2018-20826. Proposed Revisions to Standard Review Plan Section 14.3.3, Piping Systems and Components-Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Standard review plan-draft section revision; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-noticing the solicitation for public comment published in the Federal Register on September 11, 2017, on NUREG-0800, “Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition,” SRP Section 14.3.3, “Piping Systems and Components—Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria.”

DATES:

Comments must be filed no later than November 26, 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-2017-0187. Address questions about docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual 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:

Mark D. Notich, Office of New Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0187 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-2017-0187.
• 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 “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 draft revision and current revision to NUREG-0800, Section 14.3.3, “Piping Systems and Components—Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria,” is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18088A069 and ML070660622. The redline-strikeout version comparing the draft revision 1 and the current version of revision 0 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18092A046.
• 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-2017-0187 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.

II. Further Information

The NRC seeks public comment on the proposed SRP-draft section revision of Section 14.3.3, “Piping Systems and Components—Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria.” This re-notice includes revisions initiated by the staff to address editorial issues and provide further clarification on particular issues. This revision supersedes the previous revision issued on September 11, 2017, and the staff will not be addressing previously submitted comments. Following NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends to finalize SRP Section 14.3.3, Revision 1 in ADAMS and post it on the NRC's public website at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​nuregs/​staff/​sr0800/​. The SRP is guidance for the NRC staff. The SRP is not a substitute for the NRC regulations, and compliance with the SRP is not required.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

Issuance of this draft SRP, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule), or otherwise be inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. The staff's position is based upon the following considerations.

1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, do not constitute backfitting, inasmuch as the SRP is guidance directed to the NRC staff with respect to its regulatory responsibilities.

The SRP provides interim guidance to the staff on how to review an application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing. Changes in staff guidance intended for use by only the staff are not matters that constitute backfitting as that term is defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1) or involve the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR part 52.

2. Backfitting and issue finality—with certain exceptions discussed below—do not apply to current or future applicants.

Applicants and potential applicants are not, with certain exceptions, the subject of either the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52. This is because neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52 were intended to apply to every NRC action which substantially changes the expectations of current and future applicants.

The exceptions to this general principle are applicable whenever a 10 CFR part 50 operating license applicant references a construction permit or a 10 CFR part 52 combined license applicant references a license (e.g., an early site permit) and/or an NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification rule) for which specified issue finality provisions apply.

The NRC staff does not currently intend to impose the positions represented in the draft SRP section in a manner that constitutes backfitting or is inconsistent with any issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52. If in the future the NRC staff seeks to impose a position stated in this draft SRP section in a manner that would constitute backfitting or be inconsistent with these issue finality provisions, the NRC staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule or address the regulatory criteria for set forth in the applicable issue finality provision, as applicable, that would allow the staff to impose the position.

3. The staff has no intention to impose the draft SRP positions on existing nuclear power plant licenses either now or in the future (absent a voluntary request for a change from the licensee, holder of a regulatory approval, or a design certification applicant).

The NRC staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions described in this draft SRP section to existing (already issued) licenses (e.g., operating licenses and combined licenses) and regulatory approvals. Hence, this draft SRP guidance—even if considered guidance subject to the Backfit rule or the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52—need not be evaluated as if it were a backfit or as being inconsistent with these issue finality provisions. If, in the future, the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in this draft SRP section on holders of already issued licenses in a manner that would constitute backfitting or does not provide issue finality as described in the applicable issue finality provision, then the staff must make the showing as set forth in the Backfit Rule or address the criteria set forth in the applicable issue finality provision, as applicable, that would allow the staff to impose the position.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of September 2018.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Jennivine K. Rankin,

Acting Chief, Licensing Branch 3, Division of Licensing, Siting, and Environmental Analysis, Office of New Reactors.