Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 12d6ebda-d515-49c2-b332-a2a2ef5aba3d
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Guidance for Changes During Construction for New Nuclear Power Plants Being Constructed Under a Combined License Referencing a Certified Design Under 10 CFR Part 52 + HISTORY - HISTORY 04/2020 – DG-1321 , Proposed Revision 0
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1934/ML19340B290.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.237
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
), the Commission stated that it modeled 10 CFR Part 52 Appendix A, “Design Certification Rule for the U.S. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor,” Section VIII.B.5, on 10 CFR 50.59. Both provisions then allowed a licensee to make changes to the design of its facility as described in the FSAR (including Tier 2 of the plant-specific DCD) “without prior NRC approval” provided specified criteria are met. Section 50.59 governs “changes to a facility as described in the FSAR,” while Section VIII.B.5 of each design certification appendix to Part 52 governs “[departures] from Tier 2 information.” If a proposed departure from Tier 2 required an amendment, however, then the licensee would be required to obtain NRC approval through the appropriate process set forth in the appendix before implementing the proposed departure. This position reflects the status of Tier 1 and Tier 2 as requirements, as stated in Sections II.E and III.B of each design certification appendix. The text of Section VIII.B.5 of the design certification appendices issued in the 1990’s was similar to 10 CFR 50.59 until the NRC amended 10 CFR 50.59 in 1999 (Ref. 9). The NRC intended the 1999 amendments to 10 CFR 50.59 to clarify the applicable requirements for a licensee of a facility licensed under Part 50 to determine whether a license amendment was required or not. As relevant here, the 1999 version of the rule deleted the phrase “without prior NRC approval” from the former 10 CFR 50.59(a) and replaced it with “without obtaining a license amendment pursuant to 10 CFR 50.90” in the new 10 CFR 50.59(c)(1). In the 1999 rule, however, the NRC did not modify the provisions of Section VIII in the appendices to 10 CFR Part 52. One comment on the 10 CFR 50.59 rulemaking in 1999 concerned the requirement to obtain a license amendment before implementing a change that involves a change to a technical specification (TS) or meets one of the criteria in 10 CFR 50.59(c)(2). In response to the