[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ACTION: Preliminary draft guidance; request for comment.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public comment preliminary draft guidance on non-light water reactor 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NRC's preliminary draft guidance document would set forth a set of 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developing the draft guidance document.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]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P