[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 251 (Friday, December 30, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 82201-82202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33577]


 ========================================================================
 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. 76, No. 251 / Friday, December 30, 2011 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 82201]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50, 51, and 52

[NRC-2011-0297]


General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide DG-4021, ``General Site 
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations.'' This guide describes 
a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable to implement the site 
suitability requirements for nuclear power stations.

DATES: Submit comments by February 25, 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-2011-0297 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-
2011-0297. 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: Jacob Philip, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 251-7471 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-4021 is available electronically under ADAMS 
Accession Number ML102380302. The regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML102380311.
     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-2011-0297.

Further Information

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide in the NRC'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.
    The draft regulatory guide (DG), entitled, ``General Site 
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations,'' is temporarily 
identified by its task number, DG-4021, which should be mentioned in 
all related correspondence. DG-4021 is proposed Revision 3 of 
Regulatory Guide 4.7, dated April 1998.
    This guide discusses the major site characteristics related to 
public health and safety and environmental issues that the NRC staff 
considers in determining the suitability of sites for light-water-
cooled nuclear power stations. Applicants may use the guidelines in 
identifying suitable candidate sites for nuclear power stations. The 
decision that a station may be built on a specific candidate site is 
based on a detailed evaluation of the proposed site-plant combination 
and a cost-benefit analysis comparing it with alternative site-plant 
combinations, as discussed in Regulatory Guide 4.2, ``Preparation of 
Environmental Reports for Nuclear Power Stations.''

Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this draft regulatory guide in final form does not 
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) 
and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 
10 CFR part 52. This regulatory guide will not apply to any

[[Page 82202]]

construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited 
work authorizations issued under 10 CFR 50.10 for which the NRC issued 
a final environmental impact statement (EIS) preceded by a draft EIS 
under 10 CFR 51.76 or 51.75, or combined licenses, any of which were 
issued by the NRC prior to issuance of the final regulatory guide. The 
NRC has already completed its siting determination for those 
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited 
work authorizations, and combined licenses. Therefore, no further NRC 
regulatory action on siting will occur for those licenses, permits, and 
authorizations, for which the guidance in the regulatory guide would be 
relevant.
    This regulatory guide may be applied to applications for early site 
permits, combined licenses, and limited work authorizations issued 
under 10 CFR 50.10, which includes information under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or 
(f), where the application is docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future applications 
for construction permits, early site permits, combined licenses, and 
limited work authorizations, which includes information under 10 CFR 
51.49(b) or (f), where the application is submitted after the issuance 
of the final 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 21st day of December 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2011-33577 Filed 12-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P