[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48471-48472]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20827]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

RIN 3150-AI01
[NRC-2014-0137]


Regulatory Guidance and Technical Basis on the Alternate 
Pressurized Thermal Shock Rule

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 0 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.230, ``Regulatory Guidance on the 
Alternate Pressurized Thermal Shock Rule'' and the associated technical 
basis, NUREG-2163, ``Technical Basis for Regulatory Guidance on the 
Alternate Pressurized Thermal Shock Rule.'' This guidance describes a 
method that the NRC staff considers acceptable to permit use of the 
alternate fracture toughness requirements for protection against 
pressurized thermal shock events for pressurized water reactor pressure 
vessels.

DATES: Revision 0 to RG 1.230 is available on September 25, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0137 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publically-available information related to this document, 
using the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0137. Address 
questions about docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Document 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 ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced in this notice (if that document is available in 
ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. 
Revision 0 to Regulatory Guide 1.230, and the regulatory analysis may 
be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML15344A402 and ML14056A013 
respectively. Revision 0 to NUREG-2163 may be found in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML18255A118.
     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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Kirk, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2456, email: [email protected], 
and Stephen Burton, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 
301-415-7000, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a new guide in the NRC's ``Regulatory Guide'' 
series. This series was developed to describe and make available to the 
public information regarding methods that are acceptable to the NRC 
staff for implementing specific parts of the agency's regulations, 
techniques that the NRC staff uses in evaluating specific issues or 
postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs in its review of 
applications for permits and licenses.
    Revision 0 of RG 1.230 was issued with a temporary identification 
of Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1299. This RG is being issued to describe 
a method that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable to meet the 
alternate fracture toughness requirements for protection against 
pressurized thermal shock (PTS) events for pressurized water reactor 
(PWR) reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) in section 50.61a of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Alternate Fracture 
Toughness Requirements for Protection against Pressurized Thermal Shock 
Events.'' The alternate PTS requirements are based on updated analysis 
methods, whereas the requirements in 10 CFR 50.61, ``Fracture Toughness 
Requirements for Protection against Pressurized Thermal Shock Events,'' 
are based on overly conservative probabilistic fracture mechanics 
analyses.
    NUREG-2163 explains the basis for the requirements that establish 
the threshold conditions to permit use of 10 CFR 50.61a in lieu of 10 
CFR 50.61 and describes methods by which the following four 
requirements can be met: (1) Criteria relating to the date of 
construction and design requirements, (2) criteria relating to 
evaluation of plant specific surveillance data, (3) criteria relating 
to inservice inspection data and non-destructive examination 
requirements, and (4) criteria relating to alternate limits on 
embrittlement. Revision 0 of RG 1.230 also describes these methods in a 
manner consistent with NUREG-2163.

II. Additional Information

    The DG-1299 and draft NUREG-2163 were published in the Federal 
Register on March 13, 2015 (80 FR 13449) for a 60-day public comment 
period. The public comment period closed on May 12, 2015. Public 
comments on DG-1299 and draft NUREG-2163 and the NRC staff responses to 
the public comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML15344A398.

III. Congressional Review Act

    RG 1.230 is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not 
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    The RG 1.230 provides guidance on the methods acceptable to the NRC 
for complying with the NRC's regulations associated with alternate 
fracture toughness requirements for protection against PTS events for 
PWR RPVs. NUREG-2163 provides technical bases that support the RG. The 
RG, like the alternate PTS requirements of 10 CFR 50.61a, applies to 
holders of operating licenses for a PWR whose construction permit was 
issued before February 3, 2010.
    Issuance of this RG and NUREG does not constitute backfitting under 
10 CFR part 50. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of RG 
1.230, the NRC has no current intention to impose the RG on current 
holders of 10

[[Page 48472]]

CFR part 50 operating licenses. Also, this RG is the first guidance 
issued for the 10 CFR 50.61a final rule, which itself was an 
alternative to 10 CFR 50.61 and therefore not a backfit on current 
licensees (75 FR 1322; January 4, 2010). The first issuance of guidance 
on a newly-added rule does not constitute backfitting when, as here, 
the guidance is consistent with the regulatory requirements in the 
newly-added rule, and the backfitting considerations applicable to the 
newly-added rule apply to this guidance. Therefore, issuance of RG 
1.230 does not constitute backfitting within the definition provided in 
10 CFR 50.109(a)(1).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of September 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2018-20827 Filed 9-24-18; 8:45 am]
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