[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 34794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13955]



[[Page 34794]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2021-0112]


Fuel Qualification for Advanced Reactors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2246, ``Fuel Qualification for 
Advanced Reactors.'' The purpose of this NUREG report is to provide a 
fuel qualification assessment framework for use by applicants. 
Specifically, the framework provides objective criteria, derived from 
regulatory requirements, that when satisfied, would support regulatory 
findings for licensing.

DATES: Submit comments by August 30, 2021. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this 
date.

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-2021-0112. 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: Timothy Drzewiecki, telephone: 301-
415-5184, email: [email protected] and Jordan Hoellman, 
telephone: 301-415-5481, email: [email protected]. Both are 
staff of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, 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-2021-0112 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-2021-0112.
     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]. The draft NUREG, NUREG-2246, ``Fuel 
Qualification for Advanced Reactors'' is available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML21168A063.
     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-2021-1112 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. Discussion

    Proposed advanced reactor designs use fuel designs and operating 
environments (e.g., neutron energy spectra, fuel temperatures, 
neighboring materials) that differ from the large experience base 
available for traditional light-water reactor fuel. The purpose of this 
report is to identify criteria that will be useful for advanced reactor 
designs through an assessment framework that would support regulatory 
findings associated with nuclear fuel qualification. The report begins 
by examining the regulatory basis and related guidance applicable to 
fuel qualification, noting that the role of nuclear fuel in the 
protection against the release of radioactivity for a nuclear facility 
depends heavily on the reactor design. The report considers the use of 
accelerated fuel qualification techniques and lead test specimen 
programs that may shorten the timeline for qualifying fuel for use in a 
nuclear reactor at the desired parameters (e.g., burnup). The 
assessment framework particularly emphasizes the identification of key 
fuel manufacturing parameters, the specification of a fuel performance 
envelope to inform testing requirements, the use of evaluation models 
in the fuel qualification process, and the assessment of the 
experimental data used to develop and validate evaluation models and 
empirical safety criteria.

    Dated: June 25, 2021.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John P. Segala,
Chief, Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors 
and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2021-13955 Filed 6-29-21; 8:45 am]
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