[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 110 (Thursday, June 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33780-33782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13811]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2012-0067]
Interim Staff Guidance JLD-ISG-2012-03; Compliance with Order EA-
12-051, Order Modifying Licenses With Regard to Reliable Spent Fuel
Pool Instrumentation
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-2012-03, ``Compliance With Order EA-
12-051, Order Modifying Licenses With Regard to Reliable Spent Fuel
Pool Instrumentation.'' This JLD-ISG provides guidance and
clarification to assist nuclear power reactor applicants and licensees
with the identification of measures needed to comply with requirements
to install enhanced spent fuel pool monitoring capability.
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.
[[Page 33781]]
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-
0067. You may submit comments by the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0067. 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: Mrs. Lisa M. Regner, Japan Lessons
Learned Project Directorate, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone:
301-415-1906; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0067 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-2012-0067.
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-2012-03 is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML12144A323.
NRC's Interim Staff Guidance Web Site: JLD-ISG documents
are also available online under the ``Japan Lessons Learned'' heading
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/#int.
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.
Public Meeting: Information on the draft ISG will be
provided at a public meeting on June 21, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00
a.m. in the Commissioner's Hearing Room at NRC Headquarters, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-2738 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML12146A025).
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0067 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
This draft interim staff guidance (ISG) is being issued to describe
to the public methods acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with
Order EA-12-051, ``Order Modifying Licenses with Regard to Reliable
Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation (Effective Immediately)'' (Order EA-12-
051), issued March 12, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12056A044). This
draft ISG endorses, with exceptions, the methodologies described in the
industry guidance document, Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 12-02,
Industry Guidance for Compliance with NRC Order EA-12-051, ``To Modify
Licenses with Regard to Reliable Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation'' (NEI
12-02), Revision B. The draft ISG is not a substitute for the
requirements in Order EA-12-051, and compliance with the ISG not
required. This ISG is being issued in draft form for public comment to
involve the public in development of the implementation guidance.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued Order EA-12-051
following the NRC staff's evaluation of the earthquake and tsunami, and
resulting nuclear accident, at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant in March 2011. Order EA-12-051 requires all licensees and
construction permit (CP) holders to provide safety enhancements in the
form of reliable spent fuel pool instrumentation for beyond-design-
basis external events. Order EA-12-051 also requires the NRC staff to
issue final interim staff guidance in August 2012 to provide additional
details on an acceptable approach for complying with Order EA-12-051.
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 conducted a systematic and
methodical review of the NRC regulations and processes, and determined
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 19, 2011. These recommendations were modified by the NRC staff
following interactions with stakeholders. Documentation of the NRC
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, and SECY-11-0137, Prioritization of Recommended
Actions To Be Taken in Response to Fukushima Lessons Learned, dated
October 3, 2011. SECY-11-0124 and SECY-11-0137 established the NRC
staff's prioritization of the recommendation based upon the potential
for each recommendation to enhance safety.
As discussed in the Staff Requirements Memorandum associated with
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, dated March
[[Page 33782]]
9, 2012, the Commission determined that the additional requirements in
Order EA-12-051 represent ``a substantial increase in the protection of
public health and safety.'' Consequently, the Commission decided to
administratively exempt this Order from applicable provisions of the
Backfit Rule, Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
50.109, and the issue finality requirements in 10 CFR part 52.
As required by Order EA-12-051, the NRC staff is issuing a draft
version of JLD-ISG-12-03 to provide additional details on an acceptable
approach for complying with Order EA-12-051 requirements. The staff
intends to issue the final ISG in August 2012 following consideration
of public comments.
Numerous public meetings were held to receive stakeholder input on
the proposed requirement for spent fuel pool instrumentation
enhancements prior to issuance of Order EA-12-051. Following issuance
of Order EA-12-051, several more public meetings were held with
representatives from the NEI task force to discuss development of the
guidance for compliance with Order EA-12-051. By letter dated May 11,
2012, the NEI task force submitted a guidance document for the
implementation of Order EA-12-051 and requested the NRC endorsement.
Proposed Action
By this action, the NRC is requesting public comments on draft JLD-
ISG-2012-03. This ISG proposes guidance related to requirements
contained in Order EA-12-051, Reliable Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation.
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. 2012-13811 Filed 6-6-12; 8:45 am]
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