[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 180 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55878-55879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23365]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2015-0220]


Seismic Design Classification for 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-1315, ``Seismic Design 
Classification for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The DG describes a method 
that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in identifying and 
classifying those features of light-water-reactor (LWR) nuclear power 
plants that must be designed to withstand the effects of the safe-
shutdown earthquake (SSE). DG-1315 is proposed revision 5 of Regulatory 
Guide (RG) 1.29.

DATES: Submit comments by November 16, 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-2015-0220. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-12H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

[[Page 55879]]

    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: Yiu Law, Office of New Reactors, 
telephone: 301-415-0523, email: [email protected] or Edward O'Donnell, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317, 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-2015-0220 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain pubically-available information related to this document by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0220.
     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 
DG is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML15061A048.
     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-2015-0220 in the subject line of your 
comment submission.
    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 will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enters 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 submissions. 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 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 issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in 
its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    The DG, entitled, ``Seismic Design Classification for Nuclear Power 
Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1315. DG-
1315 is proposed revision 5 of RG 1.29. The guide describes a method 
that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for use in identifying 
and classifying those features of LWR nuclear power plants that must be 
designed to withstand the effects of the SSE.
    This DG does not present new regulatory requirements, but is 
intended to clarify content in Section C, ``Staff Regulatory 
Guidance,'' by (1) addition of a reference to the definition of the 
reactor coolant pressure boundary in section 50.2 of Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and (2) a reorganization of systems 
and subsystems to add clarity to the staff guidance. It also adds a 
reference to a related international standard, and it was reformatted 
to align with current program guidance for regulatory guides.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    DG-1315 describes a method that the staff of the NRC considers 
acceptable for use in identifying and classifying those features of LWR 
nuclear power plants that must be designed to withstand the effects of 
the SSE. Issuance of 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 guided, if finalized, 
on holders of current operating licenses or combined licenses.
    This DG may be applied to applications for operating licenses, 
combined licenses, early site permits, and certified design rules 
docketed by the NRC as of the date of issuance of the final regulatory 
guide, as well as future applications submitted after the issuance of 
the regulatory guide. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in the Backfit Rule or be otherwise inconsistent with the 
applicable issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such 
applicants or potential applicants are not within the scope of entities 
protected by the Backfit Rule or the relevant issue finality provisions 
in part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of September, 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. 2015-23365 Filed 9-16-15; 8:45 am]
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