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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 240 (Friday, December 13, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 100921-100922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29418]

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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. 240 / Friday, December 13, 2024 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 100921]]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2024-0203]

Draft Regulatory Guide: Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III, 
Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors''

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-1436, ``Acceptability 
of ASME Code, Section III, Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors.' '' 
This DG is proposed Revision 3 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.87, 
``Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III, Division 5, 'High 
Temperature Reactors,' '' and describes an approach that is acceptable 
to the staff of the NRC to assure the mechanical/structural integrity 
of components that operate in elevated temperature environments and 
that are subject to time-dependent material properties and failure 
modes. It endorses, with conditions, the 2023 Edition of the American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) 
Code (ASME Code) Section III, ``Rules for Construction of Nuclear 
Facility Components,'' Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors,'' and 
several related code cases.

DATES: Submit comments by January 27, 2025. 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-2024-0203. 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: Joseph Bass, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-0770; email: 
[email protected]; Margaret Audrain, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2133; email: [email protected]; 
and Ram[oacute]n L. Gascot, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, 
telephone: 301-415-2004; email: [email protected]. All 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-2024-0203 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-2024-0203.
     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].
     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-2024-0203 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.
    The DG, entitled ``Acceptability of ASME Code, Section III, 
Division 5, ``High Temperature Reactors'','' is temporarily identified 
by its task number, DG-1436, ADAMS Accession No. ML24275A266).
    The proposed revision (Revision 3) updates the guidance to endorse, 
with conditions, the 2023 Edition of ASME

[[Page 100922]]

Code Section III, Division 5, as a method acceptable to the staff for 
the materials, mechanical/structural design, construction, testing, and 
quality assurance of mechanical systems and components and their 
supports of high temperature reactors. Proposed Revision 3 also 
endorses, with conditions, the Code Cases N-861-2, N-862-2, N-872, N-
898-1, N-812-1, and N-924 as well as the Code Case in Record 23-15.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML24275A267). 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 
chapter I of title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    If finalized, the NRC staff may use this RG as a reference in its 
regulatory processes, such as licensing, inspection, or enforcement. 
However, the NRC staff does not intend to use the guidance in this RG 
to support NRC staff actions in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting as that term is defined in Sec.  50.109 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Backfitting,'' and as described 
in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, 
Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests''; nor does 
the NRC staff intend to use the guidance to affect the issue finality 
of an approval under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The staff also does not intend to 
use the guidance to support NRC staff actions in a manner that 
constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 
8.4. If a licensee believes that the NRC is using this RG in a manner 
inconsistent with the discussion in this Implementation section, then 
the licensee may file a backfitting or forward fitting appeal with the 
NRC in accordance with the process in MD 8.4.

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: December 10, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2024-29418 Filed 12-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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