[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 39 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6444-6445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-03338]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0061]


Seismic Qualification of Electrical and Active Mechanical 
Equipment and Functional Qualification of Active Mechanical Equipment 
for Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1328, ``Seismic 
Qualification of Electrical and Active Mechanical Equipment and 
Functional Qualification of Active Mechanical Equipment for Nuclear 
Power Plants.'' This proposed guide, revision 4 to Regulatory Guide 
(RG) 1.100 of the same name, was revised to endorse industry consensus 
standards with certain exceptions and clarifications. The guide 
describes methods that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for 
use in the seismic qualification of electrical and active mechanical 
equipment and the functional qualification of active mechanical 
equipment for nuclear power plants.

DATES: Submit comments by April 29, 2019. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID: NRC-2019-0061. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Krupskaya Castellon; 
telephone: 301-287-9221; email: nrc.gov">Krupskaya.Castellon@nrc.gov. For 
technical questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
     For additional direction on obtaining information and 
submitting comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting 
Comments'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian Tseng, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-7964, email: nrc.gov">ian.tseng@nrc.gov, and 
Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 
301-415-3317, email: nrc.gov">Edward.odonnell@nrc.gov. Both are staff members of 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0061 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this action. You may 
obtain publically-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-2019-0061.
     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 pdr.resource@

[[Page 6445]]

nrc.gov. The DG-1328 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML18093A675.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2019-0061 in your comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enters the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG 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 
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in 
its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    The DG, entitled, ``Seismic Qualification of Electrical and Active 
Mechanical Equipment and Functional Qualification of Active Mechanical 
Equipment for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is proposed revision 4 of RG 
1.100 of the same name. It is temporarily identified by its task 
number, DG-1328. The guide describes methods that the NRC staff 
considers acceptable for use in the seismic qualification of electrical 
and active mechanical equipment and the functional qualification of 
active mechanical equipment for nuclear power plants.
    This proposed guide was revised to endorse, with exceptions and 
clarifications the following industry consensus standards: (1) 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std) 
344-2013, ``IEEE Standard for Seismic Qualification of Equipment for 
Nuclear Power Generating Stations,'' (2) IEEE Std C37.98-2013, 
``Standard Qualification Testing of Protective Relays and Auxiliaries 
for Nuclear Facilities,'' and (3) American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers (ASME) QME-1-2017, ``Qualification of Active Mechanical 
Equipment Used in Nuclear Facilities.''

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of DG-1328, the NRC 
has no current intention to impose this draft regulatory guide on 
holders of current operating licenses or combined licenses. 
Accordingly, the issuance of this draft regulatory guide, if finalized, 
would not constitute ``backfitting'' as defined in Title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.109(a)(1) of the Backfit Rule or be 
otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provisions in 
10 CFR part 52.
    This draft regulatory guide may be applied to applications for 
operating licenses and combined licenses docketed by the NRC as of the 
date of issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future 
applications for operating licenses and combined licenses submitted 
after the issuance of the regulatory guide. Such action would not 
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) or be 
otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provision in 
10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or potential applicants are 
not within the scope of entities protected by the Backfit Rule or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in Part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of February, 2019.

    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. 2019-03338 Filed 2-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P