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

69555 

Vol. 88, No. 193 

Friday, October 6, 2023 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Chapter I 

[NRC–2023–0058] 

Required Assessment of U.S. 

Department of Energy Laboratories by 

Licensees, Applicants, and Suppliers 

To Verify the Effective Implementation 

of Their Quality Assurance Programs 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is seeking public 

comment on a draft regulatory issue 

summary (RIS) that clarifies the 

agency’s regulatory position regarding 

the required assessment of U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) national 

laboratories by licensees, applicants, 

and vendors to verify the effective 

implementation of the laboratories’ 

quality assurance (QA) programs. This 

draft RIS requires no action or written 

response on the part of an addressee. 

DATES: Submit comments by December 

5, 2023. Comments received after this 

date will be considered if it is practical 

to do so, but the Commission 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–2023–0058. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 

telephone: 301–415–0624; email: 

Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• Mail comments to: Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7– 

A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, ATTN: Program Management, 

Announcements and Editing Staff. 

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: 

Phyllis Clark, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, telephone: 301–415–6447, email: 

Phyllis.Clark@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2023– 

0058 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–2023–0058. 

• 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, at 

301–415–4737, or by email to 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The draft RIS 

‘‘Required Assessment of U.S. 

Department of Energy Laboratories by 

Licensees, Applicants, and Suppliers to 

Verify the Effective Implementation of 

Their Quality Assurance Programs,’’ is 

available in ADAMS under Accession 

No. ML22080A051. 

• NRC’s PDR: The PDR, where you 

may examine and order copies of 

publicly available documents, is open 

by appointment. 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–2023–0058 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 not to 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. 

II. Background 

The NRC staff has received several 

inquiries from nuclear industry 

stakeholders on what type of assessment 

is required for U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) national laboratories that 

provide basic components to the U.S. 

nuclear power industry. The NRC is 

issuing this draft regulatory issue 

summary (RIS) to clarify the agency’s 

regulatory position regarding the 

required assessment of U.S. DOE 

national laboratories by licensees, 

applicants, and vendors to verify the 

effective implementation of the 

laboratories’ quality assurance 

programs. 

The NRC issues RISs to communicate 

with stakeholders on a broad range of 

matters. It provides guidance to 

applicants and licensees on the scope 

and detail of information that should be 

provided in licensing applications to 

facilitate NRC review. 

As noted in the Federal Register on 

May 8, 2018 (83 FR 20858), this 

document is being published in the 

‘‘Proposed Rules’’ section of the Federal 

Register to comply with publication 

requirements under 1 CFR chapter I. 


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69556 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 193 / Friday, October 6, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

III. Proposed Action 

The NRC is requesting public 

comments on the draft RIS. All 

comments that are to receive 

consideration in the final RIS must still 

be submitted electronically or in writing 

as indicated in the ADDRESSES section of 

this document. The NRC staff will make 

a final determination regarding issuance 

of the RIS after it considers any public 

comments received in response to this 

request. 

Dated: October 3, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Lisa M. Regner, 

Chief, Generic Communication and Operating 

Experience Branch, Division of Reactor 

Oversight, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22287 Filed 10–5–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2023–1893; Project 

Identifier AD–2023–00389–A] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; FS 2001 

Corp, FS 2002 Corporation, FS 2003 

Corporation, Piper, and Piper Aircraft, 

Inc. Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a 

new airworthiness directive (AD) for 

certain FS 2001 Corp, FS 2002 

Corporation, FS 2003 Corporation, 

Piper, and Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) 

airplanes. This proposed AD was 

prompted by reports of broken rudders. 

This proposed AD would require 

replacing any rudder equipped with a 

rudder post made from a certain carbon 

steel with a rudder equipped with a 

rudder post made from a certain lowalloy steel. The FAA is proposing this 

AD to address the unsafe condition on 

these products. 

DATES: The FAA must receive comments 

on this proposed AD by November 20, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

using the procedures found in 14 CFR 

11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: Deliver to Mail 

address above between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

AD Docket: You may examine the AD 

docket at regulations.gov by searching 

for and locating Docket No. FAA–2023– 

1893; or in person at Docket Operations 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

The AD docket contains this NPRM, any 

comments received, and other 

information. The street address for 

Docket Operations is listed above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joseph Zuklic, Aviation Safety Engineer, 

FAA, 2200 South 216th Street, Des 

Moines, WA 98198; phone: (206) 231– 

3858; email: joseph.r.zuklic@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited 

The FAA invites you to send any 

written relevant data, views, or 

arguments about this proposal. Send 

your comments to an address listed 

under ADDRESSES. Include ‘‘Docket No. 

FAA–2023–1893; Project Identifier AD– 

2023–00389–A’’ at the beginning of your 

comments. The most helpful comments 

reference a specific portion of the 

proposal, explain the reason for any 

recommended change, and include 

supporting data. The FAA will consider 

all comments received by the closing 

date and may amend this proposal 

because of those comments. 

Except for Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) as described in the 

following paragraph, and other 

information as described in 14 CFR 

11.35, the FAA will post all comments 

received, without change, to 

regulations.gov, including any personal 

information you provide. The agency 

will also post a report summarizing each 

substantive verbal contact received 

about this NPRM. 

Confidential Business Information 

CBI is commercial or financial 

information that is both customarily and 

actually treated as private by its owner. 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt 

from public disclosure. If your 

comments responsive to this NPRM 

contain commercial or financial 

information that is customarily treated 

as private, that you actually treat as 

private, and that is relevant or 

responsive to this NPRM, it is important 

that you clearly designate the submitted 

comments as CBI. Please mark each 

page of your submission containing CBI 

as ‘‘PROPIN.’’ The FAA will treat such 

marked submissions as confidential 

under the FOIA, and they will not be 

placed in the public docket of this 

NPRM. Submissions containing CBI 

should be sent to Joseph Zuklic, 

Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 

South 216th Street, Des Moines, WA 

98198. Any commentary that the FAA 

receives which is not specifically 

designated as CBI will be placed in the 

public docket for this rulemaking. 

Background 

The FAA received reports of two nonfatal accidents involving airplanes 

designed and built by Piper that were 

caused by broken rudder posts that 

structurally failed above the upper 

hinge in flight. Both accidents occurred 

in Anchorage, Alaska. The first accident 

occurred on June 8, 2020, and involved 

an FS 2003 Model PA–12 airplane and 

the second accident occurred on July 23, 

2021, and involved an FS 2002 Model 

PA–14 airplane. Both airplanes 

sustained substantial damage when the 

rudder structurally failed. 

The National Transportation Safety 

Board (NTSB) published the report 

Structural Failure of Piper Part Number 

40622 Rudder Posts Made of 1025 

Carbon Steel, NTSB/AIR–22/02, dated 

January 10, 2022, which provides 

information regarding the NTSB’s 

investigations of these two accidents. 

The NTSB accident investigation report 

included a recommendation (Safety 

Recommendation No. A–22–3) to the 

FAA to issue an airworthiness directive 

addressing this unsafe condition. The 

NTSB report can be found on ntsb.gov. 

The NTSB examined the rudders 

involved in these accidents and 

determined that the rudder posts 

fractured above the upper hinge and the 

top portion of the rudder folded over the 

upper tail brace wires. The NTSB also 

determined that the rudder posts were 

made from 1025 carbon steel and 

fractured due to fatigue. 

Prior to this proposed rulemaking 

action the FAA issued an Airworthiness 

Concern Sheet, dated September 4, 

2020, that requested information from 

the aviation community regarding inflight failure of the rudder just above the 

upper hinge on all Piper and FS2003 

Corp (type certificate previously held by 

Piper) Model J–5A, J–5B, J–5C, J–5D, 

AE–1, HE–1, PA–12, PA–12S, PA–14, 

PA–16, PA–18, L–21, PA–20, and PA– 

22 airplanes. The responses revealed 

that there were five additional broken 

rudder incidents dating as far back as 

1979. 


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