[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11381-11382]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5698]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0117]


Notice of Issuance of Regulatory Guide

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Issuance and Availability of Regulatory Guide 1.200, 
Revision 2.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Drouin, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone (301) 251-7574 or e-mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a revision

[[Page 11382]]

to an existing guide in the agency's ``Regulatory Guide'' series. This 
series was developed to describe and make available to the public 
information such as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for 
implementing specific parts of the agency'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.
    Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.200, ``An Approach for Determining 
the Technical Adequacy of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Results for 
Risk-Informed Activities,'' was issued with a temporary identification 
as Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1200. 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 regulatory guide describes one acceptable approach for 
determining whether the technical adequacy 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.

II. Further Information

    In June 2008, DG-1200 was published for public comment. The public 
comment period closed on December 31, 2008. The staff's responses to 
the public comments that were received are located in the NRC's 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under 
Accession Number ML090410020. Electronic copies of Regulatory Guide 
1.200, Revision 2 are available through the NRC's public Web site under 
``Regulatory Guides'' at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/.
    In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the 
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at Room O-1F21, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-
2738. 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 NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of March 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrea D. Valentin,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E9-5698 Filed 3-16-09; 8:45 am]
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