2018-14121. Draft Letter to the Nuclear Energy Institute Regarding the Clarification of Regulatory Paths for Lead Test Assemblies

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of availability; opportunity for comment; reopening of comment period.

SUMMARY:

On June 7, 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) solicited comments on a draft letter to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) clarifying the regulatory paths for the use of lead test assemblies (LTAs). The public comment period closed on June 27, 2018. The NRC has decided to reopen the public comment period to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES:

The comment period for the document published on June 7, 2018 (83 FR 26503), has been reopened. Comments should be filed no later than July 23, 2018. Comments received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 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:

• Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0109. Address questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; 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: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

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:

Jennifer Whitman, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail], or Kimberly Green, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail]. Both are staff 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-2018-0109 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 http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0109.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “ADAMS Public Documents” and then 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]. 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: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0109 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 http://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.

I. Discussion

On June 7, 2018, the NRC solicited comments on a draft letter to NEI clarifying the regulatory paths for the use of LTAs. The purpose of the draft letter would finalize the NRC staff's views on the preliminary positions regarding LTAs provided in a letter to NEI dated June 29, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17150A443). The NRC does not currently have consolidated regulatory guidance regarding the use of LTAs. Therefore, the NRC has drafted this letter to clarify its positions regarding the use of LTAs. These positions would affect light-water reactor licensees who wish to irradiate LTAs. The public comment period closed on June 27, 2018. The NRC has decided to reopen the public comment period on this document until July 23, 2018, to allow more time for members of the public to submit their comments.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of June 2018.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Joseph G. Giitter,

Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.