[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 30 (Friday, February 14, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9589-9590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02591]



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Rules and Regulations
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents 
having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed 
to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published 
under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 30 / Friday, February 14, 2025 / 
Rules and Regulations

[[Page 9589]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2024-0121]


Regulatory Guide: Acceptable ASME Section XI Inservice Inspection 
Code Cases

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) 3.78 (Revision 0), ``Acceptable ASME Section XI 
Inservice Inspection Code Cases.'' This new RG provides applicants and 
licensees with methods that the NRC staff considers acceptable for 
specific or general independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) 
licensees and certificate of compliance (CoC) holders to comply with 
NRC regulations for inservice inspection of confinement boundary 
components and aging management activities associated with the renewals 
of ISFSIs, general licensees, and CoC holders for spent fuel storage 
systems.

DATES: Revision 0 to RG 3.78 is available on February 14, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0121 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-2024-0121. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; 
telephone: 301-415-1003; 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].
     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.
    Revision 0 to RG 3.78 and the regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML24225A160 and ML24093A012, respectively.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Darrell Dunn, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7079; email: 
[email protected], or Harriet Karagiannis, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2493; 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 3.78 was issued with a temporary identification of Draft 
Regulatory Guide, DG-3058 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24093A010).

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-3058, in the 
Federal Register on July 17, 2024 (89 FR 58080), for a 30-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on August 16, 2024, 
and the staff has incorporated public comments submitted on DG-3058. 
Public comments on DG-3058 and the staff responses to the public 
comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML24225A162.
    The new RG 3.78 provides the NRC staff and the industry with 
guidance using codes and standards for inservice inspection of 
confinement boundary components and aging management activities 
associated with the renewals of ISFSIs, general licensees, and CoC 
holders for spent fuel storage systems. This RG is endorsing the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Case N-860, 
``Inspection Requirements and Evaluation Standards for Spent Nuclear 
Fuel Storage and Transportation Containment Systems Section XI, 
Division 1; Section XI, Division 2,'' dated July 6, 2020.
    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 chapter 
I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

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

    Issuance of this RG does not constitute backfitting as defined in 
10 CFR 72.62, ``Backfitting,'' as 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); does not 
constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 
8.4; does not affect the issue finality of any approval issued under 10 
CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear 
Powerplants.'' As explained in RG 3.78, applicants and licensees would 
not be required to comply with the positions set forth in RG 3.78.

[[Page 9590]]

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: February 10, 2025.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2025-02591 Filed 2-13-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P