[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51621-51622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24211]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0442]


NUREG-1924, ``Electric Raceway Fire Barrier Systems (ERFBS) in 
Nuclear Power Plants, Draft Report for Comment''

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION: Notice of availability of NUREG-1924, ``Electric Raceway Fire 
Barrier Systems (ERFBS) in Nuclear Power Plants, Draft Report for 
Comment'' and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The NRC is making the proposed draft, ``NUREG-1924, ``Electric 
Raceway Fire Barrier Systems (ERFBS) in Nuclear Power Plants, Draft 
Report for Comment,'' available for public comment.

DATES: Comments on this document should be submitted by Friday, 
December 4, 2009. Comments received after that date will be considered 
to the extent practicable. To ensure efficient and complete comment 
resolution, comments should include section, page, and line numbers of 
the document to which the comment applies, if possible.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods. 
Please include Docket ID NRC-2009-0442 in the subject line of your 
comments. 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 Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2009-0442. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 301-492-3668; e-mail 
[email protected].
    Mail comments to: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking and 
Directives Branch (RDB), Division of Administrative Services, Office of 
Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by fax to RDB at (301) 492-
3446.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this notice 
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 O1 F21, 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

[[Page 51622]]

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, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected]. The 
proposed draft NUREG-1924, ``Electric Raceway Fire Barrier Systems 
(ERFBS) in Nuclear Power Plants,'' is available electronically under 
ADAMS Accession Number ML092650002.
    Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting 
materials related to this notice can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2009-0442.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gabriel Taylor, Fire Research Branch, 
Division of Risk Analysis, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 
telephone (301) 251-7576, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to the 1975 Browns Ferry fire, 
the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued Appendix R 
to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 50 (10 CFR part 
50). To support fire protection defense-in-depth one- or three-hour 
Electric Raceway Fire Barrier Systems (ERFBS) were permitted for use as 
an acceptable method to protect electrical cables essential to fire 
protection safe shutdown capability. However, ERFBS were a new approach 
to fire barrier applications and as the initial installation of the 
ERFBS began, there was uncertainty regarding the ERFBS performance and 
definitive test standards for ERFBS qualification. Following review and 
research efforts, the NRC resolved many concerns with ERFBS, including 
the fire resistance, ampacity derating, and seismic position retention. 
This report documents the history of these barriers and how US NPPs use 
ERFBS for compliance. This report also documents the current state of 
the use of these barriers and evaluates the effectiveness of these 
barriers in achieving adequate protection for nuclear power plants.
    The NRC is seeking public comment in order to receive feedback from 
the widest range of interested parties and to ensure that all 
information relevant to the information contained within this document 
is correct and accurate. This document is issued for comment only and 
is not intended for interim use. The NRC will review public comments 
received on the documents, incorporate suggested changes as necessary, 
and make the final NUREG-report available to the public.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of October 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark H. Salley,
Chief, Fire Research Branch, Division of Risk Analysis, Office of 
Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E9-24211 Filed 10-6-09; 8:45 am]
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