[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 6, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2069-2070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01182]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 25 / Wednesday, February 6, 2019 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 2069]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100
[Docket No. PRM-50-99; NRC-2011-0189]
Enhancing Reactor Safety Petition for Rulemaking
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; denial.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a
petition for rulemaking (PRM), dated July 26, 2011, submitted by the
Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC or the petitioner). The
petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations to require
nuclear facilities to confirm seismic and flooding hazards every 10
years and to address any new and significant information. The petition
was docketed by the NRC on August 4, 2011, and was assigned Docket No.
PRM-50-99. The NRC did not request public comment on this petition
because the staff had sufficient information to review the issues
raised in the PRM. The NRC is denying the petition because the NRC is
addressing the issues raised in the petition using an approach other
than rulemaking.
DATES: The docket for PRM-50-99 is closed on February 6, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0189 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-2011-0189. Address
questions about NRC rulemaking dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone:
301-415-3463; 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 ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then 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 document
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time
that it is mentioned in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Solomon Sahle, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-3781; email:
[email protected], or Joseph Sebrosky, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1132; email: [email protected].
Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. The Petition
Section 2.802 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR), ``Petition for rulemaking--requirements for filing,'' provides an
opportunity for any interested person to petition the Commission to
issue, amend, or rescind any regulation. On July 26, 2011, the NRC
received a PRM from the NRDC. The petitioner requested that the NRC
amend its regulations to require nuclear facilities licensed under 10
CFR parts 50, 52, and 100, and other applicable regulations, to confirm
seismic hazards and flooding hazards every 10 years and to address any
new and significant information, which would include, if necessary,
updating the design basis for structures, systems, and components
(SSCs) important to safety to protect against the updated hazards.
The petitioner cited Recommendation 2.2 (R2.2) of Section 4.1.1 of
the NRC's post-Fukushima Near-Term Task Force report (ADAMS Accession
No. ML11186A950) as the rationale and basis for the PRM. R2.2
recommended that licensees address any new and significant information
and, if necessary, take actions that could include updating the design
basis for SSCs important to safety to protect against the updated
hazards.
On September 20, 2011 (76 FR 58165), the NRC published a notice of
docketing for several PRMs from the NRDC in the Federal Register, which
included Docket No. PRM-50-99 (Seismic Hazards and Flooding
Hazards).\1\ The only PRM being addressed in this Federal Register
notice is PRM-50-99.
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\1\ The notice also provided Docket Nos. PRM-50-97 (Emergency
Preparedness Enhancements for Prolonged Station Blackouts), PRM-50-
98 (Emergency Preparedness Enhancements for Multiunit Events), PRM-
50-100 (Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Safety), PRM-50-101 (Station
Blackout Mitigation), and PRM-50-102 (Training on Severe Accident
Mitigation [sic] Guidelines). The staff reviewed the other PRMs
separately as part of the Mitigation of Beyond-Design-Basis Events
draft final rule (see SECY-16-0142, dated December 15, 2016 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML16291A186)).
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II. Reasons for Denial
The NRC is denying the petition because the staff concluded in
SECY-15-0137, ``Proposed Plans for Resolving Open Fukushima Tier 2 and
3 Recommendations,'' Enclosure 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15254A006) that
the NRC can meet the intent of R2.2 (which is the issue raised in the
petition) using an approach other than rulemaking. In the staff
requirements memorandum (SRM) for SECY-15-0137, dated February 8, 2016
(ADAMS Accession No. ML16039A175), the Commission approved the staff's
proposed closure plans, including the staff's plans to use an enhanced
process--other than rulemaking--to identify and evaluate new
information related to external hazards.
Subsequently, in ``Recommendation 2.2: Plan to Ensure Ongoing
Assessment of Natural Hazard Information'' (ADAMS Accession No.
ML16286A569), Enclosure 2 of SECY-16-0144, ``Proposed Resolution of
Remaining Tier 2 and 3 Recommendations Resulting from the Fukushima
Dai-ichi Accident'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML16286A552), the staff
provided the Commission with additional details regarding the staff's
plan to enhance existing processes to ensure the ongoing assessment of
new information and reconfirmation of
[[Page 2070]]
natural hazards at nuclear power plants in a manner consistent with
R2.2. As noted in Enclosure 2, while R2.2 focused on seismic and
flooding hazards, the proposed framework is intended to accommodate a
range of natural hazards including earthquakes, flooding, and extreme
weather, such as high winds. In the SRM associated with SECY-16-0144,
dated May 3, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17123A453), the Commission
approved the staff's recommendations for the development of these
process enhancements.
The staff is implementing the process enhancements described in
Enclosure 2 of SECY-16-0144 via a process that the staff subsequently
identified as the ``Process for Ongoing Assessment of Natural Hazard
Information'' (POANHI). The staff's implementation of these process
enhancements is ongoing. A cross-agency team has been formed to
implement the POANHI. The team is developing procedures and has begun
testing and populating the Natural Hazards Information Digest. The
completion and implementation date for POANHI is October 2019.
In summary, the NRC is denying the petition because the staff is
addressing the issue raised in the petition through the enhancement of
existing NRC processes and the development of associated staff
procedures to ensure that the staff proactively and routinely
aggregates and assesses new information related to natural hazards
(including, but not limited to, seismic and flooding hazards). The
Commission-approved approach for ensuring the ongoing, routine,
proactive, and systematic assessment of natural hazards information is
described in SECY-15-0137 and SECY-16-0144 and associated staff
requirements memorandums dated February 8, 2016, and May 3, 2017.
III. Stakeholder Interactions
The NRC held several public meetings to solicit input from
stakeholders during the development of SECY-15-0137. This included a
public meeting held on October 6, 2015, in which the NRC staff provided
the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee on
Fukushima with an overview of the staff's plans to resolve all open
Near-Term Task Force Tier 2 and 3 recommendations. The staff also
discussed these plans with the ACRS Full Committee on November 5, 2015.
In addition, the staff provided an overview of its proposed resolution
plans for all of the open Tier 2 and 3 recommendations during a
Category 2 public meeting held on October 20, 2015. Further, the staff
briefed the Commission on the status of Tier 2 and 3 activities during
public meetings held on November 17, 2015, and May 17, 2016.
In addition to the meetings discussed above, the NRC held a public
meeting of the Fukushima Joint Steering Committee on August 25, 2016,
where the NRC discussed the framework for the ongoing assessment of
natural hazards information, described in Enclosure 2 of SECY-16-0144,
with external stakeholders (ADAMS Accession No. ML16252A221).
On September 22, 2016, the NRC issued a document titled, ``White
Paper for Staff Assessment of Fukushima Lessons Learned Associated with
Other Natural Hazards, Periodic Confirmation of Natural Hazards, and
Real-Time Radiation Monitoring'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML16230A384). The
NRC staff briefed the ACRS Subcommittee on Fukushima on October 19,
2016, and the ACRS Full Committee on November, 30, 2016, on the topics
covered in the white paper.
IV. Conclusion
For the reasons cited in this document, the NRC is denying PRM-50-
99. As explained above, the petition relied upon R2.2 of the NRC's
post-Fukushima Near-Term Task Force report. PRM-50-99 did not present
any significant new information or arguments.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of January, 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-01182 Filed 2-5-19; 8:45 am]
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