[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]
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