[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
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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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