Laboratory Investigations of Soils and Rocks for Engineering Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power Plants, 3264-3265 [2015-00985]

Download as PDF 3264 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices This exemption is effective upon issuance. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of January 2015. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Michele G. Evans, Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 2015–01032 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC–2014–0183] Laboratory Investigations of Soils and Rocks for Engineering Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power Plants Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Regulatory guide: issuance. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 3 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.138, ‘‘Laboratory Investigations of Soils and Rocks for Engineering Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power Plants.’’ This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in the laboratory testing of soils and rocks needed to comply with NRC requirements for the siting and design of nuclear power plants. DATES: January 22, 2015. ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2014–0183 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document using any of the following methods: • 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. • NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library at https://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/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 tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:09 Jan 21, 2015 Jkt 235001 ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide 1.138 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14289A600. The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14289A602. • 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. Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not required to reproduce them. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Stovall, telephone: 301–251–7922, email: Scott.Stovall@nrc.gov, or Edward O’Donnell, telephone: 301–251–7455, email: Edward.Odonnell@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide 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. Revision 3 of RG 1.138 was issued with a temporary identification as draft regulatory guide (DG)–1256. The guide describes laboratory investigations and testing practices acceptable to the NRC staff for determining soil and rock properties and characteristics needed for engineering analysis and design of foundations and earthworks for nuclear power plants. The guide was reformatted and was revised to reflect changes in standards for testing procedures developed since 2003. The most significant change is in Section C.6.3, ‘‘Resonant Column Tests,’’ which provides an alternative method for resonant column and torsional shear testing of soil and rock samples. II. Additional Information The DG–1256 was published in the Federal Register on August 4, 2014 (79 FR 45223), for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment period closed on October 3, 2014. No public comments were received. PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 III. Congressional Review Act This regulatory guide is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801–808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act. IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality Issuance of this guide in final form does not constitute backfitting as defined in § 50.109 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) (the Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. This guide would not apply to any construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, or limited work authorizations already issued under 10 CFR 50.10 for which the NRC issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) preceded by a draft EIS under 10 CFR 51.76 or 51.75, or combined licenses, 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. Absent voluntary action by the licensee (e.g., license amendment, exemption request), no further NRC regulatory action on siting will occur for those licenses, permits, and authorizations for which the guidance in the guide would be relevant. Licensees and holders of NRC regulatory approvals may perform testing of soils and rocks for engineering analysis and design activities consistent with the licensing basis for each permit and license. This testing need not comply with this regulatory guide. However, when a licensee or holder of an NRC regulatory approval voluntarily requests a change to its license or regulatory approval for which new soils or rock testing is necessary and is an essential consideration of the NRC’s evaluation of the request, then the NRC may condition its approval of the request on the licensee’s or holder’s agreement to conduct the soil or rock testing in accordance with the guidance in the guide. The guidance in this regulatory guide may be applied to applications for early site permits, combined licenses, and limited work authorizations issued under 10 CFR 50.10 (including information under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or (f)), any of which are docketed and under review by the NRC as of the date of issuance of the final regulatory guide. The guidance in this regulatory guide may also be applied to applications for E:\FR\FM\22JAN1.SGM 22JAN1 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 14 / Thursday, January 22, 2015 / Notices construction permits, early site permits, combined licenses, and limited work authorizations (including information under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or (f)), any of which are submitted after the issuance of the final regulatory guide. Such action does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain exceptions, protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under part 52. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of December 2014. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Harriet Karagiannis, Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 2015–00985 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee On Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures; Notice of Meeting tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES The ACRS Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures will hold a meeting on February 4, 2015, Room T–2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance with the exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel matters that relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the ACRS, and information the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Wednesday, February 4, 2015—12:00 p.m. Until 1:00 p.m. The Subcommittee will discuss proposed ACRS activities and related matters. The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze relevant issues and facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions, as appropriate, for deliberation by the Full Committee. Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Quynh Nguyen (Telephone 301–415–5844 or Email: Quynh.Nguyen@nrc.gov) five days prior to the meeting, if possible, so that VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:09 Jan 21, 2015 Jkt 235001 arrangements can be made. Thirty-five hard copies of each presentation or handout should be provided to the DFO thirty minutes before the meeting. In addition, one electronic copy of each presentation should be emailed to the DFO one day before the meeting. If an electronic copy cannot be provided within this timeframe, presenters should provide the DFO with a CD containing each presentation at least thirty minutes before the meeting. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the meeting that are open to the public. Detailed procedures for the conduct of and participation in ACRS meetings were published in the Federal Register on October 13, 2014 (79 FR 59307– 59308). Information regarding changes to the agenda, whether the meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, and the time allotted to present oral statements can be obtained by contacting the identified DFO. Moreover, in view of the possibility that the schedule for ACRS meetings may be adjusted by the Chairman as necessary to facilitate the conduct of the meeting, persons planning to attend should check with the DFO if such rescheduling would result in a major inconvenience. If attending this meeting, please enter through the One White Flint North building, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. After registering with security, please contact Mr. Theron Brown (240–888–9835) to be escorted to the meeting room. Dated: January 15, 2015. Mark L. Banks, Chief, Technical Support Branch, Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. [FR Doc. 2015–01027 Filed 1–21–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION Sunshine Act Meeting; OPIC Annual Public Hearing 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2015. PLACE: Offices of the Corporation, Twelfth Floor Board Room, 1100 New York Avenue NW., Washington, DC STATUS: Hearing OPEN to the Public at 1 p.m. PURPOSE: Annual Public Hearing to afford an opportunity for any person to present views regarding the activities of the Corporation. PROCEDURES: Individuals wishing to address the hearing orally must provide TIME AND DATE: PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3265 advance notice to OPIC’s Corporate Secretary no later than 5 p.m. Friday, February 27, 2015. The notice must include the individual’s name, title, organization, address, email, telephone number, and a concise summary of the subject matter to be presented. Oral presentations may not exceed ten (10) minutes. The time for individual presentations may be reduced proportionately, if necessary, to afford all participants who have submitted a timely request an opportunity to be heard. Participants wishing to submit a written statement for the record must submit a copy of such statement to OPIC’s Corporate Secretary no later than 5 p.m. Friday, February 27, 2014. Such statement must be typewritten, doublespaced, and may not exceed twenty-five (25) pages. Upon receipt of the required notice, OPIC will prepare an agenda for the hearing identifying speakers, setting forth the subject on which each participant will speak, and the time allotted for each presentation. The agenda will be available at the hearing. A written summary of the hearing will be compiled, and such summary will be made available, upon written request to OPIC’s Corporate Secretary, at the cost of reproduction. CONTACT PERSON FOR INFORMATION: Information on the hearing may be obtained from Connie M. Downs at (202) 336–8438, or via email at connie.downs@opic.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPIC is a U.S. Government agency that provides, on a commercial basis, political risk insurance and financing in friendly developing countries and emerging democracies for environmentally sound projects that confer positive developmental benefits upon the project country while creating employment in the U.S. OPIC is required by section 231A(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (the ‘‘Act’’) to hold at least one public hearing each year. Dated: January 20, 2015. Connie M. Downs, OPIC Corporate Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–01132 Filed 1–20–15; 11:15 am] BILLING CODE 3210–01–P POSTAL SERVICE Temporary Emergency Committee of the Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting Thursday, February 5, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.; and Friday, February 6, at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. DATES AND TIMES: E:\FR\FM\22JAN1.SGM 22JAN1

Agencies

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 14 (Thursday, January 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3264-3265]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00985]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0183]

Laboratory Investigations of Soils and Rocks for Engineering
Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide: issuance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing
Revision 3 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.138, ``Laboratory Investigations
of Soils and Rocks for Engineering Analysis and Design of Nuclear Power
Plants.'' This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers
acceptable for use in the laboratory testing of soils and rocks needed
to comply with NRC requirements for the siting and design of nuclear
power plants.

DATES: January 22, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0183 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
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.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC
Library 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 ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced. Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide 1.138 is available in ADAMS
under Accession No. ML14289A600. The regulatory analysis may be found
in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14289A602.
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.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Stovall, telephone: 301-251-
7922, email: Scott.Stovall@nrc.gov, or Edward O'Donnell, telephone:
301-251-7455, email: Edward.Odonnell@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide 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.
Revision 3 of RG 1.138 was issued with a temporary identification
as draft regulatory guide (DG)-1256. The guide describes laboratory
investigations and testing practices acceptable to the NRC staff for
determining soil and rock properties and characteristics needed for
engineering analysis and design of foundations and earthworks for
nuclear power plants. The guide was reformatted and was revised to
reflect changes in standards for testing procedures developed since
2003. The most significant change is in Section C.6.3, ``Resonant
Column Tests,'' which provides an alternative method for resonant
column and torsional shear testing of soil and rock samples.

II. Additional Information

The DG-1256 was published in the Federal Register on August 4, 2014
(79 FR 45223), for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment
period closed on October 3, 2014. No public comments were received.

III. Congressional Review Act

This regulatory guide is a rule as defined in the Congressional
Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and
Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in the
Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

Issuance of this guide in final form does not constitute
backfitting as defined in Sec. 50.109 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) (the Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise
inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. This
guide would not apply to any construction permits, operating licenses,
early site permits, or limited work authorizations already issued under
10 CFR 50.10 for which the NRC issued a final environmental impact
statement (EIS) preceded by a draft EIS under 10 CFR 51.76 or 51.75, or
combined licenses, 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. Absent voluntary action by the licensee (e.g., license
amendment, exemption request), no further NRC regulatory action on
siting will occur for those licenses, permits, and authorizations for
which the guidance in the guide would be relevant. Licensees and
holders of NRC regulatory approvals may perform testing of soils and
rocks for engineering analysis and design activities consistent with
the licensing basis for each permit and license. This testing need not
comply with this regulatory guide. However, when a licensee or holder
of an NRC regulatory approval voluntarily requests a change to its
license or regulatory approval for which new soils or rock testing is
necessary and is an essential consideration of the NRC's evaluation of
the request, then the NRC may condition its approval of the request on
the licensee's or holder's agreement to conduct the soil or rock
testing in accordance with the guidance in the guide.
The guidance in this regulatory guide may be applied to
applications for early site permits, combined licenses, and limited
work authorizations issued under 10 CFR 50.10 (including information
under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or (f)), any of which are docketed and under
review by the NRC as of the date of issuance of the final regulatory
guide. The guidance in this regulatory guide may also be applied to
applications for

[[Page 3265]]

construction permits, early site permits, combined licenses, and
limited work authorizations (including information under 10 CFR
51.49(b) or (f)), any of which are submitted after the issuance of the
final regulatory guide. Such action does not constitute backfitting as
defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) and is not otherwise inconsistent with
the applicable issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. Applicants
and potential applicants are not, with certain exceptions, protected by
either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under part 52.

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

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2015-00985 Filed 1-21-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.