[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 23, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71531-71532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-25523]


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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2022 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 71531]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-124; NRC-2022-0178]


Licensing Safety Analysis for Loss-of-Coolant Accidents

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing and request for 
comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a 
petition for rulemaking from Ralph O. Meyer dated August 1, 2022, 
requesting that the NRC revise its regulations regarding the licensing 
safety analysis for loss-of-coolant accidents. The petition was 
docketed by the NRC on October 11, 2022, and has been assigned Docket 
No. PRM-50-124. The NRC is examining the issues raised in PRM-50-124 to 
determine whether they should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is 
requesting public comment on this petition at this time.

DATES: Submit comments by February 6, 2023. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to assure 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-2022-0178. Address 
questions about NRC Dockets to Dawn Forder; telephone: 301-415-3407; 
email: [email protected]. For technical questions contact the 
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do 
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact 
us at 301-415-1677.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications 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: Blake Purnell, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1380, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0178 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-2022-0178.
     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].
     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. eastern time (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-2022-0178 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. The Petitioner and Petition

    The petition for rulemaking (PRM) was filed by Ralph O. Meyer. The 
PRM requests that the NRC revise its regulations at part 50 of title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of 
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' regarding the licensing safety 
analysis for loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). The PRM requests that 
the NRC amend its regulations at 10 CFR 50.46, ``Acceptance criteria 
for emergency core cooling systems for light-water nuclear power 
reactors,'' which limits peak cladding temperature and maximum cladding 
oxidation to satisfy General Design Criterion No. 35 of appendix A to 
part 50, ``Emergency core cooling.'' The petition may be found in ADAMS 
at Accession No. ML22284A087.

III. Discussion of the Petition

    The letter from the petitioner states that the NRC's current rule 
``limits peak cladding temperature and maximum cladding oxidation'' and 
``no longer ensures coolable geometry at higher fuel burnups'' and 
includes an analysis and discussion of a proposed alternative. The 
petitioner requests the NRC to conduct rulemaking to implement criteria 
in 10 CFR 50.46 that would limit the number of fuel rod ruptures to 10 
percent for large break LOCAs and to 1 percent for small break LOCAs, 
in lieu

[[Page 71532]]

of existing acceptance criteria in 10 CFR 50.46(b). The petitioner 
argues that current licensing safety analyses for LOCAs are no longer 
valid for fuel at moderate and higher burnups. According to the 
petitioner, the German regulatory agency uses these criteria.

IV. Conclusion

    The NRC has determined that the petition meets the sufficiency 
requirements for docketing a PRM under 10 CFR 2.803, ``Petition for 
rulemaking-NRC action.'' The NRC will examine the issues raised in PRM-
50-124 and any comments received in response to this comment request to 
determine whether these issues should be considered in rulemaking. The 
public can monitor further action on the rulemaking that will address 
this petition by searching Docket ID NRC-2022-0178 on the Federal 
rulemaking website, https://www.regulations.gov. The site allows 
members of the public to receive alerts when changes or additions occur 
in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) navigate to the docket folder 
(NRC-2022-0178); (2) click the ``Subscribe'' link; and (3) enter an 
email address and click on the ``Subscribe'' link. The NRC also tracks 
the status of all NRC rules and PRMs on its website at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/rules-petitions.html.

    Dated November 17, 2022.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brooke P. Clark,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2022-25523 Filed 11-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P