[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 16, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33861-33864]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-15008]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 73

[Docket No. NRC-2017-0227]
RIN 3150-AK19


Physical Security for Advanced Reactors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory basis; public meeting, and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting 
comment on a regulatory basis to support a rulemaking that would amend 
the NRC's regulations to develop specific physical security 
requirements for advanced reactors, which refers to light-water small 
modular reactors and non-light-water reactors. The NRC is proposing a 
limited-scope rulemaking that would provide a clear set of alternative, 
performance-based requirements and guidance for advanced reactor 
physical security that would reduce the need for exemptions to current 
physical security requirements when applicants request permits and 
licenses. This rulemaking would provide additional benefits for 
advanced reactor applicants by establishing greater regulatory 
stability,

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predictability, and clarity in the licensing process. The NRC plans to 
hold a public meeting to discuss the regulatory basis and facilitate 
public participation.

DATES: Submit comments by August 15, 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.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0227. Address 
questions about NRC 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.
     Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do 
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact 
us at 301-415-1677.
     Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission at 301-415-1101.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
     Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
MD 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal 
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
    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: Ilka T. Berrios, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards; telephone: 301-415-2404; email: 
[email protected]; or William Reckley, Office of New Reactors; 
telephone: 301-415-7490; email: [email protected]. Both are staff 
of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
II. Discussion
III. Specific Requests for Comment
IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation
V. Plain Writing
VI. Public Meeting

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0227 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-2017-0227.
     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 [email protected]. The regulatory basis document is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML19099A017.
     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-2017-0227 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 will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 into ADAMS.
    Please note that the NRC will not provide formal written responses 
to each of the comments received on the regulatory basis. However, the 
NRC will consider all comments received in the development of the 
proposed rule.

II. Discussion

    In 2018, the staff submitted SECY-18-0076, ``Options and 
Recommendation for Physical Security for Advanced Reactors,'' dated 
August 1, 2018, (ADAMS Accession No. ML18170A051), presenting 
alternatives and a recommendation to the Commission on possible changes 
to the regulations and guidance related to physical security for 
advanced reactors (light-water small modular reactors and non-light-
water reactors). The staff evaluated the advantages and disadvantages 
of each alternative and recommended a limited-scope rulemaking to 
further assess and, if appropriate, revise a limited set of NRC 
regulations. The staff also recommended developing necessary guidance 
to address performance criteria for which the alternative requirements 
may be applied for advanced reactor license applicants. In the Staff 
Requirements Memorandum (SRM)--SECY-18-0076, dated November 19, 2018, 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML18324A478), the Commission approved the staff's 
recommendation to initiate a limited-scope rulemaking.
    As a result, the NRC is considering rulemaking for advanced 
reactors that could be licensed under part 50 of title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' or 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This limited-
scope rulemaking would apply the insights from advances in designs and 
safety research; retain the NRC's overall security regulations 
framework; and provide alternatives and guidance related to specific 
physical security requirements. For the purposes of this limited-scope 
rulemaking, the term advanced reactors will refer only to light-water 
small modular reactors and non-light-water reactors.
    The NRC's current physical security regulations for nuclear power 
plants were developed to address the risk of radiological consequences 
from radiological sabotage of a nuclear power plant that uses special 
nuclear material and the theft or diversion of special nuclear material 
from these facilities. This rulemaking will focus on the threats from 
radiological sabotage. Potential threats related to theft and diversion 
of special nuclear material are outside the scope of this limited-scope 
rulemaking, but may be considered in future projects.\1\ Given that the 
current

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fleet of nuclear power plants consists of large light-water reactors, 
NRC regulations were developed in the context of security challenges 
related to large light-water reactors. These regulations do not take 
into account advances in designs and engineered safety features, and 
their applications to advanced reactors.
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    \1\ Many non-light-water reactor designs are expected to use 
higher assay low-enriched uranium (i.e., between 5- and 20-percent 
enrichments) and fuel forms other than the traditional uranium 
dioxide pellets used for light-water reactors. Different fuel forms 
introduce the possible need to develop new approaches to material 
control and accounting practices and protections against theft and 
diversion throughout the fuel cycle, including at reactor 
facilities. Future interactions between the staff and stakeholders 
will cover these and other issues related to higher assay low-
enriched uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle.
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    The regulatory basis summarizes the current physical security 
framework for large light-water reactors against radiological sabotage, 
describes regulatory issues that have motivated the NRC to pursue 
rulemaking, evaluates various alternatives to address physical security 
for advanced reactors, and identifies the background documents related 
to these issues. In the regulatory basis, the term advanced reactors 
refers to light-water small modular reactors and non-light-water 
reactors. As defined in Sec.  170.3, the term Small modular reactors 
refers to a nuclear reactor (or module) designed to produce heat energy 
up to 1,000 megawatts thermal or electrical energy up to approximately 
300 megawatts electric per module that the Commission licensed under 
the authority granted by Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 
as amended, and pursuant to the provisions of Sec.  50.22, ``Class 103 
licenses; for commercial and industrial facilities.''
    The NRC is requesting comment on the regulatory basis to support 
consideration of a rulemaking that would provide alternatives and 
guidance related to specific physical security requirements for 
advanced reactors. The NRC will consider the comments received on the 
regulatory basis as it develops this proposed rule.
    This limited-scope rulemaking aims to retain the current overall 
security requirements framework in Sec.  73.55, ``Requirements for 
physical protection of licensed activities in nuclear power reactors 
against radiological sabotage,'' to protect against radiological 
sabotage, while providing alternatives for advanced reactors to 
specific physical security-related regulations.
    The physical security measures established under current NRC 
regulations are technology-inclusive. Under this limited-scope 
rulemaking, the NRC would apply a similar, technology-inclusive 
approach for advanced reactors to accommodate a variety of facility 
designs, systems, and purposes. The technical basis for offering an 
alternative for the physical security requirements for advanced 
reactors is the combination of inherent reactor characteristics and 
demonstration of security incorporated into the advanced reactor 
designs that reduces reliance on human actions to mitigate attempted 
acts of radiological sabotage.
    The limited-scope rulemaking would target the identified 
requirements that rely on human actions for interdiction and post-
attack command and control. Specifically, the limited-scope rulemaking 
would focus on establishing a performance-based approach and associated 
criteria to assess advanced reactor attributes, as described in the 
Policy Statement on the Regulation of Advanced Reactors, published in 
the Federal Register (FR) on October 14, 2008 (73 FR 60612), to 
determine whether alternatives to the prescribed minimum number of 
armed responders currently defined in Sec.  73.55(k)(5)(ii) and the 
prescriptive requirements defined in Sec.  73.55(i)(4)(iii) for an 
onsite secondary alarm station are applicable. The NRC is aware of the 
safety improvements expected to be generally found in advanced reactors 
due to their incorporation of simplified, inherent, and passive 
features. These features may result in smaller and slower fission 
product releases following a loss of safety functions from malfunctions 
and from many malicious acts.
    The advantages of pursuing a limited-scope rulemaking related to 
advanced reactor physical security include:
     Promote regulatory stability, predictability, and clarity.
     Reduce the need for future applicants to propose 
alternatives or request exemptions from physical security requirements.
     Recognize technology advancements and design features 
associated with the NRC-recommended attributes of advanced reactors.
     Replace prescriptive regulations with risk-informed, 
performance-based requirements.

III. Specific Request for Comment

    The NRC is seeking comments and supporting rationale from the 
public on the following questions:
    (1) Is it feasible to define performance criteria related to 
offsite consequences for advanced reactors with attributes as defined 
in the Policy Statement on the Regulation of Advanced Reactors, that 
could be used to determine the applicability of alternative, 
performance-based physical security requirements while maintaining 
adequate protection of plant equipment and personnel by the overall 
physical security program?
    (2) If feasible to define performance criteria to determine the 
applicability of alternative, performance-based requirements for a 
limited scope of physical security regulations, are the possible 
criteria, as proposed in Section 4.5 of the regulatory basis, 
reasonable and sufficient to ensure that the resultant physical 
security programs provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection 
of public health and safety or would other criteria be more 
appropriate? (Respondents should describe suggested alternatives.)
    (3) It is anticipated that engineered safety features may result in 
a slow accident progression that could allow for reliance on offsite 
licensee response to support the prevention of offsite consequences for 
advanced reactors with attributes as defined in the Policy Statement. 
The staff expects that future discussions will involve evaluating the 
feasibility of reliance on these resources for security response and to 
help recover facilities and mitigate events. What types of engineering, 
administrative, and programmatic controls should be considered in any 
future evaluations of this approach?

IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation

    The cumulative effects of regulation (CER) describes the challenges 
that licensees or other impacted entities (such as State agency 
partners, Tribal and local governments) may face while implementing new 
regulatory positions, programs, and requirements (e.g., rules, generic 
letters, backfits, inspections). The CER is an organizational challenge 
that results from a licensee or impacted entity implementing a number 
of complex positions, programs, or requirements within a limited 
implementation period and with available resources (which may include 
limited available expertise to address a specific issue). The NRC has 
implemented CER enhancements to the rulemaking process to facilitate 
public involvement throughout the rulemaking process. Therefore, the 
NRC is specifically requesting comments on the cumulative effects that 
may result from this proposed rulemaking. In developing comments on the 
regulatory basis, consider and provide comments on the following 
questions:
    1. In light of any current or projected CER challenges, what should 
be a reasonable effective date, compliance date, or submittal date(s) 
from the time the final rule is published to the actual implementation 
of any proposed

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requirements, including changes to programs, procedures, and the 
facility?
    2. If CER challenges currently exist or are expected, what should 
be done to address them? For example, if more time is required for 
subsequent implementation of the new requirements, what period of time 
is sufficient?
    3. Do other (NRC or other agency) regulatory actions (e.g., orders, 
generic communications, license amendment requests, and inspection 
findings of a generic nature) influence the subsequent implementation 
of the proposed rule's requirements?
    4. Are there unintended consequences? Does the regulatory basis 
create conditions that would be contrary to the regulatory basis' 
purpose and objectives? If so, what are the unintended consequences, 
and how should they be addressed?

V. Plain Writing

    The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal 
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, and well-organized 
manner. The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the 
Plain Writing Act as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain 
Language in Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 
31883). The NRC requests comment on this document with respect to the 
clarity and effectiveness of the language used.

VI. Public Meeting

    The NRC plans to hold a public meeting during the public comment 
period for this document. The public meeting will provide a forum for 
the NRC to discuss the issues and questions with external stakeholders 
regarding the regulatory basis to support a proposed rulemaking that 
would provide alternatives and guidance related to specific physical 
security requirements for advanced reactors. The NRC does not intend to 
provide detailed responses to comments or other information submitted 
during the public meeting.
    The public meeting will be noticed on the NRC's public meeting 
website at least 10 calendar days before the meeting. Stakeholders 
should monitor the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule web page for 
additional information about the public meeting at http://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg.
    The NRC will post a notice for the public meeting and may post 
additional material related to this action to the Federal Rulemaking 
website at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2017-0227.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of July 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Patricia K. Holahan,
Director, Division of Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Materials Safety 
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2019-15008 Filed 7-15-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P