[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 185 (Friday, September 26, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46360-46362]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18768]
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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. 90, No. 185 / Friday, September 26, 2025 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 46360]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[NRC-2024-0163]
RIN 3150-AL20
Approval of American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Unconditioned Code Cases
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to
amend its regulations to incorporate by reference a regulatory guide
that approves unconditioned code cases published by the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This action would allow nuclear
power plant applicants and licensees to use the code cases as voluntary
alternatives to engineering standards for nuclear power plant
components. These standards are set forth in the ASME Boiler and
Pressure Vessel Code and ASME Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear
Power Plants, which are currently incorporated by reference into the
NRC's regulations. The NRC is requesting comments on this proposed
rule.
DATES: Submit comments on the proposed rule by November 25, 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: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID NRC-2024-0163,
at https://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitted
using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the individuals listed
in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for
alternative instructions.
You can read a plain language description of this proposed rule at
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NRC-2024-0163. 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: Nicole Fields, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 630-829-9570, email:
[email protected]; or Jay Collins, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-4038, email: [email protected]. Both
are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
II. Rulemaking Procedure
III. Background
IV. Plain Writing
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
VI. Regulatory Planning and Review (Executive Order 12866)
VII. Availability of Documents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0163 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-2024-0163.
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]. For the convenience of the reader,
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
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, 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-2024-0163 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. Rulemaking Procedure
Because the NRC considers this action to be noncontroversial, the
NRC is publishing this proposed rule concurrently with a direct final
rule in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal
Register. The direct final rule will become effective on January 26,
2026 However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by
November 25, 2025, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws
the direct final rule. If the direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC
will address the comments in a subsequent final rule or as otherwise
appropriate.
A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter
explains why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to
the rule's underlying premise or approach, or would be ineffective or
[[Page 46361]]
unacceptable without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
(1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient
to require a substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For
example, a substantive response is required when:
(a) The comment causes the NRC to reevaluate (or reconsider) its
position or conduct additional analysis;
(b) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a
substantive response to clarify or complete the record; or
(c) The comment raises a relevant issue that was not previously
addressed or considered by the NRC.
(2) The comment proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and
it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable
without incorporation of the change or addition.
(3) The comment causes the NRC to make a change (other than
editorial) to the rule.
For a more detailed discussion of the proposed rule changes and
associated analyses, see the direct final rule published in the Rules
and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register.
III. Background
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) develops and
publishes the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPV Code), which
contains requirements for the design, construction, and inservice
inspection (ISI) of nuclear power plant components, and the ASME
Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants, Division 1, OM Code:
Section IST (OM Code), which contains requirements for inservice
testing (IST) of nuclear power plant components. In response to ASME
BPV and OM Code user requests, the ASME develops code cases that
provide voluntary alternatives to specific BPV and OM Code
requirements.
The NRC approves the ASME BPV and OM Codes for use in title 10 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.55a, ``Codes and
standards,'' through the process of incorporation by reference. As
such, each provision of the ASME BPV and OM Codes incorporated by
reference into and mandated by 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(1) constitutes a
legally binding NRC requirement imposed by rule. As noted previously,
the ASME code cases, for the most part, represent alternative
approaches for complying with provisions of the ASME BPV and OM Codes.
Accordingly, the NRC periodically amends 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3) to
incorporate by reference NRC Regulatory Guides (RGs) listing approved
ASME code cases that may be used as voluntary alternatives to the BPV
and OM Codes. The NRC staff also maintains RG 1.193, ``ASME Code Cases
Not Approved for Use,'' which is not incorporated by reference into 10
CFR 50.55a, but does provide guidance on which ASME code cases the NRC
has determined not to be acceptable for use on a generic basis.
Section III of the ASME BPV Code applies to new construction and
repair/replacement activities (i.e., the edition and addenda to be used
in the construction of a plant are selected based on the date of the
construction permit and are not changed thereafter, except voluntarily
by the applicant or the licensee). Hence, if a Section III code case is
implemented by an applicant or a licensee and a later revision of the
code case is approved for use by the RGs listed in 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3),
the applicant or licensee may use either version of the code case, as
described in 10 CFR 50.55a(b)(4)(ii). The licensee is still subject,
however, to whatever change requirements apply to its licensing basis
(e.g., 10 CFR 50.59).
A licensee's ISI and IST programs must be updated periodically to
the latest edition and addenda of the ASME BPV Code, Section XI, and
the OM Code, respectively, that were incorporated by reference into 10
CFR 50.55a and in effect no more than 18 months before the start of the
code of record interval, as required by 10 CFR 50.55a(f)(4)(ii) and 10
CFR 50.55a(g)(4)(ii). Licensees that were using a code case prior to
the effective date of a final rule incorporating by reference a
regulatory guide in 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3) may continue to use the
previous version for the remainder of the code of record interval. This
relieves licensees of the burden of having to update their ISI or IST
program each time a code case is revised by the ASME and approved for
use by the NRC. The NRC has a separate process to address a situation
where a code case has been revised because of a safety issue with the
original code case. Code cases apply to specific editions and addenda,
and code cases may be revised if they are no longer accurate or
adequate, so licensees choosing to continue using a code case during
the subsequent code of record interval must implement the latest
version approved for use by the RGs listed 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3) as
required by 10 CFR 50.55a(b)(5), 10 CFR 50.55a(b)(6), 10 CFR
50.55a(f)(4)(ii), and 10 CFR 50.55a(g)(4)(ii).
If a code case has been annulled, applicants or licensees must not
apply that code case unless it was applied prior to being listed as
annulled. If an applicant or a licensee applied a code case before it
was listed as annulled, the applicant or licensee may continue to use
the code case until the applicant or licensee updates its construction
code of record for Section III (in the case of an applicant, updates
its application) or until the licensee's code of record interval
expires, for Section XI and the OM code, after which the continued use
of the code case is prohibited unless NRC authorization is given under
10 CFR 50.55a(z).
If a code case is approved for use by the RGs incorporated by
reference in 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3) and ASME later issues a revised
version or annuls the code case because experience has shown that the
design analysis, construction method, examination method, or testing
method is inadequate, the NRC will amend 10 CFR 50.55a and the relevant
RG to remove the approval of the superseded code case. Applicants and
licensees should not begin to implement such superseded code cases in
advance of the rulemaking. Licensees should consult the rules for
applying code cases in paragraphs 10 CFR 50.55a(b)(4) through (6).
In previous rulemakings for ASME code cases, the NRC incorporated
by reference several RGs (RG 1.84, Revision 40, ``Design, Fabrication,
and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III''; RG 1.147,
Revision 21, ``Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME
Section XI, Division 1''; and RG 1.192, Revision 5, ``Operation and
Maintenance [OM] Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code''), which
identified new, revised, and reaffirmed ASME code cases that the NRC
finds acceptable or conditionally acceptable for use. In this proposed
rule, the NRC proposes to incorporate by reference RG 1.262, ``ASME
Code Cases Approved for Use Without Conditions.'' This new approach to
the ASME code case rulemaking implements Commission direction in SRM-
SECY-21-0029 regarding streamlining 10 CFR 50.55a rulemaking
activities. The NRC considers these code cases to be noncontroversial
and not to need regulatory conditions, such that issuing a direct final
rule and a companion proposed rule is an appropriate rulemaking
process. This approach may allow the NRC to approve such code cases in
a more efficient manner than was possible under the former. Potentially
controversial code cases or those with proposed NRC regulatory
conditions will be addressed using a proposed rule and final rule
process. In developing RG 1.262, the NRC reviewed the ASME BPV and OM
code cases, determined the acceptability of each
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code case, and published its findings in the RG. This RG will be
revised periodically as the NRC determines that new code cases
published by the ASME are acceptable without NRC regulatory conditions
and are noncontroversial. Using this new approach, the NRC proposes to
approve these ASME code cases for use by incorporating RG 1.262 by
reference into 10 CFR 50.55a.
IV. Plain Writing
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, and well-organized
manner. The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the
Plain Writing Act as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain
Language in Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR
31885).
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule does not contain any new or amended collections
of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing collections of information were approved
by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), approval numbers 3150-
0011, 3150-0151, and 3150-0264.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information unless the document requesting
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
VI. Regulatory Planning and Review (Executive Order 12866)
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, as amended by E.O. 14215, provides
that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) will
determine whether a regulatory action is significant as defined by E.O.
12866 and will review all significant regulatory actions. OIRA
determined that this proposed rule is not a significant regulatory
action under E.O. 12866.
VII. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons as indicated.
Table I--Availability of Documents
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ADAMS accession No./web link/Federal Register
Document citation
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SRM-SECY-21-0029, Rulemaking Plan on Relaxation of ML21312A490.
Inservice Testing and Inservice Inspection Program Update
Frequencies Required in 10 CFR 50.55a, November 8, 2021.
RG 1.262, ASME Code Cases Approved for Use Without ML25091A013.
Conditions, Revision 0, July 2025.
RG 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case ML23291A008.
Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 40, March 2024.
RG 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ML23291A003.
ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 21, March 2024.
RG 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case ML23291A006.
Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 5, March 2024.
RG 1.193, ASME Code Cases Not Approved for Use, Revision ML23291A007.
8, March 2024.
ASME, ``ASME Request for Including Specific Code Cases in ML24296A006.
Draft Revision 22 of Regulatory Guide 1.147 and Draft
Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.246,'' October 18, 2024.
ASME Codes and Standards, Operation and Maintenance of https://cstools.asme.org/csconnect/
Nuclear Power Plants (OM) Code Cases. CommitteePages.cfm?Committee=O10300000&Action=26676
.
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The ASME OM code case that the NRC is proposing to approve as an
alternative to certain provisions of the ASME OM Code is available for
read-only access at the URL listed in Table I. The ASME is making the
BPV code cases available for limited, read-only access at the request
of the NRC at https://go.asme.org/NRC-ASME-CC. The NRC believes that
stakeholders need to be able to read these code cases in order to fully
understand the scope of this proposed rule, which proposes to
incorporate RG 1.262 by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a, and so the NRC
has requested that the ASME provide reasonable access to the code cases
listed in RG 1.262 for a limited duration.
The NRC may post materials related to this document, including
public comments, on the Federal rulemaking website at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2024-0163.
List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 50
Administrative practice and procedure, Antitrust, Backfitting,
Classified information, Criminal penalties, Education, Emergency
planning, Fire prevention, Fire protection, Incorporation by reference,
Intergovernmental relations, Nuclear power plants and reactors,
Penalties, Radiation protection, Reactor siting criteria, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Whistleblowing.
Dated: September 2, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Gregory Bowman,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2025-18768 Filed 9-25-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P