[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10504-10505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02866]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0040]


Initiatives To Address Gas Accumulation Following Generic Letter 
2008-01

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS) setting forth a 
licensee's responsibility for ensuring systems remain operable with 
respect to the accumulation of gas, regardless of whether the licensee 
chooses to voluntarily implement two industry initiatives to address 
weaknesses in the management of gas accumulation.

DATES: Submit comments by March 15, 2017. 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-2017-0040. 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.
     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: Diana Woodyatt, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1245, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0040 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-2017-0040.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2017-0040 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 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 submissions into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad 
range of matters. This may include communicating previous NRC 
endorsement of industry guidance on technical or regulatory matters. 
The NRC is issuing this RIS to inform affected entities that licensees 
who choose not to implement two voluntary industry efforts to address 
gas accumulation issues \1\ must ensure that systems remain operable 
with respect to the potential for accumulation of gas, in accordance 
with their plant-specific technical specifications (TSs) and their 
plants' licensing basis. Generic programmatic and licensing concerns 
with respect to gas accumulation were identified through the NRC's 
review of responses to Generic Letter (GL) 2008-01, ``Managing Gas 
Accumulation in Emergency Core Cooling, Decay Heat Removal, and 
Containment Spray Systems,'' dated January 11, 2008 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML072910759).
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    \1\ Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 09-10, ``Guidelines for 
Effective Prevention and Management of System Gas Accumulation,'' 
Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML110030892); and Technical 
Specification Task Force (TSTF)-523, ``Generic Letter 2008-01, 
Managing Gas Accumulation,'' Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13053A075).
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    The NRC issued GL 2008-01 to (1) request that licensees submit 
information to demonstrate that the

[[Page 10505]]

subject systems are in compliance with the current licensing and design 
bases and applicable regulatory requirements, and that suitable design, 
operational, and testing control measures are in place for maintaining 
this compliance; and (2) collect the requested information to determine 
whether additional regulatory action is required. As a result of its 
review of the GL 2008-01 responses, the NRC identified that some plant-
specific TS did not cover all systems or locations susceptible to gas 
accumulation. Accordingly, the NRC staff determined that enhancements 
to TSs and the standard technical specifications (STSs) were desirable. 
The nuclear industry undertook two primary initiatives to address the 
desired regulatory guidance and TS enhancements, NEI 09-10 and TSTF-
523. The NRC issued RIS 2013-09, ``NRC Endorsement of NEI 09-10, 
Revision 1a-A, `Guidelines for Effective Prevention and Management of 
System Gas Accumulation''' (ADAMS Accession No. ML13178A152), to 
endorse NEI 09-10 as an acceptable and recommended approach for 
managing gas accumulation. The NRC staff approved for use TSTF-523, 
Revision 2, in a Federal Register notice on January 15, 2014 (79 FR 
2700).
    Although the NRC issued plant-specific closure letters following 
its review of information submitted in response to GL 2008-01, the 
closure letters did not address development of additional regulatory 
guidance or enhancements to both plant-specific TS and STS 
requirements. The NRC staff accepted the incorporation of a gas 
management program consistent with NEI 09-10 and the adoption of TSTF-
523 as approaches for plants to sufficiently demonstrate the continued 
operability of safety significant systems susceptible to gas 
accumulation.

III. Request for Comment

    This draft RIS sets forth the regulatory history of the NRC's 
concerns with gas accumulation, as summarized above in Section II, 
``Background.'' This draft RIS, if finalized would advise affected 
entities that those licensees who choose not to implement NEI 09-10 and 
TSTF-523 must ensure, through some appropriate means, that systems 
remain operable with respect to the potential for accumulation of gas, 
in accordance with their plant-specific TSs and their plants' licensing 
basis.
    The NRC requests public comments on the draft RIS. The NRC staff 
will make a final determination regarding issuance of the RIS after it 
considers any public comments received in response to this request. The 
draft RIS is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16244A787.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 06th day of February 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Sheldon D. Stuchell,
Chief, Generic Communications Branch, Division of Policy and 
Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-02866 Filed 2-10-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P