80 FR 27191 - Evaluation of a Proposed Risk Management Regulatory Framework

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 91 (May 12, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public comment on a draft document entitled, ``NRC Staff White Paper on Options for Responding to the June 14, 2012 Chairman's Tasking Memorandum on `Evaluating Options Proposed for a More Holistic Risk- Informed, Performance-Based Regulatory Approach' '' (hereinafter referred to as NRC Staff White Paper). The draft NRC Staff White Paper discusses three items that the NRC staff expects to present to the Commission for its consideration: Options for enhancing the risk management approach used to ensure nuclear power reactor safety; re- evaluations of two ``improvement activities'' from Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 1 that the Commission deferred; and consideration of an over-arching, agencywide policy statement on using the risk management approach to ensure safety and security.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 91 (Tuesday, May 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27191-27193]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11454]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2013-0254]


Evaluation of a Proposed Risk Management Regulatory Framework

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft white paper; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on a draft document entitled, ``NRC Staff White Paper on 
Options for Responding to the June 14, 2012 Chairman's Tasking 
Memorandum on `Evaluating Options Proposed for a More Holistic Risk-
Informed, Performance-Based Regulatory Approach' '' (hereinafter 
referred to as NRC Staff White Paper). The draft NRC Staff White Paper 
discusses three items that the NRC staff expects to present to the 
Commission for its consideration: Options for enhancing the risk 
management approach used to ensure nuclear power reactor safety; re-
evaluations of two ``improvement activities'' from Fukushima Near-Term 
Task Force Recommendation 1 that the Commission deferred; and 
consideration of an over-arching, agencywide policy statement on using 
the risk management approach to ensure safety and security.

DATES: Submit comments by June 11, 2015. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff 
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date. Although the NRC staff will consider all timely comments, 
the NRC does not intend to prepare detailed comment responses.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0254. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. 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: Richard F. Dudley, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1116; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0254 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 http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0254.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://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 [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 the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
     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-2013-0254 in the subject line of 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 http://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.

[[Page 27192]]

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. Background

    In early 2011, the NRC formed a Risk Management Task Force (RMTF) 
to evaluate how the agency should be regulating 10 to 15 years in the 
future. More specifically, the RMTF was chartered ``to develop a 
strategic vision and options for adopting a more comprehensive and 
holistic risk-informed, performance-based regulatory approach for 
reactors, materials, waste, fuel cycle, and transportation that would 
continue to ensure the safe and secure use of nuclear material.'' The 
task force report, NUREG-2150, ``A Proposed Risk Management Regulatory 
Framework'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML12109A277), was published in April 
2012. The report provides findings and recommendations in two 
categories. The first category addresses strategic, agencywide issues, 
recommending that ``[t]he NRC should formally adopt the proposed Risk 
Management Regulatory Framework through a Commission Policy 
Statement.'' The second category addresses what changes could be made 
in specific regulatory program areas (power reactors, nuclear 
materials, etc.) in the next several years to support implementation of 
the risk management regulatory framework.
    On June 14, 2012, the NRC Chairman issued a tasking memorandum, 
``Evaluating Options Proposed for a More Holistic Risk-Informed, 
Performance-Based Regulatory Approach'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML121660102), directing the NRC staff to ``. . . review NUREG-2150 and 
provide a paper to the Commission that would identify options and make 
recommendations, including the potential development of a Commission 
policy statement.''
    In response to this direction, the NRC staff prepared a draft NRC 
Staff White Paper (ADAMS Accession No. ML15107A402) that discusses 
three items it expects to present to the Commission for its 
consideration. The following discussion briefly describes these three 
items.
    Item 1: Three options for enhancing the risk management approach 
used to ensure nuclear power reactor safety.
    The NRC staff formed a working group to review NUREG-2150 and make 
recommendations to the Commission regarding possible implementation of 
an agencywide Risk Management Regulatory Framework (RMRF). The staff's 
evaluation determined that the existing Policy Statements on ``Safety 
Goals for the Operation of Nuclear Power Plants'' (51 FR 30028; August 
21, 1986), and ``Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Methods in 
Nuclear Regulatory Activities'' (60 FR 42622; August 16, 1995), in 
concert with increasing experience with risk-informed regulation and 
integrated risk-informed decision making processes, have already 
established a de-facto RMRF for the nuclear power reactor safety 
program area. Furthermore, the existing risk-informed regulatory 
guidance, risk tools, and risk information provide a sufficient 
foundation to allow the NRC staff to proceed with recommending specific 
risk management implementation options for nuclear power reactor 
safety. Therefore, to obtain Commission direction on whether the 
current risk-informed regulatory approach for nuclear power reactor 
safety should be enhanced, the NRC staff intends to provide the 
Commission with an RMRF paper that includes three specific options for 
increasing the use of risk information. These options are discussed in 
Section I of the NRC Staff White Paper. The NRC staff is seeking public 
comments on these options for enhancing the risk management approach 
for nuclear power reactor safety.
    Item 2: Re-evaluations of two ``improvement activities'' from 
Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 1 that the Commission 
deferred.
    On March 11, 2011, the Great Tohoku Earthquake off the coast of 
Japan caused a series of events that led to core damage at three of the 
six nuclear power reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site. The NRC 
established a senior-level agency task force, referred to as the Near 
Term Task Force (NTTF), to conduct a review of the NRC's processes and 
regulations to determine whether the agency should make additional 
improvements to its regulatory system and to make recommendations to 
the Commission for its policy direction. The NTTF issued its report on 
July 12, 2011 (ADAMS Accession No. ML111861807), as an enclosure to 
Commission Paper, SECY-11-0093, ``Near-Term Report and Recommendations 
for Agency Actions Following the Events in Japan'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML11186A959). The NTTF developed 12 overarching recommendations for 
nuclear power reactors. Recommendation 1 was to establish a ``logical, 
systematic, and coherent regulatory framework for adequate protection 
that appropriately balances defense-in-depth and risk considerations.'' 
The June 14, 2012, tasking memorandum on the RMTF report also directed 
the NRC staff to consider, when developing options for the disposition 
of NTTF Recommendation 1, the regulatory framework recommendations for 
nuclear power reactors in the RMTF report. The NRC staff provided its 
evaluation of NTTF Recommendation 1 and the RMTF report recommendations 
related to nuclear power reactors on December 6, 2013, in SECY-13-0132, 
``U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff Recommendation for the 
Disposition of Recommendation 1 of the Near-Term Task Force Report'' 
(ADAMS Package Accession No. ML13277A413). In its staff requirements 
memorandum (SRM) for SECY-13-0132 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14139A104), 
the Commission closed NTTF Recommendation 1. The Commission directed 
the NRC staff to reevaluate the objectives of the staff's proposed 
Improvement Activity 1 (establish new design-basis extension category) 
and Improvement Activity 2 (establish Commission expectations for 
defense-in-depth) ``in the context of the Commission direction on a 
long-term Risk Management Regulatory Framework (RMRF). . . .'' The NRC 
staff believes that these two improvement activities are key elements 
involved in evaluating an RMRF for nuclear power reactors as described 
in NUREG-2150. Therefore, the NRC staff has reevaluated these 
improvement activities and provides recommendations for how Improvement 
Activities 1 and 2 could be addressed under each of the three RMRF 
nuclear power reactor implementation options discussed in Item 1. These 
proposed activities are discussed in Section II of the draft NRC Staff 
White Paper. The NRC staff is seeking public comments on these proposed 
regulatory framework improvement activities for nuclear power reactor 
safety.
    Item 3: Consideration of an over-arching, agencywide policy 
statement on using the risk management approach to ensure safety and 
security.
    Early in its review of NUREG-2150, the NRC staff determined that it 
would provide an example of a conceptual RMRF policy statement for 
Commission consideration. The RMRF working group drafted a conceptual 
example of a policy statement and made it publicly available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML13273A517. The NRC staff then published a notice 
in the Federal Register on November 25, 2013 (78 FR 70354), requesting 
public comments on the document (ADAMS Accession No.

[[Page 27193]]

ML13273A493). The NRC staff held public meetings on June 5, 2013 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML13197A216), and January 30, 2014 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML14064A550). Public comments were accepted and are available at the 
Federal rulemaking Web site (www.regulations.gov) under Docket ID NRC-
2013-0254. The public comments that were received on the draft 
conceptual agencywide policy statement varied greatly. The NRC staff's 
overall assessment was that the comments indicated a need to revise the 
staff's approach. The NRC staff is now seeking public comments on a 
revised policy statement approach as described in Section III of the 
draft NRC Staff White Paper.

III. Opportunity for Public Comment

    The NRC staff notes that the draft NRC Staff White Paper represents 
work in progress; the information may be modified before the NRC staff 
provides its recommendation to the Commission for a decision, as a 
result of internal NRC review and/or consideration of public comments 
received. The NRC staff will review and consider all timely comments 
received on the draft NRC Staff White Paper, but the staff does not 
intend to provide detailed comment responses for all comments received. 
Should the Commission proceed with these initiatives, the public will 
be afforded opportunity to provide formal comment to the NRC through 
the rulemaking or policy statement development process.
    Persons interested in monitoring this activity can do so by 
searching for Docket ID NRC-2013-0254 on the Federal Rulemaking Web 
site at https://www.regulations.gov. The Federal Rulemaking Web site 
allows you to receive alerts when changes or additions occur in a 
docket folder. To subscribe: (1) Navigate to the docket folder (NRC-
2013-0254); (2) click the ``Email Alert'' link; and (3) enter your 
email address and select how frequently you would like to receive 
emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of May, 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lawrence E. Kokajko,
Director, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2015-11454 Filed 5-11-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P