[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 72 (Tuesday, April 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20725-20726]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07798]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0072]
Design Review Guide for Instrumentation and Controls for Non-
Light-Water Reactor Reviews
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft staff guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on its draft Design Review Guide (DRG): Instrumentation
and Controls for Non-Light-Water Reactor (non-LWR) Reviews. This DRG
provides guidance for the NRC staff to use in reviewing the
Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) portions of applications for
advanced non-LWRs within the bounds of existing regulations. The
guidance supports NRC's Non-LWR Vision and Strategy, Implementation
Action Plan Strategy 3, which involves developing: (1) Guidance for
flexible regulatory review processes for non-LWRs within the bounds of
existing regulations; and (2) a new non-LWR regulatory framework that
is risk-informed and performance-based, and that features NRC staff's
review efforts commensurate with the demonstrated safety performance of
non-LWR technologies.
DATES: Submit comments by June 29, 2020. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 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-2020-0072. 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 obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jordan Hoellman, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-5481, email:
[email protected], 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-2020-0072 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-2020-0072.
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 Design Review Guide (DRG):
Instrumentation and Controls for Non-Light-Water Reactor Reviews is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML20045D302.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2020-0072 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.
[[Page 20726]]
II. Background
This DRG guidance leverages the Small Modular Reactor Design-
Specific Review Standard Chapter 7 framework while factoring in the
lessons learned from new reactor reviews. This guidance supports the
NRC's Vision and Strategy document entitled ``Safely Achieving
Effective and Efficient Non-Light Water Reactor Mission Readiness''
(ADAMS Accession No. ML16356A670), and the ``Non-LWR Vision and
Strategy Near-Term Implementation Action Plans'' (ADAMS Accession No.
ML17165A069). Specifically, the guidance discussed herein supports
Implementation Action Plan Strategy 3, which involves developing: (1)
Guidance for flexible regulatory review processes for non-LWRs within
the bounds of existing regulations; and (2) a new non-LWR regulatory
framework that is risk-informed and performance-based, and that
features NRC staff's review efforts commensurate with the demonstrated
safety performance of non-LWR technologies. This DRG also factors in
the principles in Draft Regulatory Guide (DG)-1353, ``Guidance for
Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and Performance-Based Approach to
Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light-Water Reactors'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML18312A242). DG-1353 endorses the methodology in Nuclear
Energy Institute 18-04, ``Risk-Informed Performance-Based Technology
Inclusive Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactor Licensing Basis
Development'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML19241A472), with clarifications
and points of emphasis.
This DRG provides guidance for the NRC staff responsible for the
review of the I&C portion of license applications to help determine
whether: (1) The applicant has demonstrated that there is reasonable
assurance that the plant is designed to adequately protect public
health and safety and the environment; and (2) the design complies with
the applicable regulatory requirements. Some advanced reactor reviews
will use a core review team approach and the I&C topics will be
addressed as part of the staff's collaborations on the overall plant
design and associated programmatic controls. This DRG supports the I&C-
related reviews as part of such a core review team approach or a more
traditional matrix-type review of applications.
The NRC staff guidance discussed herein is a proactive way to
further modernize the I&C safety review of advanced non-LWR
applications by making it technology-inclusive, risk-informed, and
performance-based.
Dated: April 8, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John P. Segala,
Chief, Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors
and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2020-07798 Filed 4-13-20; 8:45 am]
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