[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 22912-22914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07022]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50 and 52
[NRC-2022-0073]
Regulatory Guide: Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive Content of
Application Methodology To Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of
Applications for Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light-
Water Reactors
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) 1.253, Revision 0, ``Guidance for a Technology-
Inclusive Content of Application Methodology to Inform the Licensing
Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Non-Light-Water Reactors.'' This new RG provides guidance
to assist interested parties and prospective applicants in the
development of content for major portions of their safety analysis
reports required in applications for permits, licenses, certifications,
and approvals by the NRC to ensure that applications for non-light
water reactor (non-LWR) facility designs using the Licensing
Modernization Project (LMP) process meet the minimum requirements for
construction permit, operating license, combined license, or design
certification applications.
DATES: RG 1.253, Revision 0, is available on April 3, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0073 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-2022-0073. 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, at 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 1.253 and the regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under
Accession Nos. ML23269A222 and ML22076A002, respectively.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not
required to reproduce them.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anders Gilbertson, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1541, email:
[email protected] and Ramon Gascot Lozada, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2004, email:
[email protected]. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
The NRC staff is issuing a new guide in the NRC's ``Regulatory
Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe
[[Page 22913]]
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, certifications, approvals, and licenses.
RG 1.253, Revision 0, ``Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive Content
of Application Methodology to Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of
Applications for Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light-
Water Reactors,'' provides guidance to assist interested parties and
prospective applicants in the development of content for major portions
of their safety analysis reports required in applications for permits,
licenses, certifications, and approvals by the NRC to ensure that
applications for non-LWR facility designs using the LMP process meet
the minimum requirements for construction permit, operating license,
combined license, or design certification applications.
II. Additional Information
RG 1.253 was issued as a draft regulatory guide (DG) with a
temporary identification of DG-1404 (ADAMS Accession No. ML22076A003).
The NRC published DG-1404, Revision 0 in the Federal Register on
May 25, 2023 (88 FR 33846), for a 45-day public comment period.
Subsequently, the comment period was extended by 30-days as noted in
the Federal Register June 28, 2023 (88 FR 41862). The public comment
period closed on August 10, 2023. On September 8, 2023, the NRC
published a request for public comment on Revision 1 to DG-1404 in the
Federal Register (88 FR 61989). Revision 1 to DG-1404 provided
additional guidance for the scope, level of detail, elements and plant
representation for a probabilistic risk assessment supporting an LMP-
based construction permit application. The public comment period for
Revision 1 to DG-1404 closed on October 10, 2023. Public comments on
DG-1404 Revision 0 and Revision 1, and the staff responses to the
public comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23269A223.
The NRC staff 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 staff developed technology-
inclusive, risk-informed, performance-based guidance to support the
development of major portions of safety analysis report content for
these non-LWR applications. The guidance describes the development of
major portions of the safety analysis report using the industry-
developed guidance contained in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 21-07,
Revision 1, ``Technology Inclusive Guidance for Non-Light-Water
Reactors, Safety Analysis Report Content for Applicants Using the NEI
18-04 Methodology,'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML22060A190). The guidance
will facilitate the development 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 or design
certifications under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.''
The NRC staff notes it is developing a rule to amend parts 50 and
52 to align reactor licensing processes and incorporate lessons learned
from new reactor licensing into the regulations (RIN 3150-Al66). This
RG 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 RG, the NRC staff is developing an optional performance-based,
technology-inclusive regulatory framework for licensing nuclear power
plants designated as 10 CFR part 53 (RIN 3150-AK31). The NRC intends to
revise this 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 previously mentioned in this document,
or if the Commission issues a final 10 CFR part 53 rule.
The TICAP is an industry led guidance activity focused on the scope
and depth of information to include in the portions of a safety
analysis report that address the implementation of the LMP methodology
described in NEI 18-04, Revision 1, and endorsed by the NRC in
Regulatory Guide 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).
During the 711th meeting of the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards (ACRS), December 6-7, 2023, the ACRS, the NRC staff, and
representatives of other stakeholders discussed guidance documents
related to the ARCAP and the TICAP. On December 20, 2023, the ACRS
issued a report documenting its review of these guidance documents
(ADAMS Accession No. ML23348A182). The conclusions and recommendations
in the ACRS report apply to all the ARCAP and TICAP guidance documents.
In its December 2023 report, the ACRS also recommended specific changes
to DG-1404. As set forth in its letter dated March 18, 2024, (ADAMS No.
ML24024A025) in which the NRC staff responded to the ACRS report, the
NRC staff revised RG 1.253 to address specific ACRS recommendations.
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.
The table in this rulemaking provides the document description,
ADAMS accession number, and, if appropriate, the docket identification
number on supporting documents associated with the document that is the
subject of this Federal Register document.
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Document description ADAMS accession No. Regulations.gov docket ID No.
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RG 1.253, Revision 0, ``Guidance for a ML23269A222 NRC-2022-0073
Technology-Inclusive 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 DG-1404.......... ML22076A002 NRC-2022-0073
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-01, ML23277A139 NRC-2022-0074
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project, `Review of Risk-
Informed, Technology Inclusive Advanced
Reactor Applications--Roadmap.' ''.
[[Page 22914]]
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-02, ML23277A140 NRC-2022-0075
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project Chapter 2, `Site
Information.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-03, ML23277A141 NRC-2022-0076
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project Chapter 9, `Control
of Routine Plant Radioactive Effluents,
Plant Contamination and Solid Waste.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-04, ML23277A142 NRC-2022-0077
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project Chapter 10, `Control
of Occupational Dose.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-05, ML23277A143 NRC-2022-0078
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project Chapter 11,
`Organization and Human-System
Considerations.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-06, ML23277A144 NRC-2022-0079
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project Chapter 12, `Post-
manufacturing and construction
Inspection, Testing, and Analysis
Program.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-07, ML23277A145 NRC-2022-0080
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project, `Risk-Informed
Inservice Inspection/Inservice Testing
Programs for Non-LWRs.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-08, ML23277A146 NRC-2022-0081
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project, `Risk-Informed
Technical Specifications.' ''.
Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-09, ML23277A147 NRC-2022-0082
``Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project, `Risk-Informed
Performance-Based Fire Protection
Program (for Operations).' ''.
Review of Advanced Reactor Content of ML23348A182 NRC-2022-0074
Application Project/Technology-Inclusive
Content of Application Project Guidance.
Response to the Advisory Committee on ML24024A025 NRC-2022-0074
Reactor Safeguards Letter, ``Review of
Advanced Reactor Content of Application
Project/Technology-Inclusive Content of
Application Project Guidance''.
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III. Congressional Review Act
This RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.
IV. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
RG 1.253, Revision 0, does 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''; does not constitute forward
fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; and does not
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 RG 1.253, applicants and licensees would not
be required to comply with the positions set forth in RG 1.253.
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/contactus.html.
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
Dated: March 28, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2024-07022 Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
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