[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 80 (Thursday, April 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24438-24439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09795]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0152]


Evaluations of Explosions Postulated To Occur at Nearby 
Facilities and on Transportation Routes Near Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
revision to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.91, ``Evaluations of Explosions 
Postulated to Occur at Nearby Facilities and on Transportation Routes 
Near Nuclear Power Plants.'' This regulatory guide describes for 
applicants seeking nuclear power reactor licenses and licensees of 
nuclear power reactors methods that the NRC's staff finds acceptable 
for evaluating postulated explosions at nearby facilities and 
transportation routes.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0152 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, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0152. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     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,

[[Page 24439]]

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. Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.91 is available under 
ADAMS Accession No. ML12170A980. The regulatory analysis may be found 
under ADAMS Accession No. ML12170A989.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.
     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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:  Hector Rodriguez-Luccioni, Office 
of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-251-7685; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public information such as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
agency'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.
    Revision 2 of RG 1.91 was issued with a temporary identification as 
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1270. This guide describes for applicants 
and licensees of nuclear power reactors some methods and assumptions 
the NRC's staff finds acceptable for evaluating postulated explosions 
at nearby facilities and transportation routes. It describes the 
calculation of safe distances based on estimates of trinitrotoluene 
(TNT)-equivalent mass of explosive materials, the calculation of 
exposure rates based on hazardous cargo transportation frequencies, and 
the calculation of blast load effects.
    This guide describes methods that the NRC's staff considers 
acceptable to implement Section 100.20(b) of Title 10 the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), and 10 CFR part 50, appendix A, General 
Design Criterion 4. Section 100.20(b) requires that the nature and 
proximity of hazards related to human activity (e.g., airports, dams, 
transportation routes, and military and chemical facilities) must be 
evaluated to establish site parameters for use in determining if a 
plant design can accommodate commonly occurring hazards, and if the 
risk of other hazards is very low. General Design Criterion 4 requires 
that nuclear power plant structures, systems, and components (SSCs) 
important to safety be appropriately protected against dynamic effects 
resulting from equipment failures and from events and conditions that 
may occur outside the nuclear power plant.

II. Further Information

    DG-1270 was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2011 (76 
FR 43356) for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment period 
closed on September 19, 2012. Public comments on DG-1270 and the staff 
responses to the public comments are available under ADAMS Accession 
No. ML12170A987.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this final regulatory guide 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 10 CFR 
part 52. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this 
regulatory guide, the NRC has no current intention to impose this 
regulatory guide on holders of current operating licenses, early site 
permits or combined licenses.
    This regulatory guide may be applied to applications for operating 
licenses, early site permits, and combined licenses docketed by the NRC 
as of the date of issuance of the final regulatory guide and to future 
applications for operating licenses, early site permits, and combined 
licenses submitted after the issuance of the regulatory guide. Such 
action does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CRF 
50.109(a)(1) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the applicable 
issue finality provisions 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 relevant issue finality provisions 
in Part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of April, 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2013-09795 Filed 4-24-13; 8:45 am]
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