82 FR 9246 - Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 22 (February 3, 2017)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1330, ``Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors.'' This DG is a proposed new regulatory guide (RG) to provide designers, applicants, and licensees of non-light water cooled nuclear reactors (non-LWR) guidance for developing principal design criteria (PDC) for a proposed facility. The PDC establish the necessary design, fabrication, construction, testing, and performance requirements for structures, systems, and components important to safety; that is, structures, systems, and components that provide reasonable assurance that the facility can be operated without undue risk to the health and safety of the public.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9246-9247]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02298]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0016]


Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light 
Water Reactors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1330, ``Guidance for 
Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors.'' 
This DG is a proposed new regulatory guide (RG) to provide designers, 
applicants, and licensees of non-light water cooled nuclear reactors 
(non-LWR) guidance for developing principal design criteria (PDC) for a 
proposed facility. The PDC establish the necessary design, fabrication, 
construction, testing, and performance requirements for structures, 
systems, and components important to safety; that is, structures, 
systems, and components that provide reasonable assurance that the 
facility can be operated without undue risk to the health and safety of 
the public.

DATES: Submit comments by April 4, 2017. 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, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

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-2017-0016. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals 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: Jan Mazza, Office of New Reactors, 
telephone: 301-415-0498, email: [email protected], or Mark Orr, Office 
of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-6003, email:

[[Page 9247]]

[email protected]. Both are staff of the 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-2017-0016 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-2017-0016.
     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].
     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-2017-0016 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 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. 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.
    The DG, entitled ``Guidance for Developing Principal Design 
Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors,'' is a proposed new RG. The 
proposed new RG is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1330. 
The proposed new RG describes the NRC's proposed guidance on how the 
general design criteria (GDC) in Appendix A, ``General Design Criteria 
for Nuclear Power Plants,'' of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities'' (10 CFR part 50) apply to non-LWR designs. 
This guidance may be used by non-LWR reactor designers, applicants, and 
licensees to develop PDC for non-LWR designs, as required by 10 CFR 
part 50 for an application for a construction permit, and 10 CFR part 
52 for an application for a design certification, combined license, 
standard design approval, or manufacturing license. The DG also 
describes the NRC's proposed guidance for modifying and supplementing 
the GDC to develop PDC that address two specific non-LWR design 
concepts: sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), and modular high 
temperature gas-cooled reactors (mHTGRs).
    The advanced reactor design criteria (ARDC) are intended to be 
technology-neutral and, therefore, could apply to any type of non-LWR 
design. In July 2013, the NRC and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 
established a joint initiative to review and address the existing GDC, 
which may not directly apply to non-LWR power plant designs. During the 
review it was determined that the safety objective for some of the 
current GDC were not applicable to SFR and mHTGR technologies, so 
entirely new design criteria were developed to address their unique 
design features.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    The purpose of DG-1330 is to provide regulatory guidance to assist 
future applicants in developing PDC for non-LWR designs. The NRC 
approves the PDC, which form part of the licensing basis for the 
facility. The DG, if finalized, would not constitute regulatory 
requirements. For this reason, issuance of DG-1330, if finalized, would 
not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR 50.109 (the ``Backfit Rule''). 
Future applicants may choose to follow the guidance or utilize another 
approach in developing principle design criteria for their facilities. 
Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain exceptions, 
protected by either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions 
under 10 CFR part 52. 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. Therefore, 
the positions in any regulatory guide, if imposed on applicants under 
10 CFR 50.34(a)(3), 52.47(a)(3), 52.79(a)(4), 52.137(a)(3), or 
52.157(a), would not represent backfitting or a violation of issue 
finality (except as discussed below).
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever a 
combined license applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (i.e., 
an early site permit or a manufacturing license) and/or 10 CFR part 52 
regulatory approval (i.e., a design certification rule or design 
approval). There are no current non-LWR applicants or holders of 
licenses or design certifications for non-LWR designs. Therefore, 
issuance of DG-1330 in final form would not constitute a violation of 
issue finality.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of January, 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Edward O'Donnell,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2017-02298 Filed 2-2-17; 8:45 am]
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