[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 15 (Monday, January 25, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3876-3877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1317]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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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.
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 15 / Monday, January 25, 2010 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 3876]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[Docket No. PRM-50-93; NRC-2009-0554]
Mark Edward Leyse; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of receipt.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for
public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated
November 17, 2009, which was filed with the NRC by Mark Edward Leyse.
The petition was docketed by the NRC on November 23, 2009, and has been
assigned Docket No. PRM-50-93. The petitioner requests that the NRC
amend its regulations regarding the domestic licensing of production
and utilization facilities. Specifically, the petitioner requests that
the NRC revise its regulations based on data from multi-rod (assembly)
severe fuel damage experiments. The petitioner also requests that the
NRC promulgate a regulation that will stipulate minimum allowable core
reflood rates in the event of a loss-of-coolant accident.
DATES: Submit comments by April 12, 2010. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Please include Docket ID NRC-2009-0554 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-2009-0554. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 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.
Hand-deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm Federal workdays (telephone (301)
415-1677).
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at
(301) 415-1101.
You can access publicly available documents related to this
petition, including the incoming petition for rulemaking, using the
following methods:
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have
copied for a fee publicly available documents the NRC's PDR, Room 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, including
the incoming petition for rulemaking (ADAMS Accession No. ML093290250)
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, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting
materials related to this petition, including the incoming petition for
rulemaking, can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on
Docket ID NRC-2009-0554.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking
and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, Telephone: 301-492-3663 or Toll Free: 800-368-5642.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Mark Edward Leyse (petitioner) submitted a petition for rulemaking
dated November 17, 2009. The petitioner states that he is aware that
data from multi-rod (assembly) severe fuel damage experiments indicates
that the current regulations at 10 CFR Part 50 are non-conservative in
their peak cladding temperature limit of 2200 [deg]F, and that the
Baker-Just and Cathcart-Pawel equations are also non-conservative for
calculating the metal-water reaction rates that would occur in the
event of a LOCA. As a result, the petitioner requests that the NRC
revise its regulations at 10 CFR 50.46(b)(1) and Appendix K to 10 CFR
Part 50 based on this data. The petitioner also requests that the NRC
promulgate a regulation that will stipulate minimum allowable core
reflood rates in the event of a LOCA. The NRC has determined that the
petition meets the threshold sufficiency requirements for a petition
for rulemaking under 10 CFR 2.802. The petition has been docketed as
PRM-50-93. The NRC is requesting public comment on the petition for
rulemaking.
Discussion of the Petition
The petitioner believes that data from multi-rod (assembly) severe
fuel damage experiments indicates that the current peak cladding
temperature limit contained in 10 CFR 50.46(b)(1) is non-conservative.
The petitioner also believes that data from such experiments as the
LOFT LP-FP-2 experiment also indicates that the Baker-Just and
Cathcart-Pawel equations
[[Page 3877]]
are both non-conservative for calculating the temperature at which an
autocatalytic (runaway) oxidation reaction of Zircaloy would occur in
the event of a LOCA. The petitioner states that these experiments
demonstrate that the autocatalytic oxidation reaction of Zircaloy
cladding occurs at temperatures far below those predicted by the Baker-
Just and Cathcart-Pawel equations. The petitioner concludes that this,
in turn, indicates that the Baker-Just and Cathcart-Pawel equations are
both non-conservative for calculating the metal-water reaction rates
that would occur in the event of a LOCA. The petitioner requests that
the NRC revise its regulations at 10 CFR 50.46(b)(1) to require that
the calculated maximum fuel element cladding temperature not exceed a
limit based on data from multi-rod (assembly) severe fuel damage
experiments.
The petitioner also requests that the NRC revise Appendix K to 10
CFR Part 50 to require that the rates of energy release, hydrogen
generation, and cladding oxidation from the metal-water reaction
considered in emergency core cooling system (ECCS) evaluation
calculations be based on data from multi-rod (assembly) severe fuel
damage experiments. The petitioner believes that these same
requirements also need to apply to any NRC-approved best-estimate ECCS
evaluation models used in lieu of calculations made under Appendix K to
10 CFR Part 50.
Lastly, the petitioner requests that the NRC promulgate a
regulation that will stipulate minimum allowable core reflood rates in
the event of a LOCA. The petitioner believes that it can be
extrapolated from experimental data that in the event of a LOCA, a
constant core reflood rate of approximately one inch per second or
lower would not, with high probability, prevent Zircaloy fuel cladding
from exceeding the peak cladding temperature limit of 2200 [deg]F if,
at the onset of reflood, the cladding temperature was 1200 [deg]F or
higher.
The petitioner believes that, if implemented, the amendments
proposed in the petition would improve public and plant-worker safety.
Therefore, the petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations
regarding the domestic licensing of production and utilization
facilities.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of January 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-1317 Filed 1-22-10; 8:45 am]
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