[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71777-71778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22980]
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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. 88, No. 200 / Wednesday, October 18, 2023 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 71777]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100
[NRC-2023-0153]
Draft Regulatory Guide: General Site Suitability Criteria for
Nuclear Power Stations
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-4034, ``General Site
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations.'' This DG is a
proposed Revision 4 for Regulatory Guide (RG) 4.7 of the same name
which describes the major site characteristics related to public health
and safety and environmental issues that the NRC staff considers in
determining the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear power
stations.
DATES: Submit comments by November 17, 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-2023-0153. 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: Belkys Sosa, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3357; email: [email protected] and
Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone:
301-415-3317; email: [email protected]. Both are staff of 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-2023-0153 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-2023-0153.
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, at 301-415-4737,
or by email to [email protected]. The DG-4034, ``General Site
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations'' is available in ADAMS
under Accession No. ML23123A090.
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-2023-0153 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.
This DG, entitled ``General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclear
Power Stations,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-
4034.
This proposed revision to RG 4.7 implements the Commission approved
alternative population-related criteria in SRM-SECY-20-0045,
``Population-Related Siting Considerations for Advanced Reactors,''
(ADAMS Accession No. ML22194A885) through the addition of Appendix A.
It provides alternatives to demonstrate compliance with paragraph
100.21(h) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) in
determining the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear power
[[Page 71778]]
stations to support licensing for non-light-water reactors (LWRs) and
light-water small modular reactors with attributes that could support
siting a commercial nuclear power station closer to population centers
than large LWRs typically have been sited. Appendix A retains the
regulatory requirements in 10 CFR part 100 that call for licensees to
establish an exclusion area, a low population zone, and a minimum
distance to the nearest densely populated center containing more than
25,000 residents. In addition, Appendix A introduces a new graded
approach where instead of locating a reactor in an area where the
population density does not exceed 500 persons per square mile out to
20 miles from the reactor, an applicant can demonstrate compliance with
10 CFR 100.21(h) by siting a nuclear reactor in a location where the
population density does not exceed 500 persons per square mile out to a
distance equal to twice the distance at which a hypothetical individual
could receive a calculated total effective dose equivalent of 1 rem
over a period of 1 month from the release of radionuclides following
postulated accidents.
In addition, proposed Revision 4 restructures RG 4.7 to remove
repetition found in Revision 3 by consolidating materials from the
Discussion section and the two tables in Revision 3 of the RG into
Section C, ``Staff Regulatory Guidance.'' To improve clarity and
cohesiveness each topic in Section C was structured to list (1)
relevant statutes and regulations, (2) related guidance, and (3)
considerations, regulatory experience, and staff position.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML23123A095). The staff developed a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a
regulatory guide as well as alternative 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 1
CFR chapter I.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of this DG does 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 affect the issue
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52; and would not
constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD
8.4.
If finalized, this regulatory guide will not apply to any
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited
work authorizations issued under 10 CFR 50.10, or combined licenses,
for which the NRC issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS)
preceded by a draft EIS under 10 CFR 51.76 or 51.75, any of which were
issued by the NRC prior to issuance of the final regulatory guide. The
NRC has already completed its siting determination for those
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited
work authorizations, and combined licenses. Therefore, no further NRC
regulatory action on siting will occur for those licenses, permits, and
authorizations, for which the guidance in the regulatory guide would be
relevant.
The methods described in this proposed RG will be used in
evaluating applications for construction permits, early site permits,
combined operating licenses and limited work authorizations, which
includes information under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or (f), with respect to
compliance with applicable regulations governing the siting of new
nuclear power plants and testing facilities, unless the applicant
proposes an acceptable alternative method for complying with those
regulations. Methods that differ from those described in this proposed
RG may be deemed acceptable if the applicant provides sufficient basis
and information for the NRC staff to verify that the proposed
alternative complies with the applicable NRC regulations.
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: October 13, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stanley J. Gardocki,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-22980 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P