[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 10198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03439]



[[Page 10198]]

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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: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.166, ``Pre-Earthquake Planning, 
Shutdown, and Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Following an 
Earthquake.'' This revision of RG 1.166 merges two related RGs, that 
is, RG 1.166 and RG 1.167, ``Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down 
by a Seismic Event.'' The guides were merged because they are similar 
in nature and contain overlapping guidance. RG 1.167 is being withdrawn 
concurrently because it is no longer needed.

DATES: Revision 1 to RG 1.166 is available on February 21, 2020. The 
withdrawal of RG 1.167 takes effect on February 21, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0111 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0111. Address 
questions about NRC 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.
     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]. RG 1.166 is available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML19266A616.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vladimir Graizer, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2380, email: Vladimir 
[email protected]; Thomas Weaver, telephone: 301-415-2383, email: 
[email protected]; and Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317, email: 
Edward.O'[email protected]. All are staff of the 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 1 of RG 1.166 was issued for public comment as Draft 
Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-1337. It merges RG 1.166, ``Pre-Earthquake 
Planning and Immediate Nuclear Power Operator Post-earthquake 
Actions,'' and RG 1.167, ``Restart of a Nuclear Power Plant Shutdown by 
a Seismic Event.'' The revised 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 revised guide provides 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 guide endorses with some 
clarifications, 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, Handling, and Storage of Records from Nuclear Facility 
Seismic Instrumentation.''

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1337 in the 
Federal Register on June 14, 2019 (84 FR 27809) for a 60-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on August 13, 2019. 
Public comments on DG-1337 and the staff responses to the public 
comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML19266A619.

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, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this regulatory guide does not constitute backfitting 
as defined in title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 
section 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in NRC Management 
Directive 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue 
Finality, and Information Requests''; constitute forward fitting as 
that term is defined and described in Management Directive 8.4; or 
affect issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, 
``Licenses, Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' 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 14th day of February 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stanley J. Gardocki,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-03439 Filed 2-20-20; 8:45 am]
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