[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 37 (Friday, February 25, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9393-9394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3626]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Draft Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public
comment a draft of a new guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series.
This series has been developed to describe and make available to the
public such information as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff
for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques
that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated
accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications
for permits and licenses.
The draft Regulatory Guide, entitled ``Guidelines for Lightning
Protection for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its
task number, DG-1137, which should be mentioned in all related
correspondence. This proposed regulatory guide offers guidance for NRC
licensees and applicants to use in developing and implementing
practices that the staff finds acceptable for complying with the
agency's regulatory requirements in Criterion 2, ``Design Bases for
Protection Against Natural Phenomena,'' as it appears in Appendix A,
``General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to Title 10, Part
50, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 50). Specifically,
Criterion 2 requires, in part, that nuclear power plant (NPP)
structures, systems, and components (SSCs) that are important to safety
must be designed to withstand the effects of natural phenomena without
losing their capability to perform their respective safety functions.
While the regulations address lightning protection for safety-
related electrical equipment, they do not explicitly provide guidance
concerning the design and installation of lightning protection systems
(LPSs) to ensure that electrical transients resulting from lightning
phenomena do not cause spurious operation safety-related systems or
render them inoperable. As proposed, DG-1137 would augment the
regulations by establishing explicit guidance that is consistent with
LPS
[[Page 9394]]
design and installation practices that are currently applied throughout
the commercial power industry.
Toward that end, the NRC staff has selected for endorsement a total
of four standards issued by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE), which taken together, provide comprehensive lightning
protection guidance for nuclear power plants. Specifically, the four
standards are IEEE Std. 665-1995 (2001 revision), IEEE Guide for
Generating Station Grounding, IEEE Std. 666-1991, IEEE Design Guide for
Electrical Power Service Systems for Generating Stations, IEEE Std.
1050-1996, IEEE Guide for Instrumentation and Control Equipment
Grounding in Generating Stations, and IEEE Std. C62.23-1995 (2001
revision), IEEE Application Guide for Surge Protection of Electric
Generating Plants.
The NRC staff is soliciting comments on Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
1137, and comments may be accompanied by relevant information or
supporting data. Please mention DG-1137 in the subject line of your
comments. Comments on this draft regulatory guide submitted in writing
or in electronic form will be made available to the public in their
entirety through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS). Personal information will not be removed from your
comments. You may submit comments by any of the following methods.
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
E-mail comments to: [email protected]. You may also submit comments
via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Address
questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol A. Gallagher (301)
415-5905; e-mail [email protected].
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on
Federal workdays.
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-5144.
Requests for technical information about Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
1137 may be directed to Christina E. Antonescu at (301) 415-6792 or via
e-mail to [email protected].
Comments would be most helpful if received by April 20, 2005.
Comments received after that date will be considered if it is practical
to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments
received on or before this date. Although a time limit is given,
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.
Electronic copies of the draft regulatory guide are available
through the NRC's public Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides in the
Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading
Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic
copies are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html,
under Accession ML050480101. Note, however, that the NRC has
temporarily suspended public access to ADAMS so that the agency can
complete security reviews of publicly available documents and remove
potentially sensitive information. Please check the NRC's Web site for
updates concerning the resumption of public access to ADAMS.
In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at
(301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by e-
mail to [email protected]. Requests for single copies of draft or final
guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic
distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in specific
divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and
Distribution Services Section; by email to [email protected]; or by
fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated.
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 17th day of February, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael E. Mayfield,
Director, Division of Engineering Technology, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 05-3626 Filed 2-24-05; 8:45 am]
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