[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 120 (Friday, June 20, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35170-35171]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13966]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Draft Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Issuance and Availability of Draft Regulatory Guide 
(DG)-1200.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Drouin, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 415-6675 or e-
mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public 
comment a draft guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This 
series has been developed to describe and make available to the public 
such information

[[Page 35171]]

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.
    The draft regulatory guide (DG), entitled, ``An Approach for 
Determining the Technical Adequacy of Probabilistic Risk Assessment 
Results for Risk-Informed Activities,'' is temporarily identified by 
its task number, DG-1200, which should be mentioned in all related 
correspondence. DG-1200 is proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 
1.200.
    In 1995, the NRC issued a Policy Statement on the use of 
probabilistic risk analysis (PRA), encouraging its use 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.
    This guide describes one acceptable approach for determining 
whether the quality of the 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. This guidance is intended to be consistent 
with the NRC's PRA Policy Statement. It is also intended to reflect and 
endorse guidance provided by standards-setting and nuclear industry 
organizations.
    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, 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.
    The NRC staff has scheduled a public meeting on July 11, 2008, (9 
a.m. to 12 p.m.), at NRC headquarters (11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, conference room T-10A1) to discuss DG-1200. The meeting 
will focus on the changes in DG-1200 from the previous revision of this 
guide (i.e., Regulatory Guide 1.200, Revision 1). Call-in capability 
will be made available for those individuals who can not travel to NRC 
headquarters; however, only a limited number of call-in lines can be 
made available. Please contact Mary Drouin (e-mail [email protected] 
or 307-415-6675), if you plan to call in. The meeting will also be 
noticed at least 10 days prior to the meeting, which will include an 
agenda and the call-in number.

II. Further Information

    The NRC staff is soliciting comments on DG-1200 (including any 
implementation schedule) and its associated regulatory analysis or 
value/impact statement. Comments may be accompanied by relevant 
information or supporting data and should mention DG-1200 in the 
subject line. 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:
    1. Mail comments to: Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    2. E-mail comments to: [email protected].
    3. 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.
    4. Fax comments to: Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 
415-5144.
    Requests for technical information about DG-1200 may be directed to 
the NRC contact, Mary Drouin at (301) 415-6675 or e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Comments would be most helpful if received by August 25, 2008. 
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 DG-1200 are available through the NRC's public 
Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides in the ``Regulatory Guides'' 
collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic copies are also available in 
ADAMS (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html), under Accession No. 
ML081200566.
    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 e-
mail to [email protected].
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is 
not required to reproduce them.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of June, 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen C. O'Connor,
Acting Branch Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E8-13966 Filed 6-19-08; 8:45 am]
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