E8-30490. Draft Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of issuance and availability of Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1190.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Khoi Nguyen, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: [phone] or e-mail [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public comment a draft regulatory guide in the agency's “Regulatory Guide” series. This series was developed to describe and make available to the public such information as 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 problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.

The draft regulatory guide (DG), entitled, “Manual Initiation of Protective Actions,” is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1190, which should be mentioned in all related correspondence. This guide describes a method that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable for use in complying with the NRC's regulations with respect to the means for manual initiation of protective actions provided by otherwise automatically initiated safety systems. To meet these objectives, the means for manual initiation of protective actions must serve a safety-related function to complete all required protective actions for the safety system.

The regulatory framework that the NRC has established for nuclear power plants consists of a number of regulations and supporting guidelines applicable to manual initiation of protective actions, including, but not limited to, General Design Criterion (GDC) 1, “Quality Standards and Records,” GDC 13, “Instrumentation and Control,” GDC 21, “Protection System Reliability and Testability,” and GDC 22, “Protection System Independence,” as set forth in Appendix A, “General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,” to Title 10, Part 50, “Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,” of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 50). GDC 13 requires that appropriate controls shall be provided to maintain variables and systems that can affect the fission process, the integrity of the reactor core, the reactor coolant pressure boundary, and the containment and its associated systems within prescribed operating ranges. GDC 21 requires that the protection system shall be designed for high functional reliability. GDC 22 requires that design techniques, such as functional diversity or diversity in component design and principles of operation, shall be used to the extent practical to prevent loss of the protection function.

II. Further Information

The NRC staff is soliciting comments on DG-1190. Comments may be accompanied by relevant information or supporting data, and should mention DG-1190 in the subject line. Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be made available to the public in their entirety through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).

Personal information will not be removed from your comments. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

1. Mail comments to: Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

2. E-mail comments to: [e-mail].

3. Fax comments to: Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at [phone].

Requests for technical information about DG-1190 may be directed to Khoi Nguyen at [phone] or e-mail to [e-mail].

Comments would be most helpful if received by February 20, 2009. Comments received after that 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.

Electronic copies of DG-1190 are available through the NRC's public Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides in the “Regulatory Guides” collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​. Electronic copies are also available in ADAMS (http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html), under Accession No. ML080720443.

In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at [phone] or [phone], by fax at [phone], and by e-mail to [e-mail].

Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16 day of December, 2008.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Andrea D. Valentin,

Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.