83 FR 10407 - Clarification of the Requirements for Reactor Pressure Vessel Upper Head Bare Metal Visual Examinations

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 47 (March 9, 2018)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS). The draft RIS informs all addressees of a clarification of the requirements for the bare metal visual examination. The draft RIS is relevant to all holders and applicants for a pressurized-water power reactor (PWR) operating license or construction permit, except those that have certified that they have permanently ceased operations and have permanently removed all fuel from the reactor vessel.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 47 (Friday, March 9, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 10407]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-04350]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 47 / Friday, March 9, 2018 / Proposed 
Rules

[[Page 10407]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2018-0038]


Clarification of the Requirements for Reactor Pressure Vessel 
Upper Head Bare Metal Visual Examinations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS). The draft RIS 
informs all addressees of a clarification of the requirements for the 
bare metal visual examination. The draft RIS is relevant to all holders 
and applicants for a pressurized-water power reactor (PWR) operating 
license or construction permit, except those that have certified that 
they have permanently ceased operations and have permanently removed 
all fuel from the reactor vessel.

DATES: Submit comments by May 8, 2018. 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 Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0038. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, 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: Stephen Cumblidge, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2823, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0038 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 Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0038.
     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 
Draft Regulatory Issue Summary 2018-XX, ``Clarification of the 
Requirements for Reactor Pressure Vessel Upper Head Bare Metal Visual 
Examinations,'' is available in ADAMS under Accession ML17228A409.
     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-2018-0038 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. Background

    The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad 
range of matters. This may include communicating and clarifying NRC 
technical or policy positions on regulatory matters that have not been 
communicated to or are not broadly understood by the nuclear industry. 
This draft RIS informs addressees of a clarification of the 
requirements for the bare metal visual examination, which can be either 
the visual examination (VE) of the bare metal of the upper head or a 
visual testing (VT)-2 examination under the insulation to meet the 
requirements of notes 1 and 4 in Table 1 in the American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Case N-729-4, ``Alternative 
Examination Requirements for PWR Reactor Vessel Upper Heads With 
Nozzles Having Pressure-Retaining Partial-Penetration Welds Section XI, 
Division 1.''

Proposed Action

    The NRC is requesting public comments on the draft RIS. The NRC 
staff will make a final determination regarding issuance of the RIS 
after it considers any public comments received in response to this 
request.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of February 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tanya M. Mensah,
Senior Project Manager, ROP and Generic Communications Branch, Division 
of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-04350 Filed 3-8-18; 8:45 am]
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