[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 7, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88276-88277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29363]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0108]


Changes to Aging Management Guidance for Various Steam Generator 
Components

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 License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR-ISG-2016-01, 
``Changes to Aging Management Guidance for Various Steam Generator 
Components.'' This LR-ISG describes changes to aging management program 
(AMP) XI.M19, ``Steam Generators,'' and aging management review (AMR) 
items for steam generator components in NUREG-1801, ``Generic Aging 
Lessons Learned (GALL) Report,'' Revision 2, and NUREG-1800, ``Standard 
Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear 
Power Plants'' (SRP-LR), Revision 2.

DATES: This guidance is effective on January 6, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0108 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-2016-0108. 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]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seung Min, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-

[[Page 88277]]

0001; telephone: 301-415-2045; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The NRC issues LR-ISGs to communicate insights and lessons learned 
and to address emergent issues not covered in existing license renewal 
guidance documents such as the GALL Report, NUREG-1801, Revision 2 
(December 2010); and the SRP-LR, NUREG-1800, Revision 2 (December 
2010), which are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML103490041 
and ML103490036, respectively. The NRC staff and stakeholders may use 
the guidance in an LR-ISG document before it is incorporated into a 
license renewal guidance document revision. The NRC staff issues LR-
ISGs in accordance with the LR-ISG Process, Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML100920158), for which a notice of availability was published in 
the Federal Register on June 22, 2010 (75 FR 35510).
    The NRC staff has developed LR-ISG-2016-01 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML16237A383) to describe changes to the aging management guidance for 
various steam generator components within the scope of part 54 of title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Requirements for 
Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants.'' Specifically, 
this LR-ISG addresses the changes to aging management guidance for 
managing: (a) Cracking due to primary water stress corrosion cracking 
in divider plate assemblies and tube-to-tubesheet welds, and (b) loss 
of material due to boric acid corrosion in steam generator heads 
(interior surfaces) and tubesheets (primary side). In addition, changes 
are made to the associated AMR items in the GALL Report and SRP-LR. 
This LR-ISG also revises the Final Safety Analysis Report supplement 
for GALL Report AMP XI.M19, ``Steam Generators'' that is documented in 
Table 3.0-1, ``FSAR Supplement for Aging Management of Applicable 
Systems'' of the SRP-LR.
    On June 7, 2016, (81 FR 36612) the NRC requested public comments on 
draft LR-ISG-2016-01 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16102A268). The NRC 
received comments from the Nuclear Energy Institute by letter dated 
July 7, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16194A026). No other comments were 
submitted. The NRC considered those comments in developing the final 
LR-ISG. Detailed responses to the comments can be found in Appendix C 
of the final LR-ISG.
    The final LR-ISG-2016-01 is approved for NRC staff and stakeholder 
use and will be incorporated into the next revision of the NRC's 
license renewal guidance document. These changes provide one acceptable 
approach for managing the associated aging effects for steam generator 
components within the scope of the license renewal rule (10 CFR part 
54). A licensee may cite LR-ISG-2016-01 in its license renewal 
application until the guidance in this LR-ISG is incorporated into the 
license renewal guidance documents (i.e., GALL Report and SRP-LR).
    The staff also plans to consider the information in this LR-ISG and 
make corresponding changes when finalizing the aging management 
guidance for the subsequent license renewal period (i.e., up to 80 
years of operation), which is documented in draft NUREG-2191, draft 
``Generic Aging Lessons Learned for Subsequent License Renewal Report'' 
(GALL-SLR) (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML15348A111 and ML15348A153), and 
draft NUREG-2192, draft ``Standard Review Plan for Review of Subsequent 
License Renewal for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP-SLR) (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML15348A265).

II. Congressional Review Act

    This LR-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. Backfitting

    The NRC intends to use the guidance in this LR-ISG when reviewing 
current and future license renewal applications. Issuance of this final 
LR-ISG does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the 
Backfit Rule). As discussed in the ``Backfitting'' section of the final 
LR-ISG-2016-01, the backfitting provisions in 10 CFR 50.109 are not 
applicable to an applicant for a renewed license. Therefore, issuance 
of this LR ISG would not constitute backfitting for licensees currently 
in the license renewal process as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1). This 
guidance is nonbinding and the LR-ISG does not require current holders 
of renewed licenses to take any action (i.e., programmatic or plant 
hardware changes for managing the associated aging effects for 
components within the scope of this LR-ISG). The current holders of 
renewed licenses could treat the information presented in this LR-ISG 
as ``operating experience'' information and consider this information 
to ensure that relevant AMPs are, and will remain, effective. However, 
the NRC could also use the LR-ISG in evaluating voluntary, licensee-
initiated changes to previously approved AMPs.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of November, 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Benjamin G. Beasley,
Acting Deputy Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-29363 Filed 12-6-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P