82 FR 11483 - Clarification of Licensee Actions in Enforcement Guidance Memorandum EGM 15-002, Enforcement Discretion for Tornado-Generated Missile Protection Noncompliance, Revision 1

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 35 (February 23, 2017)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), Clarification of Licensee Actions in Receipt of Enforcement Discretion per Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 15-002, ``Enforcement Discretion for Tornado-Generated Missile Protection Noncompliance,'' Revision 1. The NRC staff is publishing this revised ISG for public comment. The revisions provide clarifying guidance to facilitate staff understanding of expectations for consistent oversight associated with implementing enforcement discretion for tornado missile protection noncompliance(s), as discussed in EGM 15-002, Revision 1.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 35 (Thursday, February 23, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11483-11484]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03527]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0052]


Clarification of Licensee Actions in Enforcement Guidance 
Memorandum EGM 15-002, Enforcement Discretion for Tornado-Generated 
Missile Protection Noncompliance, Revision 1

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), Clarification 
of Licensee Actions in Receipt of Enforcement Discretion per 
Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 15-002, ``Enforcement Discretion 
for Tornado-Generated Missile Protection Noncompliance,'' Revision 1. 
The NRC staff is publishing this revised ISG for public comment. The 
revisions provide clarifying guidance to facilitate staff understanding 
of expectations for consistent oversight associated with implementing 
enforcement discretion for tornado missile protection noncompliance(s), 
as discussed in EGM 15-002, Revision 1.

DATES: Submit comments by March 27, 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 before this 
date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0052. 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: James Hickey, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2180, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0052 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-2017-0052.
     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) it is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this 
document. The ISG, ``Clarification of Licensee Actions in Receipt of 
Enforcement Discretion Memorandum 15-002, ``Enforcement Discretion for 
Tornado-Generated Missile Protection Noncompliance,'' Revision 1, is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16342A940. The EGM 15-002, 
``Enforcement Discretion for Tornado-Generated Missile Protection 
Noncompliance,'' Revision 1 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML16355A286.
     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-2017-0052 in your comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that

[[Page 11484]]

you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. 
The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://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. Background

    The Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Division of Risk 
Analysis (DRA) completed a generic bounding risk analysis (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML14114A556) that concluded that the issues associated 
with the inoperability of a Structure, System, or Component due to a 
tornado-generated missile are likely to be of low risk significance, 
and do not require immediate plant shutdown. Based on the conclusions 
of the NRR/DRA analysis, the staff issued EGM 15-002, dated June 10, 
2015. In its implementation of EGM 15-002, the NRC staff found that 
additional refinements are needed to address reportability, enforcement 
of long standing design issues, and the duration of the enforcement 
discretion resulting from all the non-conforming conditions being 
assessed together. As a result, the staff issued EGM 15-002, Revision 
1, dated February 7, 2017.
    This revised ISG adds additional information for inspection and 
review staff to support implementation of the changes made in EGM 15-
002, Revision 1. This revised draft ISG provides an approach to 
extending the discretion period. The draft revisions to this ISG also 
revise provisions concerning reportability requirements under Sec.  
50.72 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
discusses enforcement discretion for long-term design non conformances, 
and reinforces the need for licensees to follow the corrective action 
program when dispositioning the impact of identified tornado missile 
non-conformances on operability. This revised ISG will expire with the 
expiration of EGM 15-002, Revision 1.

III. Proposed Action

    By this action, the NRC is requesting public comments on draft ISG-
16-001, Revision 1. This draft ISG provides an approach to extending 
the discretion period, revises reportability requirements under 10 CCFR 
50.72, discusses enforcement discretion for long-term design non 
conformances, and reinforces the need for licensees to follow their 
corrective action program when dispositioning the impact of identified 
tornado missile non-conformances on operability.

IV. Backfit Discussion

    Issuance of this ISG in final form would not constitute backfitting 
as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule). As discussed in the 
``Backfitting'' section of draft DSS-ISG- 2016-001, Revision 1, this 
ISG contains guidance for NRC staff for implementing EGM-15-002. This 
ISG does not constitute backfitting as defined in the Backfit Rule and 
is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 
CFR part 52, and the NRC staff did not prepare a backfit analysis. This 
is because this ISG requires no response by licensees, and concerns 
only NRC staff implementation of enforcement discretion pursuant to 
EGM-15-0002.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of February 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Taylor,
 Director, Division of Safety Systems, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-03527 Filed 2-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P