[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 207 (Tuesday, October 27, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 57331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28744]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Use of PRA in Plant-Specific Reactor Regulatory Activities: Final 
Regulatory Guide and Standard Review Plan Section; Availability

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a new guide in its 
Regulatory Guide Series, Regulatory Guide 1.178, ``An Approach for 
Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Inservice Inspection of 
Piping,'' along with its conforming section of the Standard Review 
Plan, Section 3.9.8, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Risk-
Informed Inservice Inspection of Piping,'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard 
Review Plan.'' Regulatory Guide 1.178 augments the guidance presented 
in Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the 
Licensing Basis,'' by providing guidance specific to incorporating risk 
insights to inservice inspection programs for piping. The accompanying 
Standard Review Plan Section 3.9.8 conforms to the guide to provide 
guidance to the NRC staff in reviewing such changes.
    These documents are being issued for trial use, and there have been 
changes made from the draft versions of each.
    Regulatory Guide 1.178 now permits partial scope risk-informed 
inservice inspection. The NRC staff's position is that applications for 
partial scope will be dealt with on the merits of the submittals, 
conformance with the requirements of the regulations, and conformance 
with the guidelines in Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An Approach for Using 
Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-
Specific Changes to the Current Licensing Basis,'' including defense in 
depth and margin considerations.
    The second change is in regard to some nondestructive examination 
of the primary coolant piping, even if the piping is categorized as low 
safety significant and of low failure potential. The NRC staff 
considers it appropriate, for defense in depth, to continue to require 
some level of monitoring to provide verification of assumptions in the 
risk-informed inservice inspection program regarding potential modes of 
degradation as plants age.
    The third change is that the appendices that were in the draft 
regulatory guide will be incorporated into a NUREG document, NUREG-
1661, ``Technical Elements of Risk-Informed Inservice Inspection 
Programs for Piping,'' which will be issued shortly. NUREG-1661 will 
also address the technical issues raised in the public comments on 
quantification of risk from piping.
    The documentation requested for inservice inspection program 
submittals has been significantly reduced and clarified.
    Comments and suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in 
guides currently being developed or improvements in all published 
guides are encouraged at any time. Written comments may be submitted to 
the Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555.
    Single copies of regulatory guides, both active and draft, may be 
obtained free of charge by writing the Reproduction and Distribution 
Services Section, OCIO, USNRC, Washington, DC 20555-0001; or by fax to 
(301) 415-2289; or by email to [email protected]. Active guides may also be 
purchased from the National Technical Information Service on a standing 
order basis. Details on this service may be obtained by writing NTIS, 
5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. Sections of NUREG-0800, 
the Standard Review Plan, may be purchased from the U.S. Government 
Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328 (telephone 
(202) 512-2249). Copies of active and draft guides and the Standard 
Review Plan are available for inspection or copying for a fee from the 
NRC Public Document Room at 2120 L Street NW., Washington, DC; the 
PDR's mailing address is Mail Stop LL-6, Washington, DC 20555; 
telephone (202) 634-3273; fax (202) 634-3343. Regulatory guides are not 
copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them.

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

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of October 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Ashok C. Thadani,
Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 98-28744 Filed 10-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P