[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 23, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44034-44035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-17658]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 141 / Tuesday, July 23, 2013 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 44034]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket Nos. PRM-50-100; NRC-2011-0189]


Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by the Natural Resources 
Defense Council, Inc.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; consideration in the rulemaking 
process.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will consider the 
issues raised in the petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM-50-100, 
submitted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC or the 
petitioner), in the rulemaking process. The petitioner requests that 
the NRC amend its regulations to require each operating and new reactor 
licensee to improve spent nuclear fuel safety. The NRC determined that 
the issues raised in the PRM are appropriate for consideration and will 
consider them in the ongoing ``Station Blackout Mitigation Strategies'' 
rulemaking.

DATES: The docket for the petition for rulemaking, PRM-50-100, is 
closed on July 23, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0189 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this PRM. You can access 
publicly available documents related to the petition, 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 on the petition Docket ID NRC-2011-0189 
or the Docket ID for the Station Blackout Mitigation Strategies 
rulemaking, NRC-2011-0299. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol 
Gallagher; by telephone: 301-287-3422; or by email: 
[email protected]. For technical questions, contact the 
individuals 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, 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 by telephone 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 incoming petition is in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML11216A240.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim Reed, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; 
telephone: 301-415-1462; email: [email protected]; or Scott Sloan, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555; telephone: 301-415-1619; by email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. The Petition

    On September 20, 2011, the NRC published a notice of receipt in the 
Federal Register (76 FR 58165) of six PRMs filed by the NRDC, including 
PRM-50-100. The petitioner solely and specifically cited the 
``Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century: The 
Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi 
Accident,'' (Fukushima Task Force Report, ADAMS Accession No. 
ML111861807) dated July 12, 2011, as the rationale for the PRMs. For 
PRM-50-100, the petitioner cited Section 4.2.4, pages 43-46, of the 
Fukushima Task Force Report, which discusses the enhancement of spent 
fuel pool makeup capability and instrumentation for the spent fuel 
pool. At the time of receipt of the PRMs, the Commission was still in 
the process of reviewing the Fukushima Task Force Report, and the NRC 
did not institute a public comment period for the PRMs.
    In PRM-50-100, the petitioner requests the NRC to institute a 
rulemaking proceeding applicable to nuclear facilities licensed under 
Parts 50 and 52 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations and 
other applicable regulations to require licensees to (1) provide 
sufficient safety-related instrumentation, able to withstand design-
basis natural phenomena, to monitor key spent fuel pool parameters 
(i.e., water level, temperature, and area radiation levels) from the 
control room; (2) provide safety-related alternating current (AC) 
electrical power for the spent fuel pool makeup system; (3) revise 
their technical specifications to address requirements to have one 
train of onsite emergency electrical power operable for spent fuel pool 
makeup and spent fuel pool instrumentation when there is irradiated 
fuel in the spent fuel pool, regardless of the operational mode of the 
reactor; and (4) have an installed seismically qualified means to spray 
water into the spent fuel pools, including an easily accessible 
connection to supply the water (e.g., using a portable pump or pumper 
truck) at grade outside the building.

II. Reasons for Consideration

    The Commission has established a process for addressing a number of 
the recommendations in the Fukushima Task Force Report. In the Staff 
Requirements Memorandum for COMSECY-13-0002, ``Consolidation of Japan 
Lessons Learned Near-Term Task Force Recommendations 4 and 7 Regulatory 
Activities,'' dated March 4, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13063A548), 
the Commission directed the NRC staff to consider Fukushima Task Force 
Report Recommendation 7 actions along with the Station Blackout 
Mitigation Strategies rulemaking. The NRC determined that the issues 
raised in PRM-50-100 are similar to the actions of Recommendation 7.5 
of the Fukushima Task Force Report. Therefore, the NRC will consider 
the issues raised in PRM-50-100 in the ongoing Station Blackout 
Mitigation

[[Page 44035]]

Strategies rulemaking. The public will have the opportunity to provide 
comments on PRM-50-100 as part of that rulemaking. The NRC will 
consider the issues raised by the remaining NRDC PRMs through the 
process the Commission establishes for addressing the remaining 
recommendations in the Fukushima Task Force Report. This PRM docket is 
closed.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of July 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
M.R. Johnson,
Deputy Executive Director for Reactor and Preparedness Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-17658 Filed 7-22-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P