[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 23, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44035-44036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-17660]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2011-0299]
RIN 3150-AJ08


Station Blackout Mitigation Strategies

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory basis for rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
regulatory basis document to support the potential amendment of its 
regulations concerning nuclear power plant licensees' and applicants' 
station blackout mitigation strategies. The issuance of this regulatory 
basis document is one of the actions stemming from the NRC's lessons-
learned efforts associated with the March 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi 
Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan.

DATES: At this time, the NRC is not soliciting formal public comments 
on the materials identified in this document. There will be an 
opportunity for formal public comment on the proposed rule when it is 
published in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0299 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this document. You may 
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses 
and is publicly available, by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to www.regulations.gov and 
search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0299. Address questions about NRC dockets 
to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-3422; email: 
[email protected]. For technical questions, contact the 
individual 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 at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The regulatory basis 
document, ``Station Blackout Mitigation Strategies,'' is available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML13171A061.
     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: Timothy A. Reed, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1462; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    As the NRC continues its ongoing proposed rulemaking effort to 
amend portions of Parts 50 and 52 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR) to incorporate requirements involving station 
blackout mitigation strategies (SBOMS), the NRC is making documents 
publicly available on the Federal rulemaking Web site, 
www.regulations.gov, under Docket ID NRC-2011-0299. This regulatory 
action is one of the near-term actions based on the lessons-learned 
from the March 11, 2011, Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in Japan. By 
making these documents publicly available, the NRC seeks to inform 
stakeholders of the current status of the NRC's rulemaking development 
activities. Stakeholders should also note that there two related 
petitions for rulemaking (PRM), both submitted by the Natural Resources 
Defense Council that are being addressed within this rulemaking. Those 
are PRM-50-100 (notice of consideration published in the Proposed Rules 
section of this issue of the Federal Register (NRC-2011-0189)) and PRM-
50-101 (77 FR 16483; March 21, 2012; NRC-2011-0189) that endorse 
actions recommended by the Near Term Task Force (NTTF) in 
Recommendations 4 and 7, respectively.

II. Publicly Available Documents

    The NRC has posted on www.regulations.gov a regulatory basis to 
support a rulemaking to incorporate requirements involving station 
blackout mitigation strategies into the Code of Federal Regulations. 
The regulatory basis documents the reasons why rulemaking now appears 
to be the appropriate course of action to remedy an apparent regulatory 
shortcoming. The regulatory basis reflects the NRC's consideration of 
stakeholder feedback on the draft regulatory basis published in the 
Federal Register for public comment on April 10, 2013 (78 FR 21275). 
Section 5 of the regulatory basis provides additional discussion 
regarding the stakeholder feedback that informed development of the 
SBOMS regulatory basis. Please note that the NRC may identify 
additional information through further rulemaking activities that may 
affect the NRC staff determination documented in the regulatory basis. 
Such information, if any, and its effects on the rulemaking effort will 
be documented in a notice published in the Federal Register in 
connection with this rulemaking.
    Also note that the draft regulatory basis contained an appendix 
(i.e., Appendix A) that provided draft rule concepts which, during the 
rulemaking process, may evolve into regulatory requirements, guidance, 
or other regulatory information. Appendix A was not revised to reflect 
stakeholder feedback on the draft regulatory basis, and is not being 
republished with this regulatory basis. Instead stakeholder comments on 
the draft rule concepts deserve further deliberation and consideration, 
and are being considered as the NRC develops a proposed rule. The draft 
rule concepts, as a whole, do not represent a final NRC staff position 
and have not been approved by the Commission. Therefore, the proposed 
rule language that will subsequently be developed may change 
substantially from the draft rule concepts in the regulatory basis.
    The NRC is not requesting formal public comments on the SBOMS 
regulatory basis. As they are developed, the NRC may post additional 
materials, including preliminary proposed rule language, to the Federal 
rulemaking Web site at www.regulations.gov, under Docket ID NRC-2011-
0299. The Federal rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when 
changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) 
Navigate to the docket folder (NRC-2011-0299); (2) click the ``Email 
Alert'' link; and (3) enter your email address and select how 
frequently you would

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like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).

III. Plain Writing

    The Plain Writing Act of 2010, (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal 
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, well-organized manner 
that also follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or 
field and the intended audience. Although regulations are exempt from 
these requirements under the Act, the NRC is applying the same 
principles to its rulemaking documents. Therefore, the NRC has written 
this document, including the preliminary proposed rule language, to be 
consistent with the Plain Writing Act.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of July 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lawrence E. Kokajko,
Director, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2013-17660 Filed 7-22-13; 8:45 am]
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