[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73566-73568]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29163]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2013-0264]


Standard Format and Content for a License Application for an 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation or a Monitored Retrievable 
Storage Facility

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-3042, ``Standard Format 
and Content for a License Application for an Independent Spent Fuel 
Storage Installation or a Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility.'' 
This draft regulatory guide is proposed revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 
3.50, which provides a format that the NRC considers acceptable for 
submitting the information for license applications to store spent 
nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or reactor-related 
Greater than Class C waste.

DATES: Submit comments by January 24, 2014. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 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

[[Page 73567]]

for Docket ID NRC-2013-0264. 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- 06A-A44M, 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: Jazel Parks, Regulatory Guide 
Development Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone 301-
251-7690, email: [email protected] or Josh Goshen, Licensing Branch, 
Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-287-9250, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0264 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses 
and is publicly available, by the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0264.
     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 draft regulatory guide 
is available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML12087A035. 
The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML12087A039.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0264 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 you 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 NRC is issuing for public comment a draft 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 regulatory guide provides a format that the NRC considers 
acceptable for submitting the information for license applications to 
store spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or reactor-
related Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste. Part 72 of Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Licensing Requirements for the 
Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive 
Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater Than Class C Waste'' (Ref. 1), 
Subpart B, ``License Application, Form, and Contents,'' specifies the 
information that must be in an application for a license to store spent 
nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or power-reactor-
related GTCC waste in an independent spent fuel storage installation 
(ISFSI) or to store spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, 
and GTCC waste in a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility.
    The draft regulatory guide, entitled ``Standard Format and Content 
for a License Application for an Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installation or a Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility,'' is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-3042. The DG-3042 is 
proposed revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 3.50, dated September 1989.
    This revision to RG 3.50 (Revision 2) was issued to conform to the 
format and content requirements in 10 CFR part 72, which has been 
revised several times since Revision 1 was issued, and to update 
guidance on electronic submissions of applications. In addition, 
Revision 2 includes editorial changes to improve clarity.

II. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This draft regulatory guide, if finalized, will provide guidance on 
one possible means for meeting NRC's regulatory requirements in 10 CFR 
72.22-34 regarding the format and content for license applications for 
an ISFSI or MRS. This draft regulatory guide may be applied to license 
applications for ISFSIs and MRSs docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future applications 
for such licenses submitted after the issuance of the regulatory guide. 
This regulatory guide does not apply to current license applications 
for ISFSIs, and there are no current applications for an MRS.
    This draft regulatory guide, if finalized, would not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 72.62(a). The regulatory guide applies 
only to future applicants, who are not within the scope of entities 
protected by Sec.  72.62. In addition, the subject matter of this 
regulatory guide does not concern matters dealing with either the 
structures, systems and components of an ISFSI or MRS, or the 
procedures or organization for operating an ISFSI or MRS. Therefore, 
the matters addressed in this draft regulatory guide are not within the 
scope of the backfitting provisions in Sec.  72.62(a)(1) or (2).
    This draft regulatory guide, if finalized, would not apply to 
entities

[[Page 73568]]

protected by issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52 with respect 
to the matters addressed in this regulatory guide. Although part 52 
combined license applicants and holders may apply for specific ISFSI 
licenses, the guidance in this regulatory guide is directed to ISFSI 
applicants and does not make a distinction between, and presents no 
more onerous guidance for, ISFSI applicants who are also combined 
license applicants or holders, than for ISFSI applicants who are not 
combined license applicants and holders.
    Accordingly, the NRC concludes that this draft regulatory guide, if 
finalized, would not be inconsistent with any part 52 issue finality 
provision.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of November, 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2013-29163 Filed 12-5-13; 8:45 am]
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