[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 135 (Friday, July 13, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32690-32691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15035]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2018-0145]
Proposed Revisions to Branch Technical Position 5-3; Fracture
Toughness Requirements
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Standard review plan-draft section revision; request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on draft NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the
Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR
Edition,'' Section BTP 5-3, ``Fracture Toughness Requirements.'' The
NRC seeks comments on the proposed draft section revision of the
Standard Review Plan (SRP) concerning guidance for the review of early
site permits, combined construction and operating license and operating
license applications and amendments for fracture toughness
requirements.
DATES: Comments must be filed no later than September 11, 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 on or 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-2018-0145. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual 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 Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark D. Notich, Office of New
Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-3053; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 32691]]
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0145 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-2018-0145.
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
draft revision and current revision to NUREG-0800, Section BTP 5-3,
``Fracture Toughness Requirements'' is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML18071A066 and ML070850035. The redline-strikeout
version comparing the draft revision 3 and the current version of
revision 2 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18130A401.
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-2018-0145 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. Further Information
The NRC seeks public comment on the proposed draft section revision
of SRP Section BTP 5-3. The changes include incorporation of text
describing NRC review of potential non-conservatisms in BTP 5-3,
Revision 2, Subsection B1.1; a reference to a memorandum describing the
results of the NRC review of the potential non-conservatisms; and
numerous textual updates to incorporate pressure-temperature limit
reports, 10 CFR 50.61a, 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' clearer citations, and nozzle
language.
Following NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends
to finalize SRP Section BTP 5-3 in ADAMS and post it on the NRC's
public website at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800/. The SRP is guidance for the NRC staff. The SRP is not a
substitute for the NRC regulations, and compliance with the SRP is not
required.
III. Backfitting and Issue Finality
Issuance of this draft SRP section, if finalized, would not
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, (the Backfit Rule)
or otherwise be inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10
CFR part 52. The NRC's position is based upon the following
considerations.
1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, would not constitute
backfitting, inasmuch as the SRP is internal guidance to NRC staff
directed at the NRC staff with respect to their regulatory
responsibilities.
The SRP provides internal guidance to the NRC staff on how to
review an application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of
licensing. Changes in internal staff guidance are not matters for which
either nuclear power plant applicants or licensees are protected under
either the Backfit Rule or the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR part
52.
2. The NRC staff has no intention to impose the SRP positions on
current licensees or already-issued regulatory approvals either now or
in the future.
The NRC staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions
described in the draft SRP to existing (already issued) licenses and
regulatory approvals. Hence, the issuance of a final SRP, even if
considered guidance within the purview of the issue finality provisions
in 10 CFR part 52, would not need to be evaluated as if it were a
backfit or as being inconsistent with issue finality provisions. If, in
the future, the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in the SRP on
holders of already issued licenses in a manner that does not provide
issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision,
then the staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule
or address the criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in the
applicable issue finality provision.
3. Backfitting and issue finality do not--with limited exceptions
not applicable here--protect current or future applicants.
Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain
exceptions, protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality
provisions under 10 CFR part 52. This is because 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 the general principle are applicable whenever an
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification
rule) with specified issue finality provisions. The NRC staff does not,
at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the draft
SRP in a manner that is inconsistent with any issue finality
provisions. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in
the draft SRP in a manner which does not provide issue finality as
described in the applicable issue finality provisions, then the staff
must address the criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in
the applicable issue finality provision.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of July, 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jennivine K. Rankin,
Acting Chief, Licensing Branch 3, Division of Licensing, Siting, and
Environmental Analysis, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2018-15035 Filed 7-12-18; 8:45 am]
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