2022-07654. Qualification of Class 1E Connection Assemblies for Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

ACTION:

Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1400, “Qualification of Class 1E Connection Assemblies for Production and Utilization Facilities.” This DG is the proposed Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.156. Methods described in RG 1.156 are acceptable to the NRC staff pertaining to the environmental qualification of connectors, terminations, and environmental seals in combination with cables or wires as assemblies for service in nuclear power plants to ensure that the connection assemblies can perform their safety functions.

DATES:

Submit comments by May 11, 2022. 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.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0083. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail] . For technical questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.

• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.

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:

James Steckel, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail] ; and Sheila Ray, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail] . Both are staff members 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-2022-0083 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0083.

• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html . To begin the search, 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 [e-mail] . DG-1400, “Qualification of Class 1E Connection Assemblies for Production and Utilization Facilities,” is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML21288A562. The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis for DG-1400 under ADAMS Accession No. ML21288A561.

• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to [e-mail] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( https://www.regulations.gov ). Please include Docket ID NRC-2022-0083 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 https://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 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.

The DG, entitled “Qualification of Class 1E Connection Assemblies for Production and Utilization Facilities,” is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1400.

Production and utilization facilities licensed under part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), “Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities” and 10 CFR part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants” are required to demonstrate and document for Class 1E electrical connection assemblies and environmental seals in combination with cables or wires as assemblies for the ability of this equipment to perform safety functions under applicable service conditions, including design-basis events. Proposed Revision 2 provides updated information on state-of-the-art environmental qualification methodologies for production and utilization facilities.

The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML21288A561). The staff developed a regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

Issuance of DG-1400, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as that term is defined in 10 CFR 50.109, “Backfitting,” and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, “Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests”; would not constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4; and would not affect issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.” As explained in DG-1400, applicants and licensees are not required to comply with the positions set forth in DG-1400.

IV. 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 https://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.

Dated: April 5, 2022.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Meraj Rahimi,

Chief, Regulatory Guide and Projects Management Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.