[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 25, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47755-47756]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15692]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 51, 52, and 100
[NRC-2021-0091]
Regulatory Guide: Use of Plant Parameter Envelope in Early Site
Permit Applications for Nuclear Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Final guide; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a new
Regulatory Guide (RG) 4.27, ``Use of Plant Parameter Envelope in Early
Site Permit Applications for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This RG provides
guidance for nuclear power plant applicants that elect to use the plant
parameter envelope concept to assume certain design parameters for an
early site permit application when a specific reactor technology has
not been selected for a proposed site.
DATES: Revision 0 of RG 4.27 is available on July 25, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0091 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0091. 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.
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 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: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. 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.
RG 4.27 and the regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under
Accession Nos. ML23010A097 and ML21049A182, respectively.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not
required to reproduce them.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317; email:
[email protected], and Allen Fetter, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-8556; email: [email protected]. Both
are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
The NRC is issuing a new guide 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.
RG 4.27 was issued with a temporary identification of Draft
Regulatory Guide, DG-4029 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21049A181).
II. Additional Information
The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-4029 in the
Federal Register on June 24, 2021 (86 FR 33384) for a 45-day public
comment period. The public comment period closed on August 9, 2021.
Public comments on DG-4029 and the staff responses to the public
comments are available under ADAMS under Accession No. ML23010A111.
As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671),
this document is being published in the ``Rules'' section of the
Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 CFR
chapter I.
III. Congressional Review Act
This RG is not a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5
U.S.C. 801-808).
IV. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of RG 4.27 would not constitute backfitting as that term
is defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR), ``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
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' As explained
in RG 4.27, applicants and licensees are not required to comply with
the positions set forth in RG 4.27.
V. 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/
[[Page 47756]]
contactus.html. Suggestions will be considered in future updates and
enhancements to the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
Dated: July 20, 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. 2023-15692 Filed 7-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P