[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