[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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