Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: f894855a-c715-452f-b015-247eb7da60f0
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitment of Material Resources
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1306/ML13064A122.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.10
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
Revision I June 1976 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGULATORY GUIDE OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT REGULATORY GUIDE 4.10 IRREVERSIBLE AND IRRETRIEVABLE COMMITMENTS OF MATERIAL RESOURCES A. INTRODUCTION In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51, "Licensing and Regulatory Policy and Procedures for Environmental Protection," applicants are required to discuss any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources that would be involved in a proposed action, should it be implemented. The construction and operation of nuclear power stations involves commitments of such resources as water, fuel, and materials. This guide identifies a report on material resources that forms a basis accept- able to the NRC staff for required discussions of irreversible and irretrievable commitments of material resources involved in the construction of a 1000 MWe pressurized water reactor. B. DISCUSSION A discussion of material resources acceptable to the NRC staff is presently described in Section 4.3 of Regulatory Guide 4.2, "Preparation of Environmental Reports for Nuclear Power Plants." In addition, a discussion of such commitments relating to alternative energy sources is described in Section 9.3 and to alternative plant designs in Chapter 10 of the same guide. This guide describes numerical estimates useful in all such discussions. It also provides methods of compu- tation that may be referenced in paragraph 6, "Support- ing Details," of Chapter 10 of Regulatory Guide 4.2. This paragraph treats supporting details for the consider- ation of plant design alternatives; it does not, however, provide a basis for a discussion of resource commitments required for fossil plant alternatives. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has published a report (Ref. 1) based on work carried out under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission's Directorates of Regulatory Standards and Licensing on the problem of material resource commitment. This report gives a detailed estimate of the materials contained in