[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 149 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46127-46128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-18862]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0055]


Interim Staff Guidance on Changes to the Generic Aging Lessons 
Learned (GALL) Report Revision 2 AMP XI.M41, ``Buried and Underground 
Piping and Tanks''

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing the 
final License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR-ISG-2011-03, 
``Changes to GALL Report Revision 2 Aging Management Program (AMP) 
XI.M41, `Buried and Underground Piping and Tanks'.'' This LR-ISG 
provides changes to the recommendations in GALL Report Revision 2 AMP 
XI.M41 based on the staff's review of several license renewal 
applications' buried and underground piping and tanks AMPs and 
stakeholder input. The LR-ISG revises NRC staff recommended AMPs in 
NUREG-1801, Revision 2, ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) 
Report,'' and the NRC staff's aging management review procedure and 
acceptance criteria contained in NUREG-1800, Revision 2, ``Standard 
Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear 
Power Plants'' (SRP-LR). The NRC published Revision 2 of the SRP-LR and 
GALL Report in December 2010, and they are available in the NRC's 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under 
Accession Nos. ML103490041 and ML103490036, respectively.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0055 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 are publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0055. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     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 document (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced. The LR-ISG-2011-03 is available under ADAMS Accession No. 
ML12138A296.
     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: LR-ISG documents 
are also available online under the ``License Renewal'' heading at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/#int.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. William Holston, Division of 
License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
8573, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background Information

    The NRC issues LR-ISG to communicate insights and lessons learned 
and to address emergent issues not covered in license renewal guidance 
documents. In this way, the NRC staff and stakeholders may use the 
guidance in an LR-ISG document until it is incorporated into a formal 
license renewal guidance document revision. The NRC staff issues LR-ISG 
in accordance with the LR-ISG Process, Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML100920158), for which a notice of availability was published in the 
Federal Register on June 22, 2010 (75 FR 35510).
    The NRC staff developed LR-ISG-2011-03 to (a) Include inspection 
recommendations for plants that will not utilize a cathodic protection 
system in the period of extended operation, (b) remove the 
recommendation to volumetrically inspect underground piping to detect 
internal corrosion since other AMPs such as XI.M 38 manage the aging of 
internal surfaces of buried and underground piping and tanks, (c) base 
further increased inspection sample sizes on an analysis of extent of 
cause and extent of condition when adverse conditions are detected in 
the initial and subsequent doubled sample size rather than continuing 
to double the sample size, (d) add a recommendation that where damage 
to the coating is significant and the damage was caused

[[Page 46128]]

by non-conforming backfill, an extent of condition evaluation should be 
conducted to ensure that the as-left condition of backfill in the 
vicinity of observed damage will not lead to further degradation, (e) 
add specific acceptance criteria for cathodic protection surveys, (f) 
add the specific preventive and mitigative actions utilized by the AMP 
in the Final Safety Analysis Report Supplement description of the 
program as contained in the SRP-LR, (g) make miscellaneous and 
editorial changes, and (h) correct an internal conflict between AMP 
XI.M41 and AMP XI.M36, ``External Surfaces Monitoring of Mechanical 
Components.''
    On March 9, 2012, (77 FR 14446) the NRC requested public comments 
on draft LR-ISG-2011-03 (ADAMS Accession No. ML11244A058). By letter 
dated March 27, 2012, (ADAMS Accession No. ML12089A021), the Nuclear 
Energy Institute (NEI) requested a 14-day extension to the comment 
period. The NRC staff granted the NEI's requested as noticed on April 
11, 2012 (77 FR 21813) and given that the comment period had closed on 
April 9, 2012, the comment period was reopened until April 20, 2012.
    The NRC received external comments from Mr. Jon Cavello on April 1, 
2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12094A367), Mears Group on April 9, 2012 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML12103A207), Det Norske Veritas (USA) Inc. on 
April 13, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12108A049), and NEI on April 20, 
2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12114A214). No other external comments were 
submitted. The NRC considered these comments in developing the final 
LR-ISG. Detailed responses to the comments can be found in Appendix G 
of the final LR-ISG.
    The final LR-ISG-2011-03 is approved for NRC staff and stakeholder 
use and will be incorporated into NRC's next formal license renewal 
guidance document revision.

Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this final LR-ISG 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 Part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' of 10 CFR. As 
discussed in the ``Backfitting Discussion'' section of final LR-ISG-
2011-03, the LR-ISG is directed to holders of operating licenses or 
combined licenses who are currently in the license renewal process. The 
LR-ISG is not directed to holders of operating licenses or combined 
licenses until they apply for license renewal. The LR-ISG is also not 
directed to licensees who already hold renewed operating or combined 
licenses.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of July, 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Melanie A. Galloway,
Deputy Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2012-18862 Filed 8-1-12; 8:45 am]
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