[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64027-64028]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-25255]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2011-0129]
Preoperational Testing of Emergency Core Cooling Systems for
Pressurized-Water Reactors
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Regulatory Guide; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a
revision to regulatory guide (RG), 1.79, ``Preoperational Testing of
Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized-Water Reactors.'' This
RG is being revised to incorporate guidance for preoperational testing
of new pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0129 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-2011-0129. 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.
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 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. Revision 2 of RG 1.79 is available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML113540207. The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML113540212.
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.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not
required to reproduce them.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Talbot, telephone: 301-415-3145,
email: [email protected], Office of New Reactors, or Mark P. Orr,
telephone: 301-251-7495, email: [email protected], Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing 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.
This revision of RG 1.79 describes the general scope and depth the
NRC staff considers acceptable for demonstrating compliance with the
NRC regulations relating to preoperational testing of features in the
emergency core cooling systems (ECCSs) of pressurized water reactors
(PWRs). This RG also describes methods the NRC staff finds acceptable
for preoperational testing of ECCS structures, systems, and components
(SSCs). Appendix A of RG 1.79 contains a discussion of the ECCS for the
current fleet of PWRs as well as diagrams and descriptions of the ECCS
for advanced PWR designs including the U.S. Advanced Pressurized-Water
Reactor, U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor, and AP1000.
This RG describes preoperational testing methods acceptable to the
NRC staff specifically for ECCSs in PWRs. This RG is applicable to all
PWRs
[[Page 64028]]
licensed under part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization
Facilities'' or 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.''
Nuclear power plant SSCs must be tested to quality standards
commensurate with their importance to safety. Criterion XI, ``Test
Control,'' of Appendix B, ``Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear
Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants,'' to 10 CFR part 50 requires
licensees to establish a testing program to identify and perform all
tests needed to demonstrate that SSCs will perform satisfactorily in
service. This testing program is to be conducted in accordance with
written test procedures that incorporate the requirements and
acceptance criteria in applicable design documents. The ECCS functions
to be tested are those necessary to ensure that specified design
functions of the ECCS are met during any condition of normal operation,
including abnormal operating occurrences, or because of postulated
accident conditions.
II. Additional Information
Revision 2 of RG 1.79 was issued with a temporary identification as
Draft Regulatory Guide (DG) 1253, ``Preoperational Testing of Emergency
Core Cooling Systems for Pressurized-Water Reactors.'' Draft Regulatory
Guide 1253, was published in the Federal Register on June 7, 2011 (76
FR 32878), for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment
period closed on August 5, 2011, and no public comments were received.
A companion guide, DG-1277, ``Initial Test Program of Emergency Core
Cooling Systems for New Boiling-Water Reactors'' (proposed new RG
1.79.1) was published for public comment on June 15, 2012 (77 FR
36014). A total of 45 comments were received on DG-1277. Of these, 5
comments were considered to be applicable to both DG-1253 and DG-1277.
These 5 comments resulted in revisions to this guide. The comments and
the NRC staff responses are available in ADAMS at Accession No.
ML13007A389.
IV. Congressional Review Act
This regulatory guide is a rule as designated in the Congressional
Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) has not found it to be a major rule as designated in the
Congressional Review Act.
III. Backfitting and Issue Finality
Issuance of this final regulatory guide does not constitute
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and is not
otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR
part 52. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this
regulatory guide, the NRC has no current intention to impose this
regulatory guide on holders of current operating licenses or combined
licenses.
This regulatory guide may be applied to applications for operating
licenses and combined licenses docketed by the NRC as of the date of
issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future applications
for operating licenses and combined licenses submitted after the
issuance of the regulatory guide. Such action does not constitute
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) or is otherwise
inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provision in 10 CFR
part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or potential applicants are not
within the scope of entities protected by the Backfit Rule or the
relevant issue finality provisions in part 52.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of October 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering,
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2013-25255 Filed 10-24-13; 8:45 am]
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