[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]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P