[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 182 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52927-52928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20566]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2021-0087]


Preparing Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Submittals

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; draft NUREG; 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-1382, ``Preparing 
Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Submittals'' and accompanying draft 
NUREG/CR-7278, ``Technical Basis for the use of Probabilistic Fracture 
Mechanics in Regulatory Applications.'' This DG is proposed new 
Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.245. This draft guide describes a framework to 
develop the contents of a licensing submittal that the staff of the NRC 
considers acceptable when performing probabilistic fracture mechanics 
(PFM) analyses in support of regulatory applications. The draft NUREG 
provides the technical basis for DG-1382.

DATES: Submit comments by October 25, 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-2021-0087. 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-7A-06M, 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: Patrick Raynaud, telephone: 301-415-
1987, email: [email protected] and Kyle Song, telephone: 301-415-
3612, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research at 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-2021-0087 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-2021-0087.
     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-1382, the associated regulatory 
analysis, and Draft NUREG/CR-7278 may be found in ADAMS under Accession 
Nos. ML21034A328, ML21034A261, and ML21257A237, respectively.
     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-2021-0087 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, 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

[[Page 52928]]

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 ``Preparing Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics 
Submittals,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1382.
    DG-1382 is accompanied by draft NUREG/CR-7278, ``Technical Basis 
for the use of Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics in Regulatory 
Applications.'' This draft NUREG provides the technical basis for the 
guidance recommended in DG-1382. The NRC is issuing the draft NUREG for 
public comment at the same time as the DG to allow for review of both 
documents.
    The NRC developed this DG to support the increasing trend toward 
the use of PFM in regulatory applications. It is intended to ensure 
that minimum expectations are clear with regard to the contents of PFM 
regulatory applications. This DG will increase the efficiency of 
reviews for regulatory applications that use PFM as a supporting 
technical basis by providing a set of common guidelines for reviewers 
and licensees.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis. 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

    DG-1382 and NUREG/CR-7278, if finalized, would not constitute 
backfitting as defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``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. As explained in DG-1382, applicants and licensees would not be 
required to comply with the positions set forth in DG-1382.

    Dated: September 17, 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. 2021-20566 Filed 9-22-21; 8:45 am]
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