[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 247 (Friday, December 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 94431-94433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30896]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2016-0268]
Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation
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-3050, ``Spent Fuel Heat
Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation.'' This
proposed revision (Revision 2) to RG 3.54 provides methods acceptable
to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff for calculating spent
nuclear fuel heat generation rates for use for an independent spent
fuel storage installation (ISFSI).
DATES: Submit comments by February 21, 2017. 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,
[[Page 94432]]
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:
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0268. 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-12H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
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: Alexis Sotomayor-Rivera, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7265; email:
[email protected] and Harriet Karagiannis, Office of
Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2493 or 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-2016-0268 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
obtain publically-available information related to this document, by
any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0268.
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 available in
ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. The DG
is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16139A215.
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-2016-0268 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 posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering 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 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 submissions 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 information regarding 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, ``Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent
Spent Fuel Storage Installation,'' is temporarily identified by its
task number, DG-3050. Draft Guide-3050 is proposed Revision 2 to
Regulatory Guide (RG) 3.54, dated January 1999.
This revision (Revision 2) presents an up-to-date methodology for
determining heat generation rates for both PWR and BWR fuel and
provides greater flexibility (less restrictions) than the previous
revision. It allows loading of higher burnup fuel by using more
accurate methods for decay heat calculations by covering a wider range
of fuel characteristics, including operating history.
III. Backfitting and Issue Finality
This draft regulatory guide, if finalized, would provide guidance
to general and specific NRC part 72 licensees with respect to
determining heat generation rates for spent fuel. Issuance of this
draft regulatory guide, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting
as defined in in section 72.62(a) of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR), which is applicable to ISFSIs. Issuance of the
draft regulatory guide, if finalized, would also not constitute
backfitting under 10 CFR 50.109, or otherwise be inconsistent with the
issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. The staff's position is
based upon the following considerations.
1. The draft regulatory guide positions, if finalized, describe a
methodology acceptable to the NRC staff, and expressly states that
current licensees may continue to use guidance the NRC found acceptable
for complying with the identified regulations as long as the licensee
does not initiate, as a voluntary matter, a change to its current
licensing basis. Therefore, the guidance, if finalized, would not
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 72.62(a).
2. The NRC has no intention of imposing the positions in the draft
regulatory guide on existing ISFSI or nuclear power plant licenses
either now or in the future (absent a voluntary request for change from
the licensee).
3. The matters addressed in the regulatory guide apply equally to
both specific licensees under part 72 as well as general licensees
under who hold ISFSI licensees by virtue of their status as holders of
part 50 operating licenses or as holders of part 52 combined licenses.
4. Backfitting and issue finality do not--with limited exceptions
not applicable here--protect current or future applicants. Applicants
and potential applicants are not, with certain exceptions, protected by
the backfitting provisions in 10 CFR 72.62. This is because the
backfitting provisions in Part 72 were not intended to apply to every
NRC action which substantially changes the expectations of current and
future applicants.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of December, 2016.
[[Page 94433]]
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. 2016-30896 Filed 12-22-16; 8:45 am]
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