[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 189 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57578-57579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-16013]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Draft Report for Comment: Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Standard Review Plan, Section 13.3, ``Emergency Planning''
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and Office of Nuclear Security and
Incident Response (NSIR) has issued Section 13.3, Second Draft Revision
3, ``Emergency Planning,'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for
the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants, LWR
Edition,'' for public comment.
DATES: Comments on this document should be submitted by November 13,
2006. To ensure efficient and complete comment resolution, comments
should include references to the section, page, and line numbers of the
document to which the comment applies.
ADDRESSES: NUREG-0800, including Section 13.3, Second Draft Revision 3,
is available for inspection and copying for a fee at the Commission's
Public Document Room, NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike
(First Floor), Rockville, Maryland. The Public Document Room is open
from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal
holidays. NUREG-0800, including Section 13.3, Second Draft Revision 3,
is also available electronically on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800/, and from
the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (ADAMS Accession No. ML062550293).
Members of the public are invited and encouraged to submit written
comments. Comments may be accompanied by additional relevant
information or supporting data. A number of methods may be used to
submit comments. Written comments should be mailed to Chief,
Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop T6-D59, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand-deliver
comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m., Federal workdays. Comments may be submitted electronically
to: [email protected]. Comments also may be submitted electronically
through the comment form available on the NRC Web site at:
[[Page 57579]]
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800/.
Please specify the report number NUREG-0800, Section 13.3, Second
Draft Revision 3, in your comments, and send your comments by November
13, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Bruce Musico, Mail Stop O-6H2, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone:
(301) 415-2310; internet: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Standard Review Plan, NUREG-0800, has
been prepared to establish criteria that the NRR and NSIR staff
responsible for the review of applications to construct and operate
nuclear power plants intends to use in evaluating whether an applicant/
licensee meets the NRC's regulations. The Standard Review Plan is not a
substitute for the NRC's regulations, and compliance with it is not
required. However, applicants are required to identify differences in
design features, analytical techniques, and procedural measures
proposed for a facility and corresponding SRP acceptance criteria, and
evaluate how the proposed alternatives to the SRP acceptance criteria
provide an acceptable method of complying with the NRC's regulations.
The standard review plan sections are keyed to Regulatory Guide
1.70, ``Standard Format and Content of Safety Analysis Reports for
Nuclear Power Plants (LWR Edition).'' Not all sections of the standard
format have a corresponding review plan section. For combined license
applications submitted under 10 CFR part 52, the applicability of
standard review plan sections will be based on the Regulatory Guide DG-
1145, ``Combined License Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (LWR
Edition),'' as superceded by the final guide.
The proposed revision is a rewrite of the July 1981 SRP Section
13.3, Revision 2, and provides staff guidance for the review of
emergency planning information submitted in license applications under
10 CFR parts 50 and 52. In addition to updating the July 1981 SRP
section, the proposed revision includes some of the proposed changes in
the April 1996 draft Revision 3 to SRP section 13.3. The proposed
revision consists mostly of changes that identify specific regulations
and guidance, and provides SRP acceptance criteria for the various
applications submitted under both 10 CFR parts 50 and 52. The most
significant changes reflect the new application processes allowed by 10
CFR part 52. This also includes the incorporation of Commission policy
on the use of emergency planning inspections, tests, analyses, and
acceptance criteria (EP-ITAAC), which is addressed in the February 22,
2006, SRM SECY-05-0197, ``Review of Operational Programs in a Combined
License Application and Generic Emergency Planning Inspections, Tests,
Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria'' (ML052770225). In addition, the
proposed revision incorporates experience gained from the first three
early site permit (ESP) application reviews, and the standard design
certification applications. The license application review processes in
both 10 CFR part 50 and part 52 utilize the same existing emergency
planning requirements contained primarily in 10 CFR 50.47 and Appendix
E to part 50.
While the proposed SRP Section 13.3 revision is a complete rewrite
of Section 13.3, it does not contain new or unreviewed staff positions.
It does, however, identify a new NUREG/CR report on evacuation time
estimates (ETEs). Guidance on the development of ETEs was provided in
November 1980 in NUREG-0654/FEMA-REP-1, Revision 1, ``Criteria for
Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and
Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants,'' and that guidance is
still used today. The staff will continue to use the established
guidance and criteria in Appendix 4, ``Evacuation Time Estimates Within
the Plume Exposure Pathway Emergency Planning Zone,'' of NUREG-0654/
FEMA-REP-1, as the basis for compliance with applicable regulations.
The new (January 2005) ETE report, NUREG/CR-6863, ``Development of
Evacuation Time Estimate Studies for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is
identified in the proposed SRP Section 13.3 revision as providing
information relating to performing an ETE analysis. In March 1992,
NUREG/CR-4831, ``State of the Art in Evacuation Time Estimate Studies
for Nuclear Power Plants,'' was written to provide updated information,
assumptions, and methods to be used in performing ETE studies. NUREG/
CR-6863 updates NUREG/CR-4831 and integrates new technologies in
traffic management, computer modeling, and communication systems to
identify additional tools useful in the development of new, or updates
to existing, ETEs.
Of note, the proposed revision does introduce the option to use EP-
ITAAC in an ESP application, which is consistent with the ongoing 10
CFR part 52 rulemaking (see proposed 10 CFR 52.17(b)(3)). Prior to the
current 10 CFR part 52 rulemaking, the rules only addressed the use of
EP-ITAAC with a combined license (COL) application but not at the ESP
stage. The staff's position, which is supported by public comments, is
that the extension of EP-ITAAC to ESP applications is not precluded in
the existing rules, and is necessary in order to accommodate an
applicant's submission of a ``complete and integrated emergency plan''
at the ESP stage, as well as provide an additional level of flexibility
for an ESP applicant. Without allowing the use of EP-ITAAC (or other
such placeholders) at the ESP stage, the staff would be unable to reach
a reasonable assurance finding at the time of application. The use of
EP-ITAAC would allow the staff to make its findings based on proposed,
and not yet implemented, emergency plans. Table 13.3-1 provides a
proposed set of allowable EP-ITAAC (for use at either the ESP or COL
application stage). The asterisked/bolded text in the table represents
the earlier set of COL EP-ITAAC that was approved by the Commission in
SRM SECY-05-0197. Table 13.3-1 reflects a process of review allowed by
10 CFR part 52, and does not contain new or unreviewed staff positions
relating to emergency planning requirements.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of September, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Tregoning,
Branch Chief, New Reactor Infrastructure Guidance, Development Branch,
Division of New Reactor Licensing.
[FR Doc. E6-16013 Filed 9-28-06; 8:45 am]
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