[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 153 (Thursday, August 8, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48504-48506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-19201]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2013-0179]


Proposed Revisions to Maintenance Rule Standard Review Plan

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Standard review plan-draft section revision; request for 
comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is revising the 
following section in Chapter 17, ``Quality Assurance'' and soliciting 
public comment on NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of 
Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition,'' 
Section 17.6, ``Maintenance Rule.''

DATES: Comments must be filed no later than September 9, 2013. Comments 
received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do 
so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for 
comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0179. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN-06A56, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    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: Jonathan DeGange, Office of New 
Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

[[Page 48505]]

Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6992 or 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0179 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0179.
     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 ADAMS Accession numbers 
for the redline document comparing the current revision and the 
proposed revision are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. Section 
17.6, Proposed Revision 2 (ML13015A125), Current Revision 1 
(ML072920088), Redline (ML13015A426).
     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, MD 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0179 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 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 Office of New Reactors and Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 
are revising this section from the current Revision 1. Changes in this 
revision include revised scoping and the new generic FSAR template 
guidance in the review procedures section, and revised references. 
Details of specific changes are included at the end of the proposed 
section.
    The changes to this Standard Review Plan (SRP) Chapter reflect 
current staff review methods and practices based on lessons learned 
from NRC reviews of design certification and combined license 
applications completed since the last revision of this chapter. Changes 
include removal of reference to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.182 which was 
superseded by RG 1.160 and adding reference to industry guidance 
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 07-02A (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML103410542).
    The NRC staff is issuing this notice to solicit public comments on 
the proposed SRP Section in Chapter 17. After the NRC staff considers 
any public comments, it will publish a final SRP Section in Chapter 17.

Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This draft SRP, if finalized, would provide guidance to the NRC 
staff for reviewing applications for a construction permit and an 
operating license under Part 50 of Title10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), with respect to compliance with the Maintenance 
Rule, 10 CFR 50.65 and the guidance in Nuclear Management and Resources 
Council (NUMARC) 93-01 as approved for use by the NRC in Regulatory 
Guide (RG) 1.160. The draft SRP would also provide guidance for 
reviewing an application for a standard design approval, a standard 
design certification, a combined license, and a manufacturing license 
under 10 CFR Part 52 with respect to these same subject matters.
    Issuance of this SRP draft section revision, if finalized, would 
not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit 
Rule) or otherwise be inconsistent with the issue finality provisions 
in 10 CFR Part 52. The NRC's position is based upon the following 
considerations.
    1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, would not constitute 
backfitting, inasmuch as the SRP is internal guidance to NRC staff.
    The SRP provides internal guidance to the NRC staff on how to 
review an application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of 
licensing. Changes in internal staff guidance are not matters for which 
either nuclear power plant applicants or licensees are protected under 
either the Backfit Rule or the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR Part 
52.
    2. The NRC staff has no intention to impose the SRP positions on 
existing licensees either now or in the future.
    The NRC staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions 
described in the draft SRP to existing licenses and regulatory 
approvals. Hence, the issuance of a final SRP--even if considered 
guidance within the purview of the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR 
Part 52--would not need to be evaluated as if it were a backfit or as 
being inconsistent with issue finality provisions. If, in the future, 
the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in the SRP on holders of 
already issued licenses in a manner that does not provide issue 
finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision, then 
the NRC staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule or 
address the criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in the 
applicable issue finality provision.
    3. Backfitting and issue finality do not--with limited exceptions 
not applicable here--protect current or future applicants.
    Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain 
exceptions, protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality 
provisions under 10 CFR Part 52. Neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue 
finality provisions under 10 CFR Part 52--with certain exclusions--were 
intended to apply to every NRC action that substantially changes the 
expectations of current and future applicants. The exceptions to the 
general principle are applicable whenever an applicant references a 10 
CFR Part 52 license (e.g., an early site permit) and/or NRC regulatory 
approval (e.g., a design certification rule) with specified issue 
finality provisions. The NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to 
impose the positions represented in the draft SRP in a manner that is 
inconsistent with any issue finality provisions. If, in the future, the 
NRC staff seeks to impose a position in the SRP section in a manner 
that does not provide issue finality as described in the applicable 
issue finality provision, then the NRC staff must address the criteria

[[Page 48506]]

for avoiding issue finality as described in the applicable issue 
finality provision.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 30th day of July 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
George M. Tartal,
Acting Chief, Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors and 
Rulemaking, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2013-19201 Filed 8-7-13; 8:45 am]
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