2726 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Notices 

submission to the NRC inform those 

persons that the NRC will not edit their 

comments to remove any identifying or 

contact information, and therefore, they 

should not include any information in 

their comments that they do not want 

publicly disclosed. 

Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for documents filed under Docket ID 

NRC–2011–0011. Address questions 

about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 

301–492–3668; e-mail 

Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. 

Mail comments to: Cindy K. Bladey, 

Chief, Rules, Announcements, and 

Directives Branch (RADB), Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05– 

B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, or by fax to RDB at 301–492–3446. 

You can access publicly available 

documents related to this notice using 

the following methods: 

NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR): 

The public may examine and copy for 

a fee publicly available documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS): 

Publicly available documents created or 

received at the NRC are available 

electronically at the NRC’s Electronic 

Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, 

the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 

which provides text and image files of 

NRC’s public documents. If you do not 

have access to ADAMS or if there are 

problems in accessing the documents 

located in ADAMS, contact the NRC’s 

PDR reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 

301–415–4737, or by e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The Regulatory 

Analysis is available electronically 

under ADAMS Accession Number 

ML102380594. 

Comments would be most helpful if 

received by March 15, 2011. Comments 

received after that date will be 

considered if it is 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. 

Electronic copies of DG–1245 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/doccollections/. Electronic copies are also 

available in ADAMS (http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html), 

under Accession No. ML093060150. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and Commission approval 

is not required to reproduce them. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day 

of January 2011. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Harriet Karagiannis, 

Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development 

Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of 

Nuclear Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. 2011–724 Filed 1–13–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2011–0010] 

Withdrawal of Regulatory Guide 1.154 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Withdrawal of Regulatory Guide 

1.154, ‘‘Format and Content of PlantSpecific Pressurized Thermal Shock 

Safety Analysis Reports for Pressurized 

Water Reactors.’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mekonen M. Bayssie, Regulatory Guide 

Development Branch, Division of 

Engineering, Office of Nuclear 

Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001, telephone: 301–251– 

7489 or e-mail: 

Mekonen.Bayssie@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is withdrawing 

Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.154, ‘‘Format 

and Content of Plant-Specific 

Pressurized Thermal Shock Safety 

Analysis Reports for Pressurized Water 

Reactors.’’ RG 1.154 was issued by NRC 

in January 1987 to describe the format 

and content acceptable to the NRC staff 

for plant-specific pressurized thermal 

shock (PTS) safety analyses, and to 

describe acceptance criteria that NRC 

staff will use in evaluating licensee 

analyses and proposed corrective 

measures. 

In recent years, the NRC’s Office of 

Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) 

developed a technical basis that 

supported updating the PTS regulations 

in Title 10, Section 50.61, of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50.61). 

This technical basis, as described in 

NUREG–1806 and in NUREG–1874, 

concluded that the risk of through-wall 

pressure vessel cracking due to a PTS 

event is much lower than previously 

estimated. This finding indicated that 

the reference temperature (RT) 

screening criteria in 10 CFR 50.61 are 

overly conservative and may impose an 

unnecessary burden on some licensees. 

Therefore, the NRC developed a new 

rule, 10 CFR 50.61a, ‘‘Alternate Fracture 

Requirements for Protection against 

Pressurized Thermal Shock Events’’ 

(SECY–09–0059: ‘‘Final Rule Related to 

Alternate Fracture Toughness 

Requirements for Protection Against 

Pressurized Thermal Shock Events,’’ RIN 

3150–AI01, April 9, 2009). The 

alternative rule allows, but does not 

require, that licensees may comply with 

more permissive RT limits that were 

derived in a risk-informed manner 

provided that certain requirements 

regarding vessel inspection and 

surveillance programs, as outlined in 10 

CFR 50.61a, are met. 

In the course of developing 10 CFR 

50.61a, it became clear to staff that the 

guidance provided by RG 1.154 is 

significantly outdated and, in some 

cases, technically deficient. As such, a 

plant-specific PTS analysis performed 

based on guidance in RG 1.154 will not 

be acceptable to the staff. While the 

methods and procedures were 

appropriate based on the situation in the 

industry when RG 1.154 was developed 

(1987), the methods and procedures 

have since either passed into common 

practice among plant operators, or were 

accounted for in the development of 10 

CFR 50.61a. A fundamental premise 

underlying RG 1.154 is that the RT 

screening criteria in 10 CFR 50.61 are 

based on a large number of conservative 

assumptions. As such, RG 1.154 

postulates that it is possible to perform 

a plant-specific analysis to show that 

some conservatism could reasonably be 

removed while still demonstrating that 

a plant can be operated at an acceptably 

low level of risk. The technical basis for 

10 CFR 50.61a, however, considered the 

most accurate models and input values 

presently available given the current 

state of the science. This had the effect 

of eliminating much of the conservatism 

that was embedded in the more 

restrictive 10 CFR 50.61 RT screening 

criteria. This calls into question whether 

a strong case could be made to remove 

further conservatism in a plant-specific 

PTS analysis performed in accordance 

with RG 1.154. Moreover, RG 1.154 

frequently discusses the ‘‘licensee’s 

proposed program of corrective 

measures,’’ reflecting the view that there 

are actions that an individual licensee 

can take, beyond present practices, that 

will mitigate the PTS risk. The 

continued validity of this premise is 

also questionable. An assessment of 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Notices 2727 

potential corrective measures described 

in RG 1.154 indicates that they are 

either impractical or that they have 

already been implemented because of 

changes to standard industry practices 

since the issuance of the RG in 1987. RG 

1.154 lists five general classes of 

potential corrective actions. The current 

assessment suggests that few of the 

corrective actions listed in RG 1.154 

would effectively mitigate PTS risk 

relative to the baseline risk established 

by the technical basis documents that 

support the alternative rule 10 CFR 

50.61a. Licensees have a choice to apply 

more conservative screening criteria in 

10 CFR 50.61 or more permissive and 

risk-informed criteria in the alternative 

rule 10 CFR 50.61a. If a licensee chooses 

to apply the screening criteria in 10 CFR 

50.61 to their plant, and the plant is 

projected to reach the screening limits 

in 10 CFR 50.61, the licensee can either 

choose to follow procedures prescribed 

in 10 CFR 50.61 (b)(3) on implementing 

flux reduction measures or 10 CFR 

50.61 (b)(4) on performing plant-specific 

safety analysis. However, if a licensee 

chooses to follow 10 CFR 50.61 (b)(4) on 

performing safety analysis, Regulatory 

Guide 1.154 cannot be used, as it is 

hereby being withdrawn. 

II. Further Information 

The withdrawal of RG 1.154 does not 

alter any prior or existing licensing 

commitments based on its use. 

Regulatory guides may be withdrawn 

when their guidance no longer provides 

useful information, or is superseded by 

technological, congressional action, or 

other events. 

Guides are revised for a variety of 

reasons, and the withdrawal of a 

regulatory guide should be thought of as 

the final revision of the guide. Although 

a regulatory guide is withdrawn, current 

licensees may continue to use it, and 

withdrawal does not affect any existing 

licenses or agreements. Withdrawal 

means that the guide should not be used 

for future NRC licensing activities. 

Changes to existing licenses would be 

accomplished using other regulatory 

products. 

Regulatory guides and publicly 

available NRC documents are available 

electronically through the Electronic 

Reading Room on the NRC’s public Web 

site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

doc-collections/. The documents can 

also be viewed online or printed for a 

fee in the NRC’s Public Document Room 

(PDR) at 11555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland; the mailing 

address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 

20555; telephone: 301–415–4737 or 

800–397–4209; fax: 301–415–3548; and 

e-mail: pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 

required to reproduce them. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day 

of January 2011. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Harriet Karagiannis, 

Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide Development 

Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of 

Nuclear Regulatory Research. 

[FR Doc. 2011–723 Filed 1–13–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

PEACE CORPS 

Proposed Collection of Information 

ACTION: Submission for Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) review; 

comment request. 

SUMMARY: The Peace Corps has 

submitted a proposed collection of 

information to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and clearance under the 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995. This notice invites the 

public to comment on the proposed 

collection of information by the Peace 

Corps’ Office of Communications. The 

Peace Corps invites comments on 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Peace Corps, including whether the 

information will have practical use; the 

accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the 

burden of the proposed collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the information to be collected; and 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

respond, including through the use of 

automated collection techniques, when 

appropriate, and other forms of 

information technology. 

DATES: Comments regarding this 

collection must be received on or before 

February 14, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this proposal. Comments should refer to 

the proposal by name/or OMB approval 

number and should be sent via e-mail 

to: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov or fax 

to: 202–395–3086. Attention: Desk 

Officer for Peace Corps. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Denora Miller, FOIA Officer, Peace 

Corps, 1111 20th Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20526, (202) 692–1236, 

or e-mail at pcfr@peacecorps.gov. 

Copies of available documents 

submitted to OMB may be obtained 

from Denora Miller. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose of this survey is to collect 

feedback from Peace Corps applicants 

and Returned Volunteers to help 

understand which factors are driving 

recruitment attrition, as well as what 

information or education needs would 

increase the conversion ratio. An online 

survey will be conducted among 1,200 

Peace Corps applicants and Returned 

Peace Corps Volunteers including 300 

from each of the following segments: 

Inquire—complete an initial inquiry but 

do not begin or submit an application; 

Begin application—but either do not 

submit it or move forward; Submit 

complete application—but then elect 

not to proceed by stopping 

communication or actively withdrawing 

during the review process; Returned 

Peace Corps Volunteers—who recently 

closed Peace Corps service in the past 

two years. Including Returned Peace 

Corps Volunteers in the study will 

provide information to understand what 

is working in the application process 

and will help guide the strategies for 

correcting the conversion loss. There is 

no statutory or regulatory requirement 

for this information. 

Method: The information will be 

collected through an online survey. 

Title: Peace Corps Conversion Loss 

Survey. 

OMB Control Number: [To be 

assigned.] 

Type of Review: New. 

Affected Public: Former applicants to 

the Peace Corps and Returned Peace 

Corps Volunteers Respondents’ 

obligation to reply: Voluntary. 

Estimate of the total number of 

respondents: 1,200. 

Estimated time to complete survey: 20 

minutes. 

Estimate of the total public burden (in 

hours): 400 hours. 

Frequency of Response: 1 time. 

Estimated number of respondents: 

1,200. 

General description of collection: To 

understand which factors are driving 

recruitment attrition, as well as what 

information or education needs would 

increase the conversion ratio. 

Dated: January 10, 2011. 

Earl W. Yates, 

Associate Director for Management. 

[FR Doc. 2011–766 Filed 1–13–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6051–01–P 

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD 

Sunshine Act; Notice of Public Meeting 

Notice is hereby given that the 

Railroad Retirement Board will hold a 

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