[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 110 (Thursday, June 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33777-33778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13806]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2012-0069]
Interim Staff Guidance JLD-ISG-2012-02; Compliance With Order EA-
12-050, Order Modifying Licenses With Regard to Reliable Hardened
Containment Vents
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft Japan Lessons-Learned Project Directorate guidance;
request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission)
is issuing the draft Japan Lessons-Learned Project Directorate Interim
Staff Guidance (JLD-ISG), JLD-ISG-2012-02, ``Compliance with Order EA-
12-050, Order Modifying Licenses with Regard to Reliable Hardened
Containment Vents.'' This draft JLD-ISG provides guidance and
clarification to assist nuclear power reactors applicants and licensees
with the identification of measures needed to comply with requirements
to mitigate challenges to key safety functions.
DATES: Comments must be filed no later than July 7, 2012. Comments
received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do
so, but the NRC staff is able to ensure consideration only for comments
received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related
to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publically available,
by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2012-
0069. You may submit comments by the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0069. 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: Mr. Robert J. Fretz, Japan Lessons-
Learned Project Directorate, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone:
301-415-1980; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0069 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
access information related to this document by the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0069.
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. The draft JLD-ISG-2012-02 is available under ADAMS
Accession No. ML12146A371.
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.
NRC's Interim Staff Guidance Web Site: JLD-ISG documents
are also available online under the ``Japan
[[Page 33778]]
Lessons Learned'' heading at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/#int.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0069 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.
II. Background Information
The NRC staff developed draft JLD-ISG-2012-02 to provide guidance
and clarification to assist nuclear power reactor applicants and
licensees with the identification of measures needed to comply with
requirements to mitigate challenges to key safety functions. These
requirements are contained in Order EA-12-050, ``Order Modifying
Licenses with Regard to Reliable Hardened Containment Vents'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML12054A696). The draft ISG is not a substitute for the
requirements in Order EA-12-050, and compliance with the ISG is not a
requirement. This ISG is being issued in draft form for public comment
to involve the public in development of the implementing guidance.
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast
of the Japanese island of Honshu. The earthquake resulted in a large
tsunami, estimated to have exceeded 14 meters (45 feet) in height that
inundated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant site. The
earthquake and tsunami produced widespread devastation across
northeastern Japan and significantly affected the infrastructure and
industry in the northeastern coastal areas of Japan. When the
earthquake occurred, Fukushima Dai-ichi Units 1, 2, and 3, were in
operation and Units 4, 5, and 6, were shut down for routine refueling
and maintenance activities. The Unit 4 reactor fuel was offloaded to
the Unit 4 spent fuel pool (SFP). Following the earthquake, the three
operating units automatically shut down and offsite power was lost to
the entire facility. The emergency diesel generators started at all six
units providing alternating current (ac) electrical power to critical
systems at each unit. The facility response to the earthquake appears
to have been normal.
Following the events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant,
the NRC established a senior-level agency task force referred to as the
Near-Term Task Force (NTTF). The NTTF was tasked with conducting a
systematic and methodical review of the NRC regulations and processes,
and determining if the agency should make additional improvements to
these programs in light of the events at Fukushima Dai-ichi. As a
result of this review, the NTTF developed a comprehensive set of
recommendations, documented in SECY-11-0093, ``Near-Term Report and
Recommendations for Agency Actions Following the Events in Japan,''
dated July 12, 2011 (ADAMS Accession No. ML11186A950). These
recommendations were enhanced by the NRC staff following interactions
with stakeholders. Documentation of the staff's efforts is contained in
SECY-11-0124, ``Recommended Actions to be Taken without Delay from the
Near-Term Task Force Report,'' dated September 9, 2011 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML11245A158) and SECY-11-0137, ``Prioritization of Recommended
Actions to be Taken in Response to Fukushima Lessons Learned,'' dated
October 3, 2011 (ADAMS Accession No. ML11272A111).
As directed by the Commission's Staff Requirement Memorandum (SRM)
for SECY-11-0093 (ADAMS Accession No. ML112310021), the NRC staff
reviewed the NTTF recommendations within the context of the NRC's
existing regulatory framework and considered the various regulatory
vehicles available to the NRC to implement the recommendations. SECY-
11-0124 and SECY-11-0137 established the staff's prioritization of the
recommendations based upon the potential for each recommendation to
enhance safety.
After receiving the Commission's direction in SRM-SECY-11-0124
(ADAMS Accession No. ML112911571) and SRM-SECY-11-0137 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML113490055), the NRC staff conducted public meetings to discuss
the importance of reliable operation of hardened vents during
conditions involving loss of containment heat removal capability which
was already well established and this understanding has been reinforced
by the clear lessons of Fukushima. Hardened vents have been in place in
U.S. plants with boiling-water reactor (BWR) Mark I containments for
many years but a wide variance exists with regard to the reliability of
the vents. Additionally, hardened vents are not required on plants with
BWR Mark II containments although as discussed above, Mark II
containments are only slightly larger than Mark I. Therefore, reliable
hardened venting systems in BWR facilities with Mark I and Mark II
containments are needed to ensure that adequate protection of public
health and safety is maintained.
In SRM-SECY-11-0137, the Commission directed the NRC staff to take
certain actions and provided further guidance including directing the
staff to consider filtered vents. The NRC staff plans to submit a
Policy Paper to the Commission in July 2012.
On February 17, 2012, the NRC staff submitted SECY-12-0025,
``Proposed Orders and Requests for Information in Response to Lessons
Learned from Japan's March 11, 2011, Great Tohoku Earthquake and
Tsunami'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML12039A103) to the Commission,
including the order to implement requirements relating to reliable
hardened venting systems at BWR facilities with Mark I and Mark II
containment designs. As directed by SRM-SECY-12-0025 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML120690347), the NRC staff issued Order EA-12-050, ``Order
Modifying Licenses with Regard to Reliable Hardened Containment
Vents.''
Proposed Action
By this action, the NRC is requesting public comments on draft JLD-
ISG-2012-02. This draft JLD-ISG proposes guidance related to
requirements contained in Order EA-12-050, Reliable Hardened
Containment Vents. The NRC staff will make a final determination
regarding issuance of the JLD-ISG after it considers any public
comments received in response to this request.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of May 2012.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David L. Skeen,
Director, Japan Lessons-Learned Project Directorate, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2012-13806 Filed 6-6-12; 8:45 am]
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