[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 93 (Friday, May 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28102-28103]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11832]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0385]


Notice of Issuance of Regulatory Guide

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Issuance and Availability of Regulatory Guide 1.174,

[[Page 28103]]

Revision 2, ``An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in 
Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing 
Basis.''

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald Helton, Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment Branch, Division of Risk Analysis, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone 301-251-7594 or e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a revision 
to an existing guide in the agency's ``Regulatory Guide'' series. This 
series was developed to describe and make available to the public 
information such as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for 
implementing specific parts of the agency's regulations, techniques 
that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated 
accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications 
for permits and licenses.
    Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An Approach For Using 
Probabilistic Risk Assessment In Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-
Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,'' was issued with a temporary 
identification as Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1226. This regulatory 
guide describes an acceptable method for the licensee and NRC staff to 
use in assessing the nature and impact of licensing basis (LB) changes 
when the licensee chooses to support, or is requested by the staff to 
support, the changes with risk information. The NRC staff will review 
these LB changes by considering engineering issues and applying risk 
insights. Licensees that submit risk information (whether on their own 
initiative or at the request of the staff) should address each of the 
principles of risk-informed regulation discussed in this regulatory 
guide. Licensees should identify how their chosen approaches and 
methods (whether quantitative or qualitative, deterministic or 
probabilistic), data, and criteria for considering risk are appropriate 
for the decision to be made.
    The guidance provided in this regulatory guide does not preclude 
other approaches for requesting changes to the LB. Rather, the staff 
intends for this regulatory guide to improve consistency in regulatory 
decisions in areas in which the results of risk analyses are used to 
help justify regulatory action. As such, the principles, process, and 
approach discussed herein also provide useful guidance for the 
application of risk information to a broader set of activities than 
plant-specific changes to a plant's LB (i.e., generic activities), and 
licensees are encouraged to use this guidance in that regard.
    The NRC issues regulatory guides to describe to the public methods 
that the staff considers acceptable for use in implementing specific 
parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff 
uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and to 
provide guidance to applicants. Regulatory guides are not substitutes 
for regulations and compliance with them is not required.

II. Further Information

    In April 2009, DG-1226 was published with a public comment period 
of 60 days from the issuance of the guide. The public comment period 
closed on November 03, 2009. Electronic copies of Regulatory Guide 
1.174, Revision 2 are available through the NRC's public Web site under 
``Regulatory Guides'' at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/
.
    In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the 
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) located at Room O-1F21, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738. The 
PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR 
can also be reached by telephone at (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4209, 
by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by e-mail to [email protected].
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of May, 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2011-11832 Filed 5-12-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P