[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 73 (Thursday, April 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20511-20512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-08739]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2015-0091]


Quality Group Classifications and Standards for Water-, Steam-, 
and Radioactive-Waste-Containing Components of Nuclear Power Plants

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-1314, ``Quality Group 
Classifications and Standards for Water-, Steam-, and Radioactive-
Waste-Containing Components of Nuclear Power Plants.'' This guidance 
has been revised to update references to related NRC guidance, to 
incorporate lessons learned from recent NRC reviews and regulatory 
activities, and to align the format and content of the guide with the 
current program guidance for regulatory guides (RGs) which was 
developed since Revision 4 of RG 1.26 was issued.

DATES: Submit comments by June 15, 2015. 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 specified subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0091. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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: O12H08M, 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: Sardar Ahmed, telephone: 301-415-2836, 
email: [email protected] or Stephen Burton, telephone: 301-415-7000, 
email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the 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-2015-0091 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain pubically-available information related to this document, by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0091.
     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 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it available in 
ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. The DG 
is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14356A249.

[[Page 20512]]

     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-2015-0091 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. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG 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.
    The DG, entitled, ``Quality Group Classifications and Standards for 
Water-, Steam-, and Radioactive-Waste-Containing Components of Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1314. 
This DG-1314 is proposed revision 5 of RG 1.26. The guide describes a 
quality classification system related to specified national standards 
that may be used to determine quality standards acceptable to the staff 
of the NRC for satisfying General Design Criterion 1, ``Quality 
Standards and Records,'' as set forth in appendix A, ``General Design 
Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to part 50 of Title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' for components containing water, steam, or 
radioactive material in light-water-cooled nuclear power plants.
    This guidance has been revised to update references to related 
guidance, to incorporate lessons learned from recent reviews and 
regulatory activities, and to align the format and content of the guide 
with the current program guidance for regulatory guides since Revision 
4 of RG 1.26 was issued.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This draft regulatory guide may be used by applicants for 
construction permits and operating licenses under 10 CFR part 50, and 
early site permits, standard design certifications, standard design 
approvals, and combined licenses under 10 CFR part 52. Holders of 
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, standard 
design approvals, and combined licenses, and applicants for standard 
design certifications after the NRC issues a final design certification 
rule may also use the guidance in this draft regualtory guide, if 
finalized.
    This DG, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined 
in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and would not otherwise be 
inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. As 
discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this DG, the NRC has no 
current intention to impose this DG on current holders of operating 
licenses or combined licenses.
    This DG, if finalized, may be applied to applications for operating 
licenses and combined licenses docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final RG, as well as future applications for operating 
licenses and combined licenses submitted after the issuance of the RG. 
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, with exceptions not applicable here, are not 
within the scope of entities protected by the Backfit Rule or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in part 52.
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an 
applicant references a part 52 license (e.g., an early site permit) 
and/or NRC's regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification rule) 
with specified issue finality provisions. The staff does not, at this 
time, intend to impose the positions represented in this regulatory 
guide in a manner that is inconsistent with any of the issue finality 
provisions applicable to early site permits (10 CFR 52.39), design 
certifications (10 CFR 52.63), or combined license applications 
referencing an early site permit (10 CFR 52.83). If, in the future, the 
staff seeks to impose a position in this regulatory guide in a manner 
which does not provide issue finality as described in the applicable 
issue finality provision, then the staff must make address the criteria 
for avoiding issue finality as described applicable issue finality 
provision.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of April 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2015-08739 Filed 4-15-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P