[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 15, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8902-8903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3377]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0035]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability Decommissioning of 
Nuclear Power Reactors

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) DG-1271 ``Decommissioning of 
Nuclear Power Reactors.'' This guide describes a method NRC considers 
acceptable for use in decommissioning power reactors.

DATES: Submit comments by April 16, 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: You may access information and comment submissions related 
to this document, which the NRC possesses and is publicly-available, by 
searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2012-0035. 
You may submit comments by the following methods:
     Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0035. 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 additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

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:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0035 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses 
and is publicly available, by the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0035.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number 
for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0035 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly 
disclosed. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into 
ADAMS, and the NRC does not edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information in their comment submissions 
that they do not want to be publicly disclosed. Your request should 
state that the NRC will not edit comment submissions to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

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.
    DG-1271 is proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.184, 
``Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors,'' dated July 2000. This 
proposed revision of Regulatory Guide 1.184 describes a method that the 
staff of the NRC considers acceptable for use in complying with the 
NRC's regulations relating to the decommissioning process for nuclear 
power reactors.

Backfitting and Issue Finality

    As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of DG-1271, the NRC 
has no current intention to impose this regulatory guide on holders of 
current operating licenses or combined licenses. Accordingly, the 
issuance of this regulatory guide would not constitute ``backfitting'' 
as defined in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 
50.109(a)(1) of the Backfit Rule or be otherwise inconsistent with the 
applicable issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.
    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 the regulatory guide. Such action would not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) or be otherwise 
inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provision 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

[[Page 8903]]

relevant issue finality provisions in Part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of February 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2012-3377 Filed 2-14-12; 8:45 am]
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