[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 151 (Friday, August 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38516-38517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-15047]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2025-0148]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Guidance for Technology-Inclusive Risk-
Informed Change Evaluation
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-1439, ``Guidance for
Technology-Inclusive Risk-Informed Change Evaluation.'' This DG is a
proposed new regulatory guide that describes an approach that the staff
of the NRC finds acceptable for using a technology-inclusive risk-
informed change evaluation process for changes to a facility described
in final safety analysis reports (as updated). Subject to the
clarifications in Section C of this DG, the DG endorses the methodology
described in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 22-05, Revision 0,
``Technology Inclusive Risk Informed Change Evaluation (TIRICE),
Guidance for the Evaluation of Changes to Facilities Utilizing NEI 18-
04 and NEI 21-07,'' issued January 2024, for plants licensed using the
guidance in NEI 18-04, ``Risk-Informed Performance-Based Technology
Inclusive Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactor Licensing Basis
Development,'' and NEI 21-07, ``Technology Inclusive Guidance for Non-
Light Water Reactors, Safety Analysis Report Content for Applicants
Using the NEI 18-04 Methodology.''
DATES: Submit comments by September 8, 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-2025-0148. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) 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: Roel Brusselmans, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-0829; email:
[email protected] and Vance Petrella, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1048; 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-2025-0148 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-2025-0148.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
[[Page 38517]]
(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 ADAMS Public 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]. DG-1439 is available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML24295A187.
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-2025-0148 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 ``Guidance for Technology-Inclusive Risk-Informed
Change Evaluation,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-
1439. The DG is a proposed new regulatory guide that endorses, subject
to the clarifications in Section C of the DG, NEI 22-05 as one
acceptable alternative to using the criteria in section 50.59 of title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Changes, tests, and
experiments,'' for evaluating changes under the special circumstances
introduced when a plant is licensed using the guidance in NEI 18-04 and
NEI 21-07. The licensee would be responsible for preparing any
necessary requests for an exemption from specific requirements in 10
CFR 50.59 and related proposed license conditions to support this
alternative.
The NRC is also issuing for public comment a regulatory analysis
(ADAMS Accession No. ML24295A188). The NRC develops a regulatory
analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a RG as well as
alternative courses of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Licensees generally are not required to comply with the guidance in
this proposed RG. If the NRC proposes to use this RG in an action 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''; affect the issue finality of an approval issued
under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for
Nuclear Power Plants;'' or constitute forward fitting, as that term is
defined in MD 8.4, then the NRC staff will apply the applicable policy
in MD 8.4 to justify the action. If a licensee believes that the NRC is
using this DG in a manner inconsistent with the discussion in the
Implementation section, then the licensee may inform the NRC staff in
accordance with 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 regulatory guides or for the
development of new regulatory guides. 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.
V. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that
this DG is not a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.
Dated: August 5, 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. 2025-15047 Filed 8-7-25; 8:45 am]
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