[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33926-33928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11187]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2022-0081]


Draft Interim Staff Guidance: Advanced Reactor Content of 
Application Project, ``Risk-informed Technical Specifications''

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guidance; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) DANU-ISG-2022-
08, ``Risk-informed Technical Specifications.'' The purpose of this 
proposed ISG is to provide guidance to assist the NRC staff in 
determining whether an application for a non-light water reactor (non-
LWR) design that uses the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP) process 
meets the minimum requirements for construction permits, operating 
licenses, combined licenses, manufacturing licenses, standard design 
approval, or design certifications.

DATES: Submit comments by July 10, 2023. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
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 http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0081. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individual 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: Michael Orenak, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-3229, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0081 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-2022-0081.
     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]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR,

[[Page 33927]]

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-2022-0081 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. Background

    The NRC anticipates the submission of advanced power-reactor 
applications within the next few years based on preapplication 
engagement initiated by several prospective applicants. Because many of 
these designs are non-LWRs, the NRC is developing technology-inclusive, 
risk-informed, performance-based guidance to support the development 
and review of these non-LWR applications. The proposed guidance will 
facilitate the development and review of non-LWR applications for 
construction permits or operating licenses under part 50 of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of 
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' or combined licenses, 
manufacturing licenses, standard design approval, or design 
certifications under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The NRC is developing a rule to 
amend 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 (RIN 3150-Al66). The NRC staff notes this 
proposed ISG may need to be updated to conform to changes to 10 CFR 
parts 50 and 52, if any, adopted through that rulemaking. Further, as 
of the date of this draft ISG, the NRC is developing an optional 
performance-based, technology-inclusive regulatory framework for 
licensing nuclear power plants designated as 10 CFR part 53, 
``Licensing and Regulation of Advanced Nuclear Reactors,'' (RIN 3150-
AK31). The NRC intends to revise this proposed guidance as a part of 
the ongoing rulemaking for 10 CFR part 53.
    To standardize the development of content of a non-LWR application, 
the staff focused on two activities: the Advanced Reactor Content of 
Application Project (ARCAP) and the Technology-Inclusive Content of 
Application Project (TICAP). The ARCAP is an NRC-led activity that is 
intended to result in guidance for a complete non-LWR application for 
review under 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52, and which the staff 
would update, as appropriate, pending the issuance of the 10 CFR part 
50 and 10 CFR part 52 rulemaking as previously mentioned in this 
notice, or if the Commission issues a final 10 CFR part 53 rule. As a 
result, the ARCAP is broad and encompasses several industry-led and 
NRC-led guidance document development activities aimed at facilitating 
a consistent approach to the development of application documents.
    The TICAP is an industry-led activity that is focused on providing 
guidance on the appropriate scope and depth of information related to 
the specific portions of the safety analysis report that describe the 
fundamental safety functions of the design and document the safety 
analysis of the facility using the LMP-based approach. The LMP-based 
approach is described in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.233, ``Guidance for a 
Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and Performance-Based Methodology 
to Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light-Water Reactors,'' (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML20091L698).
    The ARCAP draft ISG titled ``Review of Risk-Informed, Technology 
Inclusive Advanced Reactor Applications--Roadmap'' (ARCAP Roadmap ISG) 
provides a general overview of the information that should be included 
in a non-LWR application. The ARCAP Roadmap ISG also provides a review 
roadmap for the NRC staff with the principal purpose of ensuring 
consistency, quality, and uniformity of NRC staff reviews. The ARCAP 
Roadmap ISG includes references to eight other ARCAP draft ISGs and a 
TICAP draft regulatory guide (DG) that are the subject of separate 
Federal Register notices (FRNs) requesting comment on these guidance 
documents. Information regarding the eight other ARCAP draft ISGs and 
the TICAP DG can be found in the ``Availability of Documents'' section 
of this FRN.

III. Request for Comment

    The ARCAP draft ISG titled, ``Risk-informed Technical 
Specifications,'' that is the subject of this FRN for which the staff 
is seeking comment, was developed because the current application and 
review guidance related to technical specifications is applicable only 
to light water reactors and may not fully (or efficiently) identify the 
information to be included in a technology-inclusive, risk-informed, 
and performance-based application or provide a review approach for such 
an application. The Risk-informed Technical Specifications draft ISG 
also refers to several NRC-issued, approved, or endorsed documents and 
the NRC is requesting comment on this proposed ISG's use of those 
documents.
    Additionally, the staff is issuing for public comment a draft 
regulatory analysis. The staff developed a regulatory analysis to 
assess the value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as 
alternative courses of action. The development of both application 
guidance and staff review guidance is warranted. If finalized, this ISG 
will serve as the non-LWR application and review guidance for risk-
informed technical specifications.
    The Risk-informed Technical Specification draft ISG correlates the 
text in 10 CFR 50.36, ``Technical specifications,'' with the analysis 
and outputs of the risk-informed approach described in Nuclear Energy 
Institute 18-04, Revision 1, ``Risk-Informed Performance-Based 
Technology Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactors,'' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML19241A472), and with the principal design criteria applicable to 
the design. In addition to general comments on this draft ISG, the NRC 
is seeking public comment on whether the correlation previously 
described can be interpreted as a departure from the regulation text 
and whether the NRC staff will need to consider whether exemptions are 
necessary.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The table in this notice provides the document description, ADAMS 
accession number, and, if appropriate, the docket identification number 
referencing the request for public comment on supporting documents

[[Page 33928]]

associated with the document that is the subject of this FRN.

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               Document description                     ADAMS accession No.       Regulations.gov docket ID No.
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Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-01       ML22048B546                  NRC-2022-0074
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
 Project, `Review of Risk-Informed, Technology
 Inclusive Advanced Reactor Applications--Roadmap'
 ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-02,      ML22048B541                  NRC-2022-0075
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
 Chapter 2, `Site Information' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-03,      ML22048B543                  NRC-2022-0076
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
 Chapter 9, `Control of Routine Plant Radioactive
 Effluents, Plant Contamination and Solid Waste'
 ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-04,      ML22048B544                  NRC-2022-0077
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
 Chapter 10, `Control of Occupational Dose' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-05,      ML22048B542                  NRC-2022-0078
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
 Chapter 11, `Organization and Human-System
 Considerations' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-06,      ML22048B545                  NRC-2022-0079
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
 Chapter 12, `Post-Construction Inspection,
 Testing, and Analysis Program' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-07,      ML22048B549                  NRC-2022-0080
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
 Project, `Risk-informed Inservice Inspection/
 Inservice Testing' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-08,      ML22048B548                  NRC-2022-0081
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
 Project, `Risk-Informed Technical Specifications'
 ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-09,      ML22048B547                  NRC-2022-0082
 ``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
 Project, `Risk-informed Performance-based Fire
 Protection Program (for Operations)' ''.
DG-1404, ``Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive      ML22076A003                  NRC-2022-0073
 Content of Application Methodology to Inform the
 Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for
 Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Non-
 Light-Water Reactors''.
Regulatory Analysis for ARCAP ISGs................  ML23093A099                  NRC-2022-0074
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

V. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    DANU-ISG-2022-08, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in 
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. The 
guidance would not apply to any current licensees or applicants or 
existing or requested approvals under 10 CFR part 52, and therefore its 
issuance cannot be a backfit or forward fit or affect issue finality. 
Further, as explained in DANU-ISG-2022-08, applicants and licensees 
would not be required to comply with the positions set forth in DANU-
ISG-2022-08.

    Dated: May 22, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Steven T. Lynch,
Chief, Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors 
and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2023-11187 Filed 5-24-23; 8:45 am]
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