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New Reactors Licensing Process

The NRC licenses all commercially owned nuclear power plants that produce electricity in the United States. The Backgrounder on Nuclear Power Plant Licensing Process gives an overview of the licensing process.

On this page:

• Staff Readiness
• Preparation
  • Early Site Permits
  • Combined Licenses
  • Comments on NEI 04-01

See also our:
Combined License (COL) Application Guidance, Standard Review Plan (SRP) NUREG-0800 and Operating Reactors Licensing page.

Staff Readiness

In late 2000, the NRC became aware that some electric companies were exploring the option of building new nuclear plants in the United States. Therefore, the Commission directed the staff to (1) assess its readiness to review license applications and inspect new nuclear power plants and (2) to examine the regulatory infrastructure for 10 CFR Part 50 and Part 52 and other applicable regulations. The staff's response in SECY-01-0188, "Future Licensing and Inspection Readiness Assessment" (FLIRA ), issued October 12, 2001, addresses the following matters:

• Licensing scenarios for future application reviews, the durations of the reviews, and the resource estimates (in staff, dollars, and technical assistance) to complete the reviews
  
  
• Critical skills needed within the agency or through contracts; and
  
  
• Regulatory infrastructure needs to support future licensing reviews (see Regulations, Guidance, and Communications).
  
  
• Semiannually, the staff prepares updates of the status of new reactor licensing activities.

Preparation

To prepare for future applications, the staff is assessing activities needed to prepare for early site permit (ESP) and combined license (COL) applications.

Early Site Permits

The NRC can issue an ESP for approval of one or more sites for one or more nuclear power facilities separate from the filing of an application for a construction permit or combined license in accordance with 10 CFR Part 52. An ESP is a partial construction permit and is, therefore, subject to all procedural requirements in 10 CFR Part 2 that are applicable to construction permits. Applications for ESPs will be reviewed according to the applicable standards set out in 10 CFR Parts 50 and 100 as they apply to applications for construction permits for nuclear power plants. Early site permits are good for 10 to 20 years and can be renewed for an additional 10 to 20 years. ESPs address site safety issues, environmental protection issues, and plans for coping with emergencies, independent of the review of a specific nuclear plant design.

Three ESP applications have been submitted in 2003 from Dominion, Exelon Generation, and Entergy. More information on the status of the ESP applications can be found on our Early Site Permits web page.

Combined Licenses

A COL authorizes construction and conditional operation of a nuclear power facility. The requirements and procedures applicable to Commission issuance of a COL for a nuclear power facility are contained in Subpart C of 10 CFR Part 52. An application for a COL may, but need not, reference a standard design certification issued under Subpart B of 10 CFR Part 52 or an ESP issued under Subpart A of 10 CFR Part 52, or both.

• to obtain a COL, the application must include the technically relevant information required by 10 CFR 50.34 for a construction permit and an operating license;
  
  
• must include the proposed inspections, tests and analyses which the licensee shall perform and the associated acceptance criteria (ITAAC) which are necessary and sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that, if the inspections, tests and analyses are performed and the acceptance criteria met, the facility has been constructed and will operate in conformity with—

  (1) the COL,

  (2) the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and

  (3) the Commission's regulations (see 10 CFR 52.79(c)); and
  

• the NRC must also find that the ITAAC have been met before a licensee proceeds with fuel loading and subsequent operation (see 10 CFR 52.103(g)).

Important documents and issues related to preparing an application for a COL include—

• COL Generic Issues - The staff, working with stakeholders, has developed a preliminary list of COL process and construction inspection program topics.
  
  
• Operational Program ITAAC - The Commission has provided several staff requirements memorandum (SRM) to the staff regarding ITAAC for operational programs or programmatic ITAAC. The SRMs and other background material can be found on our Programmatic ITAAC web page.
  
  
• Emergency Planning ITAAC - The NRC staff, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS/FEMA) have begun discussions with interested stakeholders on the form and content of emergency planning ITAAC. For background information related to this effort, see our Emergency Planning ITAAC Background Information web page.

Some links on this page are to documents in our Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), and others are to documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). ADAMS documents are provided in either PDF or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). To obtain free viewers for displaying these formats, see our Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools page. If you have questions about search techniques or problems with viewing or printing documents from ADAMS, please contact the Public Document Room staff.

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Monday, February 11, 2008