[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 80196-80197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25421]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 21, 50, and 52

[NRC-2023-0167]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Evaluating Deviations and Reporting 
Defects and Noncompliance

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-1416, ``Evaluating 
Deviations and Reporting Defects and Noncompliance.'' This DG is the 
proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.234 of the same title. 
It describes methods that the NRC staff considers acceptable for 
complying with the provisions of NRC regulations.

DATES: Submit comments by December 18, 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-2023-0167. 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: Amir Mobasheran, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-8112; email: 
[email protected] and Deanna Zhang, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1946; 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-2023-0167 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-2023-0167.
     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]. DG-1416 is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML23187A549.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2023-0167 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.

[[Page 80197]]

    The DG, entitled ``Evaluating Deviations and Reporting Defects and 
Noncompliance under 10 CFR part 21,'' is temporarily identified by its 
task number, DG-1416.
    This proposed revision of the guide (Revision 1) updates the 
guidance to provide additional clarification on NRC's Counterfeit, 
Fraudulent, Suspect Items definition. In addition, several editorial 
changes were made to conform to the current format and content of RGs.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML23187A550). 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 1 
CFR chapter I.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-1416 as a final RG 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;'' affect the issue 
finality of an approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants;'' or 
constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 
8.4 because, as explained in DG-1416, licensees would not be required 
to comply with the positions set forth in the 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: November 13, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen M. Wyman,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-25421 Filed 11-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P