[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 4 (Friday, January 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31]



[[Page 823]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0262]


Guidance for Fuel Cycle Facility Change Processes

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is issuing a new regulatory guide (RG) 3.74, ``Guidance for Fuel Cycle 
Facility Change Processes.'' This regulatory guide describes the types 
of changes for which fuel cycle facility licensees should seek prior 
approval from the NRC and discusses how licensees can evaluate 
potential changes to determine whether NRC approval is required before 
implementing a change. This regulatory guide also describes the level 
of information that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in 
documenting and reporting changes made without prior NRC approval.

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 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 electronically 
under ADAMS Accession Number ML100890016. The regulatory analysis may 
be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML110960217.
     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-2009-0262.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is 
not required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  R. A. Jervey, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 251-7404 or 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a new 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.
    RG 3.74, ``Guidance for Fuel Cycle Facility Change Processes,'' was 
issued with a temporary identification as Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-
3037, to address several requirements of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 70, ``Domestic Licensing of Special 
Nuclear Material.'' The guide describes how fuel cycle facility 
licensees can evaluate potential changes to determine whether NRC 
approval is required before implementing them. Operating experience 
from nuclear fuel cycle facilities shows that past incidents often 
resulted from changes implemented at the facility. In some cases, 
licensee management or personnel did not analyze, authorize, or 
understand the changes before implementing them. Subpart H to 10 CFR 
part 70, in part, includes requirements for tracking, evaluating, and 
documenting changes made to fuel cycle facilities, and to licensee 
safety programs. The requirements governing these changes are stated in 
10 CFR 70.72, ``Facility Changes and Change Process,'' and pursuant to 
10 CFR 70.60, apply to fuel cycle facility licensees that possess 
greater than a critical mass of special nuclear material and that are 
engaged in enriched uranium processing, fabrication of uranium fuel or 
fuel assemblies, uranium enrichment, enriched uranium hexafluoride 
conversion, plutonium processing, or fabrication of mixed-oxide fuel or 
fuel assemblies. Such fuel cycle facility licensees must establish a 
configuration management system to evaluate, implement, and track each 
change to the site, structures, processes, systems, equipment, 
components, computer programs, and activities of personnel, in 
accordance with 10 CFR 70.72(a). Licensees may make such changes 
without prior approval of the NRC as long as the changes meet the 
criteria in 10 CFR 70.72(c). RG 3.74 describes how fuel cycle facility 
licensees can evaluate potential changes to determine whether NRC 
approval is required before implementing them. This regulatory guide 
identifies an acceptable level of information to be provided by 
licensees when documenting and reporting changes made without prior NRC 
approval.

II. Further Information

    DG-3037 was published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2011 (76 
FR 41527). The public comment period closed September 16, 2011. Public 
comments on DG-3037 and the staff responses to the public comments are 
available under ADAMS Accession Number ML113050428.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th 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. 2012-31 Filed 1-5-12; 8:45 am]
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