Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Inservice Testing, 34787 [2021-13883]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 34787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13883]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2021-0047]


Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Inservice Testing

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.175, ``Plant-Specific, Risk-
Informed Decisionmaking: Inservice Testing.'' This RG has been revised 
to incorporate additional information since Revision 0 was issued, 
particularly information to be consistent with the terminology and 
defense-in-depth philosophy provided in RG 1.174, ``An Approach for 
Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on 
Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis,'' as well as to endorse 
a standard by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and 
Pressure Vessel Code for Operations and Maintenance.

DATES: Revision 1 to RG 1.175 is available on June 30, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0047 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0047. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. 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 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 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.
     Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of public documents, is currently closed. You may submit your request 
to the PDR via email at [email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 
301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Revision 1 to RG 1.175 and the regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML21140A055 and ML19240B374, respectively.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Zeechung 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. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing a revision 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 1 of RG 1.175 was issued with a temporary identification 
of Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1286. It addresses new information 
identified since the previous revision of this guide was issued.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1286 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML19240B371), in the Federal Register on April 6, 2021 
(86 FR 17860), for a 30-day public comment period. The public comment 
period closed on May 6, 2021. The NRC has not received any comments on 
DG-1286.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG 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, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Revision 1 of RG 1.175 describes methods acceptable to the NRC 
staff for developing risk-informed inservice testing and supplements 
the guidance provided in RG 1.174. Issuance of this RG in final form 
would not constitute backfitting or forward fitting or affect issue 
finality as further discussed below.
    Issuance of RG 1.175, would not constitute backfitting as defined 
in Section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR), ``Backfitting,'' and as described in NRC Management Directive 
(MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, 
and Information Requests''; constitute forward fitting as that term is 
defined and described in MD 8.4; or affect the issue finality of any 
approval issued under 10 CFR part 52. As explained in RG 1.175, 
applicants and licensees would not be required to comply with the 
positions set forth in RG 1.175.

    Dated: June 24, 2021.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Project Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2021-13883 Filed 6-29-21; 8:45 am]
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