[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 245 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65661-65662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-31217]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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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. 66, No. 245 / Thursday, December 20, 2001 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 65661]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
Fire Protection
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Availability of draft rule wording.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making available
the draft wording of a possible amendment to its regulations. The NRC
has initiated this rulemaking to amend Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) part 50.48, ``Fire protection,'' to endorse the
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 805,
``Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water
Reactor Electric Generating Plants 2001 Edition,'' with exceptions, as
a voluntary alternative fire protection requirement for holders of
operating nuclear power plant licenses. In support of this rulemaking
effort, the NRC is seeking public comment on the draft rule language.
DATES: Comments should be submitted within 45 days from the date of
this notice. Any comments received after this date may not be
considered during drafting of the proposed rule. Because of scheduling
considerations in preparing a proposed rule, the NRC staff requests
that stakeholders provide their comments at their earliest convenience
before the end of the comment period, if practicable.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, Mail Stop O-16C1 or deliver
written comments to One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal
workdays.
You may also provide comments via the NRC's interactive rulemaking
Web site through the NRC's home page at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. This
site provides the capability to upload comments as files (any format),
if your web browser supports that function. For information about the
interactive rulemaking web site, contact Ms. Carol Gallagher at (301)
415-5905 or by e-mail to [email protected]. Copies of any comments received
and certain documents related to this rulemaking may be examined at the
NRC Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. The NRC maintains an
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which
provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. These
documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading
Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. If you
do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR)
Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leon E. Whitney, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-3081, e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC's existing fire protection
requirements are derived from General Design Criterion 3, ``Fire
protection,'' of Appendix A to 10 CFR part 50, 10 CFR 50.48, ``Fire
protection,'' and for plants operating before January 1, 1979, certain
provisions of Appendix R to 10 CFR part 50, ``Fire Protection Program
for Nuclear Power Facilities Operating Prior to January 1, 1979.''
Exemptions approved by the staff may apply for individual licensees.
The current (10 CFR 50.48) fire protection requirements were
developed before the staff or industry had the benefit of probabilistic
risk assessments (PRAs) for fires and before there was a significant
body of operating experience. These deterministic fire protection
requirements have been described by industry representatives and some
members of the public as ``prescriptive'' and an ``unnecessary
regulatory burden.'' In the late 1990s, the Commission provided the NRC
staff with guidelines to identify and assess performance-based
approaches to regulation (see SECY-00-0191, and a Commission White
Paper, ``Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Regulation,'' issued as a
Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) to SECY-98-144). This guidance was
in addition to the risk-related guidance in the NRC's Probabilistic
Risk Assessment Policy Statement and Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An
Approach for Using PRA in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific
Changes to the Licensing Basis.''
On January 13, 2001, the National Fire Protection Association
Standards Council issued NFPA 805, 2001 Edition, as a performance-based
American National Standard for light water nuclear power plants. As
stated in Section 1.1 of the standard, ``This standard specifies the
minimum fire protection requirements for existing light water nuclear
power plants during all phases of plant operation, including shutdown,
degraded conditions, and decommissioning.'' The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission staff cooperatively participated in the development of NFPA
805. In the opinion of the NRC staff, with certain exceptions noted in
Sections (c)(2) of the proposed rule revision, NFPA 805 could serve as
a risk-informed, performance-based, voluntary alternative to the fire
protection requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(b) and (f). Therefore, the
staff requested (in SECY-00-009) and received Commission approval for
proceeding with a rulemaking to permit reactor licensees to adopt NFPA
805, as excepted, as a voluntary alternative fire protection licensing
basis for the requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(b) and (f). However,
licensees which choose not to change their fire protection licensing
basis would continue to be subject to the requirements of 10 CFR
50.48(b) and (f) as before.
ALTERNATIVE CONSENSUS STANDARDS: This draft rule revision is consistent
with the requirements of the National Technology Advancement and
Transfer Act of 1995, as the rule revision would endorse an industry
consensus standard, NFPA 805, with exceptions. The NRC is seeking
public comment on the proposed rule revision language. The NRC is also
seeking public comment regarding whether there are consensus standards
other than NFPA 805 that could be considered as
[[Page 65662]]
voluntary alternatives to current fire protection regulations.
This draft rule language is preliminary and may be incomplete in
one or more respects. This draft rule language has been released to
inform stakeholders of the current status of the contemplated 10 CFR
50.48 rule change and to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to
comment on a draft version. Comments received prior to publishing the
proposed rule revision will be considered in the development of the
proposed rule revision. As appropriate, the Statements of Consideration
for the proposed rule will briefly discuss substantive changes made to
the rule language as a result of comments received. Comments may be
provided through the rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov
or by mail as indicated under the ADDRESSES heading. The NRC may post
updates periodically on the rulemaking web site that may be of interest
to stakeholders.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of December 2001.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John N. Hannon,
Chief, Plant Systems Branch, Division of Systems Safety and Analysis,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-31217 Filed 12-19-01; 8:45 am]
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