An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical Specifications, 9484-9486 [2020-03237]

Download as PDF 9484 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 33 / Wednesday, February 19, 2020 / Notices on propeller tips, a flotation device if operated over water, and an ‘‘auto go home’’ feature in case of loss of control link or low battery; having an observer on the lookout for wildlife, people, and other hazards; and ensuring that the separation between the operator and quadcopter does not exceed an operational range of 500 meters. The applicant is seeking a Waste Permit to cover any accidental releases that may result from operating the RPAS and ATVs. All waste materials produced during the marathon activity would be collected and mitigation measures would be in place to reduce the possibility of waste release. The applicant would provide temporary, portable toilet facilities to marathon participants. All human waste generated would be returned to the ship for disposal. Location: King George Island, Antarctica. Dates of Permitted Activities: March 23–April 10, 2020. Erika N. Davis, Program Specialist, Office of Polar Programs. [FR Doc. 2020–03165 Filed 2–18–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7555–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes: Meeting Notice U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of meeting. khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) on March 30–31, 2020. A sample of agenda items to be discussed during the public session includes: (1) A discussion on medical-related events; (2) a discussion on the ACMUI’s recommendations regarding the definition of patient intervention and other actions exclusive of medical events; (3) a discussion on the U.S. Federal Drug Administration’s regulatory process for drugs and devices; (4) a discussion on the overview of the NRC’s Nuclear Material Events Database; (5) a discussion on the status of emerging and trending radiopharmaceuticals; and (6) a discussion on the ACMUI’s recommendations on the need for an interventional radiologist representative position on the ACMUI. The agenda is subject to change. The current agenda and any updates will be VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:58 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 250001 available at https://www.nrc.gov/ reading-rm/doc-collections/acmui/ meetings/2020.html or by emailing Ms. Kellee Jamerson at the contact information below. Purpose: Discuss issues related to 10 CFR part 35 Medical Use of Byproduct Material. Date and Time: March 30, 2020 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and March 31, 2020 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Address for Public Meeting: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Two White Flint North Building, Room T– 2D30, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Public Participation: Any member of the public who wishes to participate in the meeting in person or via phone should contact Ms. Jamerson using the information below. The meeting will also be webcast live from the NRC’s Webcast Portal at https://video.nrc. gov/. Contact Information: Ms. Kellee Jamerson, email: Kellee.Jamerson@ nrc.gov, telephone: (301) 415–7408. Conduct of the Meeting Darlene F. Metter, M.D. will chair the meeting. Dr. Metter will conduct the meeting in a manner that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. The following procedures apply to public participation in the meeting: 1. Persons who wish to provide a written statement should submit an electronic copy to Ms. Jamerson using the contact information listed above. All submittals must be received by March 25, 2020, three business days before the meeting, and must pertain to the topics on the agenda for the meeting. 2. Questions and comments from members of the public will be permitted during the meeting, at the discretion of the ACMUI Chairman. 3. The draft transcript and meeting summary will be available on the ACMUI’s website https://www.nrc.gov/ reading-rm/doc-collections/acmui/ meetings/2020.html on or about May 12, 2020. 4. Persons who require special services, such as those for the hearing impaired, should notify Ms. Jamerson of their planned attendance. This meeting will be held in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (primarily Section 161a); the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App); and the Commission’s regulations in title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 7. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of February, 2020. PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Russell E. Chazell, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 2020–03177 Filed 2–18–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC–2012–0110] An Approach for Plant-Specific, RiskInformed Decisionmaking: Technical Specifications Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG–1287, ‘‘An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical Specifications.’’ This proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.177 includes guidance to develop riskinformed applications for technical specification (TS) changes that considers engineering issues and applies risk insights. This proposed revision also provides guidance acceptable to the staff for using risk information to evaluate changes to nuclear power plant TS completion times (CTs) and surveillance frequencies (SFs) and to assess the impact of such proposed changes on the risk associated with plant operation. This DG–1287 supplements the guidance provided in RG 1.174, ‘‘An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in RiskInformed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,’’ Revision 3, issued January 2018. DATES: Submit comments by April 20, 2020. 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 for public comment, comments and suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in RGs currently being developed or improvements in all published RGs are encouraged at any time. SUMMARY: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: • Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2012–0110. Address questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; ADDRESSES: E:\FR\FM\19FEN1.SGM 19FEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 33 / Wednesday, February 19, 2020 / Notices telephone: 301–287–9127; email: Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. 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: Gary Wang, telephone: 301–415–1686, email: Zeechung.Wang@nrc.gov; or Harriet Karagiannis, telephone: 301–415–2493, email: Harriet.Karagiannis@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2012– 0110 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2012–0110. • 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 ‘‘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 DG is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML19206A489. • 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–2012– 0110 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. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:51 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 250001 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 and make available to the public information regarding 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 issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses. This DG, identified by its task number, DG–1287, titled, ‘‘An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical Specifications,’’ is a proposed Revision 2 of RG 1.177, ‘‘An Approach for PlantSpecific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical Specifications.’’ A previous version of DG–1287 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12017A054) was issued for public comment in 2012 (77 FR 29391). Commenters on the previous version are encouraged to review and comment on this version, but previously submitted comments will not be explicitly reconsidered for this revised draft guide because of the extent of the changes between this draft guide and the previously published version. This Revision 2 of RG 1.177 updates the application of the defense-in-depth philosophy to be consistent with the philosophy described in RG 1.174, which was revised in 2018 to expand the meaning of, and the process for, assessing defense-in-depth considerations. Specifically, this revision of RG 1.177 references the defense-in-depth guidance in RG 1.174 in several staff regulatory positions. Additionally, the staff revised this guide to (1) adopt the term ‘‘PRA acceptability,’’ and related phrasing PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 9485 variants, instead of terms such as ‘‘PRA quality,’’ ‘‘PRA technical adequacy,’’ and ‘‘technical adequacy’’ to describe the appropriateness of the probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) used to support risk informed licensing submittals, (2) update Section 2.3, ‘‘Evaluation of Risk Impact,’’ of RG 1.177, and (3) delineate the difference between temporary CT extensions and permanent CT extensions of TS or maximum backstop CTs. III. Backfitting, Issue Finality, and Forward Fitting RG 1.177, Revision 2, would provide updated guidance for power reactor applicants and licensees regarding use of the defense-in-depth philosophy with other recently updated guidance, and would make other conforming changes to the use of PRA and other terminology. Issuance of this RG in final form would not constitute backfitting or forward fitting or affect issue finality as further discussed below. Current or future applicants are not— with limited exceptions not applicable here—within the scope of the backfitting and issue finality regulations and forward fitting policy. Applicants are not, with certain exceptions, covered by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). This is because neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52—with certain exclusions discussed below— were intended to apply to every NRC action which substantially changes the expectations of current and future applicants. The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site permit) and/ or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit under 10 CFR part 50. The staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the issue finality of a part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes backfitting or does not provide issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision, then the staff would need to address the Backfit Rule or the criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision. The staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner E:\FR\FM\19FEN1.SGM 19FEN1 9486 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 33 / Wednesday, February 19, 2020 / Notices that would constitute forward fitting. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff would need to address the forward fitting criteria in Management Directive 8.4. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of February, 2020. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Robert G. Roche-Rivera, Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 2020–03237 Filed 2–18–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. 50–003, 50–247, 50–286, and 72–051; NRC–2020–0021] Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Control of Licenses and Conforming Amendments Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Application for direct and indirect transfers of licenses; opportunity to comment, request a hearing, and petition for leave to intervene; extension of comment period. AGENCY: On January 23, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) solicited comments on an application for direct and indirect transfers of licenses in the Federal Register. The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on February 24, 2020. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period until March 25, 2020, to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments. DATES: The due date for comments requested in the document published on January 23, 2020 (85 FR 3947), is extended. Comments should be filed no later than March 25, 2020. 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–2020–0021. Address questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301–287–9127; email: khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:51 Feb 18, 2020 Jkt 250001 Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. • Email comments to: Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301–415–1677. • Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 415–1101. • Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. • Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal workdays; telephone: 301–415–1677. 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: Richard V. Guzman, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 1030; email: Richard.Guzman@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2020– 0021 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–2020–0021. • 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 ‘‘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 00036 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket ID NRC–2020– 0021 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. Discussion On January 23, 2020, the NRC solicited comments on an application for direct and indirect transfers of licenses, dated November 21, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19326B953). The application was filed by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENOI), on behalf of itself; Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC; Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC; Holtec International; and Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC (HDI) (collectively, the applicants). The application is seeking NRC approval of the transfer of control of Provisional Operating License No. DPR– 5 and Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR–26 and DPR–64 for Indian Point Nuclear Generating, Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3, respectively, as well as the general license for the Indian Point Energy Center Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (collectively, the licenses). Specifically, the application requests that the NRC consent to (1) the transfer of control of the licenses to Holtec subsidiaries to be known as Holtec Indian Point 2, LLC and Holtec Indian Point 3, LLC and (2) the transfer of ENOI’s operating authority to HDI. The NRC is also considering amending the licenses for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer. The public comment period on this action was originally scheduled to close on February 24, 2020. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period until March 25, 2020, to allow E:\FR\FM\19FEN1.SGM 19FEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 19, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9484-9486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03237]


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

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0110]


An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: 
Technical Specifications

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1287, ``An Approach for 
Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical 
Specifications.'' This proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 
1.177 includes guidance to develop risk-informed applications for 
technical specification (TS) changes that considers engineering issues 
and applies risk insights. This proposed revision also provides 
guidance acceptable to the staff for using risk information to evaluate 
changes to nuclear power plant TS completion times (CTs) and 
surveillance frequencies (SFs) and to assess the impact of such 
proposed changes on the risk associated with plant operation. This DG-
1287 supplements the guidance provided in RG 1.174, ``An Approach for 
Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on 
Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,'' Revision 3, issued 
January 2018.

DATES: Submit comments by April 20, 2020. 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 for public comment, comments and 
suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in RGs currently 
being developed or improvements in all published RGs are encouraged at 
any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0110. Address 
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;

[[Page 9485]]

telephone: 301-287-9127; 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: Gary Wang, telephone: 301-415-1686, 
email: [email protected]; or Harriet Karagiannis, telephone: 301-
415-2493, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 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-2012-0110 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-2012-0110.
     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, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The DG is electronically available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML19206A489.
     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-2012-0110 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 and 
make available to the public information regarding 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 issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in 
its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    This DG, identified by its task number, DG-1287, titled, ``An 
Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical 
Specifications,'' is a proposed Revision 2 of RG 1.177, ``An Approach 
for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Technical 
Specifications.''
    A previous version of DG-1287 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12017A054) was 
issued for public comment in 2012 (77 FR 29391). Commenters on the 
previous version are encouraged to review and comment on this version, 
but previously submitted comments will not be explicitly reconsidered 
for this revised draft guide because of the extent of the changes 
between this draft guide and the previously published version.
    This Revision 2 of RG 1.177 updates the application of the defense-
in-depth philosophy to be consistent with the philosophy described in 
RG 1.174, which was revised in 2018 to expand the meaning of, and the 
process for, assessing defense-in-depth considerations. Specifically, 
this revision of RG 1.177 references the defense-in-depth guidance in 
RG 1.174 in several staff regulatory positions. Additionally, the staff 
revised this guide to (1) adopt the term ``PRA acceptability,'' and 
related phrasing variants, instead of terms such as ``PRA quality,'' 
``PRA technical adequacy,'' and ``technical adequacy'' to describe the 
appropriateness of the probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) used to 
support risk informed licensing submittals, (2) update Section 2.3, 
``Evaluation of Risk Impact,'' of RG 1.177, and (3) delineate the 
difference between temporary CT extensions and permanent CT extensions 
of TS or maximum backstop CTs.

III. Backfitting, Issue Finality, and Forward Fitting

    RG 1.177, Revision 2, would provide updated guidance for power 
reactor applicants and licensees regarding use of the defense-in-depth 
philosophy with other recently updated guidance, and would make other 
conforming changes to the use of PRA and other terminology. Issuance of 
this RG in final form would not constitute backfitting or forward 
fitting or affect issue finality as further discussed below.
    Current or future applicants are not--with limited exceptions not 
applicable here--within the scope of the backfitting and issue finality 
regulations and forward fitting policy. Applicants are not, with 
certain exceptions, covered by either the Backfit Rule or any issue 
finality provisions under part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR). This is because neither the Backfit Rule nor the 
issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52--with certain exclusions 
discussed below--were intended to apply to every NRC action which 
substantially changes the expectations of current and future 
applicants.
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an 
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site 
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification 
rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit 
under 10 CFR part 50. The staff does not, at this time, intend to 
impose the positions represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a 
manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the issue finality 
of a part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a 
position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes 
backfitting or does not provide issue finality as described in the 
applicable issue finality provision, then the staff would need to 
address the Backfit Rule or the criteria for avoiding issue finality as 
described in the applicable issue finality provision.
    The staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions 
represented in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner

[[Page 9486]]

that would constitute forward fitting. If, in the future, the staff 
seeks to impose a position in the draft RG (if finalized) in a manner 
that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff would need to address 
the forward fitting criteria in Management Directive 8.4.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of February, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert G. Roche-Rivera,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-03237 Filed 2-18-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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