[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 193 (Monday, October 6, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60197-60199]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23717]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0093]


Medical Evaluation of Licensed Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.134, ``Medical Assessment of 
Licensed

[[Page 60198]]

Operators or Applicants for Operator Licenses at Nuclear Power 
Plants.'' The NRC is updating RG 1.134 based upon the regulatory 
experience gained since the previous revision was issued and to endorse 
the 2013 revision to the underlying consensus standard, American 
National Standard Institute/American Nuclear Society (ANSI/ANS) 
Standard 3.4, ``Medical Certification and Monitoring of Personnel 
Requiring Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The guide helps to 
ensure that medical certifications (and related medical evidence) are 
sufficient to meet the NRC's nuclear power reactor operator licensing 
requirements.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0093 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0093. 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 4 of Regulatory Guide 1.134 is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML14189A385. The regulatory analysis may be found 
in ADAMS under Accession No. ML13352A279.
     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: Lawrence Vick, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3181, email: 
[email protected], or Richard Jervey, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: 301-251-7404, email: [email protected]. Both 
are staff of the 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 information such as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
agency'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.
    Revision 4 of RG 1.134 was issued with a temporary identification 
as draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1310. The guidance is intended for 
use by nuclear power plant license holders under part 50 of Title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of 
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' and 10 CFR Part 52, 
``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' 
Licensees of these facilities are required under 10 CFR 50.54, 
``Conditions of Licensees,'' to use qualified licensed operators as 
described in 10 CFR Part 55, ``Operators' Licenses.''
    Regulatory Guide 1.134, Revision 3, ``Medical Evaluation of 
Licensed Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants,'' was issued in 1998 to 
identify that consensus standard ANSI/ANS 3.4 (1996), ``Medical 
Certification and Monitoring of Personnel Requiring Operator Licenses 
for Nuclear Power Plants,'' was a method acceptable to the staff for 
complying with those portions of the NRC's regulations associated with 
approval or acceptance of medical examination certifications at nuclear 
power plants.
    The consensus standard ANSI/ANS 3.4 was issued in 2013 to provide 
clarification and comprehensive medical guidance to improve industry's 
consistent implementation of the standard. This included clarification 
of specific minimum requirements, disqualifying conditions, conditional 
restrictions, examination methods, and monitoring methods for each 
medical area. The 2013 issue also included consideration of other 
industry medical standards, including those of the U.S. Department of 
Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration as well as medical 
criteria that reflected progressions in medical science including 
updated terminology, current medical practices, criteria for normality, 
and risk assessments.
    Regulatory Guide 1.134 was revised to identify to licensees that 
ANSI/ANS 3.4-2013 is acceptable for their use. The guide helps to 
ensure that medical certifications (and related medical evidence) used 
to meet the operator licensing requirements of 10 CFR part 55 are 
sufficient with respect to (1) an applicant's or operator licensee's 
medical examination, as described in 10 CFR 55.21, ``Medical 
Examination''; (2) a facility licensee's medical certification, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.23, ``Certification''; (3) an operator 
licensee's incapacitation because of disability or illness, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.25, ``Incapacitation Because of Disability or 
Illness''; and (4) a facility licensee's medical documentation, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.27, ``Documentation.''

II. Additional Information

    The DG-1310 was published in the Federal Register on April 25, 2014 
(79 FR 23017), for a 30-day public comment period. The public comment 
period closed on May 27, 2014. There were no public comments received

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not 
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Regulatory Guide 1.134, Revision 4, provides updated guidance on 
the methods acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the NRC's 
regulations associated with approval or acceptance of the medical 
assessment of an applicant for, or holder of, an operator or senior 
operator license at a nuclear power plant. The guide applies to current 
and future applicants for, and holders of, power reactor licenses under 
10 CFR parts 50 and 52 and power reactor operating licenses under 10 
CFR part 55. Issuance of RG 1.134, revision 4, does not constitute 
backfitting under 10 CFR part 50 and is not otherwise inconsistent with 
the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR Part 52. As discussed in the 
``Implementation'' section of RG 1.134, revision 4, the NRC has no 
current intention to impose the RG on current holders of 10 CFR part 50 
operating licenses or 10 CFR part 52 combined licenses. Part 55 does 
not

[[Page 60199]]

contain backfitting or issue finality regulations, and power reactor 
operating licensees are not protected by the backfitting provisions in 
10 CFR 50.109 or the 10 CFR part 52 issue finality provisions because 
neither 10 CFR 50.109 nor 10 CFR part 52 applies to 10 CFR part 55 
power reactor operating licensees.
    This RG could be applied to applications for 10 CFR part 50 
operating licenses, 10 CFR part 52 combined licenses, or 10 CFR part 55 
operator licenses. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in 10 CFR 50.109 or be otherwise inconsistent with the 
applicable issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such 
applicants are not within the scope of entities protected by 10 CFR 
50.109 or the relevant issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of September, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-23717 Filed 10-3-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P