[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33926-33928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11187]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2022-0081]
Draft Interim Staff Guidance: Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project, ``Risk-informed Technical Specifications''
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ACTION: Draft guidance; request for comment.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-2022-
08, ``Risk-informed Technical Specifications.'' The purpose of this
proposed ISG is to provide guidance to assist the NRC staff in
determining whether an application for a non-light water reactor (non-
LWR) design that uses the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP) process
meets the minimum requirements for construction permits, operating
licenses, combined licenses, manufacturing licenses, standard design
approval, or design certifications.
DATES: Submit comments by July 10, 2023. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
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 http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0081. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the For Further Information
Contact section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, 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: Michael Orenak, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-3229, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0081 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-2022-0081.
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 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]. 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: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR,
[[Page 33927]]
Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852. 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-2022-0081 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. Background
The NRC anticipates the submission of advanced power-reactor
applications within the next few years based on preapplication
engagement initiated by several prospective applicants. Because many of
these designs are non-LWRs, the NRC is developing technology-inclusive,
risk-informed, performance-based guidance to support the development
and review of these non-LWR applications. The proposed guidance will
facilitate the development and review of non-LWR applications for
construction permits or operating licenses under part 50 of title 10 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' or combined licenses,
manufacturing licenses, standard design approval, or design
certifications under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The NRC is developing a rule to
amend 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 (RIN 3150-Al66). The NRC staff notes this
proposed ISG may need to be updated to conform to changes to 10 CFR
parts 50 and 52, if any, adopted through that rulemaking. Further, as
of the date of this draft ISG, the NRC is developing an optional
performance-based, technology-inclusive regulatory framework for
licensing nuclear power plants designated as 10 CFR part 53,
``Licensing and Regulation of Advanced Nuclear Reactors,'' (RIN 3150-
AK31). The NRC intends to revise this proposed guidance as a part of
the ongoing rulemaking for 10 CFR part 53.
To standardize the development of content of a non-LWR application,
the staff focused on two activities: the Advanced Reactor Content of
Application Project (ARCAP) and the Technology-Inclusive Content of
Application Project (TICAP). The ARCAP is an NRC-led activity that is
intended to result in guidance for a complete non-LWR application for
review under 10 CFR part 50 or 10 CFR part 52, and which the staff
would update, as appropriate, pending the issuance of the 10 CFR part
50 and 10 CFR part 52 rulemaking as previously mentioned in this
notice, or if the Commission issues a final 10 CFR part 53 rule. As a
result, the ARCAP is broad and encompasses several industry-led and
NRC-led guidance document development activities aimed at facilitating
a consistent approach to the development of application documents.
The TICAP is an industry-led activity that is focused on providing
guidance on the appropriate scope and depth of information related to
the specific portions of the safety analysis report that describe the
fundamental safety functions of the design and document the safety
analysis of the facility using the LMP-based approach. The LMP-based
approach is described in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.233, ``Guidance for a
Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and Performance-Based Methodology
to Inform the Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Non-Light-Water Reactors,'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML20091L698).
The ARCAP draft ISG titled ``Review of Risk-Informed, Technology
Inclusive Advanced Reactor Applications--Roadmap'' (ARCAP Roadmap ISG)
provides a general overview of the information that should be included
in a non-LWR application. The ARCAP Roadmap ISG also provides a review
roadmap for the NRC staff with the principal purpose of ensuring
consistency, quality, and uniformity of NRC staff reviews. The ARCAP
Roadmap ISG includes references to eight other ARCAP draft ISGs and a
TICAP draft regulatory guide (DG) that are the subject of separate
Federal Register notices (FRNs) requesting comment on these guidance
documents. Information regarding the eight other ARCAP draft ISGs and
the TICAP DG can be found in the ``Availability of Documents'' section
of this FRN.
III. Request for Comment
The ARCAP draft ISG titled, ``Risk-informed Technical
Specifications,'' that is the subject of this FRN for which the staff
is seeking comment, was developed because the current application and
review guidance related to technical specifications is applicable only
to light water reactors and may not fully (or efficiently) identify the
information to be included in a technology-inclusive, risk-informed,
and performance-based application or provide a review approach for such
an application. The Risk-informed Technical Specifications draft ISG
also refers to several NRC-issued, approved, or endorsed documents and
the NRC is requesting comment on this proposed ISG's use of those
documents.
Additionally, the staff is issuing for public comment a draft
regulatory analysis. The staff developed a regulatory analysis to
assess the value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as
alternative courses of action. The development of both application
guidance and staff review guidance is warranted. If finalized, this ISG
will serve as the non-LWR application and review guidance for risk-
informed technical specifications.
The Risk-informed Technical Specification draft ISG correlates the
text in 10 CFR 50.36, ``Technical specifications,'' with the analysis
and outputs of the risk-informed approach described in Nuclear Energy
Institute 18-04, Revision 1, ``Risk-Informed Performance-Based
Technology Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactors,'' (ADAMS Accession
No. ML19241A472), and with the principal design criteria applicable to
the design. In addition to general comments on this draft ISG, the NRC
is seeking public comment on whether the correlation previously
described can be interpreted as a departure from the regulation text
and whether the NRC staff will need to consider whether exemptions are
necessary.
IV. Availability of Documents
The table in this notice provides the document description, ADAMS
accession number, and, if appropriate, the docket identification number
referencing the request for public comment on supporting documents
[[Page 33928]]
associated with the document that is the subject of this FRN.
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Document description ADAMS accession No. Regulations.gov docket ID No.
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Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-01 ML22048B546 NRC-2022-0074
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
Project, `Review of Risk-Informed, Technology
Inclusive Advanced Reactor Applications--Roadmap'
''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-02, ML22048B541 NRC-2022-0075
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
Chapter 2, `Site Information' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-03, ML22048B543 NRC-2022-0076
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
Chapter 9, `Control of Routine Plant Radioactive
Effluents, Plant Contamination and Solid Waste'
''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-04, ML22048B544 NRC-2022-0077
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
Chapter 10, `Control of Occupational Dose' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-05, ML22048B542 NRC-2022-0078
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
Chapter 11, `Organization and Human-System
Considerations' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-06, ML22048B545 NRC-2022-0079
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application Project
Chapter 12, `Post-Construction Inspection,
Testing, and Analysis Program' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-07, ML22048B549 NRC-2022-0080
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
Project, `Risk-informed Inservice Inspection/
Inservice Testing' ''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-08, ML22048B548 NRC-2022-0081
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
Project, `Risk-Informed Technical Specifications'
''.
Draft Interim Staff Guidance DANU-ISG-2022-09, ML22048B547 NRC-2022-0082
``Advanced Reactor Content of Application
Project, `Risk-informed Performance-based Fire
Protection Program (for Operations)' ''.
DG-1404, ``Guidance for a Technology-Inclusive ML22076A003 NRC-2022-0073
Content of Application Methodology to Inform the
Licensing Basis and Content of Applications for
Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Non-
Light-Water Reactors''.
Regulatory Analysis for ARCAP ISGs................ ML23093A099 NRC-2022-0074
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V. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
DANU-ISG-2022-08, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as
defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in
Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward
Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests''; constitute forward
fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; or affect the
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52. The
guidance would not apply to any current licensees or applicants or
existing or requested approvals under 10 CFR part 52, and therefore its
issuance cannot be a backfit or forward fit or affect issue finality.
Further, as explained in DANU-ISG-2022-08, applicants and licensees
would not be required to comply with the positions set forth in DANU-
ISG-2022-08.
Dated: May 22, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Steven T. Lynch,
Chief, Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors
and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2023-11187 Filed 5-24-23; 8:45 am]
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