[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 27 (Thursday, February 9, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6794-6795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1774]


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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued 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.
    Regulatory Guide 1.203, ``Transient and Accident Analysis 
Methods,'' provides guidance for NRC licensees and applicants to use in 
developing and assessing evaluation models that may be used to analyze 
transient and accident behavior that is within the design basis of a 
nuclear power plant. Evaluation models that the NRC has previously 
approved will remain acceptable and need not be revised to conform with 
the guidance given in this regulatory guide.
    Chapter 15 of the NRC's ``Standard Review Plan (SRP) for the Review 
of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants'' (NUREG-0800) and 
the ``Standard Format and Content of Safety Analysis Reports for 
Nuclear Power Plants'' (Regulatory Guide 1.70) describe a subset of the 
transient and accident events that must be considered in the safety 
analyses required by Title 10, part 50, of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR part 50), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' section 50.34, ``Contents of Applications; 
Technical Information'' (10 CFR 50.34). In particular, 10 CFR 50.34 
specifies the following requirements regarding applications for 
construction permits and/or licenses to operate a facility:
    (1) Safety analysis reports must analyze the design and performance 
of structures, systems, and components, and their adequacy for the 
prevention of accidents and mitigation of the consequences of 
accidents.
    (2) Analysis and evaluation of emergency core cooling system (ECCS) 
cooling performance following postulated loss-of-coolant accidents 
(LOCAs) must be performed in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 
50.46.
    (3) The technical specifications for the facility must be based on 
the safety analysis and prepared in accordance with the requirements of 
10 CFR 50.36.
    An additional benefit is that evaluation models that are developed 
using the guidelines provided in Regulatory Guide 1.203 will provide a 
more reliable framework for risk-informed regulation and a basis for 
estimating the uncertainty in understanding transient and accident 
behavior.
    In addition, the NRC is issuing section 15.0.2 of the SRP, which 
covers the same subject material as Regulatory Guide 1.203, and is 
intended to complement the guide. Specifically, section 15.0.2 provides 
guidance to NRC reviewers of transient and accident

[[Page 6795]]

analysis methods, while Regulatory Guide 1.203 provides practices and 
principles for the benefit of method developers. Chapter 15 of the SRP 
recommends using approved evaluation models or codes for the analysis 
of most identified events. The SRP also suggests that evaluation model 
reviews should be initiated whenever an approved model does not exist 
for a specified plant event. If the applicant or licensee proposes to 
use an unapproved model, an evaluation model review should be 
initiated.
    The NRC previously solicited public comment on this guide by 
publishing a Federal Register notice (65 FR 77934) concerning Draft 
Regulatory Guide DG-1096 on December 13, 2000, followed by a Federal 
Register notice (68 FR 4524) concerning Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1120 
on January 29, 2003. Following the closure of the latest public comment 
period on March 24, 2003, the staff considered all stakeholder comments 
in the course of preparing the new Regulatory Guide 1.203.
    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 Regulatory Guide 1.203 may 
be directed to Shawn O. Marshall at (301) 415-5861 or via 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. Electronic copies of Regulatory Guide 
1.203 and SRP section 15.0.2 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 Nos. ML053500170 and 
ML053550265, respectively.
    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 
email 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 29th day of December, 2005.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James T. Wiggins,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E6-1774 Filed 2-8-06; 8:45 am]
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