[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 74 (Monday, April 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 18000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-9034]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0171]


Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Issuance and Availability of Regulatory Guide 1.211 
and Withdrawal of Regulatory Guide 1.131.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Orr, Regulatory Guide Development 
Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
telephone (301) 251-7495 or e-mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a new 
regulatory guide and withdrawing an outdated regulatory guide in the 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.
    Regulatory Guide 1.131, ``Qualification Tests of Electric Cables, 
Field Splices, and Connections for Light-Water-Cooled Nuclear Power 
Plants,'' was issued for comment in August 1977 and never finalized. 
Regulatory Guide 1.131 is being withdrawn because its guidance has been 
replaced by the guidance in Regulatory Guide 1.211.
    Regulatory Guide 1.211, ``Qualification of Safety-Related Cables 
and Field Splices for Nuclear Power Plants,'' was issued with a 
temporary identification as Draft Regulatory Guide 1132. This guide 
describes a method that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for 
use in complying with the Commission's regulations for the 
qualification of safety-related cables and field splices for nuclear 
power plants.
    The regulations established by the NRC in Title 10, Part 50, 
``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,'' of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 50) require that structures, 
systems, and components that are important to safety in a nuclear power 
plant must be designed to accommodate the effects of environmental 
conditions (i.e., remain functional under postulated design-basis 
events (DBEs)). Toward that end, General Design Criterion (GDC) 1, 
``Quality Standards and Records,'' GDC 2, ``Design Bases for Protection 
Against Natural Phenomena,'' GDC 4, ``Environmental and Dynamic Effects 
Design Bases,'' and GDC 23, ``Protection System Failure Modes,'' of 
Appendix A, ``General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to 10 
CFR Part 50 contain the general requirements. Augmenting those general 
requirements, the specific requirements pertaining to the qualification 
of certain electrical equipment important to safety appear in 10 CFR 
50.49, ``Environmental Qualification of Electric Equipment Important to 
Safety for Nuclear Power Plants.'' In addition, Criterion III, ``Design 
Control,'' of Appendix B, ``Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' to 10 CFR Part 50 requires that, where a test program 
is used to verify the adequacy of a specific design feature, the test 
program must include suitable qualification testing of a prototype unit 
under the most severe DBE.

II. Further Information

    In June 2007, DG-1132 was published with a public comment period of 
60 days from the issuance of the guide. The public comment period 
closed on September 14, 2007. The staff's responses to the public 
comments are located in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS), Accession Number ML081690227. Electronic 
copies of Regulatory Guide 1.211 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 13th day of April 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrea D. Valentin,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E9-9034 Filed 4-17-09; 8:45 am]
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