This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

61986 

Vol. 88, No. 173 

Friday, September 8, 2023 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Parts 50, 51, and 71 

[NRC–2020–0034] 

RIN 3150–AK79 

Increased Enrichment of Conventional 

and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for 

Light-Water Reactors 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Regulatory basis; request for 

comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is requesting 

comments on a regulatory basis to 

support a rulemaking to amend the 

NRC’s regulations related to the use of 

conventional and accident tolerant 

light-water reactor fuel designs. The 

NRC’s goal is to establish effective and 

efficient licensing of applications using 

fuels enriched to greater than 5.0 and 

less than 20.0 weight percent uranium235. The NRC will hold a public

meeting to promote a full understanding

of the planned rulemaking and facilitate

public comment on the regulatory basis.

DATES: Submit comments by November

22, 2023. Comments received after this

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.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments

by any of the following methods;

however, the NRC encourages electronic

comment submission through the

Federal rulemaking website:

• Federal rulemaking website: Go to

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0034. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Dawn 

Forder; telephone: 301–415–3407; 

email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions contact the 

individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• Email comments to:

Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you 

do not receive an automatic email reply 

confirming receipt, then contact us at 

301–415–1677. 

• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 

415–1101. 

• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: 

Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. 

• Hand deliver comments to: 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 

20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. 

eastern time, Federal workdays; 

telephone: 301–415–1677. 

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: 

Philip Benavides, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, 

telephone: 301–415–3246, email: 

Philip.Benavides@nrc.gov and Carla 

Roque-Cruz, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation, telephone: 301–415–1455, 

email: Carla.Roque-Cruz@nrc.gov. Both 

are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and

Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2020–

0034 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

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0034. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://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 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. For the 

convenience of the reader, instructions 

about obtaining materials referenced in 

this document are provided in the 

‘‘Availability of Documents’’ section. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and

purchase copies of public documents, 

by appointment, at the NRC’s PDR, 

Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland 20852. To make an 

appointment to visit the PDR, please 

send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 

or call 1–800–397–4209 or 301–415– 

4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern 

time (ET), Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic

comment submission through the 

Federal rulemaking website (https://

www.regulations.gov). Please include 

Docket ID NRC–2020–0034 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 https://

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 to not 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. 

Please note that the NRC will not 

provide formal written responses to 

each of the comments received on the 

regulatory basis. 

II. Discussion

The NRC is requesting comments on

a regulatory basis to support a 

rulemaking that would amend the 

NRC’s regulations to facilitate the use of 

light-water reactor fuel containing 

uranium enriched to greater than 5.0 

weight percent uranium-235 (U–235) in 

part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Domestic 

Licensing of Production and Utilization 

Facilities,’’ 10 CFR part 51, 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2023 / Proposed Rules 61987 

‘‘Environmental Protection Regulations 

for Domestic Licensing and Related 

Regulatory Functions,’’ and 10 CFR part 

71, ‘‘Packaging and Transportation of 

Radioactive Material.’’ This rulemaking 

would allow the NRC to prepare for the 

effective and efficient licensing of 

applications using fuels enriched to 

greater than 5.0 and less than 20.0 

weight percent U–235 without 

compromising reasonable assurance of 

adequate protection of public health and 

safety, reduce the need for exemptions 

from existing regulations and license 

amendment requests, provide licensees 

operational flexibility and certainty in 

licensing of accident tolerant fuel, and 

support the principles of good 

regulation. The rule changes would 

apply to any light-water power reactor 

application submitted to the NRC under 

10 CFR part 50 and part 52, ‘‘Licenses, 

Certifications, and Approvals for 

Nuclear Power Plants.’’ 

On June 22, 2022, the NRC held a 

comment gathering public meeting to 

obtain feedback from external 

stakeholders on the development of the 

regulatory basis for this proposed rule. 

The NRC offered the opportunity for 

stakeholders to make presentations 

during this meeting. In addition, the 

NRC conducted a comment gathering 

session and provided three topics for 

discussion: (1) regulations and 

associated guidance documents that 

should be evaluated in this rulemaking, 

(2) regulations that would likely require 

a licensee to request an exemption if 

licensees chose to pursue fuel enriched 

above 5.0 weight percent U–235, and (3) 

rulemaking schedule and impact on 

stakeholders. Attendees at this meeting 

included nongovernmental 

organizations, licensees, nuclear power 

industry representatives, and other 

members of the public. The NRC staff 

has prepared a regulatory basis to 

describe and document the results of 

assessments performed by the NRC staff 

in support of this proposed rulemaking. 

This regulatory basis and the meeting 

summary, including transcript, are 

available as indicated in the 

‘‘Availability of Documents’’ section of 

this document. 

The staff determined that the 

following regulations would be directly 

or indirectly affected by an increase in 

fuel enrichment level to greater than 5.0 

and less than 20.0 weight percent U– 

235: 

• § 50.67, Accident source term 

• § 50.68, Criticality accident 

requirements 

• § 51.51(b), Uranium fuel cycle 

environmental data—Table S–3 

• § 51.52, Environmental effects of 

transportation of fuel and waste—Table 

S–4 

• § 71.55, General requirements for 

fissile material packages 

In addition to amending the 

regulations listed, the Commission 

directed the staff in SRM–SECY–21– 

0109, ‘‘Staff Requirements—SECY–21– 

0109—Rulemaking Plan on Use of 

Increased Enrichment of Conventional 

and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for 

Light-Water Reactors,’’ to appropriately 

address and analyze fuel fragmentation, 

relocation, and dispersal (FFRD) issues 

relevant to fuels of higher enrichment 

and burnup levels in the regulatory 

basis. 

In the regulatory basis, the NRC staff 

concludes that there is sufficient basis 

to proceed with rulemaking and 

guidance development to address the 

regulatory issues associated with the use 

of fuel enriched to greater than 5.0 and 

less than 20.0 weight percent U–235. 

However, there are specific regulatory 

areas that would benefit from additional 

input from stakeholders before the NRC 

staff makes a final recommendation to 

the Commission on rulemaking. 

The Commission has not approved 

any specific recommendation in the 

regulatory basis at this time, and as 

such, any conclusions regarding the 

elements of the increased enrichment of 

conventional and accident tolerant fuel 

designs for light-water reactor 

rulemaking are subject to change. 

III. Specific Requests for Comments 

General Questions 

The NRC is requesting comment on 

the regulatory basis. As you prepare 

your comments, consider the following 

general questions: 

1. Is the NRC considering appropriate 

options for each regulatory area 

described in the regulatory basis? Please 

provide a basis for your response. 

2. Are there additional factors that the 

NRC should consider in each regulatory 

area? What are these factors? Please 

provide a basis for your response. 

3. Are there any additional options 

that the NRC should consider during 

development of the proposed rule? 

Please provide a basis for your response. 

4. Is there additional information 

concerning regulatory impacts that the 

NRC should include in its regulatory 

analysis for this rulemaking? Please 

provide a basis for your response. 

5. Discuss whether the proposed rule 

would present hardships to regulated 

small entities. How could rule 

provisions be modified to lessen these 

impacts? Please provide a basis for your 

response. 

6. What opportunities are there to 

increase the beneficial impacts of the 

rule on small entities? Please provide a 

basis for your response. 

Specific Regulatory Issues 

In addition to the general questions, 

the NRC is requesting specific feedback 

from the public and has prepared 

specific questions related to control 

room design criteria; transportation of 

uranium hexafluoride; and FFRD. 

Control Room Design Criteria 

The NRC is seeking comment on the 

alternatives proposed in Appendix A of 

the regulatory basis on control room 

design criteria. 

1. Would the numerical selection of 

the control room design criteria be 

better aligned with regulations designed 

to limit occupational exposures during 

emergency conditions (e.g., §§ 20.1206, 

‘‘Planned special exposures,’’ and 

50.54(x)) or regulations designed to 

limit annual occupational radiation 

exposures during normal operations 

(e.g., § 20.1201, ‘‘Occupational dose 

limits for adults,’’ specifically the 

requirements in § 20.1201 (a)(1)(i))? 

Please provide a basis for your response. 

2. Would a graded, risk-informed 

method, to demonstrate compliance 

with a range of acceptable control room 

design criterion values instead of a 

single selected value such as the current 

5 rem (50 millisievert(mSv)) total 

effective dose equivalent (TEDE) 

provide the necessary flexibilities for 

current and future nuclear technologies 

up to but less than 20.0 weight percent 

U–235 enrichment? Please provide a 

basis for your response. 

Transportation of Uranium Hexafluoride 

The NRC is seeking comment on the 

alternatives proposed in Appendix E of 

the regulatory basis on fissile material 

package requirements. To date, industry 

plans communicated to the NRC have 

not indicated that there will be enough 

requests for package approvals for 

transporting UF6 enriched up to but less 

than 20.0 weight percent U–235 to 

conclude that rulemaking would be the 

most efficient or effective process to 

support package approvals. Further, all 

alternatives to rulemaking that the NRC 

considered are nearly cost neutral in 

terms of implementation; however, 

rulemaking shifts the cost burdens to 

the NRC disproportionally when 

compared to taking no rulemaking 

action. 

1. Is there additional information that 

can be shared to augment comments 

made by the public in June 2022 

regarding the need for rulemaking to 


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61988 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

support licensing new or existing UF6

transportation package designs? 

Fuel Fragmentation, Relocation, and 

Dispersal 

The NRC staff has identified that 

additional feedback from stakeholders 

would be beneficial before making a 

final recommendation on rulemaking on 

FFRD. The NRC is seeking comment on 

the alternatives proposed in Appendix F 

of the regulatory basis on FFRD. 

1. Are there any other alternatives not 

described in Appendix F of the 

regulatory basis on FFRD that the NRC 

should consider? Are there elements of 

the alternatives presented or other 

alternatives that the NRC should 

consider? Please provide a basis for your 

response. 

2. Stakeholders previously expressed 

concerns on the proposed § 50.46a rule 

when it was initially proposed in 2010. 

What concerns about § 50.46a (i.e., 

Alternative 2) exist in today’s 

landscape? Please provide a basis for 

your response. 

3. Under Alternative 2, as currently 

proposed in the regulatory basis, the 

staff would apply the regulatory 

precedent under which fuel dispersal 

that would challenge current regulatory 

requirements would not be permitted 

under loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) 

conditions. Would the increased 

flexibilities gained from best-estimate 

assumptions and methods employed 

during large-break LOCA analyses make 

this alternative reasonable? Please 

provide a basis for your response. 

4. What changes to plant operations, 

fuel designs, or safety analysis tools and 

methods would be necessary under each 

proposed alternative? Please provide a 

basis for your response. 

5. Provide any information that would 

be relevant to more accurately estimate 

costs associated with each proposed 

alternative. Please provide a basis for 

your response. 

6. What are the pros and cons of each 

alternative, including the degree to 

which each alternative is consistent 

with the principles of good regulation? 

IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation 

The cumulative effects of regulation 

(CER) describe the challenges that 

licensees or other impacted entities 

(such as Agreement State agency 

partners) may face while implementing 

new regulatory positions, programs, and 

requirements (e.g., rules, generic letters, 

backfits, inspections). The CER is an 

organizational effectiveness challenge 

that results from a licensee or impacted 

entity implementing a number of 

complex positions, programs, or 

requirements within a limited 

implementation period and with 

available resources (which may include 

limited available expertise to address a 

specific issue). The NRC has 

implemented CER enhancements to the 

rulemaking process to facilitate public 

involvement throughout the rulemaking 

process. Therefore, the NRC is 

specifically requesting comment on the 

cumulative effects that may result from 

this proposed rulemaking. In developing 

comments on the regulatory basis, 

consider the following questions: 

1. In light of any current or projected 

CER challenges, how should the NRC 

provide sufficient time to implement the 

new proposed requirements, including 

changes to programs and procedures? 

2. If CER challenges currently exist or 

are expected, what should be done to 

address them? For example, if more 

time is required for implementation of 

the new requirements, what period of 

time is sufficient? 

3. What other (NRC or other agency) 

regulatory actions (e.g., orders, generic 

communications, license amendment 

requests inspection findings of a generic 

nature) influence the implementation of 

the proposed rule’s requirements? 

4. What are the unintended 

consequences, and how should they be 

addressed? 

5. Please comment on the NRC’s cost 

and benefit estimates in the regulatory 

basis. 

V. Plain Writing 

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. 

L. 111–274) requires Federal agencies to 

write documents in a clear, concise, 

well-organized manner. The NRC has 

written this document to be consistent 

with the Plain Writing Act as well as the 

Presidential Memorandum, ‘‘Plain 

Language in Government Writing,’’ 

published in the Federal Register on 

June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31885). The NRC 

requests comment on this document 

with respect to the clarity and 

effectiveness of the language used. 

VI. Availability of Documents 

The documents identified in the 

following table are available to 

interested persons through one or more 

of the methods, as indicated. 

Document 

ADAMS Accession 

No./web link/Federal 

Register citation 

Rulemaking: Regulatory Basis for Increased Enrichment of Conventional and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for LightWater Reactors, September 5, 2023.ML23032A504 

6/22/2022—Summary of Public Meeting to Discuss the Proposed Rulemaking on Increased Enrichment of Conventional 

and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for Light-Water Reactors, July 1, 2022.

ML22208A001 

06/22/2022—Transcript of Public Meeting to Discuss the Proposed Rulemaking onIncreased Enrichment of Conventional and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for Light-Water Reactors, June 22, 2022.ML22201A017 

SRM–SECY–21–0109, ‘‘Staff Requirements—SECY–21–0109—Rulemaking Plan on Use of Increased Enrichment of 

Conventional and Accident Tolerant Fuel Designs for Light-Water Reactors,’’ March 16, 2022.

ML22075A103 

‘‘Plain Language in Government Writing,’’ June 10, 1998 ..................................................................................................... 63 FR 31885 

The NRC may post additional 

materials related to this rulemaking 

activity to the Federal rulemaking 

website at https://www.regulations.gov 

under Docket ID NRC–2020–0034. 

These documents will inform the public 

of the current status of this activity and/ 

or provide additional material for use at 

future public meetings. 

The Federal rulemaking website 

allows you to receive alerts when 

changes or additions occur in a docket 

folder. To subscribe: (1) navigate to the 

docket folder (NRC–2020–0034); (2) 

click the ‘‘Subscribe’’ link; and (3) enter 

your email address and click on the 

‘‘Subscribe’’ link. 

Dated: September 5, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Dafna E. Silberfeld, 

Acting Director, Division of Rulemaking, 

Environmental, and Financial Support, Office 

of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19452 Filed 9–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 


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