IX. REGULATION AND LICENSING OF THE ATOMIC ENERGY INDUSTRY Summary of applications for and licenses issued during 1956 The year 1956 saw significant advances in private participation in the atomicenergy field as evidenced by licenses applied for and issued. Construction permits were issue to three firms authorizing construction of large developmental power reactors. A fourth company was authorized to construct a smaller developmental facility which also will produce electrical energy for distribution. Four organizations were authorized by license to commence operation of research reactors. There are now six privately owned reactors licensed for operation. The applications filed in 1956 included the proposed construction of a total of 19 research reactors and 6 critical experiment facilities. Of these, 1 reactor manufacturing firm completed the construction and initial testing of its first small, self-contained research reactor and applied for authorization to build 8 additional reactors of the same type for sale to universities and other potential purchasers. Late in the year another manufacturer filed an application for authorization to build the prototype of a research reactor which it plans to produce in quantity for sale to licensed institutions. American firms filed 5 license applications during 1956 for the export of research reactors. These reactors are proposed for shipment to West Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, and Japan under bilateral agreements for cooperation. The license covering the reactor for Japan has been issued and part of the reactor has been shipped. Notices have been published of the proposed issuance of export licenses covering the reactors for Brazil and the Netherlands. All of these applications were received during the last half of the year. The licenses issued and applied for in 1956 are listed in the 20th semiannual report at pages 28 and 29 and in appendix 8 of the 21st report, pages 329 to 335. The listing in the reports is alphabetical for convenience in following the types of activity licensed. This testimony gives a breakdown by types as noted below. A recapitulation of the facility license applications filed since the enactment of the 1954 act is shown in table I attached. The first privately owned plant for the production of enriched uranium oxide commenced operations in 1956 under a special nuclear material license issued by the Commission. Special nuclear material licenses were issued to 8 other companies who are in business fabricating enriched uranium fuel elements or processing enriched uranium for ultimate fabrication into fuel elements. These companies are identified in table II attached. The number of special nuclear material license applications increased substantially in 1956 over the number filed the previous year. Over 50 such applications were filed and approved, more than 3 times as many as in 1955. The special nuclear material licenses applied for and actions taken are listed in the 20th semiannual report, pages 30 to 33, and in appendix 9 of the 21st semiannual report, pages 332 to 335. Some of the licenses authorized fuel preparation and fabrication. Other activities authorized included research and development work on fuel materials, manufacture of fission counters, radiation chemistry experiments, and application of isotopic dilution techniques. During 1956 over 17,000 kilograms of uranium 235 were allocated to over 30 licensees for use in connection with licensed research and development activities, including the material allocated for use as fuel in the operation of nuclear reactors authorized for construction or operation. The number of such projects is indicative of industry's growing activity in the atomic-energy field, bearing in mind that many of the projects for which applications were received in 1956 necessarily had to be preceded by extensive planning on the part of the applicants concerned, and considering also that 1956 was only the second year of the licensing program. As the Joint Committee is aware, following the issuance of the construction permit to the Power Reactor Development Co., petitions for leave to intervene and for further relief were filed with the Commission by the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO; International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO; and International Union, United Paper Workers of America, AFL-CIO. The hearing requested by the petitioners was granted by the Commission. Mr. J. A. Kyle, of the Federal Communications Commission, was designated as the presiding officer for the hearing. The hearings began in January 1957, and are continuing. Radiation safety in licensed activities AEC organization for hazards evaluation.-Evaluation of the hazards aspects of proposed nuclear facilities constitutes the basic element of the licensing process. The Commission has brought together during the past year a key technical staff, composed of nuclear physicists and engineers, who, with the aid of other specialists within the Commission are performing this important function. The hazards evaluation staff performs critical safety analyses of all nuclear facilities, both Government-owned and those proposed for licensing, and identifies those additional specifications that must be met in order to give reasonable assurance that construction and operation of the proposed facility at its proposed site will not endanger the health and safety of the public. This staff also is responsible for developing standards, guides, and specifications for the safe design, construction, and operation of nuclear facilities and for conducting corollary studies in these fields. The key staff is being augmented by scientists and engineers possessing skills in specialized fields of nuclear technology. As a long-range measure to cope with the shortage of scientific and technical people, young graduates of nuclear training programs have been recruited and others with suitable college preparation have been obtained and placed in training programs. The review and evaluation of the hazard aspects of some 50 critical assemblies and research and power reactors have been undertaken. These include military, commission, and licensed reactors. The workload continues to grow, and in addition to the full-time technical staff, and as the need arises, the Commission also utilizes the services of consultants having special knowledge in particular areas of reactor safety. The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards continues to render invaluable service to the Commission in the hazards evaluation work. During 1956 the main Committee held four meetings dealing with various phases of a number of specific reactor projects and technical programs. In addition, two subcommittee sessions were held to deal with similar work. In this period of early development of the civilian application program, it has been necessary to call upon the Committee for advice and assistance on most proposed reactor projects. However, as the Commission's own technical staff is expanded to the required strength and a reactor type becomes standardized, demands upon the Advisory Committee for advice on specific projects will lessen. Thus, the Committee's assistance can be directed more and more to the exceptionally difficult or unusual cases and to the development of safety standards and criteria. The Commission also will continue to utilize the services of individual members for consultation in their particular fields of competence as desirable on specific questions and projects. Development of standards and criteria for safety of nuclear facilities.-There is at present only a limited amount of systematic, generally accepted material available with respect to safety criteria and standards for design and operation of nuclear facilities. There is still not complete agreement in the general community of nuclear engineers with respect to what is required and the bases upon which safety is judged. It is most urgent, therefore, that general standards and guides for various types of nuclear facilities be developed as soon as possible. A beginning has been made in this direction but much more needs to be done. It is the present expectation, however, that a larger portion of the effort of the Commission staff, advisers, and consultants will be devoted to this task during the coming months. The wide range of problems involved in safe design, location, and operation of atomic industrial installations is covered in detail by part II of the 21st semiannual report, pages 109 to 260. This part places safety problems caused by possible addition of radiation from nuclear industrial plants to the natural environment in perspective along with the problems produced by medical and dental X-ray usage and weapons testing. The major discussions of the atomic industrial safety factors appear on pages 120 to 125 and 132 to 143. Study of the potential damage which might be caused by nuclear runaway of power reactors.-As the Joint Committee has previously been informed, the Commission in August 1956 initiated a comprehensive study of the potential damage which might result from the nuclear runaway of power reactors. The study is expected to contribute to a clearer understanding of the possible scope and implications of reactor accidents. It is expected that the first phase of this study, the general definition of the major factors which enter into the problem and orders-of-magnitude estimates of the ranges of potential damage, will be completed early in 1957. In this preliminary phase of the study, it is hoped that the major technical deficiencies obstructing a more competent evaluation of potential damage will be identified so that efforts might be directed to resolution of such inadequacies. The second phase of the study, which will begin as soon as the first phase is complete, is expected to encompass not only further accumulation of data and evaluation thereof but experimental investigations necessary to give more definitive answer to problems. Industry's role in hazards evaluation. The hazards evaluation process itself and the requirements it imposes upon the reactor builder have been described at length in earlier reports by the Commission to the Joint Committee. These have emphasized that while the responsibility rests with the Commission for the final determination that proposed nuclear reactors can be operated without undue risk to public health and safety, the burden of showing that a given facility meets this criterion rests with the license applicant. In other types of industrial activity, American industry has established a notable record of industrial safety. The substantial expenditure of technical talent and effort currently being made by license applicants to assure the reliability of their plants indicates that industry has not accepted its responsibilites in the nuclear field casually. The technical and scientific effort entailed in the applicant's hazards evaluation of a reactor project may extend over a period of months. In the case of a large power reactor, from 2 to 3 years may be required before the design of the facility is firmed up. The hazards study includes exhaustive analyses of the characteristics of the reactor and of the environment in which it is to be located. It also requires a thorough analysis of all possibilities of operational failure or accident in order that the necessary safety systems and devices may be incorporated in the design. In many cases critical experiments, requiring the construction of a separate facility for this purpose, are necessary to develop the technical information upon which much of the hazards evaluation is based. Equally important to safety, of course, are the procedures which the license applicant proposes to employ in the operation of his completed reactor. His description of such procedures is therefore an essential part of the hazards evaluation report upon the basis of which the Commission must judge whether the reactor can be operated safely. Much of this operational procedure must be worked out before designs can be completed and construction begun and the procedure is reevaluated many times before construction is completed and actual operations commence. New regulations and amendments The basic framework for the licensing of private atomic-energy activities was essentially completed early in 1956 with the publication in January and February of the regulations on the licensing of nuclear materials and facilities, operators of facilities, access to restricted data, safeguarding of restricted data, unclassified activities, in foreign atomic-energy programs, rules of practice and specifications for the granting of patent licenses. These regulations are set forth in appendix 7 of the 20th semiannual report, pages 169 to 251. Two new and five amended regulations have since been published and explanatory matter concerning these is carried in the 21st semiannual report, pages 32 to 33. For convenience of the committee, brief summaries of these seven actions follow: 10 CFR, Part 20: Standards for Protection Against Radiation, effective February 28, 1957, establishes standards for protection against radiation hazards arising from activities licensed by the Commission. This regulation was initially published in proposed form in July 1955 and most licenses issued since that time and up to its effective date have included provisions requiring the licensee to comply with the proposed regulation. The regulation will be subject to continuing consideration in order to keep it consistent with developments in the field of radiological health and safety. 10 CFR, Part 9: Public Records, was published in November 1956 as a notice of proposed rulemaking and was made effective in December 1956. It sets further rules governing the Commission public records relating to any procedures subject to Part 2: Rules of Practice, or Part 25: Access to Restricted Data, of the Commission regulations. The following amendments to existing regulations have been made or published as proposed rules: 10 CFR, Part 2: Rules of Practice: was amended in December 1956 to provide procedures for handling restricted data introduced in proceedings or needed to prepare for them. The procedures are based upon section 181 of the act requiring that parallel procedures be established by regulation to safeguard restricted data or defense information. 10 CFR, Part 25: Access to Restricted Data: was amended in August 1956 to permit access to information on controlled thermonuclear processes under two special criteria. These are (a) that the applicant be engaged in a substantial effort to develop, design, build, or operate a fission power reactor that is planned for construction, or (b) that he possess qualifications demonstrating that he is capable of making a significant contribution to research and development in the thermonuclear field. 10 CFR, Part 30: Licensing of Byproduct Material: was amended in September 1956. The amendment eliminates the requirement that applications for specific byproduct material licenses must be signed under oath or affirmation. Another amendment to part 30 in October, placed certain devices containing small quantities of radioisotopes under general license, thus making possible their sale to the general public. 10 CFR, Part 50: Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities: was amended in December 1956. The amendment declares that the Commission will not consider the making of a finding of practical value under section 102 of the act as requiring the conversion of a previously issued class 104 construction permit or license. 10 CFR, Part 55: Operators' Licenses: was amended in September 1956 to eliminate the requirements that applications for licenses must be signed under oath or affirmation.3 When the Commission's basic regulations were prepared, care was taken to assure that they provided reasonably flexible requirements in order not to establish a rigid regulatory pattern for an industry which was still in its formative years. Advisory groups representative of industries and others likely to be affected were freely consulted and their views and suggestions drawn upon. In the brief period the regulations have been in effect no basic problems have been reported by industry. Our experience discloses, nevertheless, the need for a number of changes which, we believe, will improve the regulations. Other revisions will doubtless prove necessary or desirable as further experience accrues. On August 27 and 28, 1956, the Advisory Committee on Isotope Distribution met to discuss with the Commission's staff various matters pertinent to the Commission's isotopes program. The agenda included a discussion of the status and consent of those regulations being developed to prescribe standards for protection against radiation, standards for sealed sources containing byproduct material, and requirements for licensing byproduct material. There was also general discussion of the special requirements involved in high level irradiation facilities, and of the problems involved in introducing isotopes into the general environment as consumer products. Inspection The atomic industry of the future will obviously be affected by the activities carried on under the inspections of the act of 1954. The development of an organization, assignment of functions, and the preliminary work carried on during 1956 were reported in the 21st semiannual report, pages 91 to 92, and 129 to 131. Cooperation with State agencies An important aspect of the continued development of a private atomic-energy industry has been the concurrent broadening of the interest of the several States in this field. These interests stem not only from the desire of the States to foster the development of the industry within their borders but extend, as well, to the relation of licensed activities to public health and safety. A number of governors have established councils and committees through which their States may avail themselves of new social and economic opportunities in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Several groups of States also have joined together, on regional bases to promote positive and uniform action in their areas by sponsoring conferences, studies, and workshops at which recom'mended courses of action and programs can be developed. The Commission staff has been privileged to participate in many of these meetings. 3 Texts of regulations and amendments are printed in appendix 6, 21st Semiannual Report, pp. 284-297. |