[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 243 (Thursday, December 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81958-81959]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27717]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2020-0245]


Environmental Qualification of Certain Electrical Equipment 
Important to Safety for Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public 
comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1361, ``Environmental 
Qualification of Certain Electrical Equipment Important to Safety for 
Nuclear Power Plants.'' This draft guide is proposed revision 2 of 
regulatory guide (RG) 1.89 of the same name. The proposed revision 
describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to 
meet regulatory requirements for environmental qualification (EQ) of 
certain electric equipment important to safety for nuclear power 
plants. The previous revision of RG 1.89 was issued in June 1984 and 
endorsed the use of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 
(IEEE) Standard (Std.) 323-1974. This proposed revision incorporates 
additional information regarding the dual logo International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)/IEEE Std. 60780-323, ``Nuclear 
Facilities--Electrical Equipment Important to Safety--Qualification,'' 
Edition 1, 2016-02.

DATES: Submit comments by February 16, 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. 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; 
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-2020-0245. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 
telephone: 301-287-9221; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7A06, 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: Matthew McConnell, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1597, email: 
[email protected], and Michael Eudy, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3104, 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-2020-0245 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-2020-0245.
     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].
     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-2020-0245 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 posts 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, ``Environmental Qualification of Certain Electrical 
Equipment Important to Safety for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1361 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML20183A423). DG-1361 is proposed revision 2 of RG 1.89. This revision 
of the guide (revision 2) endorses, with clarifications, the 
``English'' portion of the dual logo IEC/IEEE Std. 60780-323, Edition 
1, 2016-02 as a method acceptable to the NRC for meeting the regulatory 
requirements for EQ of certain electric equipment important to safety 
for nuclear power plants. This DG applies to licensees and applicants 
subject to title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 
50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and

[[Page 81959]]

Utilization Facilities,'' and 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.''
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML20192A230). The staff develops a 
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a 
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    DG-1361, if finalized, would provide the most recent guidance 
acceptable to the NRC staff for compliance with 10 CFR 50.49, 
``Environmental qualification of electrical equipment important to 
safety for nuclear power plants'' for certain electrical equipment 
important to safety. Issuance of DG-1361, if finalized, would not 
constitute backfitting, as that term is 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''; constitute forward fitting, as that term is 
defined and described in Management Directive 8.4; or affect the issue 
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52. As explained in 
DG-1361, applicants and licensees would not be required to comply with 
the positions set forth in DG-1361.

IV. Specific Requests for Comments

    In addition to the general request for comments on DG-1361, the NRC 
is also seeking specific comments that address the following question:
    In this proposed RG revision, the staff has updated the current 
version of the RG (Revision 1) to endorse, with clarifications, IEC/
IEEE Std. 60780-323, Edition 1, 2016-2. The current version of the RG 
(Revision 1) endorsed IEEE Std. 323-1974, ``IEEE Standard for 
Qualifying Class IE Equipment for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.'' 
As stated in the Implementation section of the DG, the staff does not 
intend to use this RG revision to support NRC staff actions in a manner 
that would constitute backfitting or forward fitting or affect the 
issue finality of an approval under 10 CFR part 52. Further, licensees 
or applicants are not required to comply with the RG. However, does the 
staff's proposed endorsement of IEEE Std. 60780-323, Edition 1, 2016-02 
raise any concerns related to backfitting, forward fitting, or issue 
finality that the staff has not considered?

    Dated: December 11, 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. 2020-27717 Filed 12-16-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P