[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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