[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 57 (Monday, March 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15242-15243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05949]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0079]


Quality Assurance Program Criteria (Design and Construction)

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-1326, ``Quality 
Assurance Program Criteria (Design and Construction).'' This proposed 
guide, Revision 5, updates the guidance to endorse, with clarification 
or exceptions, multiple revisions of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers standard NQA-1 titled ``Quality Assurance Requirements for 
Nuclear Facility Applications.'' The proposed revision describes 
methods that NRC considers acceptable for establishing and implementing 
a quality assurance (QA) program for the design and construction of 
nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing plants.

DATES: Submit comments by May 26, 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, 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 
(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-2017-0079. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals 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 obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Thomas, Office of New Reactors, 
telephone: 301-415-6638, email: [email protected]; and Stephen 
Burton, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-7000, 
email: [email protected]. Both are staff members of the 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-2017-0079 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this action. You may 
obtain publically-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-2017-0079.
     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/

[[Page 15243]]

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 
DG is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16180A264.
     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-2017-0079 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 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, ``Quality Assurance Program Criteria (Design and 
Construction),'' is a proposed revision temporarily identified by its 
task number, DG-1326. Draft Guide-1326 is proposed revision 5 of 
Regulatory Guide 1.28, ``Quality Assurance Program Criteria (Design and 
Construction).'' The guide describes methods that the NRC considers 
acceptable for establishing and implementing a QA program for the 
design and construction of nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing 
plants as established within the provisions of part 50 of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' and part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' which refer to part 50, Appendix 
B, ``Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel 
Reprocessing Plants.''
    This revision of the guide (Revision 5) updates the guidance to 
endorse, with clarification or exceptions, multiple revisions of the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers standard NQA-1 titled 
``Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications.''

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Draft Guide-1326 describes methods that the NRC considers 
acceptable for establishing and implementing a QA program for the 
design and construction of nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing 
plants. Issuance of this DG, if finalized, would not constitute 
backfitting as defined in Sec.  50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and would not 
otherwise be inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in part 
52. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this DG, the NRC 
has no current intention to impose this guidance, if finalized, on 
holders of current operating licenses or combined licenses.
    This DG may be applied to applications for operating licenses, 
combined licenses, early site permits, and certified design rules 
docketed by the NRC as of the date of issuance of the final regulatory 
guide, as well as future applications submitted after the issuance of 
the regulatory guide. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in the Backfit Rule or be otherwise inconsistent with the 
applicable issue finality provision in part 52, inasmuch as such 
applicants or potential applicants are not within the scope of entities 
protected by the Backfit Rule or the relevant issue finality provisions 
in part 52.


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of March 2017.

    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. 2017-05949 Filed 3-24-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P