[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 238 (Thursday, December 10, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 79434-79435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26845]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
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 

  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 238 / Thursday, December 10, 2020 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 79434]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[NRC-2020-0253]


Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Subtask 2A

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of withdrawal and reissuance; public meeting and request 
for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a draft 
document entitled ``Implementation of Quality Assurance Criteria and 10 
CFR 50.59 for Nuclear Power Plant Components Produced Using Advanced 
Manufacturing Technologies'' for public comments in the Federal 
Register on November 30, 2020. The document addresses the application 
of quality assurance (QA) criteria and NRC's requirements in its 
regulations regarding, ``Changes, tests and experiments,'' to the 
implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT)-fabricated 
components in U.S. nuclear power plants. This notice withdraws the 
November 30, 2020, notice in its entirety and reissues the notice to 
include additional explanatory information, extend the comment period 
to 60 days, and correct the Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS) accession number for the draft document.

DATES: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is withdrawing the proposed 
rule published November 30, 2020 (85 FR 76489); and reissuance of the 
draft document takes effect on December 10, 2020. Submit comments on 
the draft document by February 8, 2021.
    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. The NRC will hold a 
public meeting as an online webinar. See Section IV. Public Meeting, of 
this document for additional information.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject); however, the NRC encourages electronic 
comment submission through the Federal Rulemaking website:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0253. Address 
questions about 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: Isaac Anchondo-Lopez, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 817-200-1152; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0253 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-2020-0253.
     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, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to [email protected]. The draft document entitled 
``Implementation of Quality Assurance Criteria and 10 CFR 50.59 for 
Nuclear Power Plant Components Produced Using Advanced Manufacturing 
Techniques'' can be found by searching for ADAMS Accession No. 
ML20317A007.
     Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of public documents is currently closed. You may submit your request to 
the PDR via email at [email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 
between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2020-0253 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 withdrawing Federal Register Document 2020-26272 issued 
on November 30, 2020 (85 FR 76489), and is reissuing the notice in its 
entirety to include additional information, extend the comment period 
to 60 days, and correct the ADAMS Accession Number of the draft 
document entitled

[[Page 79435]]

``Implementation of Quality Assurance Criteria and 10 CFR 50.59 for 
Nuclear Power Plant Components Produced Using Advanced Manufacturing 
Technologies'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML20317A007).

III. Background

    The NRC considers AMTs to consist of material processing and 
component fabrication methods that have not been traditionally used in 
the U.S. nuclear industry and have not yet received NRC approval 
through NRC-endorsed codes and standards or the approval of an industry 
submittal. There are several regulatory paths available to a licensee 
for utilizing an AMT in a nuclear application, including: (1) 
Development of a Code or Standard that can be incorporated by reference 
in section 50.55a of chapter I of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR); (2) selection of an unregulated in-service 
application; (3) submission of generic technical reports or plant-
specific submittals for NRC approval; or (4) implementation of the 10 
CFR 50.59, ``Changes, tests and experiments,'' 10 CFR 70.72, ``Facility 
changes and change process,'' or 10 CFR 72.48, ``Changes, tests, and 
experiments'' processes. Industry indicated that plans for the initial 
installation of AMT-fabricated components would involve the 10 CFR 
50.59 process. Therefore, the NRC staff documented in the draft 
document a description of the processes, consistent with the QA 
requirements in Appendix B to 10 CFR part 50 and in accordance with 10 
CFR 50.59 in order to support the staff's performance of potential 
inspections of a licensee's implementation of these requirements for 
AMT-fabricated components.

IV. Specific Considerations

    This report documents completion of the staff's initial review of 
QA criteria and 10 CFR 50.59 requirements for AMT applications at U.S. 
nuclear power plants. This report does not represent a complete and 
final analysis of all aspects of QA criteria and 10 CFR 50.59 
requirements and guidance that might be applicable to the use of AMT 
components at U.S. nuclear power plants. This report does not create 
new regulatory requirements or establish new regulatory positions with 
respect to the use or manufacture of AMT components for nuclear power 
plants. The scope of this report is limited to the review of existing 
requirements and guidance to address AMT components and the 
consideration of potential regulatory and technical challenges. This 
report may be subject to future revision, as additional insights and 
operating experience for use of AMT components are gained.
    In its effort to be open and transparent regarding potential 
processes for the installation of AMT-fabricated components, the NRC is 
requesting general comments on this document.

V. Public Meeting

    The NRC plans to hold a public meeting during the public comment 
period for this action. A public meeting is planned for January 2021, 
via online webinar. The public webinar will provide a forum for the NRC 
staff to discuss the document and for members of the public to provide 
comments on the document. The NRC does not intend to provide any 
responses to comments submitted during the public webinar. The public 
webinar will be noticed on the NRC's public meeting website at least 10 
calendar days before the meeting. Members of the public should monitor 
the NRC's public meeting website for additional information about the 
public webinar at https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm. The NRC will post the notice for the public webinar and may 
post additional material related to this action to the Federal 
Rulemaking website at https://www.regulations.gov/ under Docket ID NRC-
2020-0253. The Federal Rulemaking website allows you to receive alerts 
when changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) 
Navigate to the docket folder (NRC-2020-0253); (2) click the ``Sign up 
for Email Alerts'' link; and (3) enter your email address and select 
how frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or 
monthly).

    Dated: December 2, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anna H. Bradford,
Director, Division of New and Renewed Licenses, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2020-26845 Filed 12-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P