[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 119 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33384-33385]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13472]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2021-0091]


Use of Plant Parameter Envelope in Early Site Permit Applications

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-4029, ``Use of Plant 
Parameter Envelope in Early Site Permit Applications.'' DG-4029 is a 
new regulatory guide that proposes guidance for nuclear power plant 
applicants that elect to use the plant parameter envelope (PPE) concept 
to assume certain design parameters for an early site permit (ESP) 
application when a specific reactor technology has not been selected 
for a proposed site. It incorporates the PPE portions of NRC Review 
Standard (RS)-002, ``Processing Applications for Early Site Permits.'' 
The issuance of this DG allows the NRC staff to withdraw the outdated 
guidance in RS-002 while retaining the PPE information in it for future 
use by prospective ESP applicants.

DATES: Submit comments by August 9, 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-2021-0091. 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,

[[Page 33385]]

see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317, email: 
[email protected] and Luissette Candelario, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-8189, 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-2021-0091 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-2021-0091.
     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]. DG-4029, ``Use of the Plant Parameter 
Envelope in Early Site Permit Applications'' is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML21049A181.
     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. (ET), 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-2021-0091 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 issuance of this DG allows the NRC staff to withdraw the 
outdated guidance in RS-002 while retaining the PPE information in DG-
4029 for future use by prospective ESP applicants. Therefore, NRC staff 
is withdrawing RS-002 in conjunction with the issuance of DG-4029.
    The DG, entitled, ``Use of Plant Parameter Envelope in Early Site 
Permit Applications'' is a proposed new guide temporarily identified by 
its task number, DG-4029. It proposes guidance for ESP applicants that 
elect to use the PPE concept to postulate certain design parameters 
when a specific reactor technology has not been selected for a proposed 
site. The guide incorporates the guidance on PPE found in NRC's Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation RS-002, ``Processing Applications for 
Early Site Permits,'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML040700236). Subsequent to 
issuance of RS-002 in 2004, many sections of it have been superseded 
and do not fully reflect the NRC's implementation of a risk-informed, 
performance-based approach to licensing. The issuance of this DG allows 
the NRC staff to withdraw the outdated guidance in RS-002 while 
retaining the PPE information for future use by prospective ESP 
applicants.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a regulatory analysis 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML21049A182). The staff develops a regulatory 
analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide 
as well as alternative courses of action. The analysis provides the 
public with an insight in how the NRC arrives at a regulatory decision.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-4029, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting 
as that term is defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) section, ``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 issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, 
``Licenses, Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' As 
explained in DG-4029, applicants and licensees are not required to 
comply with the positions set forth in DG-4029.

    Dated: June 16, 2021.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Project Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2021-13472 Filed 6-23-21; 8:45 am]
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