[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 23 (Thursday, February 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6181-6182]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2456]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0043]


Proposed Standard Review Plan Section 9.5.1.2 on Risk-Informed, 
Performance-Based Fire Protection Program

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION: Solicitation of public comment.

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SUMMARY: The NRC is requesting public comment on NUREG-0800, ``Standard 
Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power 
Plants,'' Section 9.5.1.2 on staff guidance on Risk-Informed (RI), 
Performance-Based (PB) Fire Protection Program (FPP) for Operating 
Nuclear Power Plants (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) Accession No. ML090050052). This guidance is being issued as an 
alternate to the existing guidance currently provided under Standard 
Review Plan (SRP) section 9.5.1. This is stand alone guidance and is 
provided for the benefit of licensees of existing plants who choose to 
adopt RI/PB FPP that meets the requirements of National Fire Protection 
Association (NFPA) Standard 805.
    The NRC staff issues notices to facilitate timely implementation of 
the current staff guidance and to facilitate activities associated with 
the review of amendment applications for transitioning to RI/PB FPPs. 
The NRC staff will also incorporate the approved SRP section 9.5.1.2 
into the next revisions of RG 1.205 and any related guidance documents. 
This proposed guidance is applicable only to currently operating 
nuclear reactor licensees. Because of the introduction of the now 
proposed SRP section 9.5.1.2, the current SRP section 9.5.1 will be 
renumbered to read 9.5.1.1. This SRP is not endorsing NFPA 805, since 
that standard is already a part of the 10 CFR 50.48(c) rule. In 
addition, this SRP does not directly endorse the guidance document 
issued by the industry (NEI 04-02, ``Guidance for Implementing a Risk-
Informed, Performance-Based Fire Protection Program under 10 CFR 
50.48(c),'' Rev. 2) for plants transitioning to an NFPA 805 FPP. RG 
1.205 provides the staff's positions with respect to NEI 04-02.

DATES: Comments must be filed no later than 60 days from the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Comments received 
after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but 
the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments 
received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted to: Chief, Rulemaking, Directives, 
and Editing Branch, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, Office of Administration, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    The NRC maintains ADAMS, which provides text and image files of 
NRC's public documents. These documents may be accessed through the 
NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to 
ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in 
ADAMS should contact the NRC Public Document Room reference staff at 1-
800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at [email protected].

[[Page 6182]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Alex R. Klein, Chief, Fire 
Protection Branch, Division of Risk Assessment, Office of the Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone 301-415-2822 or e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This SRP, NUREG-0800, has been prepared to 
establish criteria that the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation staff 
use to evaluate license amendment requests if the application meets the 
NRC's regulations. The SRP 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 acceptance criteria provide an acceptable 
method of complying with the NRC's regulations.
    Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 50.48, ``Fire 
protection'' (10 CFR 50.48) provides the NRC requirements for fire 
protection for nuclear power plants (NPPs). Under 10 CFR 50.48(c), a 
licensee of an existing plant may choose to adopt a RI/PB FPP that 
meets the requirements of NFPA 805, ``Performance-Based Standard for 
Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants,'' 
2001 edition, as incorporated therein, as an alternative to meeting the 
requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(b) for plants licensed to operate before 
January 1, 1979, or the approved FPP for existing plants licensed to 
operate after January 1, 1979. The agency posts its issued staff 
guidance in the agency external Web page (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800/ch9/ sr0800/ch9/).
    The NRC staff is issuing this notice to solicit public comments on 
the proposed SRP Section 9.5.1.2 and is being issued for the first 
time. After the NRC staff considers any public comments, it will make a 
determination regarding the proposed SRP Section 9.5.1.2.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of January 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William D. Reckley,
Chief, Rulemaking and Guidance Development Branch, Division of New 
Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. E9-2456 Filed 2-4-09; 8:45 am]
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