Initiatives To Address Gas Accumulation Following Generic Letter 2008-01, 10504-10505 [2017-02866]

Download as PDF 10504 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]


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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
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