Rules and Regulations. Regulatory guide; issuance

Agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Action: Regulatory guide; issuance
Citation: FR Doc. 2018-07214 · NRC-2017-0016

Summary

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 0 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.232, “Guidance for Developing Principal Design Criteria for Non-Light Water Reactors.” This new RG provides designers, applicants, and licensees of non-light water nuclear reactors 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

Revision 0 to RG 1.232 is available on April 9, 2018.

Supplementary Information

I. Discussion The NRC is issuing a new guide 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 agency's regulations, techniques that the NRC staff uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses. II. Additional Information The NRC published a notice of the availability of DG-1330 in the Federal Register on February 3, 2017, Volume 82, No. 22, page 9246, for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment period closed on April 4, 2017. DG-1330 and public comments on DG-1330, along with the staff responses to the public comments are available under ADAMS Accession Nos. ML16301A307 and ML17325A616, respectively. III. Congressional Review Act This RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 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. IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality RG 1.232 provides guidance for establishing the PDC for non-light water reactor nuclear power plants. The purpose of RG 1.232 is to provide regulatory guidance to assist the NRC staff and future applicants. RGs are not regulatory requirements. Applications for a construction permit, design certification, combined license, standard design approval, or manufacturing license are required by section 50.34(a)(3) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 10 CFR 52.47(a)(3)(i), 10 CFR 52.79(a)(4)(i), 10 CFR 52.137(a)(3)(i), and 10 CFR 52.157(a), respectively, to include the PDC for the facility in their applications. The non-light water reactor design criteria in RG 1.232 provides guidance intended to support the development of the PDC. Issuance of this RG does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (referred to as the Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. As discussed in the “Implementation” section of this RG, the NRC has no current intention to impose this guidance on any current licensees. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of April 2018. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Thomas H. Boyce, Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 2018-07214 Filed 4-6-18; 8:45 am]