implementation of measures to ensure that the items relied on for safety are available and reliable to