[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]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P