[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45073-45074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20693]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0056]


Emergency Planning for Research and Test Reactors and Other Non-
Power Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide, issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 2.6, ``Emergency Planning for 
Research and Test Reactors and Other Non-Power

[[Page 45074]]

Production and Utilization Facilities.'' This RG provides licensees and 
applicants with a method the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in 
complying with the regulations on the content of emergency plans for 
research and test reactors and other non-power production and 
utilization facilities.

DATES: Revision 2 of RG 2.6 is available on September 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0056 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-2017-0056. 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 2 of RG 2.6 and the regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS 
under Accession numbers ML17263A472 and ML16035A477 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: Geoffrey Wertz, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-0893, email: 
[email protected]; or Stanley Gardocki, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1067, email: 
[email protected]. Both are staff of the 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 2 of RG 2.6 was issued with a temporary designation of 
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-2004. The purpose of issuing this RG is to 
provide licensees and applicants with a method that the staff of the 
NRC considers acceptable for use in complying with the regulations on 
the content of emergency plans for research and test reactors and other 
non-power production and utilization facilities licensed under part 50 
of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic 
Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities.''

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-2004 in the 
Federal Register on February 24, 2017, (82 FR 11660) for a 60-day 
public comment period. The public comment period closed on April 25, 
2017. The NRC received one public comment on DG-2004. That comment and 
the NRC's response to it are available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML17137A099.
    Revision 2 of RG 2.6 addresses new issues identified since the 
guide was last revised in March 1983. This revision endorses the latest 
version of a consensus standard developed by the American National 
Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Nuclear Society (ANS), ANSI/
ANS-15.16-2015, ``Emergency Planning for Research Reactors.'' The NRC 
also expanded the scope of the guide to address non-power facilities 
under 10 CFR part 50, other than research and test reactors. Other 
changes to RG 2.6 include editorial changes and the current program 
guidance for RGs.
    Revising this regulatory guide to adopt, in whole or in part, a 
consensus standard is consistent with the NRC policy of evaluating the 
latest versions of national consensus standards to determine their 
suitability for endorsement by regulatory guides. This approach also 
complies with the NRC's Management Directive 6.5, ``NRC Participation 
in the Development and Use of Consensus Standards'' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML16193A497), and is in accordance with Public Law 104-113, 
``National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995.''
    Copies of ANSI/ANS-15.16-2015 may be purchased from the ANS Web 
site (http://www.new.ans.org/store/); or by writing to: American 
Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, Illinois 
60526, U.S.A., telephone: 1-800-323-3044.

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

    The regulatory positions in this guidance document demonstrate the 
method that the NRC staff finds acceptable for an applicant or holder 
of a license under 10 CFR part 50 for a research and test reactor and 
other non-power production or utilization facility to meet the 
requirements of the underlying NRC regulations. The issuance of this RG 
is not backfitting, as that term is defined in 10 CFR 50.109, 
``Backfitting,'' because non-power facilities licensed under 10 CFR 
part 50 are not included within the scope of entities protected by 10 
CFR 50.109.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of September 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. 2017-20693 Filed 9-26-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P