[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 115 (Friday, June 14, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27809-27810]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12556]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0111]


Pre-Earthquake Planning, Shutdown, and Restart of a Nuclear Power 
Plant Following an Earthquake

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-1337, ``Pre-Earthquake 
Planning, Shutdown and Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Following an 
Earthquake.'' This proposed guide is a merger of two closely related 
guides, namely, regulatory guide (RG) 1.166, ``Pre-Earthquake Planning 
and Immediate Nuclear Power Operator Postearthquake Actions'' and RG 
1.167 ``Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Shutdown by a Seismic Event.'' 
Upon completion of the merger of the two guides, RG 1.167 will be 
withdrawn. DG-1337 incorporates lessons learned following shutdown and 
restart of nuclear power plants due to earthquake ground motion and 
post-earthquake evaluations since issuance of the two RGs in 1997.

DATES: Submit comments by August 13, 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-2019-0111. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individuals 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: Vladmir Graizer, telephone: 301-415-
0675, email: [email protected], Thomas Weaver, telephone: 301-
415-2823, email: [email protected], or Edward O'Donnell, telephone: 
301-415-3317, email: Edward.O'[email protected]. All are staff members of 
the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 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-2019-0111 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding 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-2019-0111.
     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 
DG-1337 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18268A185.
     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-2019-0111 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, titled, ``Pre-Earthquake Planning, Shutdown and Restart of 
a Nuclear Power Plant Following a Seismic Event,'' is a proposed 
revision of two related guides temporarily identified by its task 
number, DG-1337. The proposed guide merges RG 1.166, ``Pre-Earthquake 
Planning and Immediate Nuclear Power Operator Postearthquake Actions'' 
and RG 1.167 ``Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Shutdown by a Seismic 
Event.''
    The guide proposes guidance acceptable to the NRC staff regarding 
pre-earthquake planning actions, actions to determine the need to 
shutdown a nuclear power plant and the short-term and long-term 
processes, inspections and tests that are acceptable to demonstrate 
that a nuclear power plant is safe for restarting after a shutdown due 
to an earthquake. The merged guide incorporates lessons learned 
following shutdown and restart of nuclear power plants due to 
earthquake ground motion and post-earthquake evaluations since issuance 
of the two RGs in 1997. The proposed guide also endorses American 
National Standards Institute/American Nuclear Society (ANSI/ANS)-2.23-
2016, ``Nuclear Power Plant Response to an Earthquake,'' and ANSI/ANS-
2.10-2017, ``Criteria for Retrieval, Processing,

[[Page 27810]]

Handling, and Storage of Records from Nuclear Facility Seismic 
Instrumentation.''

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of DG-1337, 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 10 CFR part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of June, 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. 2019-12556 Filed 6-13-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P