[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1476-1477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00199]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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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. 80, No. 7 / Monday, January 12, 2015 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 1476]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[Docket No. PRM-50-109; NRC-2014-0257]
Improved Identification Techniques Against Alkali-Silica Reaction
Concrete Degradation at Nuclear Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing, and request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a
petition for rulemaking (PRM) from Sandra Gavutis on behalf of C-10
Research and Education Foundation (C-10 or the petitioner), dated
September 25, 2014, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations to
provide improved identification techniques against Alkali-Silica
Reaction (ASR) concrete degradation at nuclear power plants. The
petition was docketed by the NRC on October 8, 2014, and has been
assigned Docket No. PRM-50-109. The NRC is requesting public comments
on this petition for rulemaking.
DATES: Submit comments by March 30, 2015. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0257. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact
us at 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at 301-415-1101.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677. For additional direction on
accessing information and submitting comments, see ``Obtaining
Information and Submitting Comments'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Kratchman, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-5112, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0257 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 Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0257.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 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 the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0257 in the subject line of your
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly
disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment
submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment
submissions into ADAMS, and 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. The Petitioner
The petition states that C-10 is a non-profit organization that
``evolved from'' Citizens within the Ten-Mile Radius, which C-10 claims
is a 5,000 member organization founded in 1986 to challenge evacuation
plans for the [NextEra] Seabrook Station reactor. The petition
represents that C-10 was established in 1991 to address the health and
safety issues related to the [NextEra] Seabrook Station nuclear power
plant. The petition further states that ``C-10 has been engaging the
NRC about concrete degradation at Seabrook since December 22, 2011,''
and that the Union of Concerned Scientists assisted C-10 in preparing
this petition.
III. The Petition
Sandra Gavutis, Executive Director, submitted a PRM on behalf of C-
10, dated September 25, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14281A124),
requesting that the NRC amend its
[[Page 1477]]
regulations to improve identification techniques against ASR concrete
degradation at nuclear power plants. The NRC has determined that the
petition meets the threshold sufficiency requirements for a PRM under
Sec. 2.802 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Petition
for rulemaking,'' and the petition has been docketed as PRM-50-109. The
NRC is requesting public comments on this PRM.
IV. Discussion of the Petition
At an NRC public meeting at Seabrook Station on June 24, 2014, the
petitioner asked the NRC if the agency was investigating the U.S.
nuclear fleet for ASR concrete degradation. The NRC staff responded
that ASR concrete degradation could be adequately indicated through
visual examination. However, an NRC position paper, ``In Situ
Monitoring of ASR-affected Concrete,'' November 2012 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML13108A047), states, ``ASR can exist in concrete without
indications of pattern cracking,'' and that for ``. . . structures
exposed to ASR, internal damage occurs through the depth of the section
but visible cracking is suppressed by heavy reinforcement. . . .'' When
NextEra determined 131 locations with ``assumed'' ASR visual signs
within multiple power-block structures at Seabrook Station during 2012,
further engineering evaluations were not required by the NRC.
The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations to
improve identification techniques against ASR concrete degradation at
U.S. nuclear power plants. The petitioner suggests that the reliance on
a visual inspection does not ``adequately identify Alkali-Silica
Reaction (ASR), does not confirm ASR, or provide the current state of
ASR damage (if present) without petrographic analysis under current
existing code.'' The petitioner asserts that codes and standards exist
that are capable of detecting ASR and determining the key material
properties needed to evaluate the degree and severity of ASR damage.
American Concrete Institute (ACI) Standard 349.3R, ``Evaluation of
Existing Nuclear Safety-Related Concrete Structures,'' for instance,
has been endorsed by the NRC (ADAMS Accession No. ML112241029) as an
acceptable method of protecting against excessive ASR concrete
degradation, but is not a regulatory requirement. The petitioner
requests that the NRC amend its regulations to require that all
licensees comply with industry codes and standards that have ``already
been endorsed by the agency,'' and identified two standards for which
the NRC's regulations should require compliance: (1) ACI Standard
349.3R; and (2) American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) C856-
11, ``Standard Practice for Petrographic Examination of Hardened
Concrete.''
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of January, 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2015-00199 Filed 1-9-15; 8:45 am]
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