[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 85889-85890]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25038]


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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. 89, No. 209 / Tuesday, October 29, 2024 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 85889]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2024-0161]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Qualification of Fiber-Optic Cables, 
Connections, and Optical Fiber Splices for Use in Safety Systems for 
Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-1427, ``Qualification 
of Fiber-Optic Cables, Connections, and Optical Fiber Splices for Use 
in Safety Systems for Production and Utilization Facilities.'' DG-1427 
is newly proposed Revision 0 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.257 and 
describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC for 
use in complying with NRC regulations that address the environmental 
qualification of fiber-optic cables, connections, and optical fiber 
splices in safety systems in production and utilization facilities.

DATES: Submit comments by November 29, 2024. 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.
    <bullet> Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0161. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2b785f4a4852057848435e464a45456b455948054c445d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93c0e7f2f0eabdc0f0fbe6fef2fdfdd3fde1f0bdf4fce5">[email protected]</span></a>. For technical 
questions, contact the individuals listed in the For Further 
Information Contact section of this document.
    <bullet> 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: Sheila Ray, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3653; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#efbc878a86838ec1bd8e96af819d8cc1888099"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f8ab909d919499d6aa9981b8968a9bd69f978e">[email protected]</span></a> and 
Vance Petrella, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-
415-1048; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0157606f62642f51647573646d6d60416f73622f666e77"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1f497e717c7a314f7a6b6d7a73737e5f716d7c31787069">[email protected]</span></a>. 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-2024-0161 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:
    <bullet> Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0161.
    <bullet> 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 <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e7b7a3b5c9b582948892958482a7899584c9808891"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="633327314d3106100c16110006230d11004d040c15">[email protected]</span></a>. DG-1427, ``Qualification of Fiber-
Optic Cables, Connections, and Optical Fiber Splices for Use in Safety 
Systems for Production and Utilization Facilities,'' is available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML24201A068.
    <bullet> 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 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#09594d5b275b6c7a667c7b6a6c49677b6a276e667f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8fdfcbdda1ddeafce0fafdeceacfe1fdeca1e8e0f9">[email protected]</span></a> 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-2024-0161 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 NRC'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.
    The DG, entitled ``Qualification of Fiber-Optic Cables, 
Connections, and Optical Fiber Splices for Use in Safety Systems for 
Production and Utilization Facilities,'' is temporarily identified by 
its task number, DG-1427, and describes an approach that is acceptable 
to the NRC staff for use in complying with NRC regulations that address 
the environmental qualification of fiber-optic cables, connections, and 
optical fiber splices in safety systems in production and utilization 
facilities.

[[Page 85890]]

    DG-1427 is newly proposed Revision 0 of RG 1.257 and endorses, 
subject to the conditions described in Section C of this DG, the 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 1682-2023, 
which provides methods, directions, and documentation for the 
qualification of fiber optic cables, connections, and optical fiber 
splices in safety systems of production and utilization facilities.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML24201A069). The staff developed a 
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising an RG 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 
chapter I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-1427, if finalized, would 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''; does not affect 
issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants''; nor constitute 
forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4, because, as explained in this DG, 
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth 
in this DG.

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 23, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Stanley Gardocki,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2024-25038 Filed 10-28-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P


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