2013-28069. Aging Management of Internal Surfaces, Fire Water Systems, Atmospheric Storage Tanks, and Corrosion Under Insulation

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Interim staff guidance; issuance.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing the final License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR-ISG-2012-02, “Aging Management of Internal Surfaces, Fire Water Systems, Atmospheric Storage Tanks, and Corrosion Under Insulation.” This LR-ISG provides changes to NRC staff-recommended aging management programs (AMPs), aging management review (AMR) items, and definitions in NUREG-1801, Revision 2, “Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report,” and the NRC staff's AMP Final Safety Analysis Report Supplement program descriptions, acceptance criteria for AMR items requiring further review, review procedure for AMR items requiring further review, and AMR items contained in NUREG-1800, Revision 2, “Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants” (SRP-LR). These changes address new recommendations related to internal surface aging effects, fire water systems, atmospheric storage tanks, and corrosion under insulation.

ADDRESSES:

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0068 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access publicly-available information related to this document using any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0068. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library 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 in this document (if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. The NRC published Revision 2 of the SRP-LR and the GALL Report in December 2010, and they are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML103490041 and ML103490036, respectively.
• 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.
• NRC's Interim Staff Guidance Web site: LR-ISG documents are also available online under the “License Renewal” heading at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​isg/​.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. William Holston, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The NRC issues LR-ISGs to communicate insights and lessons learned and to address emergent issues not covered in license renewal guidance documents, such as the GALL Report and SRP-LR. In this way, the NRC staff and stakeholders may use the guidance in an LR-ISG document before it is incorporated into a formal license renewal guidance document revision. The NRC staff issues LR-ISGs in accordance with the LR-ISG Process, Revision 2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML100920158), for which a notice of availability was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2010 (75 FR 35510).

The NRC staff has developed LR-ISG-2012-02 to address: (a) Recurring internal corrosion, (b) a representative minimum sample size for periodic inspections in the GALL Report AMP XI.M38, “Inspection of Internal Surfaces in Miscellaneous Piping and Ducting Components,” (c) flow blockage of water-based fire protection system piping, (d) revisions to the scope and inspection recommendations of the GALL Report AMP XI.M29, “Aboveground Metallic Tanks,” (e) corrosion under insulation, (f) external volumetric examination of internal piping surfaces of underground piping, (g) specific guidance for use of the pressurization option for inspecting elastomers in the GALL Report AMP XI.M38, and (h) key miscellaneous changes to the GALL Report and SRP-LR.

On April 12, 2013, (78 FR 21980) the NRC requested public comments on draft LR-ISG-2012-02 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12291A920). On May 23, 2013, the NRC conducted a public meeting to discuss draft LR-ISG-2012-02. A meeting summary was published on June 20, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13149A401).

The NRC received comments from the Nuclear Energy Institute by letter dated June 14, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13168A397). No other comments were submitted. The NRC considered these comments in developing the final LR-ISG. Detailed responses to the comments can be found in Appendix I of the final LR-ISG.

The final LR-ISG-2012-02 is approved for NRC staff and stakeholder use and will be incorporated into NRC's next formal license renewal guidance document revision.

Backfitting and Issue Finality

Issuance of this final LR-ISG does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.” As discussed in the “Backfitting Discussion” section of the final LR-ISG-2012-02, the LR-ISG is directed to holders of operating licenses or combined licenses who are currently in the license renewal process. The LR-ISG is not directed to holders of operating licenses or combined licenses until they apply for license renewal. The LR-ISG is also not directed to licensees who already hold renewed operating or combined licenses.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of November, 2013.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Melanie A. Galloway,

Deputy Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.