[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]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P