[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40661-40662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16096]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2021-0141]
Evaluating the Habitability of a Nuclear Power Plant Control Room
During a Postulated Hazardous Chemical Release
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-1387, ``Evaluating the
Habitability of a Nuclear Power Plant Control Room during a Postulated
Hazardous Chemical Release.'' This DG is a proposed Revision 2 to
Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.78, which describes an approach that is
acceptable to the NRC staff to meet regulatory requirements for
evaluating the habitability of a nuclear power plant control room
during a postulated hazardous chemical release. Releases of hazardous
chemicals, onsite or off-site, can result in the nearby control room
becoming uninhabitable.
DATES: Submit comments by August 27, 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-2021-0141. 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
[[Page 40662]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Casper Sun, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1646, email: [email protected]; Michael
Eudy, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3104,
email: [email protected]; or Kyle Song, Office of Nuclear Regulatory
Research, telephone: 301-415-3637, email: [email protected]. All 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-2021-0141, facility name, unit
number(s), docket number(s), application date, and subject, if
applicable, 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-2021-0141.
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 ADAMS accession number for each
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first
time that it is mentioned in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
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-2021-0141 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
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 entitled, ``Evaluating the Habitability of a Nuclear Power
Plant Control Room during a Postulated Hazardous Chemical Release,'' is
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1387 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML21119A157). The proposed revision of this guide (Revision 2) presents
up-to-date and defense-in-depth guidance using the latest scientific
methods and the updated, NRC-endorsed computer code for control room
habitability evaluation called HABIT. HABIT is an integrated set of
computer codes that the NRC uses to evaluate control room habitability
and estimate the control room personnel's exposure to a chemical
release. DG-1387 describes an approach that is acceptable to the NRC
staff to meet the requirements of part 50 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic licensing of production and
utilization facilities,'' appendix A, ``General Design Criteria for
Nuclear Power Plants,'' General Design Criterion 19, ``Control Room,''
for evaluating the habitability of a nuclear power plant control room
during a postulated hazardous chemical release.
Revision 1 of RG 1.78 endorsed an earlier version of the HABIT
code, which is described in NUREG/CR-6210, Supplement 1, ``Computer
Codes for Evaluation of Control Room Habitability (HABIT V1.1),''
issued October 1998 (ADAMS Accession No. ML063480558). More recently,
the NRC staff endorsed a newer version of the HABIT code in NUREG-2244,
``HABIT 2.2: Description of Models and Methods,'' issued May 2021
(ADAMS Accession No. ML21120A069). NUREG-2244 is incorporated into
Revision 2 of this proposed guide.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML21119A159). The staff developed the
regulatory analysis to assess the value of revising RG 1.78 as well as
alternative courses of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of DG-1387, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting
as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in NRC
Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward
Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests''; would not
constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD
8.4; or affect the issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR
part 52, ``Licenses, certifications, and approvals for nuclear power
reactors.'' As explained in DG-1387, applicants and licensees would not
be required to comply with the positions set forth in DG-1387.
Dated: July 23, 2021.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2021-16096 Filed 7-27-21; 8:45 am]
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