Initiatives To Address Gas Accumulation Following Generic Letter 2008-01, 10504-10505 [2017-02866]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 28 / Monday, February 13, 2017 / Notices
activities. The revised RG follows the
approach to implementing the rule that
is discussed in interim staff guidance
COL/ESP–ISG–4 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML082970729). The NRC is seeking
input regarding the best method to
address these impacts in environmental
reports.
2. Are there changes that should be
made to the RG to reduce the amount of
information evaluated in ERs and the
environmental impact statements, while
still meeting applicable environmental
laws and regulations?
3. Are there topics that are not
addressed in the RG that should be
addressed? Conversely, are there topics
addressed in the RG that need not be
addressed?
IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality
Issuance of this DG does not
constitute backfitting as defined in 10
CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule), nor
would it be regarded as backfitting
under the Commission and the
Executive Director for Operations
guidance, and is not otherwise
inconsistent with the issue finality
provisions in 10 CFR part 52.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day
of February, 2017.
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. 2017–02885 Filed 2–10–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[NRC–2017–0040]
Initiatives To Address Gas
Accumulation Following Generic Letter
2008–01
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary;
request for comment.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is seeking public
comment on a draft regulatory issue
summary (RIS) setting forth a licensee’s
responsibility for ensuring systems
remain operable with respect to the
accumulation of gas, regardless of
whether the licensee chooses to
voluntarily implement two industry
initiatives to address weaknesses in the
management of gas accumulation.
DATES: Submit comments by March 15,
2017. Comments received after this date
will be considered if it is practical to do
jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
13:41 Feb 10, 2017
Jkt 241001
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:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0040. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463;
email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For
technical questions, contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
document.
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey,
Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
OWFN–12–H08, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001.
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:
Diana Woodyatt, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–1245,
email: Diana.Woodyatt@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2017–
0040 when contacting the NRC about
the availability of information for this
action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this
action by any of the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0040.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable 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
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 at
the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One
PO 00000
Frm 00055
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC–2017–
0040 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 posts all comment
submissions at https://
www.regulations.gov as well as entering
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 submissions into
ADAMS.
II. Discussion
The NRC issues RISs to communicate
with stakeholders on a broad range of
matters. This may include
communicating previous NRC
endorsement of industry guidance on
technical or regulatory matters. The
NRC is issuing this RIS to inform
affected entities that licensees who
choose not to implement two voluntary
industry efforts to address gas
accumulation issues 1 must ensure that
systems remain operable with respect to
the potential for accumulation of gas, in
accordance with their plant-specific
technical specifications (TSs) and their
plants’ licensing basis. Generic
programmatic and licensing concerns
with respect to gas accumulation were
identified through the NRC’s review of
responses to Generic Letter (GL) 2008–
01, ‘‘Managing Gas Accumulation in
Emergency Core Cooling, Decay Heat
Removal, and Containment Spray
Systems,’’ dated January 11, 2008
(ADAMS Accession No. ML072910759).
The NRC issued GL 2008–01 to (1)
request that licensees submit
information to demonstrate that the
1 Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 09–10,
‘‘Guidelines for Effective Prevention and
Management of System Gas Accumulation,’’
Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML110030892);
and Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF)-523,
‘‘Generic Letter 2008–01, Managing Gas
Accumulation,’’ Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML13053A075).
E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM
13FEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 28 / Monday, February 13, 2017 / Notices
jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
subject systems are in compliance with
the current licensing and design bases
and applicable regulatory requirements,
and that suitable design, operational,
and testing control measures are in
place for maintaining this compliance;
and (2) collect the requested
information to determine whether
additional regulatory action is required.
As a result of its review of the GL 2008–
01 responses, the NRC identified that
some plant-specific TS did not cover all
systems or locations susceptible to gas
accumulation. Accordingly, the NRC
staff determined that enhancements to
TSs and the standard technical
specifications (STSs) were desirable.
The nuclear industry undertook two
primary initiatives to address the
desired regulatory guidance and TS
enhancements, NEI 09–10 and TSTF–
523. The NRC issued RIS 2013–09,
‘‘NRC Endorsement of NEI 09–10,
Revision 1a-A, ‘Guidelines for Effective
Prevention and Management of System
Gas Accumulation’’’ (ADAMS
Accession No. ML13178A152), to
endorse NEI 09–10 as an acceptable and
recommended approach for managing
gas accumulation. The NRC staff
approved for use TSTF–523, Revision 2,
in a Federal Register notice on January
15, 2014 (79 FR 2700).
Although the NRC issued plantspecific closure letters following its
review of information submitted in
response to GL 2008–01, the closure
letters did not address development of
additional regulatory guidance or
enhancements to both plant-specific TS
and STS requirements. The NRC staff
accepted the incorporation of a gas
management program consistent with
NEI 09–10 and the adoption of TSTF–
523 as approaches for plants to
sufficiently demonstrate the continued
operability of safety significant systems
susceptible to gas accumulation.
III. Request for Comment
This draft RIS sets forth the regulatory
history of the NRC’s concerns with gas
accumulation, as summarized above in
Section II, ‘‘Background.’’ This draft
RIS, if finalized would advise affected
entities that those licensees who choose
not to implement NEI 09–10 and TSTF–
523 must ensure, through some
appropriate means, that systems remain
operable with respect to the potential
for accumulation of gas, in accordance
with their plant-specific TSs and their
plants’ licensing basis.
The NRC requests public comments
on the draft RIS. The NRC staff will
make a final determination regarding
issuance of the RIS after it considers any
public comments received in response
to this request. The draft RIS is available
VerDate Sep<11>2014
13:41 Feb 10, 2017
Jkt 241001
in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML16244A787.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 06th day
of February 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Sheldon D. Stuchell,
Chief, Generic Communications Branch,
Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017–02866 Filed 2–10–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[NRC–2015–0161]
Comprehensive Vibration Assessment
Program for Reactor Internals During
Preoperational and Startup Testing
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 4
to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.20,
‘‘Comprehensive Vibration Assessment
Program for Reactor Internals During
Preoperational and Startup Testing.’’
This RG describes methods and
procedures that the NRC staff considers
acceptable when developing a
comprehensive vibration assessment
program for reactor internals during
preoperational and startup testing.
DATES: Revision 4 to RG 1.20 is available
on February 13, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC–2015–0161 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of
information regarding this document.
You may obtain publically-available
information related to this document,
using the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2015–0161. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463;
email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For
technical questions, contact the
individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
document.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the
ADAMS Public Document 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
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00056
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
10505
1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by
email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 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.
Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide 1.20,
and the regulatory analysis may be
found in ADAMS under Accession Nos.
ML16056A338 and ML15083A388,
respectively.
• 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:
Thomas Scarbrough, Office of New
Reactors, telephone: 301–415–2794,
email: Thomas.Scarbrough@nrc.gov;
Yuken Wong, Office of New Reactors,
telephone: 301–415–0500, email:
Yuken.Wong@nrc.gov, and Stephen
Burton, Office of Nuclear Regulatory
Research, telephone: 301–15–7000,
email: Stephen.Burton@nrc.gov. All are
staff members of the 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 information
regarding methods that are acceptable to
the NRC staff for implementing specific
parts of the agency’s regulations,
techniques that the NRC staff uses in
evaluating specific issues or postulated
events, and data that the NRC staff
needs in its review of applications for
permits and licenses.
Revision 4 of RG 1.20 was issued with
a temporary identification of Draft
Regulatory Guide, DG–1323. This
revision expands the guidance related to
flow-induced vibration, acoustic
resonance, acoustic-induced vibration,
and mechanical-induced vibration for
boiling water reactor, pressurized water
reactor, and small modular reactor
(SMR) nuclear power plants. For SMRs,
this includes guidance for the control
rod drive system and control rod drive
mechanisms, which might be contained
in an integral reactor vessel module.
The additional guidance in Revision 4 is
based in part on lessons learned from
the review of recent applications,
including both new plant applications
and extended power uprate
applications. In addition, Revision 4 re-
E:\FR\FM\13FEN1.SGM
13FEN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10504-10505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02866]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2017-0040]
Initiatives To Address Gas Accumulation Following Generic Letter
2008-01
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public
comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS) setting forth a
licensee's responsibility for ensuring systems remain operable with
respect to the accumulation of gas, regardless of whether the licensee
chooses to voluntarily implement two industry initiatives to address
weaknesses in the management of gas accumulation.
DATES: Submit comments by March 15, 2017. 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:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0040. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
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: Diana Woodyatt, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1245, email: Diana.Woodyatt@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0040 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 Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0040.
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 ``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 (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 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-2017-0040 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 posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as entering 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 submissions into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad
range of matters. This may include communicating previous NRC
endorsement of industry guidance on technical or regulatory matters.
The NRC is issuing this RIS to inform affected entities that licensees
who choose not to implement two voluntary industry efforts to address
gas accumulation issues \1\ must ensure that systems remain operable
with respect to the potential for accumulation of gas, in accordance
with their plant-specific technical specifications (TSs) and their
plants' licensing basis. Generic programmatic and licensing concerns
with respect to gas accumulation were identified through the NRC's
review of responses to Generic Letter (GL) 2008-01, ``Managing Gas
Accumulation in Emergency Core Cooling, Decay Heat Removal, and
Containment Spray Systems,'' dated January 11, 2008 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML072910759).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 09-10, ``Guidelines for
Effective Prevention and Management of System Gas Accumulation,''
Revision 1 (ADAMS Accession No. ML110030892); and Technical
Specification Task Force (TSTF)-523, ``Generic Letter 2008-01,
Managing Gas Accumulation,'' Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML13053A075).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRC issued GL 2008-01 to (1) request that licensees submit
information to demonstrate that the
[[Page 10505]]
subject systems are in compliance with the current licensing and design
bases and applicable regulatory requirements, and that suitable design,
operational, and testing control measures are in place for maintaining
this compliance; and (2) collect the requested information to determine
whether additional regulatory action is required. As a result of its
review of the GL 2008-01 responses, the NRC identified that some plant-
specific TS did not cover all systems or locations susceptible to gas
accumulation. Accordingly, the NRC staff determined that enhancements
to TSs and the standard technical specifications (STSs) were desirable.
The nuclear industry undertook two primary initiatives to address the
desired regulatory guidance and TS enhancements, NEI 09-10 and TSTF-
523. The NRC issued RIS 2013-09, ``NRC Endorsement of NEI 09-10,
Revision 1a-A, `Guidelines for Effective Prevention and Management of
System Gas Accumulation''' (ADAMS Accession No. ML13178A152), to
endorse NEI 09-10 as an acceptable and recommended approach for
managing gas accumulation. The NRC staff approved for use TSTF-523,
Revision 2, in a Federal Register notice on January 15, 2014 (79 FR
2700).
Although the NRC issued plant-specific closure letters following
its review of information submitted in response to GL 2008-01, the
closure letters did not address development of additional regulatory
guidance or enhancements to both plant-specific TS and STS
requirements. The NRC staff accepted the incorporation of a gas
management program consistent with NEI 09-10 and the adoption of TSTF-
523 as approaches for plants to sufficiently demonstrate the continued
operability of safety significant systems susceptible to gas
accumulation.
III. Request for Comment
This draft RIS sets forth the regulatory history of the NRC's
concerns with gas accumulation, as summarized above in Section II,
``Background.'' This draft RIS, if finalized would advise affected
entities that those licensees who choose not to implement NEI 09-10 and
TSTF-523 must ensure, through some appropriate means, that systems
remain operable with respect to the potential for accumulation of gas,
in accordance with their plant-specific TSs and their plants' licensing
basis.
The NRC requests public comments on the draft RIS. The NRC staff
will make a final determination regarding issuance of the RIS after it
considers any public comments received in response to this request. The
draft RIS is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16244A787.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 06th day of February 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Sheldon D. Stuchell,
Chief, Generic Communications Branch, Division of Policy and
Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-02866 Filed 2-10-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P