[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 26 (Tuesday, February 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7209-7211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02562]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2022-0036]


Water Sources for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling Following a 
Loss-of-Coolant Accident

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 draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1385, ``Water Sources 
for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling Following a Loss-of-Coolant 
Accident.'' This DG is proposed Revision 5 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 
1.82, which describes an approach that may be used to determine quality 
standards acceptable to the NRC staff, to meet the regulatory 
requirements for sumps and suppression pools that provide water sources 
for emergency core cooling,

[[Page 7210]]

containment heat removal, or containment atmosphere cleanup systems. It 
also provides guidelines for evaluating the adequacy and the 
availability of the sump or suppression pool for long-term 
recirculation cooling following a loss-of-coolant-accident, and the use 
of containment accident pressure in determining the net positive 
suction head for the emergency core cooling and containment heat 
removal pumps. This proposed revision guidance applies to both the 
pressurized-water reactor (PWR) and boiling-water reactor (BWR) types 
of light-water reactors.

DATES: Submit comments by March 10, 2022. 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.

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-2022-0036. 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: Ahsan Sallman, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2380 email: 
[email protected] or James Steckel, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: 301-415-1026 email: [email protected]. Both 
are staff members 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-2022-0036 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding 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-2022-0036.
     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]. The ADAMS accession number for 
each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the 
first time that it is mentioned in this document.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make 
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[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-2022-0036 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 posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enters 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 submissions 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, titled ``Water Sources for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling 
Following a Loss-of-Coolant Accident,'' is temporarily identified by 
its task number, DG-1385 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21266A185). DG-1385 is 
proposed Revision 5 to RG 1.82, ``Water Sources for Long-Term 
Recirculation Cooling Following a Loss-of-Coolant Accident'' (ADAMS 
Package Accession No. ML21081A042). The proposed revision guidance, 
applicable to both the PWR and BWR types of light-water reactors, may 
be used to determine acceptable methods to meet the regulatory 
requirements for sumps and suppression pools that provide water sources 
for emergency core cooling, containment heat removal, or containment 
atmosphere cleanup systems for satisfying General Design Criterion 1, 
``Quality Standards and Records,'' as set forth in Appendix I, 
``Numerical Guides for Design Objectives and Limiting Conditions for 
Operation to Meet the Criterion `As Low as Is Reasonably Achievable' 
for Radioactive Material in Light-Water-Cooled Nuclear Power Reactor 
Effluents,'' of part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities.''
    Changes are being made to provide guidance on the use of 
containment accident pressure in determining the net positive suction 
head margin for the emergency core cooling system and containment heat 
removal pumps. The proposed revision also incorporates new information 
regarding the effects of debris on long-term core cooling (LTCC) since 
Revision 4, (03/2012) of RG 1.82 was issued.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML21266A186). The staff develops a 
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a 
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.

[[Page 7211]]

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-1385, 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''; 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.

    Dated: February 2, 2022.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2022-02562 Filed 2-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P