[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 78 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19113-19114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08363]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0192]


Service Level I, II, III, and In-Scope License Renewal Protective 
Coatings Applied to Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide, issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.54, ``Service Level I, II, III, 
and In-Scope License Renewal Protective Coatings Applied to Nuclear 
Power Plants.'' This RG describes a method the staff of the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considers acceptable for the 
selection, application, qualification, inspection, and maintenance of 
protective coatings applied to nuclear power plants (NPPs).

DATES: Revision 3 of RG 1.54 is available on April 25, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0192 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0192. 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.
     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 a document is referenced. 
Revision 3 of RG 1.54 and the regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS 
under Accession numbers ML17031A288 and ML16070A091 respectively.
     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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and the NRC's approval is 
not required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew G. Yoder, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-4017, email: 
[email protected]; and Mark Orr, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: 301-415-6003, email: [email protected]. U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide 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 
agency's regulations, techniques that the NRC staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs 
in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    Revision 3 of RG 1.54 was issued with a temporary identification of 
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1331. The purpose of issuing this RG is to 
endorse, with certain clarifications and exceptions, the use of 
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) 
Standard D 5144-08 (2016), ``Standard Guide for Use of Protective 
Coating Standards in Nuclear Power Plants,'' and multiple sub-tier ASTM 
International standards. ASTM International, standard D 5144-08 (2016) 
was issued in 2008 to provide a common basis on which protective 
coatings for the surfaces of nuclear power generating facilities may be 
qualified and selected through reproducible evaluation tests. This 
revision also expands the scope of this RG to address aging management 
of internal coatings and linings on components within the scope of 
license renewal under part 54 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR).
    Copies of the ASTM International standards identified in revision 3 
of RG 1.54 are available for purchase from ASTM International, 100 Barr 
Harbor Drive, P.O. Box C700, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428-
2959; telephone: 610-832-9585. Purchase information is also available 
through the ASTM Web site at http://www.astm.org.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1331 in the 
Federal Register on September 13, 2016, (81 FR 62935) for a 60-day 
public comment period. The public comment period closed on November 14, 
2016. Public comments on DG-1331 and the NRC's responses to the public 
comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML17031A299.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This regulatory guide is a rule as defined in the Congressional 
Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and 
Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in the 
Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Revision 3 of RG 1.54 endorses, with certain clarifications and 
exceptions, the use of ASTM International Standard D 5144-08 (2016), 
``Standard Guide for Use of Protective Coating Standards in Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' and multiple sub-tier ASTM International standards. The 
ASTM International Standard D 5144-08 (2016) was issued to provide a 
common basis on which protective coatings for the surfaces of nuclear 
power generating facilities may be qualified and selected through 
reproducible evaluation tests. This revision also expands the scope to 
include internal coatings and linings on components within the scope of 
license renewal. In addition, the NRC made some clarifications and 
format changes that did not change the intent of the guidance.

[[Page 19114]]

    RG 1.54 Revision 3 may be applied to current 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 RG, as well as future applications submitted after the 
issuance of the RG. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in section 50.109(a)(1) of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), or be otherwise inconsistent with the applicable 
issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52. Neither the Backfit Rule 
nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52, with certain 
exclusions discussed below, were intended to apply to every NRC action 
that substantially changes the expectations of current and future 
applicants.
    The exceptions to this general principle are applicable whenever a 
combined license applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., 
an early site permit) or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design 
certification rule) with specified issue finality provisions. The NRC 
does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in 
Revision 3 of RG 1.54 on combined license applicants in a manner that 
is inconsistent with any issue finality provisions. If, in the future, 
the NRC seeks to impose a position in Revision 3 of RG 1.54 in a manner 
that 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 19th day of April 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. 2017-08363 Filed 4-24-17; 8:45 am]
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