Medical Evaluation of Licensed Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants, 23017-23018 [2014-09443]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 80 (Friday, April 25, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23017-23018]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-09443]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0093]


Medical Evaluation of Licensed Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1310, ``Medical 
Evaluation of Licensed Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants,'' which 
would be Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.134. The NRC proposes to 
update RG 1.134 based upon the regulatory experience gained since 
Revision 3 of RG 1.134 was issued and to endorse the 2013 revision to 
the underlying consensus standard, ANSI/ANS 3.4, ``Medical 
Certification and Monitoring of Personnel Requiring Licenses for 
Nuclear Power Plants.'' The guide helps to ensure that medical 
certifications (and related medical evidence) are sufficient to meet 
the NRC's nuclear power reactor operator licensing requirements.

DATES: Submit comments by May 27, 2014. 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. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0093. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lawrence Vick, 301-415-3181, email: 
Lawrence.Vick@nrc.gov, or Richard Jervey, 301/251-7404, email: 
Richard.Jervey@nrc.gov; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0093 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this document by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0093.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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 pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 
draft regulatory guide is available electronically under ADAMS 
Accession Number ML13352A278. The regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML13352A279.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.
     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-2014-0093 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 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 enters 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 will not edit comment submissions to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment submissions 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 and 
make available to the public such information as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
NRC'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.
    The DG, entitled, ``Medical Evaluation of Licensed Personnel for 
Nuclear Power Plants,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, 
DG-1310. Draft regulatory guide, DG-1310, is proposed Revision 4 of RG 
1.134. The guidance is intended for use by nuclear power plant license 
holders under part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities,'' and 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' Licensees of these facilities are 
required under 10 CFR 50.54, ``Conditions of Licensees,'' to use 
qualified licensed operators as described in 10 CFR Part 55, 
``Operators' Licenses.''
    Regulatory Guide 1.134, ``Medical Evaluation of Licensed Personnel 
for Nuclear Power Plants,'' Revision 3, was issued in 1998 to identify 
that the contemporary version of consensus standard ANSI/ANS 3.4 
(1996), ``Medical Certification and Monitoring of Personnel Requiring 
Operator Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants,'' is a method acceptable to 
the staff for complying with those portions of the NRC's regulations 
associated with approval or acceptance of medical examination 
certifications at nuclear power plants.
    The consensus standard ANSI/ANS 3.4 was issued in 2013 to provide 
clarification and comprehensive medical guidance to improve industry's 
consistent implementation of the

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standard. This included clarification of specific minimum requirements, 
disqualifying conditions, conditional restrictions, examination 
methods, and monitoring methods for each medical area. The 2013 issue 
also includes consideration of other industry medical standards, 
including those of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal 
Aviation Administration as well as medical criteria that reflect 
progressions in medical science including updated terminology, current 
medical practices, criteria for normality, and risk assessments.
    Regulatory Guide 1.134 is under revision to identify to licensees 
that ANSI/ANS 3.4-2013 is acceptable for their use. The guide helps to 
ensure that medical certifications (and related medical evidence) used 
to meet the operator licensing requirements of 10 CFR part 55 are 
sufficient with respect to (1) an applicant's or operator licensee's 
medical examination, as described in 10 CFR 55.21, ``Medical 
Examination''; (2) a facility licensee's medical certification, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.23, ``Certification''; (3) an operator 
licensee's incapacitation because of disability or illness, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.25, ``Incapacitation Because of Disability or 
Illness''; (4) a facility licensee's medical documentation, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.27, ``Documentation''; (5) the NRC's disposition 
of an initial application for an operator license, as described in 10 
CFR 55.33(a)(1) and (b); and (6) renewal of operator licenses, as 
described in 10 CFR 55.57(a)(6) and (b)(1).

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This DG, if finalized, would provide updated guidance on the 
methods acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the NRC's 
regulations associated with approval or acceptance of the medical 
assessment of an applicant for or holder of an operator or senior 
operator license at a nuclear power plant. The draft guide would apply 
to current and future applicants for and holders of power reactor 
licenses under 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 and power reactor operating 
licenses under 10 CFR part 55. Issuance of this DG in final form would 
not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR part 50 and would not be 
otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR 
Part 52. As discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this DG, the 
NRC has no current intention to impose the RG on current holders of 10 
CFR part 50 operating licenses or 10 CFR part 52 combined licenses. 
Part 55 does not contain backfitting or issue finality regulations, and 
power reactor operating licensees are not protected by the backfitting 
provisions in 10 CFR 50.109 or the 10 CFR part 52 issue finality 
provisions because neither 10 CFR 50.109 nor 10 CFR part 52 applies to 
10 CFR part 55 power reactor operating licensees.
    This RG could be applied to applications for 10 CFR part 50 
operating licenses, 10 CFR part 52 combined licenses, or 10 CFR part 55 
operator licenses. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in 10 CFR 50.109 or be otherwise inconsistent with the 
applicable issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such 
applicants are not within the scope of entities protected by 10 CFR 
50.109 or the relevant issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of April, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-09443 Filed 4-24-14; 8:45 am]
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