[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]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P