[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20717-20719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07566]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2026-0760]
Draft Interim Staff Guidance: NRC Application Pathway for Reactor
Designs Previously Authorized by U.S. Department of Energy or
Department of War
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), DANU-ISG-
2026-XX, ``NRC Application Pathway for Reactor Designs Previously
Authorized by U.S. Department of Energy or Department of War.'' The
purpose of this guidance is to provide a roadmap to NRC requirements,
and associated implementing guidance, in select foundational areas to
support streamlined NRC reviews of certain applications that propose to
address the accomplishment of safety functions by leveraging pertinent
information from prior U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) or Department of
War (DOW) authorizations of demonstration reactors.
DATES: Submit comments by May 18, 2026.
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-2026-0760. 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: Jim Kinsey, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-0754; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-0760 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly
[[Page 20718]]
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-2026-0760.
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 draft ISG, titled ``NRC Application
Pathway for Reactor Designs Previously Authorized by U.S. Department of
Energy or Department of War,'' is available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML25363A192.
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-2026-0760 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. Discussion
On May 23, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order
(E.O.) 14300, ``Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.'' Section 5, ``Reforming and Modernizing the NRC's
Regulations,'' requires the NRC to undertake a review and wholesale
revision of its regulations and guidance documents as guided by the
policies set forth in section 2 of E.O. 14300. Section 5(d) of the E.O.
requires the NRC to establish an expedited pathway to approve reactor
designs that the U.S. DOE or DOW have tested and that have demonstrated
the ability to function safely.\1\ The NRC is addressing section 5(d)
of this E.O. primarily through two activities, as summarized later in
this document. This Federal Register notice includes one such activity.
Specifically, the NRC is issuing and requesting comment on this draft
ISG that would facilitate the development and review of applications
for an NRC approval that seeks to leverage a prior DOE or DOW
authorization.
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\1\ Consistent with E.O. 14347, ``Restoring the United States
Department of War,'' this Federal Register notice refers to the
``Department of War'' and ``Department of Defense'' interchangeably.
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The purpose of this draft ISG is to provide a roadmap to NRC
requirements and associated guidance for areas in select, foundational
areas of reactor facility safety and the protection of public health
and safety. Due to the broad range of technology types and deployment
options that may be authorized by DOE and DOW, this roadmap compiles
NRC application requirements to aid developers while they are
establishing their DOE or DOW authorization request and related NRC
commercial licensing strategy. Importantly, this roadmap is not
intended to be a comprehensive recitation of all applicable NRC
requirements for a given requested approval. Nevertheless, upon
finalization, this ISG is intended to assist prospective NRC applicants
in determining how they can best maximize the overlap between what
would be required to satisfy both sets of requirements (i.e., NRC
requirements and DOE or DOW requirements, as applicable). In so doing,
the NRC may be able to leverage more information that has been
previously reviewed and accepted by DOE or DOW when the NRC staff
performs its subsequent review of a commercial application. In
addition, this ISG is also intended to support a streamlined NRC review
of applications in areas that include pertinent information regarding
the accomplishment of safety functions related to DOE or DOW authorized
reactor facilities, in which the NRC staff would appropriately adjust
the focus and depth of that review when implementing the whole-of-
government ``leveraging'' concept introduced by E.O. 14300.
While not the subject of this Federal Register notice, the other
primary activity is the initiation of a separate rulemaking that
proposes to amend NRC requirements in part 50 of title 10 of the Code
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities,'' and part 53, ``Risk-Informed, Technology-
Inclusive Regulatory Framework for Commercial Nuclear Plants,'' to
establish an explicit pathway for streamlined reviews for licensing
commercial reactor designs that have previously received DOE or DOW
authorization and that have been tested and demonstrated the ability to
function safely. No change is needed for 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' as it
references the requirement that is proposed to be modified in the
rulemaking. The proposed rule for that activity, ``NRC Reviews of
Reactor Designs Previously Authorized by U.S. Department of Energy or
Department of War,'' was published and noticed for comment in the
Federal Register on April 2, 2026. (91 FR 16584). The information in
this ISG supports NRC reviews of applications under 10 CFR part 50 or
part 52 pursuing the explicit pathway established by the proposed
rulemaking.
Other efforts that aid in the implementation of section 5(d) of
E.O. 14300 include the NRC's issuance of an addendum to the previously
existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) titled, ``Coordinating DOE
and NRC Technical Expertise and Knowledge on Advanced Nuclear Reactor
and Advanced Reactor Fuel Technologies,'' between the NRC and DOE
(ADAMS Accession No. ML25303A288). In particular, the addendum
addresses coordination of DOE and NRC technical readiness and sharing
of technical expertise and knowledge on advanced nuclear reactor and
advanced reactor fuel technologies. The addendum also enables the
documented safety analyses for DOE-authorized nuclear facilities that
have been tested and that have demonstrated the ability to function
safely to be leveraged to streamline and expedite future NRC licensing
activities pursuant to E.O. 14300, section 5(d). Future planned
activities may include the development of a crosswalk between the NRC
regulations and guidance summarized in this ISG and associated
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DOE authorization process requirements, and consideration and
development of other MOUs, as appropriate.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
This draft ISG provides guidance for the development and NRC staff
review of applications for licenses, permits, certifications, or
approvals under 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 that include consideration of
relevant information gathered from a design that has been previously
authorized by DOE or DOW as a utilization facility and that has been
tested and has demonstrated the ability to function safely. Issuance of
this ISG as final 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''; would not constitute forward fitting as
that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; and would not affect the
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52. The
guidance would be for voluntary use by future applicants and would not
be imposed on any current licensees or applicants or existing or
requested approvals under 10 CFR parts 50 or 52, and therefore its
issuance would not constitute a backfit, forward fit, or a change
affecting issue finality.
IV. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that
the draft ISG, titled ``NRC Application Pathway for Reactor Designs
Previously Authorized by U.S. Department of Energy or Department of
War,'' is not a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.
Dated: April 15, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jonathan Greives,
Director, Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-Power Production and
Utilization Facilities, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2026-07566 Filed 4-16-26; 8:45 am]
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