[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 240 (Friday, December 13, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 100921-100922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29418]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 240 / Friday, December 13, 2024 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 100921]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50 and 52
[NRC-2024-0203]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III,
Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors''
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-1436, ``Acceptability
of ASME Code, Section III, Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors.' ''
This DG is proposed Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.87,
``Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III, Division 5, 'High
Temperature Reactors,' '' and describes an approach that is acceptable
to the staff of the NRC to assure the mechanical/structural integrity
of components that operate in elevated temperature environments and
that are subject to time-dependent material properties and failure
modes. It endorses, with conditions, the 2023 Edition of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV)
Code (ASME Code) Section III, ``Rules for Construction of Nuclear
Facility Components,'' Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors,'' and
several related code cases.
DATES: Submit comments by January 27, 2025. 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-2024-0203. 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: Joseph Bass, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-0770; email:
[email protected]; Margaret Audrain, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2133; email: [email protected];
and Ram[oacute]n L. Gascot, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research,
telephone: 301-415-2004; 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-2024-0203 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-2024-0203.
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].
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-2024-0203 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.
The DG, entitled ``Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III,
Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors'','' is temporarily identified
by its task number, DG-1436, ADAMS Accession No. ML24275A266).
The proposed revision (Revision 3) updates the guidance to endorse,
with conditions, the 2023 Edition of ASME
[[Page 100922]]
Code Section III, Division 5, as a method acceptable to the staff for
the materials, mechanical/structural design, construction, testing, and
quality assurance of mechanical systems and components and their
supports of high temperature reactors. Proposed Revision 3 also
endorses, with conditions, the Code Cases N-861-2, N-862-2, N-872, N-
898-1, N-812-1, and N-924 as well as the Code Case in Record 23-15.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML24275A267). 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
chapter I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
If finalized, the NRC staff may use this RG as a reference in its
regulatory processes, such as licensing, inspection, or enforcement.
However, the NRC staff does not intend to use the guidance in this RG
to support NRC staff actions in a manner that would constitute
backfitting as that term is defined in Sec. 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''; nor does
the NRC staff intend to use the 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 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 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: December 10, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2024-29418 Filed 12-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P