[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 189 (Friday, September 30, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57333-57334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19704]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a revision 
to an existing 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.
    Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.188, entitled ``Standard Format 
and Content for Applications To Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating 
Licenses,'' describes a method that the NRC staff finds acceptable for 
complying with the agency's regulatory requirements in Title 10, Part 
54, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR part 54), ``Requirements 
for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants'' (commonly 
known as the license renewal rule). Specifically, 10 CFR part 54 
specifies the information that a nuclear power plant licensee must 
include in its application to renew an operating license issued by the 
NRC.
    The NRC initially issued Regulatory Guide 1.188 in July 2001, after 
soliciting and resolving public comments on three draft regulatory 
guides (DG-1104 in August 2000, DG-1047 in August 1996, and DG-1009 in 
December 1990). As such, Regulatory Guide 1.188 incorporated lessons 
learned from the review of license renewal applications and Owners 
Group topical report reviews. The guide also incorporated relevant 
information from development of the ``Standard Review Plan for the 
Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP-
LR) (NUREG-1800),\1\ and the ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) 
Report'' (NUREG-1801),1 as well as a summary of public comments 
received on those documents (NUREG-1832, ``Analysis of Public Comments 
on the Revised License Renewal Guidance Documents.'') \2\
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    \1\ Copies are available at current rates from the U.S. 
Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-
9328 (telephone (202) 512-1800); or from the National Technical 
Information Service at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161; 
http://www.ntis.gov; or (703) 487-4650. Copies are available for 
inspection or copying for a fee from the NRC's Public Document Room 
at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is 
USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555; telephone (301) 415-4737 or (800) 
397-4209; fax (301) 415-3548; or e-mail [email protected]. These documents 
are also available electronically through the NRC's public Web site 
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ /staff/.
    \2\ Copies are available at current rates from the U.S. 
Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-
9328 (telephone (202) 512-1800); or from the National Technical 
Information Service at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161; 
http://www.ntis.gov; or (703) 487-4650. Copies are available for 
inspection or copying for a fee from the NRC's Public Document Room 
at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is 
USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555; telephone (301) 415-4737 or (800) 
397-4209; fax (301) 415-3548; or e-mail [email protected]. These documents 
are also available electronically through the NRC's public Web site 
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ /staff/.
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    Since the NRC initially published Regulatory Guide 1.188 in July 
2001, the staff proposed to update both the SRP-LR (NUREG-1800) and the 
GALL Report (NUREG-1801). Consequently, the staff also decided to 
revise Regulatory Guide 1.188 to reflect the proposed updates to the 
guidance documents. Toward that end, the staff prepared Draft 
Regulatory Guide DG-1140, which also included a modification through 
which the NRC staff endorsed (with two exceptions) Revision 5 of NEI 
95-10, ``Industry Guideline for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR 
Part 54 `` The License Renewal Rule,'' which the Nuclear Energy 
Institute (NEI) published in January 2005.\3\ Specifically, the staff 
took exception to the use of a portion of Appendix F to Revision 5 of 
NEI 95-10, from the unnumbered paragraph following paragraph 4.4 
through the end of Section 4, ``Non-Safety SSCs Directly Connected to 
Safety-Related SSCs.'' In addition, the NRC staff took exception to the 
use of paragraph 5.2.3.1, ``Exposure Duration.''
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    \3\ Copies are available for inspection or copying for a fee 
from the NRC's Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, 
DC 20555; telephone (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4209; fax (301) 415-
3548; e-mail [email protected]. Revision 5 of NEI 95-10 is also available 
through the NRC's license renewal Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/guidance.html#nuclear, and 
through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession 
No. ML050280113. Note, however, that the NRC has temporarily limited 
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.
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    The NRC staff then published a Federal Register notice (70 FR 5494) 
on February 2, 2005, to solicit stakeholder comments on Draft 
Regulatory Guide DG-1140 and/or Revision 5 of NEI 95-10, and 
specifically on any inconsistency or incompatibility between the 
guidance in these documents and the NRC guidance set forth in NUREG-
1800 and NUREG-1801. Toward that end, the NRC also held a public 
workshop on March 2, 2005, to give participants an opportunity to ask 
questions, obtain further information, offer comments and opinions, and 
otherwise facilitate the formulation and preparation of written

[[Page 57334]]

comments for NRC staff consideration of the revised license renewal 
guidance documents.
    The public comment period closed on March 31, 2005, without the 
submission of any stakeholder comments. However, in response to the 
exceptions stated in DG-1140, NEI issued Revision 6 of NEI-95-10 in 
June 2005 \4\ to accept the NRC staff's position with respect to those 
issues, thereby rendering the staff's two exceptions unnecessary. 
Having reviewed this latest revision of NEI 95-10, the NRC staff finds 
Revision 6 acceptable for use in implementing the license renewal rule, 
without exceptions, as discussed in Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 
1.188. Applicants may meet the intent of the license renewal rule using 
methods other than those provided in Revision 6 of NEI 95-10; however, 
the NRC staff will determine the acceptability of such methods on a 
case-by-case basis.
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    \4\ Copies are available for inspection or copying for a fee 
from the NRC's Public Document Room at 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, 
DC 20555; telephone (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4209; fax (301) 415-
3548; e-mail [email protected]. Revision 6 of NEI 95-10 is also available 
through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession 
No. ML051860406. Note, however, that the NRC has temporarily limited 
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.
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    The NRC staff encourages and welcomes comments and suggestions in 
connection with improvements to published regulatory guides, as well as 
items for inclusion in regulatory guides that are currently being 
developed. 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.
    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 Revision 1 of Regulatory 
Guide 1.188 may be directed to Linh N. Tran at (301) 415-4103 or by e-
mail to [email protected].
    Regulatory guides are available for inspection or downloading 
through the NRC's public Web site in the Regulatory Guides document 
collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.188 is 
also available electronically through the NRC's Agencywide Documents 
Access and Management System (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession No. ML051920430. Note, however, that the 
NRC has temporarily limited 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 e-mail 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 26th day of September, 2005.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Carl J. Paperiello,
Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 05-19704 Filed 9-29-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P