[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8928-8929]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02720]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2021-0038]


Safety-Related Steel Structures and Steel-Plate Composite Walls 
for Other Than Reactor Vessels and Containments

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1304, ``Safety-Related 
Steel Structures and Steel-Plate Composite Walls for other than Reactor 
Vessels and Containments.'' DG-1304 is a new guide that proposes 
guidance to meet regulatory requirements for safety-related steel 
structures and steel-plate composite walls for other than reactor 
vessels. DG-1304 endorses, with exceptions and clarifications, the 2018 
edition of American National Standards Institute/American Nuclear 
Society (ANSI/AISC) N690, ``Specification for Safety-Related Steel 
Structures for Nuclear Facilities.''

DATES: Submit comments by March 29, 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-2021-0038. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; 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-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: Edward O'Donnell, telephone: 301-415-
3317, email: [email protected] and Marcos Rolon Acevedo, 
telephone: 301-415-2208, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of 
the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 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-2021-0038 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-2021-0038.
     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]. DG-1304, ``Safety-Related Steel 
Structures and Steel-Plate Composite Walls for other than Reactor 
Vessels and Containments'' is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML20339A558.
     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 or 
301-415-4737, 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-2021-0038 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 DG 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 
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in 
its review of applications for permits and licenses.

[[Page 8929]]

    The DG, entitled, ``Safety-Related Steel Structures and Steel-Plate 
Composite Walls for other than Reactor Vessels and Containments'' is a 
proposed new guide temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1304. 
It proposes guidance to meet regulatory requirements for safety-related 
steel structures and steel-plate composite walls for other than reactor 
vessels and containments. It endorses with, exceptions and 
clarifications, the 2018 edition of ANSI/AISC N690-2018, 
``Specification for Safety-Related Steel Structures for Nuclear 
Facilities.''
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML20339A559). 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

    Issuance of DG-1304, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting 
as that term is defined in title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) section 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 MD 8.4; or affect issue 
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' As explained in 
DG-1304, applicants and licensees are not required to comply with the 
positions set forth in DG-1361.

    Dated: February 4, 2021.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2021-02720 Filed 2-9-21; 8:45 am]
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