SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0052 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this action. You may obtain publicly available information related to this action, by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0052.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “Begin ADAMS Public Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this document.
• NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-2022-0052 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 posts all comment submissions at www.regulations.gov as well as enters 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. Additional Information

The NRC is issuing for trial use Revision 1 to Trial RG 1.247 in the NRC's “Regulatory Guide” series. This series was developed to describe methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.

This trial RG titled, “Acceptability of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Results for Non-Light Water Reactor Risk-Informed Activities,” is designated as Revision 1 to trial use RG 1.247 and is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML26132A266.

It describes one acceptable approach for determining whether the acceptability of the PRA used to support an application is sufficient to provide confidence in the results, such that the PRA can be used in regulatory decision-making for NLWRs for implementing the requirements in part 50, and 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), or future applicable regulations. In addition, Trial RG 1.247 Revision 1 is intended to be consistent with the NRC's PRA Policy Statement and reflects, and endorses, with staff exceptions and clarifications, national consensus PRA standards provided by standards development organizations and guidance provided by nuclear industry organizations.

On March 24, 2022, the NRC issued Trial RG 1.247 with a 2-year trial period that ended in May 2024 (87 FR 16770). Revision 1 to Trial RG 1.247 is being issued as a trial RG with minimal changes so that it can continue to be used by potential applicants while the staff addresses the remaining technical issues that are best resolved by continuing to test the guide against actual applications. The staff has determined that additional implementation experience would better inform draft and final staff positions. Such revisions would involve the development of a draft RG that would include lessons learned and public comments from use of this trial RG. The draft RG would also be available for public comment prior to issuance of a final RG. Therefore, the staff positions included in this trial RG could be different than the ones that would be included in the draft and final RG.

The staff previously issued a regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML21235A010) with the original issuance of Trial RG 1.247 that remains applicable to the issuance of Revision 1. The staff develops a regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing this new regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

This trial RG does not establish a staff position for purposes of 10 CFR 50.109, “Backfitting” or constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, “Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests” (ADAMS Accession No. ML18093B087). Any changes to this trial RG, such as withdrawal or addition of or modification to staff positions based on experience gained during the trial use period, prior to issuing a final RG will not be considered to be backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109. This will ensure that the lessons learned from the regulatory trial use of the pilot applications of this RG are adequately addressed and that this guidance is sufficient to enhance regulatory stability in the review and approval of risk-informed applications for non-light water reactors.

IV. Congressional Review Act

This trial RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. ( printed page 53905) 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.

V. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs. Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​reg-guides/​contactus.html. Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to the “Regulatory Guide” series.

VI. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that this trial RG is not a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.

Authority:42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.

91 FR 53903