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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71777-71778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22980]

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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

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.

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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 200 / Wednesday, October 18, 2023 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 71777]]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100

[NRC-2023-0153]

Draft Regulatory Guide: General Site Suitability Criteria for 
Nuclear Power Stations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-4034, ``General Site 
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations.'' This DG is a 
proposed Revision 4 for Regulatory Guide (RG) 4.7 of the same name 
which describes the major site characteristics related to public health 
and safety and environmental issues that the NRC staff considers in 
determining the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear power 
stations.

DATES: Submit comments by November 17, 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-2023-0153. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individuals 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: Belkys Sosa, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3357; email: [email protected] and 
Edward O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 
301-415-3317; email: [email protected]. 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-2023-0153 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-2023-0153.
     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 [email protected]. The DG-4034, ``General Site 
Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations'' is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML23123A090.
     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 
[email protected] 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-2023-0153 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. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe 
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific 
parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff 
uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to 
describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications 
for permits and licenses.
    This DG, entitled ``General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclear 
Power Stations,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-
4034.
    This proposed revision to RG 4.7 implements the Commission approved 
alternative population-related criteria in SRM-SECY-20-0045, 
``Population-Related Siting Considerations for Advanced Reactors,'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML22194A885) through the addition of Appendix A. 
It provides alternatives to demonstrate compliance with paragraph 
100.21(h) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) in 
determining the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear power

[[Page 71778]]

stations to support licensing for non-light-water reactors (LWRs) and 
light-water small modular reactors with attributes that could support 
siting a commercial nuclear power station closer to population centers 
than large LWRs typically have been sited. Appendix A retains the 
regulatory requirements in 10 CFR part 100 that call for licensees to 
establish an exclusion area, a low population zone, and a minimum 
distance to the nearest densely populated center containing more than 
25,000 residents. In addition, Appendix A introduces a new graded 
approach where instead of locating a reactor in an area where the 
population density does not exceed 500 persons per square mile out to 
20 miles from the reactor, an applicant can demonstrate compliance with 
10 CFR 100.21(h) by siting a nuclear reactor in a location where the 
population density does not exceed 500 persons per square mile out to a 
distance equal to twice the distance at which a hypothetical individual 
could receive a calculated total effective dose equivalent of 1 rem 
over a period of 1 month from the release of radionuclides following 
postulated accidents.
    In addition, proposed Revision 4 restructures RG 4.7 to remove 
repetition found in Revision 3 by consolidating materials from the 
Discussion section and the two tables in Revision 3 of the RG into 
Section C, ``Staff Regulatory Guidance.'' To improve clarity and 
cohesiveness each topic in Section C was structured to list (1) 
relevant statutes and regulations, (2) related guidance, and (3) 
considerations, regulatory experience, and staff position.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML23123A095). The staff developed a 
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a 
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.
    As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671), 
this document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of 
the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 
CFR chapter I.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of this DG does not constitute backfitting as defined in 
10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in NRC Management 
Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue 
Finality, and Information Requests,'' would not affect the issue 
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52; and would not 
constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 
8.4.
    If finalized, this regulatory guide will not apply to any 
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited 
work authorizations issued under 10 CFR 50.10, or combined licenses, 
for which the NRC issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) 
preceded by a draft EIS under 10 CFR 51.76 or 51.75, any of which were 
issued by the NRC prior to issuance of the final regulatory guide. The 
NRC has already completed its siting determination for those 
construction permits, operating licenses, early site permits, limited 
work authorizations, and combined licenses. Therefore, no further NRC 
regulatory action on siting will occur for those licenses, permits, and 
authorizations, for which the guidance in the regulatory guide would be 
relevant.
    The methods described in this proposed RG will be used in 
evaluating applications for construction permits, early site permits, 
combined operating licenses and limited work authorizations, which 
includes information under 10 CFR 51.49(b) or (f), with respect to 
compliance with applicable regulations governing the siting of new 
nuclear power plants and testing facilities, unless the applicant 
proposes an acceptable alternative method for complying with those 
regulations. Methods that differ from those described in this proposed 
RG may be deemed acceptable if the applicant provides sufficient basis 
and information for the NRC staff to verify that the proposed 
alternative complies with the applicable NRC regulations.

IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

    A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the 
NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs. 
Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html. 
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to 
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.

    Dated: October 13, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stanley J. Gardocki,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-22980 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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