[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 188 (Monday, September 28, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 60691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21299]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 188 / Monday, September 28, 2020 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 60691]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2020-0059]


Guidance: Changes, Tests, and Experiments

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 3.72, ``Guidance for Implementation 
of Changes, Tests, and Experiements.'' Revision 1 to RG 3.72 endorses 
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 12-04, Revision 2. NEI 12-04, Revision 
2, updates and revises previous guidance to incorporate operating 
experience and NRC's inspection findings. In addition, RG 3.72, 
Revision 1, changes the NRC's guidance on departures from a method of 
evaluation (MOE) and the NRC's approval of an MOE.

DATES: Revision 1 to RG 3.72 is available on September 28, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0059 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-2020-0059. Address 
questions about 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 reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by 
email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in this document.
    Revision 1 to RG 3.72 and the regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML20220A185 and ML19269B764, respectively.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marlone Davis, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7447, email: 
[email protected] and Harriet Karagiannis, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2493, 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 revision to an existing 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 
agency's regulations, techniques that the NRC staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs 
in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    Revision 1 of RG 3.72 was issued with a temporary identification of 
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-3054, titled, ``Guidance for Implementation 
of 10 CFR 72.48, `Changes, Tests, And Experiments' '' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML19269B763). Revision 1 to RG 3.72 describes an approach that is 
acceptable to NRC to meet regulatory requirements related to changes 
affecting independent spent fuel storage installations, spent fuel 
storage cask designs, and monitored retrievable storage installations 
by endorsing guidance document NEI 12-04, Revision 2, ``Guidelines for 
10 CFR 72.48 Implementation,'' with clarifications and exceptions.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-3054 in the 
Federal Register on June 2, 2020 (85 FR 33582) for a 60-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on August 3, 2020, and 
the NRC received six comment documents. Public comments on DG-3054 and 
the staff responses to the public comments are available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML20220A183. Revision 1 to RG 3.72 may be found in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML20220A185.

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, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this regulatory guide in final form would not 
constitute backfitting as defined in title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR) section 72.62, ``Backfitting,'' and as described 
in NRC Management Directive 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward 
Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests'' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML18093B087). As explained in section D., ``Implementation,'' of 
the regulatory guide, licensees are not be required to comply with the 
positions set forth in this regulatory guide.

    Dated: September 22, 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. 2020-21299 Filed 9-25-20; 8:45 am]
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