[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 55 (Friday, March 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16147-16148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-05830]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0076]
Volcanic Hazards Assessment for Proposed New and Advanced Nuclear
Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-4028, ``Volcanic Hazards
Assessment for Proposed Nuclear Power Reactor Sites.'' This DG proposes
new guidance for facilitating NRC staff reviews of volcanic hazard
assessments performed by applicants to support the siting and licensing
of new nuclear power reactors. The DG also provides applicants with the
methods and approaches the NRC staff considers acceptable for the
assessment of volcanic hazards in license applications.
DATES: Submit comments by May 19, 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, comments and suggestions in
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed
or improvements in all published guides 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-2020-0076. Address
questions about NRC dockets 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.
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: Jenise Thompson, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1811, email:
[email protected]; and Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317, email:
[email protected]. Both are staff of the 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-2020-0076 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-2020-0076.
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-4028 is available in ADAMS
under Accession No.
[[Page 16148]]
ML20007D621 and the Regulatory Analysis under Accession No.
ML20007D618.
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-2020-0076 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 draft 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
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. The staff is also
issuing for public comment a draft Regulatory Analysis. Regulatory
Analyses are developed to assess the value of issuing a guide as well
as alternative courses of action.
The DG, entitled, ``Volcanic Hazards Assessment for Proposed
Nuclear Power Reactor Sites,'' is a proposed new guide temporarily
identified by its task number, DG-4028. It provides guidance for
facilitating NRC staff reviews of volcanic hazard assessments performed
by applicants to support the licensing of new nuclear power reactors.
The guide also provides applicants with the methods and approaches the
NRC staff considers acceptable for the assessment of volcanic hazards
in license applications.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of this draft 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'' and as described in NRC
Management Directive 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting,
Issue Finality, and Information Requests;'' would not affect the issue
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52; and would not
constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in
Management Directive 8.4. As explained in the draft regulatory guide,
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth
in this draft regulatory guide.
April 24, 2020
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of March 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-05830 Filed 3-19-20; 8:45 am]
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