[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 205 (Thursday, October 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63446-63447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25227]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0232]


Applicability of ASME Code Case N-770-1, as Conditioned by 
Federal Regulation, to Branch Connection Butt Welds

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on draft regulatory issue summary (RIS) 2014-XX. This draft RIS 
is addressed to all holders of an operating license or construction 
permit for a pressurized water nuclear power reactor under the NRC's 
regulations, except those who have permanently ceased operations and 
have certified that fuel has been permanently removed from the reactor 
vessel. This draft RIS would inform these entities about reactor 
coolant system Alloy 82/182 branch connection dissimilar metal nozzle 
weld that may be of a butt weld configuration and therefore require 
inspection under the NRC's regulations. This RIS also informs these 
entities of a licensee's recent misclassification and missed 
inspections to Alloy 82/182 dissimilar metal butt welds in branch 
connections of primary coolant loop piping.

DATES: Submit comments by December 8, 2014. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to assure 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-2014-0232. 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, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN, 06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanya Mensah, telephone: 301-415-3610, 
email: [email protected]; or Jay Collins, telephone: 301-415-4038, 
email: [email protected], both are staff of the Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0232 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
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-2014-0232.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 RIS is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14196A065.
     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-2014-0232 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.

[[Page 63447]]

II. Background

    The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad 
range of regulatory matters. This may include communicating staff 
technical positions on matters that have not been communicated to or 
are not broadly understood by the nuclear industry. The NRC staff has 
developed draft RIS 2014-XX, ``Applicability of ASME Code Case N-770-1 
As Conditioned In 10 CFR 50.55a, ``Codes and Standards,'' To Branch 
Connection Butt Welds,'' to inform addresses about reactor coolant 
system Alloy 82/182 branch connection dissimilar metal nozzle welds 
that may be of a butt weld configuration and therefore require 
inspection under 10 CFR 50.55a(g)(6)(ii)(F). The RIS, if issued in 
final form, would be used by all holders of an operating license or 
construction permit for a pressurized water nuclear power reactor under 
10 CFR Part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities,'' except those who have permanently ceased operations and 
have certified that fuel has been permanently removed from the reactor 
vessel. The draft RIS explains that these entities should review this 
information for applicability to their Alloy 600 management plan to 
ensure all applicable butt welds are being inspected.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of October, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tanya Mensah,
Acting Chief, Generic Communications Branch, Division of Policy and 
Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2014-25227 Filed 10-22-14; 8:45 am]
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