2023-09390. Draft Regulatory Guide: Guidelines for Lightning Protection for Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

ACTION:

Draft guide; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG–1409, “Guidelines for Lightning Protection for Production and Utilization Facilities.” This DG is the proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.204, “Guidelines for Lightning Protection of Nuclear Power Plants.” DG–1409 describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to meet regulatory requirements for adequate lightning protection of safety-related systems, structures, and components (SSCs). This DG endorses, with clarifications, the methods described in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std.) 665–1995, “IEEE Standard for Generating Station Grounding”; IEEE Std. 666–2007, “IEEE Design Guide for Electrical Power Service Systems for Generating Stations”; IEEE Std. 1050–2004, “IEEE Guide for Instrumentation and Control Equipment Grounding in Generating Stations”; and IEEE Std. C62.23–2017, “IEEE Application Guide for Surge Protection of Electric Generating Plants.”

DATES:

Submit comments by June 2, 2023. 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–2023–0089. 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, telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]; and Roy Hardin, telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research at 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–2023–0089, 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–2023–0089.

• 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–1409, “Guidelines for Lightning Protection for Production and Utilization Facilities,” is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML22208A232.

• 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 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 ( https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC–2023–0089 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 “Guidelines for Lightning Protection for Production and Utilization Facilities,” is temporarily identified by its task number, DG–1409.

DG–1409 is proposed Revision 1 of RG 1.204. This proposed revision endorses, with clarifications, the methods described in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std.) 665–1995, “IEEE Standard for Generating Station Grounding”; IEEE Std. 666–2007, “IEEE Design Guide for Electrical Power Service Systems for Generating Stations”; IEEE Std. 1050–2004, “IEEE Guide for Instrumentation and Control Equipment Grounding in Generating Stations”; and IEEE Std. C62.23–2017, “IEEE Application Guide for Surge Protection of Electric Generating Plants” as acceptable methods for demonstrating compliance with the applicable NRC regulations for adequate lightning protection of safety-related systems, structures, and components.

The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML22208A234). The staff developed a regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.

As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671), this document is being published in the “Proposed Rules” section of the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 CFR chapter I.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

Issuance of DG–1409, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as that term is defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), “Backfitting,” and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, “Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests”; affect issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, “Licenses, Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants”; or constitute forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4, because, as explained in this DG, applicants and licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth in this DG.

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 28, 2023.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Meraj Rahimi,

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