[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 13, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38408-38409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12631]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 51, 52, 100
[NRC-2023-0097]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Damping Values for Seismic Design of
Nuclear Power Plants
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 a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1364, ``Damping Values
for Seismic Design of Nuclear Power Plants.'' This DG is proposed
Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.61. This DG describes an approach
on damping values that is acceptable to the NRC staff for use in
meeting regulatory requirements for the seismic response analysis of
seismic Category I nuclear power plant structures, systems, and
components.
DATES: Submit comments by July 13, 2023. 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-2023-0097. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individuals 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: Edward O'Donnell, telephone: 301-415-
3317; email: [email protected] and Marcos Rolon Acevedo,
telephone: 301-415-2208; email: [email protected]. Both are
staff of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research at 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-2023-0097 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-2023-0097.
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]. 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: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, 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-2023-0097 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 agency'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 ``Damping Values for Seismic Design of Nuclear
Power Plants,'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML22273A040) is temporarily
identified by its task number, DG-1364.
The proposed guide provides guidance for applicants and licensees
on damping values that the NRC staff finds acceptable for use in the
seismic response analysis of seismic Category I nuclear power plant
structures, systems, and components. The specified damping values are
intended for elastic dynamic seismic analysis where energy dissipation
is accounted for by viscous damping. Since the issuance of revision 1
of RG 1.61 in 2007, updated criteria related to the concrete properties
and damping values for use in the development of in-structure response
spectra has become available.
[[Page 38409]]
DG-1364 addresses the updated criteria for concrete properties and
new damping criteria for use in seismic analysis and design of nuclear
power plants structures.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML22273A041). The staff developed a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a
regulatory guide as well as determine courses of action.
As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671),
this document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of
the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under
chapter I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of DG-1364 as a final RG would not constitute backfitting
as that term is 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,'' to affect the issue finality of an approval issued under 10
CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear
Power Plants;'' or constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined
and described in MD 8.4 because, as explained in DG-1364, licensees
would not be required to comply with the positions set forth in the DG.
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 considered in future updates and enhancements to
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
Dated: June 8, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-12631 Filed 6-12-23; 8:45 am]
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