[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66317-66318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27931]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2016-0268]
Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing
Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 3.54, ``Spent Fuel Heat Generation
in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation.'' Revision 2
provides methods acceptable to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
staff for calculating spent nuclear fuel heat generation rates for use
for an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The
revision presents an up-to-date methodology for determining heat
generation rates and provides greater flexibility (less restrictions).
It also allows loading of higher burnup fuel by using more accurate
methods for decay heat calculations.
DATES: Revision 2 to RG 3.54 is available on December 26, 2018.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0268 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
[[Page 66318]]
for Docket ID NRC-2016-0268. Address questions about NRC dockets to
Krupskaya Castellon; telephone: 301-287-9221; 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 2 to Regulatory Guide 3.54 and the regulatory analysis may be
found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18228A808 and ML16139A219
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: Alexis Sotomayor-Rivera, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7265; email:
[email protected] and Harriet Karagiannis, Office of
Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2493; 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 2 of RG 3.54 was issued with a temporary identification of
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-3050, to provide methods that are acceptable
to the NRC staff for calculating spent nuclear fuel heat generation
rates for use as design input for an independent spent fuel storage
installation (ISFSI).
This revision also presents an up-to-date methodology for
determining heat generation rates for both pressurized-water reactor
(PWR) and boiling-water reactor (BWR) fuel and provides greater
flexibility (fewer restrictions) than previous versions of this guide.
It allows the loading of higher burnup fuel by using more accurate
methods for decay heat calculations by covering a wider range of fuel
characteristics, including operating history.
II. Additional Information
The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-3050 in the
Federal Register on December 23, 2016 (81 FR 94431), for a 60 day
public comment period. The public comment period closed on February 21,
2017. Public comments on DG-3050 and the staff responses to the public
comments are available under ADAMS under Accession No. ML18228A811.
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 will provide guidance to applicants and licensees subject
to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 72, including
applicants and holders of Certificates of Compliance (CoC), with
respect to determining heat generation rates for spent fuel. Issuance
of this RG will not constitute backfitting as defined in in 10 CFR
72.62(a), which is applicable to ISFSIs. Issuance of the RG will not
constitute backfitting under 10 CFR 50.109, 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 RG positions describe a methodology acceptable to the NRC
staff, and expressly states that current licensees may continue to use
guidance the NRC found acceptable for complying with the identified
regulations as long as the licensee does not initiate, as a voluntary
matter, a change to its current licensing basis. Thus, the guidance
will not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 72.62(a).
2. The NRC has no intention of imposing the positions in the RG on
existing CoCs, ISFSI or nuclear power plant licenses either now or in
the future (absent a voluntary request for change from the licensee).
3. The matters addressed in the RG apply equally to both specific
licensees under Part 72 as well as general licensees under who hold
ISFSI licensees by virtue of their status as holders of Part 50
operating licenses or as holders of Part 52 combined licenses.
4. 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
the backfitting provisions in 10 CFR 72.62. This is because the
backfitting provisions in Part 72 were not intended to apply to every
NRC action which substantially changes the expectations of current and
future applicants.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of December 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. 2018-27931 Filed 12-21-18; 8:45 am]
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