[Federal Register: August 22, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 49711-49712]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22au08-112]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Draft Regulatory Guide: Granting Extension of Comment Period
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Granting of Request To Extend the Comment Period of
Draft Regulatory Guide (DG)-1200, ``An Approach for Determining the
Technical Adequacy of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Results for Risk-
Informed Activities.''
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Drouin, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 415-6675 or e-
mail to Mary.Drouin@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued for public
comment DG-1200, which was published in the Federal Register, 73 FR
35170, on June 20, 2008. DG-1200 is proposed Revision 2 of Regulatory
Guide 1.200 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.
II. Further Information
The NRC staff requested receipt of comments on DG-1200 by August
25, 2008, (including any implementation schedule) and its associated
regulatory analysis or value/impact statement. By this action, the NRC
staff is extending the comment period until September 24, 2008.
Comments received after September 24, 2008, would be considered if
practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only
for comments received on or before this date. Although a time limit is
given, 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.
III. Request To Extend the Comment Period
Basis for the Request
The NRC received the following extension request:
``There is currently work underway by the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to address many fundamental issues with
the Joint ASME/American Nuclear Society (ANS) PRA [probabilistic
risk assessment] Standard, many of which are items likely identified
in the current RG revision. These changes are identified as Addendum
A to the ASME/ANS Joint PRA Standard.'' ``ASME is currently
balloting these changes for approval, with a closure of the ballot
in late August 2008. Once balloted and approved, these changes to
the Joint Standard will be made available to the general public.
Availability of such information will be important for the public to
make an informed review of the draft RG 1.200, Revision 2. As a
result of this schedule mismatch, the PWROG [pressurized water
reactor owners' group] requests that the review period for the draft
RG 1.200, Revision 2 be extended to allow the industry to integrate
the findings and conclusions of the ASME/ANS Joint PRA Standard
revisions in preparing an informed review. The
[[Page 49712]]
PWROG views changes in Addendum A substantial enough to warrant an
extension of the public review period. Accordingly, we request a 60-
day extension to the current review period.''
Response to Request
The request for an extension to the comment period is approved for
30 days.
The staff understands that ASME/ANS is working on an initial
addendum (i.e., Addendum A) to Revision 1 of the ASME/ANS PRA Standard
(RA-S-2008). However, at this time, Addendum A has not been approved by
ASME/ANS, and consequently is not available to the public. Since the
ASME/ANS ballot period has not closed, it is not known if there will be
sufficient positive ballots approving Addendum A. Consequently, it is
uncertain if and when ASME/ANS will issue Addendum A, and therefore, be
available to the public. A 60-day extension to the public comment
period for DG 1200 will impact the December 2008 publication date of
Revision 2 of RG 1.200. With the uncertainty associated with the
issuance of Addendum A of the ASME/ANS PRA standard, the staff does not
support an extension of the comment period to DG 1200 that would impact
the schedule for publishing Revision 2 to RG 1.200. However, the staff
agrees with the PWROG with regard to the importance of Addendum A. The
staff understands from ASME that the ballot closes September 12, 2008,
at which time the status of Addendum A will be known. A 30-day
extension to the comment period of DG 1200 will enable the staff the
meet the publication schedule of December 2008 for Revision 2 to RG
1.200. Therefore, the staff is approving a 30-day extension to the
public comment period, with the public comment period to end on
September 24, 2008. Further, at that time, the status of Addendum A of
the ASME/ANS PRA Standard will be known, and dependent on the content
of Addendum A and the schedule for issuance, the staff may revisit the
schedule for publishing Revision 2 of RG 1.200.
Requests for technical information about DG-1200 may be directed to
the NRC contact, Mary Drouin at (301) 415-6675 or e-mail to
Mary.Drouin@nrc.gov.
Electronic copies of DG-1200 are available through the NRC's public
Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides in the ``Regulatory Guides''
collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic copies are also available in
ADAMS (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html), under Accession No.
ML081200566.
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
(301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by e-
mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is
not required to reproduce them.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of August 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen C. O'Connor,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E8-19635 Filed 8-21-08; 8:45 am]
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