[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]
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