[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 111 (Tuesday, June 9, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35339-35340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12402]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0113]


Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and 
Performance-Based Methodology To Inform the Licensing Basis and Content 
of Applications for Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Non-
Light Water Reactors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
revision 0 of regulatory guide (RG), RG 1.233, ``Guidance for a 
Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and Performance-Based Methodology 
to Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light Water Reactors.'' This RG 
provides new guidance for designers, applicants, and licensees of non-
light water-cooled nuclear reactors (non-LWRs) to inform the licensing 
basis and content of applications to the NRC for licenses, 
certifications, or approvals. The RG provides guidance on using a 
technology-inclusive, risk-informed, and performance-based methodology 
to inform the licensing basis and content of applications for licenses, 
certifications, and approvals for non-LWRs.

DATES: Revision 0 to RG 1.233 is available on June 9, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0113 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-2019-0113. 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]. Revision 0 to RG 1.233 and the 
regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession Nos. 
ML20091L698 and ML18325A214, respectively.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Reckley, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-7490, email: 
[email protected], or Stanley Gardocki, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1067, email: 
[email protected]. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing a new RG 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.

[[Page 35340]]

    The RG, entitled ``Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive, Risk-
Informed, and Performance-Based Methodology to Inform the Licensing 
Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Non-Light Water Reactors,'' endorses, with 
clarifications, the principles and methodology in the Nuclear Energy 
Institute (NEI) guidance document NEI 18-04, ``Risk-Informed 
Performance-Based Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactor Licensing Basis 
Development,'' as one acceptable method for determining the appropriate 
scope and level of detail for parts of applications for licenses, 
certifications, and approvals for non-LWRs. NEI 18-04 outlines an 
approach for use by reactor developers to select licensing basis 
events; classify structures, systems, and components; determine special 
treatments and programmatic controls; and assess the adequacy of a 
design in terms of providing layers of defense in depth. These actions 
are fundamental to the safe design of non-LWRs. The methodology 
described in NEI 18-04 and the RG also provide a general methodology 
for identifying an appropriate scope and depth of information to be 
provided in applications to the NRC for licenses, certifications, and 
approvals for non-LWRs required under part 50 of title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' and 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.''

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1353 in the 
Federal Register on May 3, 2019 (84 FR 19132), for a 60-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on July 2, 2019. 
Public comments on DG-1353 and the staff responses to the public 
comments are available under ADAMS under Accession No. ML20091L696.

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, Issue Finality, and Forward Fitting

    RG 1.233 provides guidance for informing the licensing basis and 
content of applications for non-LWRs. The RG does not constitute 
regulatory requirements. For this reason, the issuance of RG 1.233 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;'' affect issue finality of any approval issued 
under 10 CFR part 52; or constitute forward fitting as defined in 
Management Directive 8.4. Future applicants may choose to follow the 
guidance or utilize another approach in developing applications for 
licenses, certifications, or approvals.

    Dated: June 3, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-12402 Filed 6-8-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P