[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 15, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20184-20186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07320]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2026-0133]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Facilities
for Use in Operator Training, License Examinations, and Applicant
Experience Requirements
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 draft regulatory guide (DG)-1384, ``Nuclear Power Plant
Simulation Facilities for Use in Operator Training, License
Examinations, and Applicant Experience Requirements.'' This DG is
proposed Revision 5 of Regulatory Guide 1.149 of the same name. This
proposed revision updates and clarifies the scope of the guideline to
better serve simulation facility licensees and the regulatory
community. On October 10, 2019, the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) approved ANSI/ANS 3.5 2018, ``Nuclear Power Plant
Simulators for Use in Operator Training and Examination'' (Ref. 2), as
an
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American National Standard. The American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Standards Committee Working Group ANS 3.5 developed and approved this
industry consensus standard. The proposed revision to RG 1.149 endorses
this standard.
DATES: Submit comments by May 15, 2026. 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-2026-0133. 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-5-A85, 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: Lauren Nist, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-6043; email: [email protected] and
James Steckel, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-
415-1026; 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-2026-0133 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-2026-0133.
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-2026-0133 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 NRC'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 ``Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Facilities for
Use in Operator Training, License Examinations, and Applicant
Experience Requirements,'' is temporarily identified by its task
number, DG-1384 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21263A127).
This guide helps to ensure that simulation facilities used to meet
the requirements of part 55 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) are sufficient in both scope and fidelity for the
regulatory purposes for which they are being used with respect to (1)
operating tests, as described in 10 CFR 55.45(a), (2) licensed operator
requalification training requirements, as described in 10 CFR 55.59,
and (3) performance of control manipulations that affect reactivity to
establish eligibility for an operator's license, as described in 10 CFR
55.31(a)(5).
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML25337A053). The staff developed a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing an RG as well as an
alternative course of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
The issuance of DG-1384, if finalized, would be proposed Revision 5
to RG 1.149, which endorses industry guidance for use to ensure that
simulation facilities are sufficient in scope and fidelity for
regulatory purposes to meet NRC regulations in 10 CFR 55, ``Operators'
Licenses.'' Issuance of DG-1384 in final form wouldnot constitute
backfitting as defined in10 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 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. As
explained in DG-1384, applicants or licensees generally would not be
required to comply with the positions in DG-1384.
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
[[Page 20186]]
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.
(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)
Dated: April 13, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stanley Gardocki,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2026-07320 Filed 4-14-26; 8:45 am]
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