[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 22, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42627-42628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16729]


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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)-1149.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Satish Aggarwal, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-
6005 or to e-mail [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 was 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 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, entitled, ``Qualification of Safety-
Related Motor

[[Page 42628]]

Centers for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its 
task number, DG-1149, which should be mentioned in all related 
correspondence.
    This regulatory guide describes a method that the staff of the NRC 
deems acceptable for complying with the Commission's regulations for 
the qualification of safety-related motor control centers for nuclear 
power plants.
    IEEE Std. 649-2006, ``IEEE Standard for Qualifying Class 1E Motor 
Control Centers for Nuclear Power Generating Stations,'' published on 
December 29, 2006, was developed by the Working Group on Motor Control 
Centers (SC 2.14) of the Nuclear Power Engineering Committee of the 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was 
approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board on September 15, 2006. The 
standard provides basic principles, requirements, and methods for 
qualifying safety-related motor control centers for both harsh and mild 
environment applications in nuclear power plants. The demonstration 
that an installed motor control center will meet its design 
specification requires many steps: A program of quality assurance, 
design, qualification, production quality control, installation, 
maintenance, periodic testing, and surveillance. However, the scope of 
IEEE Std. 649-2006 is limited to qualification.
    The purpose of qualification is to provide assurance that the motor 
control center is capable of performing its required safety functions 
with no failure mechanisms that could lead to common mode failures 
under the postulated conditions specified in the equipment 
specification.
    Clause 9.5 of IEEE Std 649-2006 references IEEE Std 344-2004, 
``Recommended Practice for Seismic Qualification of Class 1E Equipment 
for Nuclear Power Generating Stations,'' and provides additional 
guidance for seismic qualification of motor control centers. The vast 
majority of seismic qualification tests on motor control centers were 
performed with input frequencies up to only 33 Hz. Attempts to utilize 
such past test experience data for seismic qualification of motor 
control centers is not considered appropriate. Recent studies related 
to the early site permit applications at certain east coast hard rock-
based plants indicated that the site-specific spectra may exceed the 
certified design spectra of new proposed plants in the very high 
frequency range (from 20 Hz up to 100 Hz). Plants located in the 
Central and Eastern United States on hard-rock should evaluate whether 
motor control center's components (such as digital components) could be 
affected by the high frequency earthquake ground motion.
    These objectives should be accomplished using qualification methods 
(type testing, operating experience, analysis as a supplement to type 
testing and operating experience, ongoing qualification, or any 
combination thereof). However, the preferred method of qualification is 
type testing.

II. Further Information

    The NRC staff is soliciting comments on DG-1149. Comments may be 
accompanied by relevant information or supporting data, and should 
mention DG-1149 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-1149 may be directed to 
the NRC Senior Program Manager, Satish Aggarwal at (301) 415-6005 or e-
mail to [email protected].
    Comments would be most helpful if received by September 19, 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-1149 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. 
ML072760149.
    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) 397-4209, 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 July, 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E8-16729 Filed 7-21-08; 8:45 am]
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