[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 151 (Friday, August 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38512-38513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-15049]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2024-0036]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Preparing Probabilistic Fracture
Mechanics Submittals
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment Revision 1 to draft Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-1422,
``Preparing Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Submittals.'' This DG is
proposed Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.245, ``Preparing
Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Submittals.'' DG-1422, Revision 1,
describes a framework to develop the contents of a licensing submittal
that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable when performing
probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analyses in support of
regulatory applications.
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-2024-0036. 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: Christopher Nellis, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-5973; email:
[email protected], and Vance Petrella, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone:
[[Page 38513]]
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-2024-0036 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-2024-0036.
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 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]. 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-2024-0036 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.
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 ``Preparing Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics
Submittals,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1422,
Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24312A308).
The NRC previously published a notice of the availability of DG-
1422 in the Federal Register on February 29, 2024, (89 FR 14782) for a
30-day public comment period. The public comment period closed on April
1, 2024. Public comments and the staff responses to the public comments
on DG-1422 are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML24312A318.
Based on significant changes to DG-1422 and a revised regulatory
analysis, the staff is issuing DG-1422, Revision 1, for an additional
round of public comments.
DG-1422, Revision 1, contains guidance on the contents of PFM
information in regulatory applications and constitutes proposed
Revision 1 to RG 1.245. The use of this proposed RG should increase the
efficiency of NRC reviews of regulatory applications that use PFM as a
supporting technical basis by providing a set of common guidelines for
reviewers and licensees. This proposed RG presents guidance on
justifying the acceptability of the methods used to generate and report
PFM results. This proposed RG does not describe how the results of PFM
may be used to support a regulatory application. Regulatory
applications typically contain information other than fracture
mechanics analyses; this proposed RG does not address the review of
that other information. The revisions made to RG 1.245, Revision 0,
clarify guidance for applications that leverage risk insights, such as
PFM. These changes are reflected in Regulatory Positions 2.1,
``Regulatory Context,'' and 2.2, ``Information Made Available to the
NRC Staff with a Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Submittal.''
The staff is also issuing for public comment a revised draft
regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML24312A310). The staff
developed the regulatory analysis to assess the value of revising RG
1.245, Revision 0.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of DG-1422, Revision 1, would not constitute backfitting
as defined in section 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''; affect issue
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants''; or constitute
forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4, because, as explained in the RGs,
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth
in these RGs.
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.
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. 2025-15049 Filed 8-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P