[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 47 (Monday, March 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13511-13512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04873]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2017-0073]
Non-Light Water Reactor Security Design Considerations
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Preliminary draft guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment preliminary draft guidance on non-light water reactor
security design considerations. The Commission's ``Policy Statement on
the Regulation of Advanced Reactors'' states that the design of
advanced reactors should consider safety and security requirements
together in the design process such that security issues (e.g., newly
identified threats of terrorist attacks) can be effectively resolved
through facility design and engineered security features, formulation
of mitigation measures, and reduced reliance on human actions. The
NRC's preliminary draft guidance document would set forth a set of
``security design considerations'' that a designer should consider
while developing the facility design.
DATES: Submit comments by April 27, 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. Because this is a preliminary draft, comments will not be
responded to individually but will be considered by the NRC staff when
developing the draft guidance document.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specified subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0073. 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-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: George Tartal, Office of New Reactors,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-0016, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0073 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding 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-2017-0073.
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
preliminary draft guidance document is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML16305A328.
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-2017-0073 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 enters 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. Additional Information
The NRC is issuing for public comment preliminary draft guidance on
non-light water reactor security design considerations. This document
would set forth a set of ``security design considerations'' that a
designer should consider while developing the facility design.
Consistent with the Commission's ``Policy Statement on the Regulation
of Advanced Reactors,'' these considerations should be considered early
in the design process. The preliminary draft guidance document is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16305A328.
After receiving and considering comments, the NRC staff intends to
include the security design considerations in a guidance document that
is being developed for advanced reactor design criteria for non-light
water reactors (non-LWRs). These design criteria address the safety
aspects of non-LWRs. The NRC staff intends that the guidance document
will include both safety design criteria and security design
considerations.
Please note that some of the referenced documents within the
security design considerations are not publicly available because they
contain safeguards information, security-related information, or other
types of information that the NRC cannot release to the public.
[[Page 13512]]
III. Backfitting and Issue Finality
This preliminary draft guidance would set forth a set of security
design considerations that a designer should consider while developing
the facility design. These considerations, if adequately implemented
through detailed design, along with the adequate implementation of
administrative controls and security programs, are one way to protect a
nuclear power reactor against the design basis threat for radiological
sabotage. These considerations do not limit designers or applicants
from applying other methods or approaches in designing engineered
systems to perform intended security functions.
The purpose of this preliminary draft guidance is to assist the NRC
staff and future applicants. The security design considerations are not
regulatory requirements. Parts 50 and 52 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), require that an application for an
operating license, design certification, combined license, standard
design approval, or manufacturing license, describe how the proposed
facility would comply with the physical and cyber security requirements
in Sec. Sec. 73.55 and 54, respectively. The security design
considerations provide guidance intended to support the resolution of
security issues through the facility design.
This preliminary draft guidance, if finalized, for example, in a
regulatory guide, would not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR
50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and would not otherwise be inconsistent with
the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This guidance,
if finalized, would represent the first NRC guidance on this subject.
Issuance of new guidance, by itself, does not represent backfitting
unless the NRC intends to impose the guidance on existing licensees and
currently-approved design certification rules issued under 10 CFR part
52. The NRC does not have such an intention.
Existing licensees and applicants of final design certification
rules would not be required to comply with this guidance, unless the
licensee or design certification rule applicant seeks a voluntary
change to its licensing basis with respect to resolving security
matters through facility design.
Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain
exceptions, protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality
provisions under 10 CFR part 52. Neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue
finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52--with certain exceptions
discussed in the next paragraph--were intended to apply to every NRC
action which substantially changes the expectations of current and
future applicants. Therefore, this guidance, if finalized and imposed
on applicants, would not represent backfitting (except as discussed
below).
The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever a
combined license applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (i.e.,
an early site permit or a manufacturing license) and/or 10 CFR part 52
regulatory approval (i.e., a design certification rule or standard
design approval). The NRC does not, at this time, intend to impose the
positions represented in this preliminary draft guidance in a manner
that is inconsistent with any issue finality provisions in the 10 CFR
part 52 licenses and regulatory approvals. If, in the future, the NRC
seeks to impose a position in this guidance in a manner which does not
provide issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality
provision, then the NRC must address the criteria for avoiding issue
finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of March, 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael E. Mayfield,
Deputy Director (Acting), Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2017-04873 Filed 3-10-17; 8:45 am]
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