[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8326-8327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02874]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0041]


Instrument Sensing Lines

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide, issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.151, ``Instrument Sensing 
Lines.'' RG 1.151 describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff 
of the NRC to meet regulatory requirements for instrument sensing lines 
in nuclear power plants. The RG would endorse, with certain exceptions, 
standards that were updated and corrected subsequent to the last time 
the NRC endorsed them in RG 1.151. More information on updates can be 
found in the Supplementary Information section below.

DATES: Revision 2 to RG 1.151 is available on February 13, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0041 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0041. 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(s) 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 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]. Revision 2 to RG 1.151 and the 
regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession Nos. 
ML19156A129 and ML18158A301, 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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Dawood, telephone: 301-415-2389, 
email: [email protected]; Yaguang Yang, telephone: 301-415-0655, 
email: [email protected]; and Michael Eudy, telephone: 301-415-3104, 
email: [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. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide 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 
agency's regulations, techniques that the NRC staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs 
in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    Revision 2 of RG 1.151 was issued with a temporary identification 
of Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1352. Revision 2 of RG 1.151 describes an 
approach that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to meet regulatory 
requirements for instrument sensing lines in nuclear power plants. It 
endorses, with certain exceptions, American National Standards 
Institute/International Society of Automation (ANSI/ISA)-67.02.01-2014, 
``Nuclear Safety-Related Instrument Sensing Line Piping and Tubing 
Standard for Use in Nuclear

[[Page 8327]]

Power Plants'' and it determines that the Institute of Electrical and 
Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std.) 622-1987, ``IEEE 
Recommended Practice for the Design and Installation of Electric Heat 
Tracing Systems for Nuclear Power Generating Systems,'' reaffirmed in 
1994, is acceptable for use. The revision of ANSI/ISA-67.02.01 
previously endorsed by the NRC in RG 1.151 was revised and corrected by 
ANSI/ISA in 2014. In addition, this RG revision discusses recent 
operating experience, as described in NRC Information Notice (IN) 2013-
12, ``Improperly Sloped Instrument Sensing Lines,'' dated July 3, 2013.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1352 in the 
Federal Register on February 8, 2019 (84 FR 2934) for a 60-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on April 9, 2019 and 
the NRC received three comment documents. Public comments on DG-1352 
and the staff responses to the public comments are available under 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML19156A128.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not 
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Revision 2 of RG 1.151 describes an approach that is acceptable to 
the NRC staff for applicants and licensees under 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 
to meet regulatory requirements for instrument sensing lines in nuclear 
power plants. The issuance of this regulatory guide does not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as 
described in NRC Management Directive 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, 
Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests,'' or affect 
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' because, as 
explained in this regulatory guide, applicants and licensees are not 
required to comply with the positions set forth in this regulatory 
guide.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of February, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Roche-Rivera,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-02874 Filed 2-12-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P