[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]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P