[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 231 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 74630-74631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-30902]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

RIN 3150-AI10
[NRC-2008-0122]


Making Changes to Emergency Plans for Nuclear Power Reactors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a new 
regulatory guide (RG) 1.219, ``Guidance on Making Changes to Emergency 
Plans for Nuclear Power Reactors.'' This guide describes a method that 
the NRC staff considers acceptable to implement the requirements that 
relate to emergency preparedness and specifically to making changes to 
emergency response plans.

DATES: December 1, 2011.

ADDRESSES: You can access publicly available documents related to this 
regulatory guide 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, O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available online in the NRC Library at

[[Page 74631]]

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 the 
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 
email to [email protected]. The regulatory guide is available in 
ADAMS under Accession Number ML102510626. The regulatory analysis may 
be found in ADAMS under Accession Number ML102510560.
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and 
supporting materials related to this regulatory guide can be found at 
http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2008-0122.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is 
not required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward O'Donnell, Regulatory Guide 
Development Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: (301) 251-7455, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a new guide in the agency's ``Regulatory Guide'' 
series. This series was developed to describe and make available to the 
public information such as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff 
for implementing specific parts of the agency'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.
    This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers 
acceptable to implement the requirements in Title 10, Section 50.54(q), 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50, ``Domestic 
Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities.'' Requirements in 
10 CFR 50.54(q)), ``Conditions of Licenses,'' relate to emergency 
preparedness and specifically to making changes to emergency response 
plans.

II. Further Information

    Draft Guide (DG)-1237 was published in the Federal Register on May 
18, 2009 (74 FR 23220), for a 60 day public comment period. The public 
comment period closed on August 3, 2009. Public comments on DG-1237 and 
the staff responses to the public comments are available in ADAMS under 
Accession Number ML102520241.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This regulatory guide provides the NRC's first guidance on 
compliance with the revised provisions of 10 CFR 50.54(q). This 
regulation was recently published in the Federal Register (76 FR 72560; 
November 23, 2011) and will become effective on December 23, 2011. 
Licensees must implement the amended 10 CFR 50.54(q) by January 23, 
2012. The statement of considerations for the final rule that amended 
10 CFR 50.54(q) discussed compliance with applicable backfitting 
provisions (76 FR 72560; November 23, 2011 at Page 72594). The first 
issuance of guidance on a new rule does not constitute backfitting, 
inasmuch as the guidance must be consistent with the regulatory 
requirements in the new rule and the backfitting considerations 
applicable to the new rule must, as a matter of logic, also be 
applicable to this newly-issued guidance. Therefore, issuance of this 
new regulatory guide does not constitute issuance of ``new'' guidance 
within the meaning of the definition of ``backfitting'' in 10 CFR 
50.109(a)(1), nor does the issuance of this new regulatory guide, by 
itself, constitute an action inconsistent with any of the issue 
finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of November 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2011-30902 Filed 11-30-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P