[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79956-79958]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32368]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2015-0251]
Notice of Availability of Draft Guidance Documents for Subsequent
License Renewal
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft NUREG; public meeting and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2191, ``Generic Aging Lessons
Learned for Subsequent License Renewal (GALL-SLR) Report, Volume 1 and
Volume 2,'' and draft NUREG-2192, ``Standard Review Plan for Review of
Subsequent License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants''
(SRP-SLR). These draft documents describe methods acceptable to the NRC
staff for granting a subsequent license renewal in accordance with
license renewal regulations, as well as techniques used by the NRC
staff in evaluating applications for subsequent license renewal. Public
meetings related to the issuance of these NUREGs are planned to be held
on January 27 and 28, 2016, and February 23, 2016, at NRC's
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headquarters. Information about the public meetings will be posted on
the NRC's Web site at http://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg.
DATES: Submit comments by February 29, 2016. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received
on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0251. 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: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bennett Brady, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2981, email:
[email protected] or Steven Bloom, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2431, email: [email protected]; 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-2015-0251 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0251.
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 NUREG-2191; ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned for Subsequent
License Renewal (GALL-SLR) Report, Volumes 1 and 2,'' and draft NUREG-
2192; ``Standard Review Plan for Review of Subsequent License Renewal
Applications for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP-SLR) are available in
ADAMS under ADAMS Accession Nos ML15348A111, ML15348A153, and
ML15348A265, respectively.
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-2015-0251 in 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 enter 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 into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
The Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as amended, authorizes the NRC
to issue 40-year initial licenses and upon application and approval,
subsequently renew licenses for nuclear power reactors. The NRC
regulations permit these licenses to be renewed beyond the initial 40-
year term for an additional period of time, limited to 20-year
increments per renewal, based on the outcome of an assessment to
determine if the nuclear facility can continue to operate safely during
the proposed period of extended operation. There are no limitations in
the AEA or the NRC's regulations restricting the number of times a
license may be renewed.
Based on interactions with the nuclear power industry, the NRC
staff believes the first applications for subsequent license renewal, a
term referring to all license renewals allowing a plant to operate
beyond the 60-year period (40-year of an original operating license and
a 20-year period of the first license renewal), may be submitted in
2018 or 2019.
The NRC has developed draft guidance for utilities wishing to apply
for subsequent license renewal. The guidance documents for first
license renewal (i.e., for operation from 40 to 60 years), the Generic
Aging Lessons Learned Report, Revision 2 (GALL Report Rev. 2, ADAMS
Accession Number ML103490041), and the Standard Review Plan for Review
of License Renewal Applications, Revision 2 (SRP-LR Rev. 2, ADAMS
Accession Number ML103490036) have been revised to reflect aging
differences for increased operating time from 60 to 80 years, to
consider new operating experience since the release of GALL Report Rev.
2, and to cover gaps identified in the GALL Report Rev 2. The GALL-SLR
Report and SRP-SLR also include changes that have been previously
issued for public comment as part of the staff's license renewal
Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) process. These ISGs can be found at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/isg/license-renewal.html. The
NRC issued a draft ISG-2015-01, ``Changes to Buried and Underground
Piping and Tank Recommendations,'' for public comment in the Federal
Register (80 FR 37028; June 29, 2015; ADAMS Accession No ML15125A377).
The staff is in the final process of reviewing this ISG for issuance as
a final document. Upon issuance, the changes to the aging management
program XI.M41, ``Buried and Underground Piping and Tanks,'' will be
incorporated into the GALL-SLR Report and the associated sections of
the SRP-SLR. Because the staff has previously sought and received
public comments on these ISGs, the staff is not seeking further
comments on these changes. They will be incorporated in the Final GALL-
SLR Report and Final SRP-SLR.
The NRC is also announcing public meetings during the public
comment period. Scheduled for January 27 and 28, 2016, and February 23,
2016, these meetings will be held at the NRC headquarters in Rockville,
MD. The formal meeting notices are available at http://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg. It is anticipated that the public meetings
will provide the participants an opportunity to obtain additional
information, ask questions, and to otherwise facilitate the public in
formulating and preparing written comments for NRC's staff
[[Page 79958]]
consideration on these guidance documents. However, as these meetings
will not be transcribed, the NRC encourages participants in these
meetings to provide written comments to ensure that their comments and
the reasons or justifications for their comments are clearly understood
and considered.
Submitted comments should include detailed, supporting
justification for the NRC staff to evaluate the need for changes in
guidance, as well as references to the operating experience, industry
standards, or other relevant reference materials that provide a sound
technical basis for such changes. The NRC is also interested in
comments that will improve the clarity of the documents so that the
final guidance will provide a stable and acceptable evaluation standard
for future subsequent license renewal applications. These guidance
documents describe an acceptable, but not required, means for nuclear
power plants to meet the license renewal regulations for operation
during the subsequent period of extended operation. Editorial and style
comments are not necessary and will not be considered, because the
final versions will reflect any necessary editorial and style changes.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of December 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christopher G. Miller,
Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2015-32368 Filed 12-22-15; 8:45 am]
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