[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 166 (Wednesday, August 26, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52643-52644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18797]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2018-0137]
Licensee Actions To Address Nonconservative Technical
Specifications
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing for
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG) DG-1351 (proposed new
Regulatory Guide 1.239), originally titled, ``Dispositioning of
Technical Specifications that are Insufficient to Ensure Plant
Safety.'' This DG has been revised to include changes as a result of
the public comments received in the original publication of DG-1351 in
2018 and the issuance of Revision 3 of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
15-03, ``Licensee Actions to Address Nonconservative Technical
Specifications,'' in 2020. This revision of DG-1351 (Revision 1)
removes the exceptions and clarifications that were in the 2018 version
of DG-1351 and endorses NEI 15-03, Revision 3. The title of this DG-
1351 has also changed to ``Licensee Actions to Address Nonconservative
Technical Specifications.''
DATES: Submit comments by September 25, 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 NRC Docket ID NRC-2018-0137. Address
questions about NRC dockets IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) 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: Shawn Williams, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1009, email:
[email protected] and Robert Roche-Rivera, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-8113, 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-2018-0137 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-2018-0137.
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]. For the convenience of the reader,
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0137 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
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific
parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff
uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to
describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications
for permits and licenses.
The DG, titled, ``Licensee Actions to Address Nonconservative
Technical Specifications,'' is a proposed new Regulatory Guide 1.239
and is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1351, Revision 1.
This DG provides methods and procedures that are acceptable to the NRC
staff for licensee actions to address nonconservative technical
specifications.
[[Page 52644]]
The DG-1351 was issued originally for public comment on July 5,
2018 (83 FR 31429), and it endorsed NEI 15-03, Revision 2, with
exceptions and clarifications. On October 17, 2019, the NRC staff held
a public meeting to discuss the staff's disposition of public comments
on DG-1351. Subsequently, by letter dated April 9, 2020, the NEI
submitted Revision 3 of NEI 15-03 to address the exceptions and
clarifications in DG-1351. The NRC review of the April 9 submittal
determined that NEI 15-03, as revised, is acceptable and addresses the
exceptions and clarifications in DG-1351. As a result, the NRC revised
DG-1351 to remove the exceptions and clarifications. Members of the
public that submitted comments on the July 5, 2018, version of DG-1351
and believe such comments are not adequately addressed in the updated
DG-1351, Revision 1, are encouraged to resubmit their comments or
provide additional comments.
If the NRC finalizes DG-1351, Revision 1, and issues RG 1.239, then
the NRC would also withdraw Administrative Letter (AL) 98-10,
``Dispositioning of Technical Specifications That Are Insufficient to
Assure Plant Safety.''
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
DG-1351, Revision 1, if finalized, would provide guidance on
licensee actions to address nonconservative technical specifications.
Issuance of DG-1351, Revision 1, if finalized, would 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 (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward
Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests''; constitute forward
fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; or affect the
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' As explained in
this DG, applicants and licensees are not required to comply with the
positions set forth in this DG.
IV. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through ADAMS under the respective ADAMS Accession
numbers identified in the table.
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Document ADAMS Accession No.
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DG-1351, Revision 1, Licensee Actions to ML20142A489.
Address Nonconservative Technical
Specifications, August 2020.
DG-1351, Dispositioning of Technical ML18086A690.
Specifications that are Insufficient to
Ensure Plant Safety, July 2018.
NEI 15-03, Revision 2, Licensee Actions to ML17276A642.
Address Nonconservative Technical
Specifications, September 2017.
Summary of October 17, 2019, Meeting with ML19298B110.
NEI Regarding DG-1351.
Draft NRC Staff Responses to Public ML19267A108.
Comments on DG-1351.
NEI 15-03, Revision 3, Licensee Actions to ML20100G899 (Package).
Address Nonconservative Technical
Specifications, March 2020.
AL 98-10, Dispositioning of Technical ML031110108.
Specifications That Are Insufficient to
Assure Plant Safety.
Management Directive 8.4, Management of ML18093B087.
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue
Finality, and Information Requests.
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Dated: August 21, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-18797 Filed 8-25-20; 8:45 am]
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