[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46970-46972]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17047]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2016-0084]
Guidance for Closure of Activities Related to Recommendation 2.1,
Flooding Hazard Reevaluation
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing the
final Japan Lessons-Learned Division Interim Staff Guidance (JLD-ISG),
JLD-ISG-2016-01, ``Guidance for Activities Related to Near-Term Task
Force Recommendation 2.1, Flooding Hazard Reevaluation; Focused
Evaluation and Integrated Assessment.'' The JLD-ISG provides guidance
and clarification to assist operating power reactor licensees and
holders of construction permits under the NRC's regulations with the
performance of the focused evaluations and revised integrated
assessments for external flooding.
DATES: This guidance is effective on July 19, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0084 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0084. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
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]. For
the
[[Page 46971]]
convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided in
a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this document.
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.
NRC's Interim Staff Guidance Web site: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/isg/japan-lessons-learned.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Bowman, Office of Nuclear
Reactor, Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2963; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Following the events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant
on March 11, 2011, the NRC established a senior-level agency task force
referred to as the Near-Term Task Force (NTTF). The NTTF was tasked
with conducting a systematic and methodical review of the NRC
regulations and processes, and determining if the agency should make
additional improvements to these programs in light of the events at
Fukushima Dai-ichi. As a result of this review, the NTTF developed a
comprehensive set of recommendations, documented in SECY-11-0093,
``Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century, the
Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi
Accident,'' dated July 12, 2011. These recommendations were enhanced by
the NRC staff following interactions with stakeholders. Documentation
of the staff's efforts is contained in SECY-11-0124, dated September 9,
2011, and SECY-11-0137, dated October 3, 2011.
As directed by the Commission's SRM for SECY-11-0093, the NRC staff
reviewed the NTTF recommendations within the context of the NRC's
existing regulatory framework and considered the various regulatory
vehicles available to the NRC to implement the recommendations. In
SECY-11-0124 and SECY-11-0137, the staff established the prioritization
of the recommendations. After receiving the Commission's direction in
SRM-SECY-11-0124 and SRM-SECY-11-0137, the NRC staff issued a request
for information pursuant to section 50.54(f) of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Conditions of licenses,'' on March 12,
2012, requesting licensees to reevaluate the seismic and flooding
hazards at their sites using updated hazard information and current
regulatory guidance and methodologies. For plants where the reevaluated
hazard exceeds the plant's design basis, the licensee was to conduct an
integrated assessment. The information gathering is considered to be
Phase 1 and was requested to support Phase 2 decision-making and
determine whether available or planned measures provide sufficient
protection and mitigation capabilities or if further regulatory action
should be pursued in the areas of seismic and flooding design, and
emergency preparedness.
In COMSECY-14-0037, dated November 21, 2014, the NRC staff
requested that the Commission review and approve changes to revise the
Recommendation 2.1 flooding assessments and integrate the Phase 2
decision-making into the development and implementation of mitigating
strategies in accordance with Order EA-12-049 and the related
Mitigation of Beyond-Design-Basis Events rulemaking.
In SRM-COMSECY-14-0037, the Commission disapproved this
recommendation. Instead, the Commission instructed the staff to develop
a closure plan for the flooding reevaluation activities and to reassess
the existing guidance for performing a Phase 1 integrated assessment in
order to focus on those plants with the most potential for safety
benefits.
In COMSECY-15-0019, the staff provided revised guidance for
performing a Phase 1 integrated assessment and described a modified
process for identifying the list of plants that would be required to
perform an integrated assessment. The process proposed by the staff
included the development of a graded, risk-informed and performance-
based approach consistent with Commission direction to focus on those
plants with the greatest potential opportunity for safety enhancements.
Specifically, the process included consideration and evaluation of
local intense precipitation by performing a focused evaluation of the
impact of the hazard and implementing any necessary programmatic,
procedural, or plant modifications to address the hazard, taking into
account available warning time. The process also considered flood
protection and available physical margin, where licensees will confirm
the capability of existing flood protection to address the hazard
exceedance by performing a focused evaluation. For licensees where the
reevaluated hazard cannot be addressed via existing or planned flood
protection, the process also includes the performance of an integrated
assessment, using revised guidance, in order to conduct more detailed
evaluations of plant response capability. This revised integrated
assessment will capture, among other information, quantitative
characteristics about the effectiveness of various aspects of plant
response (e.g., reliability of equipment and feasibility of manual
actions), and risk insights with a focus on cliff-edge effects. The
results will be used by the NRC to determine whether additional
regulatory action, such as a plant- specific backfit, are warranted.
In SRM-COMSECY-15-0019, the Commission approved the staff's plans
to modify the approach for integrated assessments to implement a graded
approach for determining the need for, and prioritization and scope of,
plant-specific integrated assessments. As discussed in COMSECY-15-0019,
the majority of sites with reevaluated flooding hazards exceeding the
design-basis flood are expected to screen out from the integrated
assessment process. The licensees will instead provide focused
evaluations to ensure appropriate actions are taken and that these
actions are effective and reasonable.
The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) submitted guidance NEI 16-05,
``External Flooding Assessment Guidelines,'' Revision 1, on June 10,
2016. The revised guidance is an industry-developed methodology that
describes the flooding impact assessment process, which is intended to
meet the requested information of an integrated assessment, as
described in the document titled, ``Request for Information Pursuant to
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.54(f) Regarding
Recommendations 2.1, 2.3, and 9.3, of the Near-Term Task Force Review
of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident,'' and to incorporate
the changes described in COMSECY-15-0019. This revised guidance will be
publicly available and used by members of the industry to help develop
their responses to the Sec. 50.54(f) letter, including the performance
of focused evaluations and integrated assessments, and by the NRC staff
in its reviews of the licensees' evaluation.
On April 22, 2016 (81 FR 23758), the NRC requested public comments
on draft JLD-ISG-2016-01. The NRC staff received comments from two
stakeholders which were considered in the development of the final JLD-
ISG-16-01. The questions, comments, and staff resolutions of those
comments are contained in ``NRC Responses to Public Comments: Revision
to Japan Lessons-Learned Division Interim Staff Guidance JLD-ISG- 2016-
01: Guidance for
[[Page 46972]]
Activities Related to Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 2.1, Flooding
Hazard Reevaluation; Focused Evaluation and Integrated Assessment''
(ADAMS Accession No. ML16165A103).
II. Congressional Review Act
This JLD-ISG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act
(5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has
not found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review
Act.
III. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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Document title Adams Accession No.
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Request for Information Pursuant to ML12053A340
Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) 50.54(f) Regarding
Recommendations 2.1, 2.3, and 9.3, of
the Near-Term Task Force Review of
Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi
Accident, dated March 12, 2012.
SECY-11-0093, ``Recommendations for ML11186A950
Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st
Century, the Near-Term Task Force
Review of Insights from the Fukushima
Dai-ichi Accident,'' dated July 12,
2011.
Commission's staff requirements ML112310021
memorandum (SRM) for SECY-11-0093,
dated August 19, 2011.
SECY-11-0124, ``Recommended Actions to ML11245A158
be Taken Without Delay from the Near-
Term Task Force Report,'' dated
September 9, 2011.
SRM-SECY-11-0124, dated October 18, 2011 ML112911571
SECY-11-0137, ``Prioritization of ML11272A111
Recommended Actions to be Taken in
Response to Fukushima Lessons
Learned,'' dated October 3, 2011.
SRM-SECY-11-0137, dated December 15, ML113490055
2011.
COMSECY-14-0037, ``Integration of ML14238A616
Mitigating Strategies for Beyond-
Design-Basis External Events and the
Reevaluaton (sic) of Flooding
Hazards,'' dated November 21, 2014.
SRM-COMSECY-14-0037, dated March 30, ML15089A236
2015.
COMSECY-15-0019, ``Closure Plan for the ML15153A104
Reevaluation of Flooding Hazards for
Operating Nuclear Power Plants,'' dated
June 30, 2015.
SRM-COMSECY-15-0019, dated July 28, 2015 ML15209A682
NEI 16-05, ``External Flooding ML16165A176
Assessment Guidelines,'' Rev. 1, dated
June 10, 2016.
JLD-ISG-2016-01 ``Guidance For ML16162A301
Activities Related To Near-Term Task
Force Recommendation 2.1, Flooding
Hazard Reevaluation; Focused Evaluation
and Integrated Assessment,'' Revision 0.
``NRC Responses to Public Comments: ML16165A103
Revision to Japan Lessons-Learned
Division Interim Staff Guidance JLD-ISG-
2016-01: Guidance for Activities
Related to Near-Term Task Force
Recommendation 2.1, Flooding Hazard
Reevaluation; Focused Evaluation and
Integrated Assessment''.
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Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of July, 2016.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mohamed Shams,
Deputy Director, Japan Lessons-Learned Division, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-17047 Filed 7-18-16; 8:45 am]
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