05-19445. Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a revision to an existing guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed to describe and make available to the public such information as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.

Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.193, “ASME Code Cases Not Approved for Use,” lists the Code Cases that the NRC has determined are not acceptable for generic use as specified in Section III, “Rules for Construction of Nuclear Power Plant Components,” and Section XI, “Rules for Inservice Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components,” of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code promulgated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). (In so doing, this guide complements Revision 33 of Regulatory Guide 1.84, “Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III,” and Revision 14 of Regulatory Guide 1.147, “Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1,” which list the Code Cases that the NRC has determined to be acceptable alternatives to applicable provisions of Section III and Section XI, respectively.)

Licensees may request NRC approval to implement one or more of the Code Cases listed in Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.193, as provided in 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3), which permits the use of alternatives to the Code requirements referenced in 10 CFR 50.55a, provided that the proposed alternatives result in an acceptable level of quality and safety. To do so, a licensee must submit a plant-specific request that addresses the NRC's concern about the given Code Case.

On August 3, 2004, the NRC staff published a draft of this guide as Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1126. Following the closure of the public comment period on September 2, 2004, the staff considered all stakeholder comments in the course of preparing Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.193.

The NRC staff encourages and welcomes comments and suggestions in connection with improvements to published regulatory guides, as well as items for inclusion in regulatory guides that are currently being developed. You may submit comments by any of the following methods.

Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.

Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at [phone].

Requests for technical information about Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.193 may be directed to Wallace E. Norris, at [phone] or [e-mail].

Regulatory guides are available for inspection or downloading through the NRC's public Web site in the Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​. Electronic copies of Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 1.193 are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html,, under Accession #ML052140501. Note, however, that the NRC has temporarily suspended public access to ADAMS so that the agency can complete security reviews of publicly available documents and remove potentially sensitive information. Please check the NRC's Web site for updates concerning the resumption of public access to ADAMS.

In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at [phone] or [phone], by fax at [phone], and by e-mail to [e-mail]. 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 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and Distribution Services Section; by e-mail 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 15th day of August, 2005.

For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Carl J. Paperiello,

Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.