[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 179 (Friday, September 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54530-54531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-15311]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Draft Regulatory Guide and Associated Standard Review Plan: 
Issuance, Availability

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public 
comment a draft proposed revision of 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 
agency'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.
    This draft Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.200, ``An Approach for 
Determining the Technical Adequacy of Probabilistic Risk Assessment 
Results for Risk-Informed Activities,'' is temporarily identified as 
Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161, which should be mentioned in all 
related correspondence. Like its predecessors, this proposed revision 
describes one acceptable approach for determining whether the quality 
of a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), in total or the parts that 
are used to support an application, is sufficient to provide confidence 
in the results, such that the PRA can be used in regulatory decision-
making for light-water reactors. Specifically, Draft Regulatory Guide 
DG-1161 provides guidance in four areas:
    (1) A minimal set of functional requirements of a technically 
acceptable PRA.
    (2) The NRC's position on PRA consensus standards and industry PRA 
program documents.
    (3) Demonstration that the PRA (in total or specific parts) used in 
regulatory applications is of sufficient technical adequacy.
    (4) Documentation to support a regulatory submittal.
    This guidance is intended to be consistent with the NRC's PRA 
Policy Statement, entitled ``Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment 
Methods in Nuclear Activities: Final Policy Statement,'' which the NRC 
published in the Federal Register on August 16, 1995 (60 FR 42622) to 
encourage use of PRA in all regulatory matters. That Policy Statement 
states that `` * * * the use of PRA technology should be increased to 
the extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods and data 
and in a manner that complements the NRC's deterministic approach.'' 
Since that time, many uses have been implemented or undertaken, 
including modification of the NRC's reactor safety inspection program 
and initiation of work to modify reactor safety regulations. 
Consequently, confidence in the information derived from a PRA is an 
important issue, in that the accuracy of the technical content must be 
sufficient to justify the specific results and insights that are used 
to support the decision under consideration.
    Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161 is also intended to be consistent 
with the more detailed, guidance in Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An 
Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed 
Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,'' which the 
NRC issued in November 2002. In addition, Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
1161 is intended to reflect and endorse (with certain objections) the 
following guidance provided by the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers (ASME) and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI):
     ASME RA-S-2002, ``Standard for Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment for Nuclear Power Plant Applications,'' dated April 5, 2002.
     ASME RA-Sa-2003, ``Standard for Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment for Nuclear Power Plant Applications,'' Addendum A to ASME 
RA-S-2002, dated December 5, 2003.
     ASME RA-Sb-2005, ``Standard for Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment for Nuclear Power Plant Applications,'' Addendum B to ASME 
RA-S-2002, dated December 30, 2005.
     NEI-00-02, ``Probabilistic Risk Assessment Peer Review 
Process Guidance,'' Revision A3, dated March 20, 2000, with its 
supplemental guidance on industry self-assessment, dated August 16, 
2002, and Revision 1, dated May 19, 2006.
     NEI-05-04, ``Process for Performing Follow-on PRA Peer 
Reviews Using the ASME PRA Standard,'' dated January 2005.
    When used in support of an application, this regulatory guide will 
obviate the need for an in-depth review of the base PRA by NRC 
reviewers, allowing them to focus their review on key assumptions and 
areas identified by peer reviewers as being of concern and relevant to 
the application. Consequently, this guide will provide for a more 
focused and consistent review process. In this regulatory guide, as in 
RG 1.174, the quality of a PRA analysis used to support an application 
is measured in terms of its appropriateness with respect to scope, 
level of detail, and technical acceptability.
    This regulatory guide was issued for trial use in February of 2004, 
and five trial applications were conducted. This revision incorporates 
lessons learned from those pilot applications. In addition, the 
appendices to this regulatory guide have been revised to address the 
changes made in the professional society PRA standards and industry PRA 
guidance documents.
    To accompany Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161, the NRC is issuing 
proposed Revision 2 of Section 19.1, ``Determining the Technical 
Adequacy of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Results for Risk-Informed 
Activities,'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of 
Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP). This SRP 
complements Draft

[[Page 54531]]

Regulatory Guide DG-1161, in that the NRC staff will use its guidance 
to ensure more focused and consistent review of PRAs as a basis for 
regulatory decision-making for light-water reactors.
    The NRC intends to update Regulatory Guide 1.200 and its associated 
SRP Section 19.1, and to develop an additional appendix or revise an 
existing appendix (as required), to set forth the staff's position when 
a new or revised PRA standard or industry program is published.
    The NRC staff is soliciting comments on Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
1161, as well as draft Revision 2 of SRP Section 19.1. Please mention 
the relevant document identifiers (DG-1161 and/or SRP 19.1) in the 
subject line of your comments; comments may be accompanied by relevant 
information or supporting data. Comments 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-
1161 and/or draft Revision 2 of SRP Section 19.1 may be directed to Ms. 
Mary T. Drouin, at (301) 415-6675 or [email protected].
    Comments would be most helpful if received by October 14, 2006. 
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 Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161 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/. Similarly, 
electronic copies of draft Revision 2 of SRP Section 19.1 are available 
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/docs4comment.html. Electronic copies of the two documents are also 
available in ADAMS at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under 
Accession ML062480134 and ML062510220, respectively.
    In addition, Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161, draft Revision 2 of 
SRP Section 19.1, and other related publicly available documents, 
including public comments received, can be viewed electronically on 
computers in the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR reproduction 
contractor will make copies of documents for a fee. 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].
    Please note that the NRC does not intend to distribute printed 
copies of either Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1161 or draft Revision 2 of 
SRP Section 19.1, unless specifically requested on an individual basis 
with adequate justification. Such 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 8th day of September 2006.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Farouk Eltawila,
Director, Division of Risk Assessment and Special Projects, Office of 
Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E6-15311 Filed 9-14-06; 8:45 am]
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