[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 19, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9484-9486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03237]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2012-0110]
An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking:
Technical Specifications
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing for
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1287, ``An Approach for
Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical
Specifications.'' This proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG)
1.177 includes guidance to develop risk-informed applications for
technical specification (TS) changes that considers engineering issues
and applies risk insights. This proposed revision also provides
guidance acceptable to the staff for using risk information to evaluate
changes to nuclear power plant TS completion times (CTs) and
surveillance frequencies (SFs) and to assess the impact of such
proposed changes on the risk associated with plant operation. This DG-
1287 supplements the guidance provided in RG 1.174, ``An Approach for
Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on
Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,'' Revision 3, issued
January 2018.
DATES: Submit comments by April 20, 2020. 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 for public comment, comments and
suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in RGs currently
being developed or improvements in all published RGs are encouraged at
any time.
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-2012-0110. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
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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: Gary Wang, telephone: 301-415-1686,
email: [email protected]; or Harriet Karagiannis, telephone: 301-
415-2493, email: [email protected]. Both are staff 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-2012-0110 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-2012-0110.
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 DG is electronically available in
ADAMS under Accession No. ML19206A489.
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-2012-0110 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. 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.
This DG, identified by its task number, DG-1287, titled, ``An
Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical
Specifications,'' is a proposed Revision 2 of RG 1.177, ``An Approach
for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical
Specifications.''
A previous version of DG-1287 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12017A054) was
issued for public comment in 2012 (77 FR 29391). Commenters on the
previous version are encouraged to review and comment on this version,
but previously submitted comments will not be explicitly reconsidered
for this revised draft guide because of the extent of the changes
between this draft guide and the previously published version.
This Revision 2 of RG 1.177 updates the application of the defense-
in-depth philosophy to be consistent with the philosophy described in
RG 1.174, which was revised in 2018 to expand the meaning of, and the
process for, assessing defense-in-depth considerations. Specifically,
this revision of RG 1.177 references the defense-in-depth guidance in
RG 1.174 in several staff regulatory positions. Additionally, the staff
revised this guide to (1) adopt the term ``PRA acceptability,'' and
related phrasing variants, instead of terms such as ``PRA quality,''
``PRA technical adequacy,'' and ``technical adequacy'' to describe the
appropriateness of the probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) used to
support risk informed licensing submittals, (2) update Section 2.3,
``Evaluation of Risk Impact,'' of RG 1.177, and (3) delineate the
difference between temporary CT extensions and permanent CT extensions
of TS or maximum backstop CTs.
III. Backfitting, Issue Finality, and Forward Fitting
RG 1.177, Revision 2, would provide updated guidance for power
reactor applicants and licensees regarding use of the defense-in-depth
philosophy with other recently updated guidance, and would make other
conforming changes to the use of PRA and other terminology. Issuance of
this RG in final form would not constitute backfitting or forward
fitting or affect issue finality as further discussed below.
Current or future applicants are not--with limited exceptions not
applicable here--within the scope of the backfitting and issue finality
regulations and forward fitting policy. Applicants are not, with
certain exceptions, covered by either the Backfit Rule or any issue
finality provisions under part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR). This is because neither the Backfit Rule nor the
issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52--with certain exclusions
discussed below--were intended to apply to every NRC action which
substantially changes the expectations of current and future
applicants.
The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification
rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit
under 10 CFR part 50. The staff does not, at this time, intend to
impose the positions represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a
manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the issue finality
of a part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a
position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes
backfitting or does not provide issue finality as described in the
applicable issue finality provision, then the staff would need to
address the Backfit Rule or the criteria for avoiding issue finality as
described in the applicable issue finality provision.
The staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions
represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner
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that would constitute forward fitting. If, in the future, the staff
seeks to impose a position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner
that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff would need to address
the forward fitting criteria in Management Directive 8.4.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of February, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert G. Roche-Rivera,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-03237 Filed 2-18-20; 8:45 am]
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