99-13502. Notice of Availability of Staff's Safety Evaluation on DOE's Topical Report on the Tritium Production Core

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 102 (Thursday, May 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 28844]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13502]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Project No. 697]


Notice of Availability of Staff's Safety Evaluation on DOE's 
Topical Report on the Tritium Production Core

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for establishing 
the capability to produce tritium, an essential material used in U.S 
nuclear weapons, by the end of 2005, in accordance with a Presidential 
decision directive. On July 30, 1998, as revised on February 10, 1999, 
DOE submitted a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
entitled, ``Tritium Production Core (TPC) Topical Report.'' This report 
contained technical information related to the production of tritium 
using tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) in a commercial 
light-water reactor (CLWR). The NRC staff has reviewed this report and 
has prepared its safety evaluation.
    The staff's safety evaluation, which will be issued as NUREG-1672, 
concluded that many technical issues have been satisfactorily addressed 
in the DOE topical report and identified a number of plant-specific 
interface issues that will need to be addressed in order to determine 
the acceptability of irradiating a full-core load of TPBARs in any 
particular CLWR facility.
    NUREG-1672 is available for public inspection and copying for a fee 
at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2129 L 
Street, NW, Washington, DC. Printed copies of NUREG-1672 are available 
from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, 
P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328.

For Further Information Contact: J. H. Wilson, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555, telephone [phone]; e-mail [e-mail].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of May, 1999.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David B. Matthews,
Director, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-13502 Filed 5-26-99; 8:45 am]
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