[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 187 (Wednesday, September 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48659-48660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20864]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2018-0131]


Monitoring the Effectiveness of Maintenance at Nuclear Power 
Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.160, ``Monitoring the 
Effectiveness of Maintenance at Nuclear Power Plants.'' Regulatory 
Guide 1.160, Revision 4, has been revised to address new issues 
identified since Revision 3 of RG 1.160 was issued. This RG endorses, 
with clarifications, NUMARC 93-01, ``Industry Guidelines for Monitoring 
the Effectiveness of Maintenance at Nuclear Power Plants,'' Revision 
4F. The proposed revision describes methods that are acceptable to the 
NRC staff for compliance with the requirements for monitoring the 
effectiveness of maintenance at nuclear power plants.

DATES: Revision 4 to RG 1.160 is available on September 26, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0131 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0131. 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.
     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]. Revision 4 to RG 1.160 and the 
regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession Nos. 
ML18220B281 and ML18129A085 respectively.
     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: Stephen Campbell, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3353, email: 
[email protected] and Stephen Burton, telephone: 301-415-7000, 
email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing 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 4 of RG 1.160 was issued with a temporary identification 
of Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1336. This revision of the guide 
addresses new issues identified since the guide was previously issued 
and updates the guidance by endorsing Revision 4F of NUMARC 93-01, 
``Industry Guideline for Monitoring the Effectiveness of Maintenance at 
Nuclear Power Plants.'' NUMARC 93-01, Revision 4F addresses the 
application of the Maintenance Rule (title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) section 50.65) to address the use of diverse and 
flexible coping strategies.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1336 in the 
Federal Register on June 28, 2018 (83 FR 30469) for a 30-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on July 30, 2018. 
Public comments on DG-1336 and the staff responses to the public 
comments are available under ADAMS under Accession No. ML18220B279.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG 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

    This RG describes methods acceptable to the staff of the NRC for 
demonstrating compliance with the provisions of 10 CFR 50.65, 
``Requirements for Monitoring the Effectiveness of Maintenance at 
Nuclear Power Plants,'' of 10 CFR part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of 
Production and Utilization Facilities.'' Issuance of this RG does not 
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) 
and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 
10 CFR part 52. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this 
RG, the NRC has no current intention to impose this guidance on holders 
of current operating licenses or combined licenses.
    This RG may be applied to applications for amendments to operating 
licenses or combined licenses

[[Page 48660]]

docketed by the NRC as of the date of issuance, as well as future 
applications submitted after the issuance of this regulatory guide. 
Such action would not constitute backfitting as defined in the Backfit 
Rule or be otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue finality 
provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or potential 
applicants, with certain exceptions described below, are not within the 
scope of entities that are the subject of the Backfit Rule or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. This RG may be 
used by existing holders of combined licenses and operating licenses in 
accordance with their existing licensing basis and applicable 
regulatory requirements.
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever a 
combined license applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (i.e., 
an early site permit or a manufacturing license) and/or 10 CFR part 52 
regulatory approval (i.e., a design certification rule or design 
approval). However, the matters addressed in this RG (monitoring the 
effectiveness of maintenance at nuclear power plants) have not 
previously been proposed for resolution in a 10 CFR part 52 license or 
regulatory approval. The NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to 
impose the positions represented in the RG in a manner that is 
inconsistent with any issue finality provisions in these 10 CFR part 52 
licenses and regulatory approvals. If, in the future, the NRC staff 
seeks to impose a position in this RG in a manner that does not provide 
issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision, 
then the NRC staff must address the criteria for avoiding issue 
finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision.
    Further information on the staff's use of the RG is contained in 
the RG under Section D, ``Implementation.''

    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. 2018-20864 Filed 9-25-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P