[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 98 (Monday, May 22, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32693-32694]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10834]


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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. 88 , No. 98 / Monday, May 22, 2023 / Proposed 
Rules  

[[Page 32693]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2023-0088]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Qualification of Safety-Related Actuators 
in Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1386, ``Qualification 
of Safety-Related Actuators in Production and Utilization Facilities.'' 
This DG is the proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.73 
``Qualification Tests for Safety-Related Actuators in Nuclear Power 
Plants.'' This DG describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff 
of the NRC to meet regulatory requirements for the environmental 
qualification of safety related actuators in production and utilization 
facilities. It endorses, with exceptions, additions, and 
clarifications, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 
(IEEE) Standard (Std.) 382-2019, ``IEEE Standard for Qualification of 
Safety-Related Actuators for Nuclear Power Generating Stations and 
Other Nuclear Facilities.''

DATES: Submit comments by June 21, 2023. 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-2023-0088. 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: Kayleh Hartage, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3563; email: 
[email protected] and Amir Mobasheran, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-8112; email: 
[email protected]. Both are staff 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-2023-0088 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-2023-0088.
     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, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The DG-1386, titled ``Qualification 
of Safety-Related Actuators in Production and Utilization Facilities'' 
is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23055B024.
     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 
a.m. and 4 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-2023-0088 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. 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, entitled ``Qualification of Safety-Related Actuators in 
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' is temporarily identified by 
its task number, DG-1386.
    DG-1386 is proposed Revision 2 of RG 1.73. The proposed revision

[[Page 32694]]

endorses, with exceptions, additions, and clarifications the methods 
described in IEEE Std. 382-2019, as an acceptable process for 
demonstrating compliance with the applicable NRC regulations for the 
environmental qualification of safety-related power operated valve 
actuators in production and utilization facilities.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23055B028. The staff 
developed a regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or 
revising a regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.
    As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671), 
this document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of 
the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 
chapter I of title 1 of the Code Federal Regulations (CFR).

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-1386, 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''; affect issue 
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants''; or constitute 
forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4, because, as explained in this DG, 
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth 
in this DG.

IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

    A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the 
NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs. 
Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html. 
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to 
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.

    Dated: May 17, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-10834 Filed 5-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P