[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 147 (Monday, August 2, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 45172]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18890]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2010-0266]


Withdrawal of Regulatory Guides 3.44 and 3.49

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Withdrawal of Regulatory Guide 3.44, ``Standard Format and 
Content for the Safety Analysis Report for an Independent Spent Fuel 
Storage Installation (Water-Basin Type)'' and Regulatory Guide 3.49, 
``Design of an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (Water-Basin 
Type).''

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark P. 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 [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing 
Regulatory Guide (RG) 3.44, ``Standard Format and Content for the 
Safety Analysis Report for an Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installation (Water-Basin Type),'' dated January 1989 and RG 3.49, 
``Design of an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (Water-Basin 
Type),'' dated December 1981.
    Regulatory Guide 3.44 provides guidance to applicants on the format 
and content of the safety analysis report that is required as part of 
an application to construct or operate a water-basin type in an 
independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). Regulatory Guide 
3.49 endorses portions of the American National Standards Institute 
(ANSI), American Nuclear Society (ANS) standard ANSI/ANS 57.7-1981, 
``Design Criteria for an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation 
(Water-Pool Type),'' with exceptions and supplements, as an acceptable 
method of complying with the requirements of Subpart F, ``General 
Design Criteria'' of Title 10, of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 
72, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of Spent 
Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater 
Than Class C Waste'' (10 CFR Part 72) for the design of a water-basin 
type ISFSI.
    These guides do not support any active license or application; they 
were developed to provide guidance on the facility design and 
application to construct and operate a water-basin type ISFSI. The NRC 
has no record of either of these regulatory guides ever being used in 
the 20 years since they were published and no indication that any 
applicant or licensee is planning to submit an application for the 
construction and/or operation of a water-basin type ISFSI.
    These guides for wet basin storage are no longer necessary because 
the use of dry cask storage for ISFSIs has proven to be superior to wet 
basin storage and, in the event that there is an industry initiative to 
reprocess spent fuel, any wet basin storage operation associated with 
the reprocessing will likely be licensed as an integral part of the 
reprocessing facility, rather than as an ISFSI.

II. Further Information

    The withdrawal of RG 3.44 and RG 3.49 does not alter any prior or 
existing licensing commitments based on their use. The guidance 
provided in these regulatory guides is no longer necessary. Regulatory 
guides may be withdrawn when their guidance no longer provides useful 
information, or is superseded by technological, congressional actions, 
or other events.
    Guides are revised for a variety of reasons, and the withdrawal of 
a regulatory guide should be thought of as the final revision of the 
guide. Although a regulatory guide is withdrawn, current licensees may 
continue to use it, and withdrawal does not affect any existing 
licenses or agreements. Withdrawal means that the guide should not be 
used for future NRC licensing activities. Changes to existing licenses 
would be accomplished using other regulatory products.
    Regulatory guides are available for inspection or downloading 
through the NRC's public Web site under ``Regulatory Guides'' in the 
NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections. Regulatory guides are also available for inspection at the 
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), Room O-1 F21, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738. The PDR's mailing 
address is US NRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. You can reach the 
staff 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 22nd day of July 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2010-18890 Filed 7-30-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P