[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 96 (Friday, May 18, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28084-28085]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9658]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Regulatory Guide Update Prioritization
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Regulatory guide update prioritization.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is currently
reviewing and updating numerous guides in the agency's Regulatory Guide
(RG) Series. This series has been developed to describe and make
available to the public 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 license amendments, permits, and licenses. The purpose of the
ongoing review and update of the NRC's RGs is to ensure that the RGs
contain complete, accurate, and current guidance for use by licensees
and prospective applicants. The established regulatory guidance (as set
forth in establishing new and revised RGs) provides a consistent
approach for the staff to ensure that the regulatory requirements are
met and thereby continue to protect the health and safety of the public
and the environment.
The NRC reviewed all of the approximately 480 RGs and draft RGs
(DGs) to determine those that needed to be revised or developed. This
resulted in categorizing the RGs and DGs into
[[Page 28085]]
five groups. The first group contains approximately 30 RGs that needed
to be revised or developed by March 2007 to support anticipated new
reactor licensing activities later this year. The second group includes
RGs that are planned to be revised or developed, and published by
December 2008. The third group contains RGs that are planned to be
revised or developed, and published by December 2009. The fourth group
includes RGs that will be considered for withdrawal. The fifth group
contains all remaining RGs that are not planned to be updated by
December 2009.
The lists of RGs for each of these five groups, including
publication schedules and public comment periods, can be found at the
NRC's Electronic Reading Room on the agency's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/ and in the
Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) at
ML071230154. The RG status information on the NRC's Web site will be
updated periodically.
Discussion: Through the years, the NRC has established 10 broad
divisions of RGs. RGs in all 10 divisions were considered for updating
under this program. The RG divisions can be found at the NRC's
Electronic Reading Room on the agency's public Web site at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/ and are as follows:
Division 1, Power Reactors
Division 2, Research and Test Reactors
Division 3, Fuels and Materials Facilities
Division 4, Environmental and Siting
Division 5, Materials and Plant Protection
Division 6, Products
Division 7, Transportation
Division 8, Occupational Health
Division 9, Antitrust and Financial Review
Division 10, General
Solicitation of Comments and Dates: The NRC is soliciting comments
on the NRC's proposed prioritization of the groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 RGs.
Specifically, comments are solicited for the following questions. Each
comment should include supporting basis or rationale to enable the
staff to fully understand the point of view being provided.
1. Which, if any, RGs identified as group 3 need to be developed or
revised sooner, and thus, should be in group 2?
2. Which, if any, RGs identified as group 2 should not be developed
or revised until after some other action is taken, and thus, should be
in group 3?
3. Which, if any, RGs identified as groups 2, 3 and 5 are no longer
useful or the guidelines are adequately addressed elsewhere and should
be withdrawn (added to group 4)? (If the guidelines are addressed
elsewhere, please state specifically where they are located.)
4. Which, if any, RGs that are not identified as group 2 or 3 need
to be developed or revised by December 2009? (Please include specific
reasons.)
5. Which, if any, RGs identified in group 4 should not be
considered for withdrawal? (Please provide specific examples which
demonstrate the need to maintain the RG.)
Comments are requested within 30 days from the date of this Federal
Register notice. The list of the RGs in each group and by division can
be found at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room on the agency's public
Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/.
The RG status information on the NRC's Web site will be updated
periodically.
Comment Procedures: Comments should be accompanied by relevant
information or supporting data. Please mention RG Prioritization in the
subject line of your comments. Comments submitted in writing or in
electronic form will be made available to the public in their entirety
through the NRC's ADAMS. Personal information will not be removed from
your comments. You may submit comments by any one of the following
methods:
Mail comments to Rulemaking, Directives and Editing
Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001 (MS T-6 D59).
Hand-deliver comments to Rulemaking, Directives and
Editing 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 Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch,
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at (301)
415-5144.
E-mail comments to [email protected].
Submit comments via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov.
Contact Information: Comments and questions about our rulemaking
website should be addressed to Carol A. Gallagher at (301) 415-5905 or
by e-mail to [email protected]. Contact information for use in submitting
comments is provided in the section on Comment Procedures. Comments or
questions about the NRC's revision of regulatory guides should be
addressed to Jimi T. Yerokun at (301) 415-0585 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of May, 2007.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Farouk Eltawila,
Director, Division of Risk Assessment and Special Projects, Office of
Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E7-9658 Filed 5-17-07; 8:45 am]
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