ML23135A003
| ML23135A003 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/13/2023 |
| From: | Stanley Gardocki NRC/RES/DE/RGDB |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML23123A081 | List: |
| References | |
| NRC-2023-0153 | |
| Download: ML23135A003 (6) | |
Text
[7590-01-P]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50, 52, and 100
[NRC-2023-0153]
Draft Regulatory Guide: General Site Suitability Criteria for N uclear Power
Stations
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.
SUMMARY
- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for pu blic
comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-4034, General Site S uitability Criteria for
Nuclear Power Stations. This DG is a proposed Revision 4 for R egulatory Guide (RG)
4.7 of the same name which describes the major site characteris tics related to public
health and safety and environmental issues that the NRC staff considers in determining
the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear power stations.
DATES: Submit comments by November 17, 2023. Comments received after this date
will be considered if it is prac tical 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; howev er,
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-2023-0153. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov
to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; email: Stacy.Schuma nn@nrc.gov. 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 submittin g comments, see
Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments in the SUPPLEME NTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Belkys Sosa, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3357; email: Belkys.Sosa@nrc.gov and Edward
ODonnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 30 1-415-3317; email:
Edward.Odonnell@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Reg ulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2023-0153 when contacting the NRC about the
availability of information for this action. You may obtain pub licly 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-2023-0153.
- NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAM S Public
Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.ht ml. To begin the
search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems wit h ADAMS, please
contact the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at
301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The DG-4034, General Site
2 Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations is available i n ADAMS under Accession
No. ML23123A090.
- NRCs PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly
available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appoint ment to visit the PDR,
please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-
4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday throu gh 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-
2023-0153 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact info rmation 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 e nter 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 person s 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 dis closed in their comment
submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not rou tinely edit comment
submissions to remove such information before making the commen t 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 NRCs Regul atory Guide
series. This series was developed to describe methods that are acceptable to the NRC
3 staff for implementing specific parts of the agencys regulatio ns, 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.
This DG, entitled General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclea r Power Stations, is
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-4034.
This proposed revision to RG 4.7 implements the Commission appr oved
alternative population-related criteria in SRM-SECY-20-0045, P opulation-Related Siting
Considerations for Advanced Reactors, (ADAMS Accession No. ML22194A885)
through the addition of Appendix A. It provides alternatives to demonstrate compliance
with paragraph 100.21(h) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) in
determining the suitability of sites for commercial nuclear pow er stations to support
licensing for non-light-water reactors (LWRs) and light-water s mall modular reactors with
attributes that could support siting a commercial nuclear power station closer to
population centers than large LWRs typically have been sited. A ppendix A retains the
regulatory requirements in 10 CFR part 100 that call for licens ees to establish an
exclusion area, a low population zone, and a minimum distance t o the nearest densely
populated center containing more than 25,000 residents. In addi tion, Appendix A
introduces a new graded approach where instead of locating a re actor in an area where
the population density does not exceed 500 persons per square m ile out to 20 miles
from the reactor, an applicant can demonstrate compliance with 10 CFR 100.21(h) by
siting a nuclear reactor in a location where the population den sity does not exceed 500
persons per square mile out to a distance equal to twice the di stance at which a
hypothetical individual could rece ive a calculated total effective dose equivalent of 1 rem
over a period of 1 month from the release of radionuclides foll owing postulated
accidents.
4 In addition, proposed Revision 4 restructures RG 4.7 to remove repetition found
in Revision 3 by consolidating materials from the Discussion se ction and the two tables
in Revision 3 of the RG into Section C, Staff Regulatory Guida nce. To improve clarity
and cohesiveness each topic in Section C was structured to list (1) relevant statutes and
regulations, (2) related guidance, and (3) considerations, regu latory experience, and
staff position.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis (ADAMS
Accession No. ML23123A095). The staff developed a regulatory an alysis to assess the
value of issuing or revising a regulatory guide as well as alte rnative 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 1 CFR chapter I.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of this DG does 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 R equests, would not affect
the issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52; and would not constitute
forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4.
If finalized, this regulatory guide will not apply to any const ruction permits,
operating licenses, early site permits, limited work authorizat ions issued under 10 CFR
50.10, or combined licenses, for which the NRC issued a final e nvironmental impact
statement (EIS) preceded by a draft EIS under 10 CFR 51.76 or 5 1.75, any of which
were issued by the NRC prior to issuance of the final regulator y guide. The NRC has
already completed its siting determination for those constructi on permits, operating
licenses, early site permits, limited work authorizations, and combined licenses.
5 Therefore, no further NRC regulatory action on siting will occu r for those licenses,
permits, and authorizations, for which the guidance in the regu latory guide would be
relevant.
The methods described in this proposed RG will be used in evalu ating
applications for construction permits, early site permits, comb ined operating licenses and
limited work authorizations, which includes information under 1 0 CFR 51.49(b) or (f),
with respect to compliance with applicable regulations governin g the siting of new
nuclear power plants and testing facilities, unless the applica nt proposes an acceptable
alternative method for complying with those regulations. Method s that differ from those
described in this proposed RG may be deemed acceptable if the a pplicant provides
sufficient basis and information for the NRC staff to verify th at the proposed alternative
complies with the applicable NRC regulations.
IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guide s
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 NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/re ading-rm/doc-
collections/reg-guides/contactus.html. Suggestions will be cons idered in future updates
and enhancements to the Regulatory Guide series.
Dated: October 13, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
/RA/
Stanley J. Gardocki, Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
6