[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 110 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26503-26505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12276]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2018-0109]
Draft Letter to the Nuclear Energy Institute Regarding the
Clarification of Regulatory Paths for Lead Test Assemblies
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability; opportunity for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comments on a draft letter to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
clarifying the regulatory paths for the use of lead test assemblies
(LTAs). This draft letter would finalize the NRC staff's views on the
preliminary positions regarding LTAs provided in a letter to NEI dated
June 29, 2017. The NRC does not currently have consolidated regulatory
guidance regarding the use of LTAs. Therefore, the NRC has drafted this
letter to clarify its positions regarding the use of LTAs. These
positions would affect light-water reactor licensees who wish to
irradiate LTAs.
DATES: Submit comments by June 27, 2018. 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 before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0109. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail
Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and
[[Page 26504]]
Submitting Comments'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this
document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Whitman, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3253, email:
[email protected], or Kimberly Green, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1627, email: [email protected].
Both are staff 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-2018-0109 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 Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0109.
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-2018-0109 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. Background
This draft letter clarifies the NRC staff's interpretation of
Standard Technical Specification (STS) 4.2.1, ``Fuel Assemblies.'' The
first part of STS 4.2.1 places limitations on the number of fuel
assemblies in the reactor core, the type of fuel that can be used, the
cladding material that can be used (e.g., zircaloy or ZIRLO), and
requires the use of NRC-approved codes and methods for the fuel
assemblies. The last sentence of STS 4.2.1 allows for the irradiation
of a limited number of LTAs that have not completed representative
testing if placed in nonlimiting regions of the reactor core.
In the past, licensees have taken different approaches when
conducting LTA campaigns. Some licensees obtained prior NRC approval by
license amendments approving changes to Technical Specification (TS)
4.2.1 or exemptions from Sec. 50.46, ``Acceptance criteria for
emergency core cooling systems for light-water nuclear power
reactors,'' of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), or
both, for their LTA campaigns. Other licensees conducted LTA campaigns
under 10 CFR 50.59, ``Changes, tests, and experiments,'' without prior
NRC approval. This draft letter to NEI clarifies the NRC's current
interpretation of when prior NRC approval is needed for LTA campaigns.
This draft letter responds to concerns from stakeholders, including
NEI, that there is a lack of clarity in the regulatory requirements
associated with the use of LTAs. For example, concerns were raised on
the preliminary positions regarding LTAs provided in a letter to NEI
dated June 29, 2017, as comments, in response to the NRC's publication
of the document, ``Draft Project Plan to Prepare the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission to License and Regulate Accident Tolerant Fuel''
(82 FR 60633; December 21, 2017), and in a license amendment request
for Byron Station, Unit 2, dated March 8, 2018.
The draft letter provides clarification on the LTA provision in STS
4.2.1; clarification on the use of approved methods for LTA campaigns;
two regulatory paths for LTA campaigns; guidance on the use of NEI 96-
07, Revision 1, ``Guidelines for 10 CFR 50.59 Implementation,'' with
regard to LTAs; and a position that an exemption to the requirements in
10 CFR 50.46 is not needed solely for the insertion of LTAs.
III. Non-Concurrence
An NRC staff member did not agree with some content of the draft
letter to the NEI and submitted a non-concurrence on the draft letter.
In accordance with the NRC's non-concurrence process, NRC management
and staff worked to address the staff member's concerns, and
documentation of the non-concurrence is available in ADAMS.
IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality
If finalized, the letter would provide additional clarification on
previous staff preliminary statements and positions regarding the use
of LTAs made in a letter to NEI dated June 29, 2017. Issuance of the
letter, if finalized, 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. The NRC has no
current intention to impose the positions described in the draft letter
on holders of current operating licenses or combined licenses.
V. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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Document ADAMS Accession No.
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Draft letter from U.S. Nuclear Regulatory ML18100A045
Commission to Nuclear Energy Institute, Re:
Clarification of Regulatory Paths for Lead
Test Assemblies, dated May 31, 2008.
Letter from Dr. Mirela Gavrilas, U.S. Nuclear ML17150A443
Regulatory Commission, to Mr. Andrew Mauer,
Nuclear Energy Institute, Re: Response to
Nuclear Energy Institute Letter Concerning
the Regulatory Path for Lead Test
Assemblies, dated June 29, 2017.
NUREG[dash]1430, Standard Technical ML12100A177
Specifications, Babcock and Wilcox Plants,
Volume 1, Revision 4.0.
[[Page 26505]]
NUREG[dash]1431, Standard Technical ML12100A222
Specifications, Westinghouse Plants, Volume
1, Revision 4.0.
NUREG[dash]1432, Standard Technical ML12102A165
Specifications, Combustion Engineering
Plants, Volume 1, Revision 4.0.
NUREG[dash]1433, Standard Technical ML12104A192
Specifications, General Electric BWR/4
Plants, Volume 1, Revision 4.0.
NUREG[dash]1434, Standard Technical ML12104A195
Specifications, General Electric BWR/6
Plants, Volume 1, Revision 4.0.
Letter from Andrew Mauer, Nuclear Energy ML18038B080
Institute, to Dr. Mirela Gavrilas, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Re:
Regulatory Path for Introduction of Lead
Test Assemblies in Commercial Nuclear
Reactors, dated May 19, 2017.
Letter from David M. Gullott, Exelon ML18067A431
Generation Company, LLC, to U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Re: License Amendment
Request to Utilize Accident Tolerant Fuel
Lead Test Assemblies, Byron Station, Unit 2,
dated March 8, 2018.
NEI 96[dash]07, Revision 1, Guidelines for 10 ML003771157
CFR 50.59 Implementation, dated November
2000.
Non-Concurrence Form, dated May 31, 2018..... ML18151B016
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The NRC may post materials related to this document, including
public comments, on the Federal Rulemaking website at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2018-0109. The Federal
Rulemaking website allows you to receive alerts when changes or
additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) Navigate to the
docket folder (NRC-2018-0109); (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).
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of June, 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph G. Giitter,
Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-12276 Filed 6-6-18; 8:45 am]
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