[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48473-48474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20826]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0187]


Proposed Revisions to Standard Review Plan Section 14.3.3, Piping 
Systems and Components--Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance 
Criteria

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 re-noticing 
the solicitation for public comment published in the Federal Register 
on September 11, 2017, on NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the 
Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR 
Edition,'' SRP Section 14.3.3, ``Piping Systems and Components--
Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria.''

DATES: Comments must be filed no later than November 26, 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-2017-0187. Address 
questions about docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0187 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-2017-0187.
     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 ``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 14.3.3, ``Piping Systems and 
Components--Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria,'' is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18088A069 and ML070660622. The 
redline-strikeout version comparing the draft revision 1 and the 
current version of revision 0 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML18092A046.
     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-2017-0187 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

[[Page 48474]]

submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Further Information

    The NRC seeks public comment on the proposed SRP-draft section 
revision of Section 14.3.3, ``Piping Systems and Components--
Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria.'' This re-notice 
includes revisions initiated by the staff to address editorial issues 
and provide further clarification on particular issues. This revision 
supersedes the previous revision issued on September 11, 2017, and the 
staff will not be addressing previously submitted comments. Following 
NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends to finalize 
SRP Section 14.3.3, Revision 1 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, 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 staff's position is based upon the following 
considerations.
    1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, do not constitute 
backfitting, inasmuch as the SRP is guidance directed to the NRC staff 
with respect to its regulatory responsibilities.
    The SRP provides interim guidance to the staff on how to review an 
application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing. 
Changes in staff guidance intended for use by only the staff are not 
matters that constitute backfitting as that term is defined in 10 CFR 
50.109(a)(1) or involve the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR part 
52.
    2. Backfitting and issue finality--with certain exceptions 
discussed below--do not apply to current or future applicants.
    Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain 
exceptions, the subject of 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 
were intended to apply to every NRC action which substantially changes 
the expectations of current and future applicants.
    The exceptions to this general principle are applicable whenever a 
10 CFR part 50 operating license applicant references a construction 
permit or a 10 CFR part 52 combined license applicant references a 
license (e.g., an early site permit) and/or an NRC regulatory approval 
(e.g., a design certification rule) for which specified issue finality 
provisions apply.
    The NRC staff does not currently intend to impose the positions 
represented in the draft SRP section in a manner that constitutes 
backfitting or is inconsistent with any issue finality provision in 10 
CFR part 52. If in the future the NRC staff seeks to impose a position 
stated in this draft SRP section in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting or be inconsistent with these issue finality provisions, 
the NRC staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule or 
address the regulatory criteria for set forth in the applicable issue 
finality provision, as applicable, that would allow the staff to impose 
the position.
    3. The staff has no intention to impose the draft SRP positions on 
existing nuclear power plant licenses either now or in the future 
(absent a voluntary request for a change from the licensee, holder of a 
regulatory approval, or a design certification applicant).
    The NRC staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions 
described in this draft SRP section to existing (already issued) 
licenses (e.g., operating licenses and combined licenses) and 
regulatory approvals. Hence, this draft SRP guidance--even if 
considered guidance subject to the Backfit rule or the issue finality 
provisions in 10 CFR part 52--need not be evaluated as if it were a 
backfit or as being inconsistent with these issue finality provisions. 
If, in the future, the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in this 
draft SRP section on holders of already issued licenses in a manner 
that would constitute backfitting or 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 set forth in the applicable issue finality provision, as 
applicable, that would allow the staff to impose the position.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of September 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. 2018-20826 Filed 9-24-18; 8:45 am]
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