[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 135 (Monday, July 15, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57372-57374]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15479]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100

[NRC-2024-0110]


Draft Regulatory Guides: Design-Basis Floods for Nuclear Power 
Plants and Guidance for Assessment of Flooding Hazards Due to Water 
Control Structure Failures and Incidents

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guides; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment two related draft Regulatory Guides (DG) namely DG-1290, 
Revision 1, ``Design-Basis Floods for Nuclear Power Plants,'' proposed 
Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.59 of the same name and DG-1417, 
``Guidance for Assessment of Flooding Hazards due to Water Control 
Structure Failures and Incidents,'' proposed new RG 1.256. DG-1290 
provides guidance for applicants for new nuclear power plants (NPPs) on 
acceptable methods for evaluating design-basis floods and DG-1417 
provides guidance for applicants on flooding hazards due to failure or 
other incidents at man-made water

[[Page 57373]]

control structures including, but not limited to, dams and levees.

DATES: Submit comments by August 14, 2024. 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-2024-0110. 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: Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3317; email: 
Edward.O'[email protected]; Joseph Kanney, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: 301-415-1920; email: [email protected]; and 
Kenneth See, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-
1508; email: [email protected]. All 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-2024-0110 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-2024-0110.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2024-0110 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 two related DGs in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series, namely DG-1290 and DG-1417. 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.
    DG-1290 was previously released for public comment on February 23, 
2022, as announced in the Federal Register (87 FR 10260). The public 
comment period ended on April 11, 2022. That version of DG-1290 can be 
found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML19289E561 and the response to 
public comments can be found at ADAMS Accession No. ML23320A026. DG-
1290, Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML23320A025) is being issued for 
a second round of comments due to changes reflecting public comments 
and proposed referencing of a complementary new guide, DG-1417 (RG 
1.256, Revision 0) ``Guidance for Assessment of Flooding Hazards Due to 
Water Control Structure Failures and Incidents.'' DG-1417 will be 
released for comment in conjunction with DG-1290, Revision 1.
    DG-1417 is a proposed new RG, RG 1.256, of the same name, and is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1417 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML22278A110). It was developed to provide guidance to applicants for 
new NPPs on acceptable methods for evaluating design-basis flooding 
hazards due to failure or other incidents at man-made water control 
structures including, but not limited to, dams and levees. If 
finalized, RG 1.256 would formally incorporate interim staff guidance 
(ISG) ``Guidance for Assessment of Flooding Hazards Due to Dam 
Failure'' (JLD-ISG-2013-01) (ADAMS Accession No. ML13151A153) into 
NRC's regulatory guidance framework. ISGs are meant to be withdrawn 
after their immediate purpose has been fulfilled or integrated formally 
into the NRC's regulatory guidance framework. If DG-1417 is finalized 
as RG 1.256, JLD-ISG-2013-01 will be withdrawn. The staff is also 
issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis for DG-1417 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML22278A111). The staff developed the regulatory 
analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a RG, as well as 
alternative courses of action. A regulatory analysis for DG-1290 was 
released for comment on February 23, 2022, and although no comments 
were received it is available for comment and can be found in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML12121A020.
    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 
chapter I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

[[Page 57374]]

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    If finalized, the NRC staff may use RG 1.256 as a reference in its 
regulatory processes, such as licensing, inspection, or enforcement. 
However, the NRC staff does not intend to use the proposed guidance in 
RG 1.256 to support NRC staff actions in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting as that term is defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' 
and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of 
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information 
Requests,'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML18093B087); nor does the NRC staff 
intend to use the proposed guidance to affect the issue finality of an 
approval under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The staff also does not intend to 
use the proposed guidance to support NRC staff actions in a manner that 
constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 
8.4. If a licensee believes that the NRC is using this proposed RG in a 
manner inconsistent with the discussion in this Implementation section, 
then the licensee may file a backfitting or forward fitting appeal with 
the NRC in accordance with the process in MD 8.4.

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: July 10, 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. 2024-15479 Filed 7-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P