[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25488-25489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10255]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2013-0079]
Qualification Tests for Safety-Related Actuators in Nuclear Power
Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1235, ``Qualification
Tests for Safety-Related Actuators in Nuclear Power Plants.'' DG-1235
is proposed Revision 1 of RG 1.73, dated January 1974. This revision
endorses, with clarifications, the enhanced consensus practices for
qualifying safety-related actuators, and actuator components, in
Nuclear Power Generating Stations in order to demonstrate their ability
to perform their intended safety functions under all required
conditions as described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) standard 382-2006, ``Standard for Qualification of
Safety-Related Actuators for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.''
DATES: Submit comments by June 28, 2013. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comment by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0079. 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.
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0079. 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: Darrell Murdock, telephone: 301-251-
7629, email: [email protected]; or Mark Orr, telephone: 301-251-
7495, email: [email protected]. Both of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory
Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0079 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, by the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0079.
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 draft regulatory guide
is available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML103120727.
The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML103120737.
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.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0079 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 that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely 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 that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment
[[Page 25489]]
submissions to remove such information before making the comment
submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions
into ADAMS.
II. Further Information
The NRC is issuing for public comment a draft guide in the NRC's
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and
make available to the public such information as methods that are
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the
NRC'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.
The draft regulatory guide entitled ``Qualification Tests for
Safety-Related Actuators in Nuclear Power Plants'' is temporarily
identified by its task number, DG-1235. The DG-1235 is proposed
Revision 1 of RG 1.73, ``Qualification Tests of Electric Valve
Operators Installed Inside the Containment of Nuclear Power Plants''
dated January 1974. The initial version of RG 1.73, endorsed IEEE Std.
382-1972, ``IEEE Trial-Use Guide for Type Test of Class I Electric
Valve Operators for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.'' The IEEE
standard was revised in 1985, again in 1996, and, most recently, in
2006. But RG 1.73 was not updated. This revision updates RG 1.73 to
endorse the current version of IEEE Std. 382-2006, ``Standard for
Qualification of Safety-Related Actuators for Nuclear Power Generating
Stations.''
III. Backfitting and Issue Finality
This draft regulatory guide, if finalized, does not constitute
backfitting as defined in 10 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and is not
otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR
Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power
Plants.'' This regulatory guide provides guidance on one possible means
for meeting NRC's regulatory requirements for environmental
qualification of safety-related power-operated valve actuators in
nuclear power plants as set forth in the regulations and the
qualification testing requirements of Criterion III, ``Design Control''
of Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 50 to verify adequacy of design for
service under design basis event conditions. Existing licensees and
applicants of final design certification rules will not be required to
comply with these new positions set forth in this draft regulatory
guide, unless the licensee or design certification rule applicant seeks
a voluntary change to its licensing basis with respect to safety-
related power operated valve actuators, and where the NRC determines
that the safety review must include consideration of the qualification
of the valve actuators. Further information on the staff's use of the
draft regulatory guide, if finalized, is contained in the RG under
section D. Implementation.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th 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. 2013-10255 Filed 4-30-13; 8:45 am]
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