[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 149 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46734-46735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16717]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2018-0028]


Development of an Ex Situ Performance Testing Protocol for 
Nuclear Power Plant Flood Penetration Seals

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2240, ``Development of an Ex Situ 
Performance Testing Protocol for Nuclear Power Plant Flood Penetration 
Seals.'' This draft NUREG summarizes a research project that developed 
a test protocol for evaluating flood penetration seals using simulated 
flooding conditions in a laboratory setting.

DATES: Submit comments by September 2, 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 
on or 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-2018-0028. 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,

[[Page 46735]]

see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Aird, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2442; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0028 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-2018-0028.
     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 reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by 
email to [email protected]. The draft NUREG-2240 is available in 
ADAMS under Accession ML20206L359.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0028 in the subject line of 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 posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as entering 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 submissions into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    Draft NUREG-2240 summarizes the results of a research project on 
flood penetration seals installed at nuclear power plants (NPPs). The 
objectives of this research project were to characterize flood 
penetration seals currently installed at NPPs and to develop a test 
protocol that evaluated the effectiveness and performance of flood 
penetration seals in their installed configurations. The test protocol 
described in draft NUREG-2240 is intended to support the evaluation of 
the flood mitigation performance of penetration seals that are 
installed to protect openings in barriers (walls/floors) that have been 
otherwise credited as having a flood resistance rating in support of a 
flood mitigation program at NPPs.
    The overall research project consisted of three phases: (1) 
Profiling of flood penetration seals currently used in U.S. NPPs; (2) 
developing a draft ex-situ performance testing protocol; and (3) 
performing limited testing of several seal types and applications to 
evaluate and refine the testing protocol. Project materials including a 
draft test protocol from phases 1 and 2 were published in the Federal 
Register for public comment on February 20, 2018 (83 FR 7239). After a 
30-day public comment period, the public comments were assessed, and 
the draft test protocol was updated as necessary.
    As part of the third and final phase of this research project, a 
limited series of flood tests were conducted to assess the 
effectiveness and viability of the developed testing protocol. As the 
flood experiments took place, the draft protocol was assessed using the 
test data. Informal observations of individual flood seal performance 
were recorded and described in the draft NUREG, but such observations 
should not be considered exhaustive or as ascribing specific 
properties/qualifications to the flood seals themselves. The overall 
results of these tests and subsequent amendments to the test protocol 
are outlined in draft NUREG-2240.
    This document is not intended for interim use. The NRC will review 
public comments received on the document and incorporate suggested 
changes as appropriate.

    Dated: July 28, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark H. Salley,
Chief, Fire and External Hazard Analysis Branch, Division of Risk 
Analysis, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-16717 Filed 7-31-20; 8:45 am]
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