[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 12, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 56241]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-22443]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2010-0131]


Notice of Withdrawal of Final Design Approval; Westinghouse 
Electric Company; Advanced Passive 1000

    By letter dated December 10, 2010, Westinghouse Electric Company 
(WEC) requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the 
Commission) ``retire'' the final design approval (FDA) for the Advanced 
Passive 1000 (AP1000) design upon the completion of rulemaking for the 
amendment to the AP1000 design and the issuance of the amended AP1000 
design certification (DCR) rule in part 52 of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR). The FDA issued on March 10, 2006, and 
found under NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS) Accession No. ML060110467, referenced Revision 15 of the AP1000 
design control document (DCD).
    As amended on August 28, 2007, the design approval process under 10 
CFR Part 52 no longer requires an FDA as a prerequisite to a DCR, but 
is instead a separate licensing process. WEC's application to amend the 
AP1000 DCR did not request an update to the AP1000 FDA.
    The NRC staff completed its review of Revision 19 to WEC's AP1000 
DCD on August 5, 2011, and issued Supplement 2 to NUREG-1793, ``Final 
Safety Evaluation Report for Revision 19 to the AP1000 Standard Design 
Certification'' (FSER), in September 2011. On December 30, 2011, the 
NRC published in the Federal Register a final rule to amend 10 CFR Part 
52, Appendix D, to certify the amended AP1000 design. As a result, 
there are now two different NRC-approved versions of the AP1000 
design--an FDA for Revision 15 of the AP1000 DCD and a DCR for Revision 
19 of the AP1000 DCD. The NRC staff's practice in initial certification 
of the four current DCRs was to request that the FDA holder update the 
Final Safety Analysis Report supporting the FDA (essentially the DCD) 
to reflect the version of the DCD approved and incorporated by 
reference as part of the final DC rulemaking. This practice was 
intended to ensure that there would be only a single version of the 
design approved both by the FDA and the DCR. WEC's letter of December 
10, 2010, indicates its preference not to update the FDA to reflect 
Revision 19 of the DCD, but instead for the FDA to be ``retired.''
    Based on the certification of the amended AP1000 design, which has 
superseded the previous AP1000 DCR in 10 CFR part 52, Appendix D, the 
NRC staff agrees that the AP1000 FDA can be ``retired'' (i.e., 
withdrawn by the NRC) as WEC has voluntarily requested. The NRC 
therefore withdraws the FDA for the AP1000 design. The NRC has 
communicated this determination to WEC, (see ADAMS Accession No. 
ML12202A071). As a result, combined license applicants seeking to 
reference the AP1000 design will need to reference the DC rule in lieu 
of the FDA.
    Copies of the AP1000 FSER (NUREG-1793, Supplements 1 and 2) and FDA 
have been placed in the NRC's Public Document Room, One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, for review and 
copying by interested persons.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of August 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David B. Matthews,
Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2012-22443 Filed 9-11-12; 8:45 am]
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