[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 218 (Tuesday, November 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61082-61084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24551]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0177]


Proposed Revisions To Draft Branch Technical Position 8-8 Onsite 
(Emergency Diesel Generators) and Offsite Power Sources Completion Time 
Extensions

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Standard review plan-draft section revision; request for 
comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on draft NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the 
Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR 
Edition,'' Branch Technical Position (BTP) 8-8, ``Onsite (Emergency 
Diesel Generators) and Offsite Power Sources Completion Time 
Extensions.'' The NRC seeks comments on the proposed draft section 
revision of the BTP concerning guidance for the completion time 
extension requests for onsite or offsite power sources.

DATES: Comments must be filed no later than January 13, 2020. Comments 
received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do 
so, but the Commission is able to ensure

[[Page 61083]]

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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0177. Address 
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individual 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 accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Notich, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-3053; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0177 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0177.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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 draft revision and current 
revision to BTP 8-8, ``Onsite (Emergency Diesel Generators) and Offsite 
Power Sources Completion Time Extensions'' are available in ADAMS under 
Accession Nos. ML19219A184 and ML113640138, respectively.
     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-2019-0177 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 
https://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.

II. Further Information

    The NRC seeks public comment on the proposed draft section revision 
of BTP 8-8. The changes to Standard Review Plan (SRP) Chapter 8 reflect 
the current staff reviews, methods, and practices based on lessons 
learned from the NRC's reviews of design certification and combined 
license applications completed since the last revision of this chapter. 
The draft SRP section would also provide guidance for reviewing an 
application for a combined license under part 52 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
    Following NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends 
to finalize BTP 8-8 in ADAMS and post it on the NRC's public website at 
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800/. 
The SRP is guidance for the NRC staff. The SRP is not a substitute for 
the NRC regulations, and compliance with the SRP is not required.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Chapter 8 of the SRP provides guidance to the staff for electrical 
engineering issues. BTP 8-8 of the SRP provides guidance for the review 
of information addressing onsite and offsite power sources completion 
time extensions.
    Issuance of this SRP section revision does not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) nor is it 
inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. The 
NRC's position is based upon the following considerations.
    1. The SRP positions do not constitute backfitting, inasmuch as the 
SRP is guidance directed to the NRC staff with respect to its 
regulatory responsibilities.
    The SRP provides guidance to the NRC staff on how to review an 
application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing. 
Changes in guidance intended for use by only the staff are not matters 
that constitute backfitting as that term is defined in 10 CFR 
50.109(a)(1) or involve the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR part 
52.
    2. Backfitting and issue finality--with certain exceptions 
discussed below--do not apply to current or future applicants.
    Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain 
exceptions, the subject of either the Backfit Rule or any issue 
finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52. This is because neither the 
Backfit Rule nor the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR part 52 were 
intended to apply to every NRC action that substantially changes the 
expectations of current and future applicants.
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever a 
10 CFR part 50 operating license applicant references a construction 
permit or a 10 CFR part 52 combined license applicant references a 
license (e.g., an early site permit) and/or an NRC regulatory approval 
(e.g., a design certification rule) for which specified issue finality 
provisions apply.
    The NRC staff does not currently intend to impose the positions 
represented in this final SRP section in a manner that constitutes 
backfitting or is inconsistent with any issue finality provision of 10 
CFR part 52. If in the future the NRC staff seeks to impose positions 
stated in this SRP section in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting or be inconsistent with these issue finality provisions, 
the NRC staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule or 
address the regulatory criteria set forth in the applicable issue 
finality provision, as applicable, that would allow the staff to impose 
the position.
    3. The NRC staff has no intention to impose the SRP positions on 
existing nuclear power plant licensees either now or in the future 
(absent a voluntary request for a change from the licensee, holder of a 
regulatory approval or a design certification applicant).
    The staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions 
described in this final SRP section to existing (already

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issued) licenses (e.g., operating licenses and combined licenses) and 
regulatory approvals. Hence, the issuance of this SRP guidance--even if 
considered guidance subject to the Backfit Rule or the issue finality 
provisions in 10 CFR part 52--would not need to be evaluated as if it 
were a backfit or as being inconsistent with issue finality provisions. 
If, in the future, the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in the SRP 
on holders of already issued licenses in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting or does not provide issue finality as described in the 
applicable issue finality provision, then the staff must make a showing 
as set forth in the Backfit Rule or address the criteria set forth in 
the applicable issue finality provision, as applicable, that would 
allow the staff to impose the position.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of November, 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dennis C. Morey,
Chief, Licensing Projects Branch, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2019-24551 Filed 11-8-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P