[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 72 (Monday, April 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18163-18165]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07623]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0091]


Regulatory Analysis Guidelines

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5, ``Regulatory 
Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. NRC.'' This proposed revision to NUREG/
BR-0058 would update and restructure the NRC's cost-benefit guidance 
documents by incorporating information contained in NUREG/BR-0184, 
``Regulatory Analysis Technical Handbook,'' into this document and 
would expand the discussion of cost-benefit analyses in NRC's 
regulatory analyses, backfitting analyses, and National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) analyses. Additionally, the update incorporates 
improvements in methods for assessing factors that are difficult to 
quantify, incorporates relevant cost estimating best practices, and 
includes improvements in uncertainty analyses for use in cost-benefit 
analyses.

DATES: Submit comments by June 16, 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-2017-0091. 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: Pamela Noto, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-6795, 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-2017-0091 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-2017-0091.
     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]. For 
the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials 
referenced in this document are provided in the ``Availability of 
Documents'' section.
     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-2017-0091 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 will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    The proposed revision to NUREG/BR-0058 is the first of two phases 
to update the NRC's cost-benefit guidance documents, primarily NUREG/
BR-0058, Revision 4, ``Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. 
NRC,'' and NUREG/BR-0184, ``Regulatory Analysis Technical Handbook.'' 
This update identifies potential changes to current methods and tools 
related to performing cost-benefit analyses in support of regulatory 
analyses, backfitting analyses, and environmental analyses.
    In response to questions posed after the accident at the Fukushima 
Dai-ichi plant in Japan, the NRC staff recommended enhancing the 
currency and consistency of the existing regulatory framework through 
updates to cost-benefit analysis guidance documents, including aligning 
cost-benefit guidance across the agency in both reactor and materials 
program areas in SECY-12-0110, ``Consideration of Economic Consequences 
in the NRC's

[[Page 18164]]

Regulatory Framework.'' In the staff requirements memorandum (SRM) for 
SECY-12-0110, the Commission approved this recommendation and directed 
the NRC staff to identify potential changes to current methodologies 
and tools to perform cost-benefit analyses in support of regulatory, 
backfit, and environmental analyses. Further, the Commission directed 
the NRC staff to provide a regulatory gap analysis prior to developing 
new cost-benefit guidance.
    In response to Commission direction, the NRC staff prepared SECY-
14-0002, ``Plan for Updating NRC's Cost-Benefit Guidance;'' SECY-14-
0087, ``Qualitative Consideration of Factors in the Development of 
Regulatory Analyses and Backfit Analyses;'' and SECY-14-0143, 
``Regulatory Gap Analysis of the NRC's Cost-Benefit Guidance and 
Practices.'' Further details regarding these documents are provided 
below.
    In response to the SRM for SECY-12-0110, the NRC staff wrote SECY-
14-0002. The NRC staff identified potential changes to current 
methodologies and tools related to performing cost-benefit analyses in 
support of regulatory, backfit, and environmental analyses. In this 
SECY paper, the NRC staff recommended a two-phased approach to revise 
the content and structure of the cost-benefit guidance documents. Phase 
1 begins to align regulatory guidance across the agency in both reactor 
and materials program areas by restructuring and pursuing some policy 
revisions. This SECY paper describes Phase 1 as a restructuring of the 
three main NRC cost-benefit guidance documents, where NUREG/BR-0184 and 
NUREG-1409, ``Backfitting Guidelines,'' are incorporated into NUREG/BR-
0058. Because of the June 9, 2016, ``Tasking Related to Implementation 
of Agency Backfitting and Issue Finality Guidance,'' NUREG-1409 will be 
kept as a stand-alone document. Cost-benefit information related to 
backfitting will be incorporated into the proposed revision to NUREG/
BR-0058. Phase 1 will now consist of revising and consolidating two 
NUREG documents into a single NUREG; updating data, methods, and 
references; and addressing audit findings and case-study 
recommendations. Subsequently, Phase 2 will identify and discuss 
potential policy issues for Commission consideration that could affect 
the NRC's cost-benefit guidance and incorporate updates to guidance on 
backfitting. Phase 1 of the proposed revision to NUREG/BR-0058 includes 
outlines for future appendices.
    The NRC staff wrote SECY-14-0087 in response to the SRM-SECY-12-
0157, ``Consideration of Additional Requirements for Containment 
Venting Systems for Boiling Water Reactors with Mark I and Mark II 
Containments,'' which directed the NRC staff to seek guidance regarding 
the use of qualitative factors. The SECY-14-0087 proposed updating the 
cost-benefit guidance to include a set of methods that could be used 
for qualitative consideration of factors within a cost-benefit analysis 
for regulatory and backfit analyses. In the SRM for SECY-14-0087, the 
Commission approved the plans for updating guidance regarding 
qualitative factors, including the treatment of uncertainties, and 
directed the update to focus on capturing best practices for the 
consideration of qualitative factors. The Commission also directed the 
NRC staff to develop a toolkit for the analyst to clarify how to 
consider and document the use of qualitative factors. Appendix A, 
``Qualitative Factors Assessment Tools,'' of the proposed revision to 
NUREG/BR-0058 provides this toolkit for considering qualitative 
factors.
    In 2014, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted 
a performance audit in which the NRC's cost-estimating procedures were 
reviewed. The GAO audit report, GAO-15-98, ``NRC Needs to Improve its 
Cost Estimates by Incorporating More Best Practices,'' recommended that 
the NRC align its cost estimating procedures with relevant cost 
estimating best practices identified in the ``GAO Cost Estimating and 
Assessment Guide'' (GAO-09-3SP). The NRC staff has addressed the GAO 
recommendations in Appendix B, ``Cost Estimating and Best Practices,'' 
of the proposed revision to NUREG/BR-0058.
    This proposed revision to NUREG/BR-0058 would make three main 
changes. First, the revision to NUREG/BR-0058 consolidates cost-benefit 
guidance that is used across the agency. The NRC staff has expanded the 
draft document to provide additional guidance for performing the NRC's 
materials licensee regulatory analyses, backfit analyses, and NEPA 
analyses.
    Second, this revision provides methods for assessing factors that 
are difficult to quantify, incorporates cost-estimating best practices, 
and expands on methods to quantify uncertainties. This revision 
provides guidance intended to enhance clarity, transparency, and 
consistency of analyses for the decisionmaker.
    Finally, this revision uses appendices to provide detailed 
technical material that is subject to change. These appendices will be 
issued and controlled separately to facilitate the maintenance of this 
information. Appendices that will be issued initially include Appendix 
A, ``Qualitative Factors Assessment Tools''; Appendix B, ``Cost 
Estimating and Best Practices''; Appendix C, ``The Treatment of 
Uncertainty''; Appendix D, ``Guidance on Regulatory Analyses Related to 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Changes''; and 
Appendix E, ``Special Circumstances.''
    The NRC staff held a Category 3 public meeting on July 16, 2015, to 
discuss the proposed structure and changes to the NRC cost-benefit 
guidance in Phase 1. The NRC presentation can be found in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML15189A463, and the meeting summary can be found in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML15217A420. The NRC staff also held a 
Category 3 public workshop on March 3, 2016, to discuss NRC activities 
to improve its cost-benefit guidance including the newly developed 
qualitative factors assessment tools, cost estimating and best 
practices, and the treatment of uncertainty. The NRC presentation can 
be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16061A139, and the meeting 
summary can be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16084A167. 
Additionally, the NRC staff held an Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards (ACRS) Regulatory Policies and Practices Subcommittee 
meeting on February 7, 2017, and an ACRS Full Committee meeting on 
March 9, 2017.

III. Availability of Documents

    The NRC may post additional materials related to this activity to 
the Federal rulemaking Web site at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID 
NRC-2017-0091. These documents will inform the public of the current 
status of this activity and/or provide additional material for use at 
future public meetings.
    The Federal rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when 
changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) 
Navigate to the docket folder (NRC-2017-0091); (2) click the ``Sign up 
for Email Alerts'' link; and (3) enter your email address and select 
how frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or 
monthly).
    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons as indicated.

[[Page 18165]]



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Document                                       ADAMS accession No./web link
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 5, ``Regulatory         ML17101A355.
 Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. NRC''.
NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 4, ``Regulatory         ML042820192.
 Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. NRC''.
NUREG/BR-0184, ``Regulatory Analysis Technical  ML050190193.
 Evaluation Handbook''.
SECY-14-0002, ``Plan for Updating NRC's Cost-   ML13274A519.
 Benefit Guidance,'' January 2, 2014.
SECY-14-0087, ``Qualitative Consideration of    ML14127A458 (Package).
 Factors in the Development of Regulatory
 Analyses and Backfit Analyses,'' September
 11, 2014.
SECY-14-0143, ``Regulatory Gap Analysis of the  ML14280A426 (Package).
 NRC's Cost-Benefit Guidance and Practices,''
 December 16, 2014.
SECY-12-0110, ``Consideration of Economic       ML12173A478 (Package).
 Consequences within the U.S. NRC's Regulatory
 Framework,'' August 14, 2012.
SRM for SECY-12-0110, ``Consideration of        ML13079A055.
 Economic Consequences within the U.S. NRC's
 Regulatory Framework,'' March 20, 2013.
SRM for SECY-14-0087, ''Qualitative             ML15063A568.
 Consideration of Factors in the Development
 of Regulatory Analyses and Backfit
 Analyses,'' March 4, 2015.
NUREG-1409, ``Backftting Guidelines''.........  ML032230247.
``Tasking Related to Implementation of Agency   ML16133A575.
 Backfitting and Issue Finality Guidance,''
 June 9, 2016.
AO-15-98, ``NRC Needs to Improve its Cost       http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/667501.pdf.
 Estimates by Incorporating More Best
 Practices''.
GAO-09-3SP, ``GAO Cost Estimating and           http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d093sp.pdf.
 Assessment Guide''.
SRM for SECY-12-0157, ``Consideration of        ML13078A017.
 Additional Requirements for Containment
 Venting Systems for Boiling Water Reactors
 with Mark I and Mark II Containments,'' March
 12, 2013.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of April 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anita L. Lund,
Director, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-07623 Filed 4-14-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P