[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18262-18263]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-9099]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0176]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Issuance and Availability of Draft Regulatory Guide, 
DG-1214.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan Frumkin, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-2280, e-mail 
[email protected], or, R. A. Jervey, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 251-7407, e-
mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

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

[[Page 18263]]

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), titled, ``Fire Protection for 
Nuclear Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, 
DG-1214, which should be mentioned in all related correspondence. DG-
1214 is proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.189.
    The primary objectives of fire protection programs (FPPs) at U.S. 
nuclear plants are to minimize both the probability of occurrence and 
the consequences of fire. To meet these objectives, the FPPs for 
operating nuclear power plants are designed to provide reasonable 
assurance, through defense in depth, that a fire will not prevent the 
necessary safe-shutdown functions from being performed and that 
radioactive releases to the environment in the event of a fire will be 
minimized.
    The regulatory framework that the NRC has established for nuclear 
plant FPPs consists of a number of regulations and supporting 
guidelines, including, but not limited to, Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations, Part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' (10 CFR Part 50), Appendix A, ``General 
Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,'' General Design Criterion 
(GDC) 3, ``Fire Protection;'' 10 CFR 50.48, ``Fire Protection;'' 
Appendix R, ``Fire Protection Program for Nuclear Power Facilities 
Operating Prior to January 1, 1979,'' to 10 CFR Part 50; regulatory 
guides; generic communications (e.g., generic letters [GLs], regulatory 
issue summaries [RISs], bulletins, and information notices [INs]); 
NUREG-series reports, including NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan 
[SRP] for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power 
Plants;'' and industry standards. Since not all of the fire protection 
regulations promulgated by the NRC apply to all plants, this guide does 
not categorize them as regulations. Licensees should refer to their 
plant-specific licensing bases to determine the applicability of a 
specific regulation to a specific plant.
    The NRC staff developed this guide to provide a comprehensive fire 
protection guidance document and to identify the scope and depth of 
fire protection that the staff would consider acceptable for nuclear 
power plants. The original issue of this guide addressed only plants 
operating as of January 1, 2001. Revision 1 of the document added 
guidance for new reactor designs and incorporated the guidance 
previously included in Branch Technical Position (BTP) SPLB 9.5-1, 
``Guidelines for Fire Protection for Nuclear Power Plants (formerly BTP 
CMEB 9.5-1).'' DG-1214 incorporates guidance related to analysis of 
safe-shutdown capabilities as found in regulatory position 5.3.

II. Further Information

    The NRC staff is soliciting comments on DG-1214. Comments may be 
accompanied by relevant information or supporting data and should 
mention DG-1214 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].
    Requests for technical information about DG-1214 may be directed to 
the NRC contact, Dan Frumkin at (301) 415-2280 or e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Comments would be most helpful if received by May 29, 2009. 
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-1214 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. 
ML090070453.
    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 7th 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. E9-9099 Filed 4-20-09; 8:45 am]
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