01-18325. Draft Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued for public comment a proposed revision of a regulatory guide in its Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed to describe and make available to the public such information as methods acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques used by the staff in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data needed by the staff in its review of applications for permits and licenses.

Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1110 is a proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.174, “An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis.” DG-1110 is being developed to provide guidance to licensees on methods acceptable to the NRC staff for assessing the nature and impact of licensing basis changes when the licensee chooses to support, or is requested by the NRC staff to support, such changes with risk information.

A proposed Revision 1 of Chapter 19, “Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: General Guidance,” of NUREG-0800, “Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants,” is being issued for public comment as a companion document. Chapter 19 of the Standard Review Plan will be used by the NRC staff for evaluating licensee submittals that use the guidance in Regulatory Guide 1.174 on risk-informed decisionmaking that uses probabilistic risk assessment.

The NRC staff is soliciting comments on these proposed revisions. In addition, the NRC staff is considering incorporating the impact of power uprates on success and failure criteria and the appropriateness of the evaluation models into this guidance. The staff is soliciting comments on this issue and will incorporate appropriate changes to these documents based on comments received.

This draft guide and draft standard review plan chapter have not received complete staff approval and do not represent an official NRC staff position.

Comments may be accompanied by relevant information or supporting data. Written comments may be submitted to the Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Copies of comments received may be examined at the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Comments will be most helpful if received by September 17, 2001.

You may also provide comments via the NRC's interactive rulemaking web site through the NRC home page (http://www.nrc.gov). This site provides the ability to upload comments as files (any format) if your web browser supports that function. For information about the interactive rulemaking web site, contact Ms. Carol Gallagher, [phone]; email [e-mail]. For information about the draft guide and the related standard review plan chapter, contact Ms. M.T. Drouin at [phone]; email [e-mail].

Although a time limit is given for comments on this draft guide, 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 this draft regulatory guide are available on the NRC's web site www.nrc.gov in the Reference Library under Regulatory Guides. Electronic copies are also available in NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at the same web site; DG-1110 is under ADAMS Accession Number ML011770102. Regulatory guides are available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555; telephone [phone] or [phone]; fax [phone]; email PDR@NRC>GOV. Requests for single copies of draft or final guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in specific divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, Attention: Reproduction and Distribution Services Section; or by email to [e-mail]; or by fax to [phone]. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them.

(5 U.S.C. 552(a))

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of July 2001.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Scott F. Newberry,

Director, Division of Risk Analysis and Applications, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.