[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 86 (Thursday, May 2, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19645-19646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10898]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Notice of Availability of Draft Regulatory Guide and Public 
Meeting

SUMMARY: The NRC is announcing the availability for public comment of 
Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1046, ``Guidelines for Reporting Reliability 
and Availability Information for Risk-Significant Systems and Equipment 
in Nuclear Power Plants.''
    The NRC is also announcing a public meeting on June 4, 1996, to 
discuss both Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1046 and a proposed regulation, 
``Reporting Reliability and Availability Information for Risk-
Significant Systems and Equipment,'' Section 50.76, which is proposed 
for 10 CFR Part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities.'' The agenda for the meeting appears in the Supplementary 
Information Section.

DATES: Comments regarding any aspect of the draft regulatory guide are 
due to the NRC by July 5, 1996. Comments received after that date will 
be considered if it is practicable to do so, but the NRC can give no 
assurance of consideration for late comments. Comments on the proposed 
rule, Section 50.76, are due by June 11, 1996.
    The public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 4, 1996, from 
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM in the auditorium of NRC's headquarters at Two White 
Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Comments on the 
proposed rule and the draft regulatory guide may be presented at the 
public meeting.

ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to Chief, Rules Review and Directives 
Branch, Division of Freedom of Information and Publications Services, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Copies 
of DG-1046, the proposed rule Section 50.76, and all comments received 
may be examined or copied for a fee at the NRC Public Document Room, 
2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC.
    A free single copy of DG-1046 may be requested by writing to the 
Distribution and Mail Services Section, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by fax to (301) 415-2260.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis Allison, Office for Analysis 
and Evaluation of Operational Data, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6835, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued 
for public comment a draft of a guide planned for its Regulatory Guide 
Series. This series has been developed to describe and make available 
to the public such information as methods acceptable to the NRC staff 
for implementing specific parts of the Commission's regulations, 
techniques used by the staff in evaluating specific problems or 
postulated accidents, and data needed by the staff in its review of 
applications for permits and licenses. Regulatory guides are not 
copyrighted, and NRC approval is not required to reproduce them.

Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1046

    The draft guide, temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1046 
(which should be mentioned in all correspondence concerning this draft 
guide), is titled ``Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and 
Availability Information for Risk-Significant Systems and Equipment in 
Nuclear Power Plants.'' The guide will be in Division 1, ``Power 
Reactors.'' This regulatory guide is being developed to provide 
guidance on methods acceptable to the NRC staff for meeting the 
requirements of a proposed regulation, Section 50.76, which was 
published for public comment in the Federal Register on February 12, 
1996 (61 FR 5318). Section 50.76 would require that licensees for 
commercial nuclear power reactors report plant-specific summaries of 
reliability and availability data for selected systems and equipment to 
the NRC. It would also require that records and documentation of each 
occurrence of a demand, failure, or unavailable period that provides 
the basis for the summary data that was reported to the NRC be 
maintained on site and be made available for NRC inspection.
    The draft guide has not received complete staff review and does not 
represent an official NRC staff position.
    Public comments are being solicited on the guide. Comments should 
be accompanied by supporting data. Comments may be submitted as 
proposed modified text for the regulatory guide that incorporates the 
comments, or as discussions of examples of particular recordkeeping 
methods, equipment operation, or reportable events that illustrate a 
particular point regarding collecting and submitting the summary data. 
To assist efficient and complete comment resolution, commenters are 
requested to reference the numbered sections in DG-1046 (for example, 
Regulatory Position 1.1), with page numbers related to their comments 
as appropriate.

Electronic Submittal of Comments

    Comments also may be submitted electronically, in either ASCII text 
or Wordperfect format (version 5.1 or later), by calling the NRC 
Electronic Bulletin Board on FedWorld. The bulletin board may be 
accessed using a personal computer, a modem, and one of the commonly 
available communications software packages, or directly via Internet.
    If using a personal computer and modem, the NRC subsystem on 
FedWorld can be accessed directly by dialing the toll free number: 1-
800-303-9672. Communication software parameters should be set as 
follows: parity to none, data bits to 8, and stop bits to 1 (N,8,1). 
Using ANSI or VT-100 terminal emulation, the NRC NUREGs and RegGuides 
for Comment subsystem can then be accessed by selecting the ``Rules 
Menu'' option from the ``NRC Main Menu.'' For further information about 
options available for NRC at FedWorld, consult the ``Help/Information 
Center'' from the ``NRC Main Menu.'' Users will find the ``FedWorld 
Online User's Guides'' particularly helpful. Many NRC subsystems and 
data bases also have a ``Help/Information Center'' option that is 
tailored to the particular subsystem.
    The NRC subsystem on FedWorld can also be accessed by a direct dial 
phone number for the main FedWorld BBS, 703-321-3339, or by using 
Telnet via Internet, fedworld.gov. If using 703-321-3339 to contact 
FedWorld, the NRC subsystem will be accessed from the main FedWorld 
menu by selecting the ``Regulatory, Government Administration and State 
Systems,'' then selecting ``Regulatory Information Mall.'' At that 
point, a menu will be displayed that has an option ``U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission'' that will take you to the NRC Online main menu. 
The NRC Online area also can be accessed directly by typing ``/go nrc'' 
at a FedWorld command line. If you access NRC from FedWorld's main 
menu, you may return to FedWorld by selecting the ``Return to 
FedWorld'' option from the NRC Online Main Menu. However, if you access 
NRC at FedWorld by using NRC's toll-free number, you will have full 
access to all NRC systems but you will not have access to the main 
FedWorld system.
    If you contact FedWorld using Telnet, you will see the NRC area and 
menus,

[[Page 19646]]

including the Rules menu. Although you will be able to download 
documents and leave messages, you will not be able to write comments or 
upload files (comments). If you contact FedWorld using FTP, all files 
can be accessed and downloaded but uploads are not allowed; all you 
will see is a list of files without descriptions (normal Gopher look). 
An index file listing all files within a subdirectory, with 
descriptions, is included. There is a 15-minute time limit for FTP 
access.
    Although FedWorld can be accessed through the World Wide Web, like 
FTP that mode only provides access for downloading files and does not 
display the NRC Rules menu.
    For more information on NRC bulletin boards call Mr. Arthur Davis, 
Systems Integration and Development Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301) 415-5780; e-mail 
AXD[email protected].

Participation and Comments at Public meeting

    Interested individuals may attend the public meeting and address 
relevant remarks or comments to the NRC staff at the meeting. To 
facilitate the scheduling of available time for speakers and orderly 
conduct of the meeting, members of the public who wish to speak at the 
meeting should request the opportunity to speak in advance of the 
meeting.
    To request the opportunity to speak at the public meeting, contact 
the cognizant NRC staff member listed in the For Further Information 
Contact section. Indicate as specifically as possible the topic of your 
comment. Provide your name, telephone number, and possibly e-mail 
address at which you can be reached, if necessary, before the meeting. 
Registration will be available at the meeting for a limited number of 
additional speakers on a first-come basis.
    The agenda for the public meeting on June 4, 1996, to discuss 
reporting reliability and availability information for risk-significant 
systems and equipment in nuclear power plants follows.

8:30 AM  Introductory Remarks
9:00 AM  Need and Uses of Reliability and Availability Data and 
Description of Proposed Rule
10:00 AM  Public Comments and Statements
10:30 AM  Overview of Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1046
11:00 AM Reliability/Availability Data Pilot Study
12:00  Noon Lunch
1:00 PM  Discussion of Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1046
3:30 PM  Public Comments and Statements
4:00 PM  Implementation
5:00 PM  Adjourn

    In allocating discussion time at the meeting, priority will be 
given to major issues. Other matters will also be discussed if time 
permits.

(5 U.S.C. 552(a))

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of April 1996.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frank A. Costanzi,
Deputy Director, Division of Regulatory Application, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 96-10898 Filed 5-1-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P