Nuclear Regulatory Commission May 6, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to certify the Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR) standard plant design. The proposed ESBWR design certification rule was published for public comment on March 24, 2011. The NRC is publishing this supplemental proposed rule to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on two matters. The first is proposed changes related to the analysis methodology supporting the ESBWR steam dryer design that were made after the close of the public comment period for the proposed ESBWR design certification rule. The second is the NRC's proposed clarification of its intent to treat 50 referenced documents within Revision 10 of the ESBWR design control document (DCD) as requirements and matters resolved in subsequent licensing and enforcement actions for plants referencing the ESBWR design certification. In addition, the supplemental proposed rule clarifies that the NRC intends to obtain approval for incorporation by reference from the Director of the Office of the Federal Register for the generic DCD and 20 publicly-available documents that are referenced in the DCD that are intended by the NRC to be requirements. The supplemental proposed rule does not offer an opportunity for public comment on this clarification of the NRC's intent. Finally, the supplemental proposed rule updates the version of the DCD (from Revision 9 to Revision 10) which the NRC proposes to obtain approval for incorporation by reference from the Office of the Federal Register. Revision 10 of the DCD was needed to address the previously described matters. The applicant for certification of the ESBWR design is GE- Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH).