[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 184 (Thursday, September 24, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 48667-48668]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23043]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 48667]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

RIN 3150-AH29
[NRC-2004-0006]


Risk-Informed Changes to Loss-of-Coolant Accident Technical 
Requirements

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Supplemental proposed rule: Extension of comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On August 10, 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
published for public comment a supplemental proposed rule that would 
amend the requirements that govern domestic licensing of production and 
utilization facilities and licenses, certifications, and approvals for 
nuclear power plants to allow current and certain future power reactor 
licensees and applicants to choose to implement a risk-informed 
alternative to the current requirements for analyzing the performance 
of emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) during loss-of-coolant 
accidents (LOCA). The proposed amendments would also establish 
procedures and acceptance criteria for evaluating certain changes in 
plant design and operation based upon the results of the new analyses 
of ECCS performance.
    The public comment period for this supplemental proposed rule is 
scheduled to close on September 24, 2009. The NRC has received a 
request to extend the comment period by 120 days. The NRC is granting 
this request and is also extending the comment period for the 
information collection aspects of this supplemental proposed rule by 60 
days.

DATES: The comment period for the supplemental proposed rule, published 
August 10, 2009, (74 FR 40006), is extended by 120 days and now expires 
on January 22, 2010. The comment period for the information collection 
aspects of this proposed rulemaking is extended by 60 days and now 
expires on November 9, 2009. Comments received after these dates will 
be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able 
to ensure consideration only for comments received before these dates.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods. 
Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted on 
the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site 
Regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any 
identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against 
including any information in your submission that you do not want to be 
publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that any party soliciting or 
aggregating comments received from other persons for submission to the 
NRC inform those persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to 
remove any identifying or contact information, and therefore, they 
should not include any information in their comments that they do not 
want publicly disclosed.
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID [NRC-2004-0006]. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone (301) 492-
3668; e-mail [email protected].
    Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
    E-mail comments to: [email protected]. If you do not 
receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your comments, 
contact us directly at (301) 415-1677.
    Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 
(301) 492-3446.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this 
document using the following methods:
    NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have 
copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public 
File Area O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
    NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): 
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are 
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain 
entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public 
documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR 
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting 
materials related to this proposed rule can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2004-0006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Dudley, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-1116, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a letter dated August 18, 2009 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML092320126), the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 
requested that the NRC extend the public comment period for the risk-
informed ECCS rule by an additional 120 days. In its letter, NEI 
stated:
    [I]mplementation of the rule as currently drafted would require 
technical analyses in a wide variety of areas. It is therefore 
necessary to solicit input from numerous sources in developing comments 
on the draft supplemental proposed rule, and NEI is coordinating 
industry comments with the NSSS owners groups, vendors, and licensees 
to ensure that the comments submitted by industry are of high quality 
and that they reflect a consensus industry perspective. However, the 
comment period provided in the August 10th Federal Register Notice is 
insufficient given the volume and breadth of material that requires a 
thorough technical review. Extending the comment period would provide 
the time necessary to fully assess the impact of the draft supplemental 
proposed rule and arrive at a set of comments that are of highest value 
to the NRC staff in considering this important rulemaking.
    In view of the NRC's desire to receive high quality comments from 
external stakeholders who would be directly affected by the 
supplemental proposed rule and recognizing the quantity of information 
to be analyzed and the

[[Page 48668]]

coordination efforts needed by and among those stakeholders, the 
comment period for the proposed rulemaking will be extended for all 
stakeholders for an additional 120 days. The comment period for the 
information collection aspects of this proposed rulemaking will be 
extended by 60 days. The NRC believes that these extensions will allow 
sufficient time for all stakeholders to develop and provide meaningful 
comments on the proposed rule.
    The comment submittal deadline for the proposed rule is extended 
from the original September 24, 2009, deadline to January 22, 2010, and 
the information collection analysis comment deadline is extended from 
the original September 9, 2009, deadline to November 9, 2009.


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of September 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bruce S. Mallett,
Acting Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. E9-23043 Filed 9-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P