[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]
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