[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 13, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 77431-77432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31905]


 ========================================================================
 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.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 239 / Tuesday, December 13, 2011 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 77431]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, and 72

RIN 3150-AI55
[NRC-2011-0286; NRC-2008-0030]


Decommissioning Planning During Operations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG) DG-4014, ``Decommissioning 
Planning During Operations.'' This guide describes a method that the 
NRC staff considers acceptable for use in complying with the NRC's 
Decommissioning Planning Rule.

DATES: Submit comments by February 10, 2012. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: Please include Docket ID NRC-2011-0286 in the subject line 
of your comments. For additional instructions on submitting comments 
and instructions on accessing documents related to this action, see 
``Submitting Comments and Accessing Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document. You may submit comments by any 
one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-
2011-0286. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 
telephone: (301) 492-3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
     Fax comments to: RADB at (301) 492-3446.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James C. Shepherd, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 415-
6712 or email [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Submitting Comments and Accessing Information

    Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted 
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site, http://www.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.
    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, 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 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]. DG-4014 is available electronically under ADAMS 
Accession Number ML111590642. The regulatory analysis is available 
electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML111590649.
     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-2011-0286.

Further Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a draft guide in the agency's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public such information as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
NRC'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.
    The draft regulatory guide entitled, ``Decommissioning Planning 
During Operations,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-
4014, which should be mentioned in all related correspondence. DG-4014 
is a proposed Regulatory Guide to support implementation of the 
Decommissioning Planning Rule (ADAMS Accession Number ML103510117).
    This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers 
acceptable for use in complying with the NRC's Decommissioning Planning 
Rule (DPR), which will become effective on December 17, 2012 (76 FR 
35511; June 17, 2011). That rule will amend portions of 10 CFR parts 
20, 30, 40, 50, 70, and 72, relative to decommissioning planning. The 
DPR will affect a wide range of facilities and its purpose is to reduce 
the likelihood that any current operating facility will become a legacy 
site, that is, one without the financial means to close permanently.

Backfitting and Issue Finality

    The statement of considerations for the DPR discussed that rule's 
compliance with applicable backfitting provisions (76 FR 35511, at 
35562-63). This regulatory guide presents the NRC staff's first 
guidance addressing compliance with Sec.  20.1501(a) and (b)

[[Page 77432]]

and the newly-added paragraph (c) of Sec.  20.1406. The first issuance 
of guidance on a newly-changed or newly-added rule provision does not 
constitute backfitting or raise issue finality concerns, inasmuch as 
the guidance must be consistent with the regulatory requirements in the 
newly-changed or newly-added rule provisions and the backfitting and 
issue finality considerations applicable to the newly-changed or newly-
added rule provisions must logically apply to this guidance. Therefore, 
issuance of guidance addressing the newly-changed and newly-added 
provisions of the amended rule does not constitute issuance of 
``changed'' or ``new'' guidance within the meaning of the definition of 
``backfitting'' in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1). Similarly, the issuance of the 
guidance addressing the newly-changed or newly-added provisions of the 
amended rule, by itself, does not constitute an action inconsistent 
with any of the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. 
Accordingly, no further consideration of backfitting or issue finality 
is needed as part of the issuance of this guidance addressing 
compliance with the newly-changed provisions of Sec.  20.1501 and 
newly-added paragraph (c) of Sec.  20.1406.
    This regulatory guide may be applied to applications for operating 
licenses and combined licenses docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future applications 
for operating licenses and combined licenses submitted after the 
issuance of this regulatory guide. Such action does not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) and is not otherwise 
inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provisions in 10 CFR 
part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or potential applicants are not 
within the scope of entities protected by the Backfit Rule or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of December 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2011-31905 Filed 12-12-11; 8:45 am]
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