[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 45 (Monday, March 10, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11591-11592]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03761]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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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. 90, No. 45 / Monday, March 10, 2025 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 11591]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[NRC-2025-0032]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Emergency Response Planning and
Preparedness for Nuclear Power 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-1423, ``Emergency
Response Planning and Preparedness for Nuclear Power Reactors.'' This
DG is proposed Revision 7 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.101, ``Emergency
Response Planning and Preparedness for Nuclear Power Reactors.'' This
proposed revision would endorse Revision 1 of the Nuclear Energy
Institute (NEI) white paper, ``Enabling a Remote Response by Members of
an Emergency Response Organization,'' dated September 2024, and
Revision 7 of NEI 99-01, ``Development of Emergency Action Levels for
Non-Passive Reactors,'' dated September 2024.
DATES: Submit comments by April 9, 2025. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to ensure consideration of only 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-2025-0032. 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.
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: Cindy Rosales-Cooper, Office of
Nuclear Security and Incident Response, telephone: 301-287-9500, email:
[email protected] and Stanley Gardocki, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1067, 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-2025-0032 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-2025-0032.
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-2025-0032 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 ``Emergency Response Planning and Preparedness for
Nuclear Power Reactors,'' is temporarily identified by its task number,
DG-1423 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24019A202). The staff is also issuing
for public comment a regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No.
ML24019A196). The staff develops a regulatory analysis to assess the
value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as alternative
courses of action.
The staff would issue Revision 7 of RG 1.101 to endorse and update
guidance that is available to licensees and applicants on methods
acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the
[[Page 11592]]
NRC's regulations for emergency response plans and preparedness at
nuclear power reactors in Sec. 50.47 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Emergency plans,'' and appendix E,
``Emergency Planning and Preparedness for Production and Utilization
Facilities,'' to 10 CFR part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities.'' This DG is for light-water reactors,
including those of an advanced design (e.g., AP1000); the NRC intends
for small modular reactors and other new non-light-water technologies
to have design-specific RGs to support development of their emergency
plans.
This proposed revision would endorse Revision 1 of the NEI white
paper, ``Enabling a Remote Response by Members of an Emergency Response
Organization,'' dated September 2024. This revision also would endorse
Revision 7 of NEI 99-01, ``Development of Emergency Action Levels for
Non-Passive Reactors,'' dated September 2024. In addition, this
proposed revision of RG 1.101 would provide generic guidance to
licensees for maintaining regulatory compliance for alert and
notification systems when making significant design changes.
Additionally, the NRC staff would clarify the continued use of Revision
0 of the NEI white paper, ``Implementing a 24-Month Frequency for
Emergency Preparedness Program Reviews,'' issued November 2019.
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 1 of title 1 of the CFR.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
The issuance of DG-1423, if finalized, would constitute proposed
Revision 7 to RG 1.101, which describes methods acceptable to the NRC
staff for complying with the NRC's regulations for emergency response
planning and preparedness in 10 CFR 50.47 and appendix E to 10 CFR part
50. Issuance of DG-1423 in final form would not constitute 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''; constitute forward
fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; or affect the
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' As explained
in DG-1423, applicants and licensees generally would not be required to
comply with the positions in DG-1423.
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: March 4, 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. 2025-03761 Filed 3-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P