ML21196A096

Rulemaking: Final Rule: Regulatory Analysis American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code Cases RG 1.84, Rev 39; RG 1.147, Rev 20; and RG 1.192, Rev 4

ML21196A096
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Issue date:	03/02/2022
From:	Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
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Barillas, Martha
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ML21194A054	List: ML21194A128 ML21196A096 ML21196A100
References
NRC-2017-0025, RIN 3150-AJ94
Download: ML21196A096 (54)

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Regulatory Analysis for the Final Rule:

Approval of American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code Cases NRC-2017-0025; RIN 3150-AJ94 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support March 2022

Abstract This final rule recommends approval, through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC) regulations, of the latest revisions to the NRC regulatory guides (RGs) listing American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Cases for the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants, Division 1, OM Code:

Section IST. These are Code Cases that the NRC finds acceptable or acceptable with NRC-specified conditions (conditionally acceptable). The NRC is issuing three RG revisions that identify the ASME Code Cases approved by the NRC:

(1) RG 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 39, which would supersede the incorporation by reference of RG 1.84, Revision 38, issued October 2019 (2) RG 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 20, which would supersede the incorporation by reference of RG 1.147, Revision 19, issued October 2019 (3) RG 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 4, which would supersede the incorporation by reference of RG 1.192, Revision 3, issued October 2019 This regulatory action also is incorporating by reference NUREG-2228, Weld Residual Stress Finite Element Analysis Validation: Part IIProposed Validation Procedure, that is associated with a condition in one of the regulatory guides. NUREG-2228 provides the procedure for validating the weld residual stress analysis methodology associated with ASME Code Case N-847.

This document presents the regulatory analysis of the final rule for the three RGs that list the Code Cases the NRC is approving. To improve the credibility of its cost estimates for this regulatory action, the staff conducted (1) an uncertainty analysis to consider the effects of input uncertainty on the cost estimate and (2) a sensitivity analysis to identify the variables that most affect the cost estimate (i.e., the cost drivers).

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Contents Section Page Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ ix List of Figures ..............................................................................................................................xii List of Tables................................................................................................................................xii Abbreviations and Acronyms ...................................................................................................... xiii Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................xiv

1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1

2. Statement of the Problem and Objective .......................................................................... 1 2.1 Background ........................................................................................................... 1 2.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 2 2.3 Objective ............................................................................................................... 3

3. Identification and Preliminary Analysis of Alternative Approaches.................................... 3 3.1 Alternative 1: No Action ........................................................................................ 4 3.2 Alternative 2: Incorporate by Reference NRC-Approved ASME BPV and OM Code Cases .................................................................................................... 4

4. Estimation and Evaluation of Costs and Benefits ............................................................. 5 4.1 Identification of Affected Attributes ........................................................................ 5 4.2 Analytical Methodology ......................................................................................... 7 4.2.1 Regulatory Baseline ................................................................................. 8 4.2.2 Affected Entities ....................................................................................... 8 4.2.3 Base Year ................................................................................................ 8 4.2.4 Discount Rates ......................................................................................... 8 4.2.5 Cost and Benefit Inflators ......................................................................... 9 4.2.6 Labor Rates .............................................................................................. 9 4.2.7 Sign Conventions ................................................................................... 11 4.2.8 Analysis Horizon .................................................................................... 11 4.2.9 Cost Estimation ...................................................................................... 11 4.2.10 NRC Code Cases Incorporated by Reference ....................................... 12 4.3 Data ..................................................................................................................... 20 5 Results ............................................................................................................................ 20 5.1 Public Health (Accident) ...................................................................................... 21 5.2 Occupational Health (Accident and Routine)....................................................... 21 5.3 Industry Operation ............................................................................................... 22 5.4 Total Industry Costs ............................................................................................ 23 5.5 NRC Implementation ........................................................................................... 24 5.6 NRC Operation .................................................................................................... 24 5.7 Total NRC Costs ................................................................................................. 25 5.8 Total Costs .......................................................................................................... 25 5.9 Improvements in Knowledge ............................................................................... 26 5.10 Regulatory Efficiency ........................................................................................... 26 5.11 Other Considerations .......................................................................................... 26 x

5.11.1 National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 ............... 26 5.11.2 Continued NRC Practice of Incorporation by Reference of ASME Code Editions and Addenda into the Code of Federal Regulations ................ 27 5.12 Uncertainty Analysis ............................................................................................ 27 5.12.1 Uncertainty Analysis Assumptions ......................................................... 27 5.12.2 Uncertainty Analysis Results .................................................................. 28 5.12.3 Summary of Uncertainty Analysis .......................................................... 31 5.13 Disaggregation .................................................................................................... 31 5.14 Summary ............................................................................................................. 32 5.14.1 Quantified Net Benefit ............................................................................ 32 5.14.2 Nonquantified Benefits ........................................................................... 32 5.14.3 Nonquantified Costs ............................................................................... 34 5.15 Safety Goal Evaluation ........................................................................................ 34 5.15.1 Section A: Incorporation by Reference of Later Editions and Addenda of Section III, Division 1, of the ASME BPV Code ...................................... 35 5.15.2 Section B: Incorporation by Reference of Later Editions and Addenda of Section XI, Division 1, of the ASME BPV and OM Codes ...................... 35 5.15.3 Other Circumstances in Which the NRC Does Not Apply the Backfit Rule to the Endorsement of a Later Code ...................................................... 35 5.15.4 Safety Goal Evaluation Result ............................................................... 36 5.16 Results for the Committee to Review Generic Requirements ............................. 36 6 Decision Rationale .......................................................................................................... 37 7 Implementation Schedule ................................................................................................ 40 8 References ...................................................................................................................... 41 Appendix A Major Assumptions and Input Data ...................................................................... A-1 xi

List of Figures Figure Page Figure 1 Net Industry Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 ..................................................... 29 Figure 2 Net NRC Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 .......................................................... 29 Figure 3 Net Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 .................................................................. 30 Figure 4 Top 10 Cost Drivers For Which Uncertainty Impacts The Net Costs (7-percent NPV)

Alternative 2 ................................................................................................................................ 31 List of Tables Table Page Table 1 CPI-U Inflator .................................................................................................................. 9 Table 2 Position Titles and Occupations .................................................................................... 10 Table 3 Conditioned Code Cases Under Consideration ............................................................ 13 Table 4 Industry OperationAverted Costs for Requests ......................................................... 23 Table 5 Net Industry Costs ........................................................................................................ 24 Table 6 NRC Operation CostsAverted Cost for Requests ..................................................... 25 Table 7 Net NRC Costs ............................................................................................................. 25 Table 8 Net Costs ...................................................................................................................... 26 Table 9 Uncertainty Analysis Variables ..................................................................................... 28 Table 10 Descriptive Statistics for Uncertainty Results (7-Percent NPV) .................................. 30 Table 11 Disaggregation ............................................................................................................ 32 Table 12 Specific CRGR Information Requirements for Regulatory Analysis ........................... 36 Table 13 Summary of Costs and Benefits ................................................................................. 37 xii

Abbreviations and Acronyms ADAMS Agencywide Documents Access and Management System ANII Authorized Nuclear Inservice Inspector ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASME Codes ASME BPV and OM Codes BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics BPV Boiler and Pressure Vessel BPV Code ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code BWR boiling-water reactor CFR Code of Federal Regulations CPI-U Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers CRGR Committee to Review Generic Requirements dpa displacement(s) per atom EWR excavation and weld repair FR Federal Register ISI inservice inspection IST inservice testing ksi one thousand pounds per square inch LOE level of effort NPV net present value NRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NTTAA National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 NUREG NRC technical report OM operation and maintenance OM Code ASME Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants Division 1, OM Code: Section IST OMB U.S. Office of Management and Budget PERT program evaluation and review technique RG regulatory guide xiii

Executive Summary The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest revisions to three NRC regulatory guides (RGs) approving new, revised, and reaffirmed Code Cases published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The NRC is incorporating by reference the following three RGs:

(1) RG 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 39 (2) RG 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 20 (3) RG 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 4 This regulatory action also is incorporating by reference NUREG-2228, Weld Residual Stress Finite Element Analysis Validation: Part IIProposed Validation Procedure, that is associated with a condition in one of the regulatory guides. NUREG-2228 provides the procedure for validating the weld residual stress analysis methodology associated with ASME Code Case N-847.

This regulatory action allows nuclear power plant licensees and applicants for construction permits, operating licenses, combined licenses, standard design certifications, standard design approvals, and manufacturing licenses to voluntarily use the ASME Code Cases newly listed in these RGs as alternatives to engineering standards for the construction, inservice inspection, and inservice testing of nuclear power plant components.

The analysis presented in this document examines the averted costs (i.e., benefits) and costs of the final rule and implementing guidance relative to the baseline case (i.e., the no-action alternative).

The NRC staff has made the following key findings:

• Final Rule Analysis. The final rule would result in a cost-justified change based on a net averted cost (benefit) to the industry that ranges from $3.92 million using a 7-percent discount rate (net present value (NPV)) to $4.45 million using a 3-percent discount rate.

Compared to the regulatory baseline, the NRC would realize a net averted cost (i.e., benefit) that ranges from $1.94 million using a 7-percent discount rate to

$2.22 million using a 3-percent discount rate. Table ES-1 shows the net costs and benefits to the industry and the NRC of the final rule. The final rule alternative would result in net averted costs to the industry and the NRC ranging from $5.86 million using a 7-percent discount rate to $6.67 million using a 3-percent discount rate.

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Table ES-1 Net Costs and Benefits for Alternative 2 Attribute Costs Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Net Industry Costs: $0 $0 $0 Net NRC Costs: $0 $0 $0 Attribute Benefits Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Net Industry Benefits: $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 Net NRC Benefits: $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 Attribute Net Benefits (Costs)

Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Net Industry: $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 Net NRC: $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 Net: $7,380,000 $5,860,000 $6,670,000

• Nonquantified Benefits. Other benefits of the final rule include the NRCs continued ability to meet its goal of ensuring the protection of public health and safety and the environment through the approval of revised and new code cases of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and ASME Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants, Division 1, OM Code: Section IST, which allow the use of the most current methods and technology. The final rule is consistent with the provisions of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 and implementing guidance in U.S. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities, dated January 27, 2016 (OMB, 2016), which encourage Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry. Finally, the ASME code consensus process is an important part of the regulatory framework.

• Uncertainty Analysis. The regulatory analysis describes a Monte Carlo simulation that shows the mean net benefit for this final rule is $5.86 million, with a greater than 99-percent confidence that the rule is net cost beneficial. A reasonable inference from the uncertainty analysis is that proceeding with the final rule represents an efficient use of resources and averted costs to the NRC and the industry because the minimum calculated uncertainty result is a positive value. The hours for relief and alternative request preparation and submission by the industry is the factor responsible for the largest variation in averted costs.

• Decision Rationale. When comparing the final rule to the no-action baseline, the staff concludes that the final rule is justified from a quantitative standpoint because its provisions would result in $5.86 million of net averted costs (i.e., net benefits) to the xv

NRC and the industry. In addition, the staff concludes that the final rule is justified when considering nonquantified costs and benefits, because the significance of the nonquantified benefits outweighs those of the nonquantified costs.

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1. Introduction This document presents the regulatory analysis of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC) final rule for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Cases (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML21196A096) and the following three associated regulatory guides (RGs):

• RG 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 39 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A225)

• RG 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 20 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A222)

• RG 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 4 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A223)

With this regulatory action, the NRC is incorporating by reference the latest revisions to the three RGs listed above, thereby approving the newly identified ASME Code Cases. This regulatory action also is incorporating by reference NUREG-2228, Weld Residual Stress Finite Element Analysis Validation: Part IIProposed Validation Procedure, that is associated with a condition in one of the regulatory guides. NUREG-2228 provides the procedure for validating the weld residual stress analysis methodology associated with ASME Code Case N-847.

2. Statement of the Problem and Objective

2.1 Background

ASME develops and publishes its Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code, which contains requirements for the design, construction, and inservice inspection (ISI) examination of nuclear power plant components, and its Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants, Division 1, OM Code: Section IST (OM Code),1 which contains requirements for inservice testing (IST) of nuclear power plant components. In response to BPV and OM Code user requests, ASME develops Code Cases that provide voluntary alternatives to BPV and OM Code requirements under special circumstances.

The NRC approves the ASME BPV and OM Codes in Section 50.55a of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Codes and standards, through the process of incorporation by reference. As such, each provision of the ASME Codes incorporated by reference into and mandated by 10 CFR 50.55a constitutes a legally binding NRC requirement imposed by rule.

As noted previously, ASME Code Cases mostly represent alternative approaches for complying 1 The editions and addenda of the ASME Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants have had different titles from 2005 to 2017 and are referred to collectively in this rule as the OM Code.

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with provisions of the ASME BPV and OM Codes. Accordingly, the NRC periodically amends 10 CFR 50.55a to incorporate by reference the NRC RGs listing approved ASME Code Cases that may be used as voluntary alternatives to the ASME BPV and OM Codes.

This final rule is the latest in a series of rules that incorporate by reference new versions of several RGs identifying new, revised, and reaffirmed2 and unconditionally or conditionally acceptable ASME Code Cases that the NRC approves for use. In developing these RGs, the staff reviews ASME BPV and OM Code Cases, determines the acceptability of each Code Case, and publishes its findings in the RGs. The staff revises the RGs periodically as ASME publishes new Code Cases. The NRC incorporates by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a the RGs listing acceptable and conditionally acceptable ASME Code Cases. The NRC published a final rule (85 FR 14736; March 16, 2020) that incorporated by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a the most recent versions of RG 1.84, Revision 38 (NRC, 2019a); RG 1.147, Revision 19 (NRC, 2019b); and RG 1.192, Revision 3 (NRC, 2019c), all issued October 2019.

2.2 Statement of the Problem ASME may revise Code Cases for many reasons, such as incorporating operational examination and testing experience or updating material requirements based on research results. On occasion, an inaccuracy in an equation is discovered, or an examination as practiced is found to be inadequate in detecting a newly discovered degradation mechanism.

Therefore, it follows that, when a licensee initially implements a Code Case, 10 CFR 50.55a requires it to use the most recent version of that Code Case as listed in the approved or conditionally approved tables in 10 CFR 50.55a. A request to use a previous Code Case could be submitted and approved as an alternative under 10 CFR 50.55a(z); the NRC evaluates such requests on a case-by-case basis.

ASME BPV Code Section III applies only to new construction (i.e., the edition and addenda to be used in the construction of a plant are selected based on the date of the construction permit, and licensees are not required to later update their Section III code of record). If a licensee implements an ASME BPV Code Section III Code Case and if the NRC incorporates by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a a later version of the Code Case, that licensee may use either version of the Code Case.

Licensee programs under ASME BPV Code Section XI ISI and ASME OM Code IST are updated every 10 years to the latest edition3 and addenda of ASME BPV Code Section XI and 2 ASME categorizes Code Cases as one of three types: new, revised, or reaffirmed. A new Code Case provides a new alternative to specific ASME code provisions or addresses a new need. ASME defines a revised Code Case to be a revision (modification) to an existing Code Case to address, for example, technological advancements in examination techniques or to address NRC conditions imposed in one of the RGs that have been incorporated by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a. ASME defines reaffirmed as a Code Case that does not have any change to technical content but includes editorial changes.

3 See SRM-SECY-21-0029, Rulemaking Plan on Relaxation of Inservice Testing and Inservice Inspection Program Update Frequencies Required in 10 CFR 50.55a, dated November 8, 2021 (ADAMS Accession 2

OM Code that were incorporated by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a and in effect 18 months before the start of the next inspection interval. Licensees that were using an earlier revision of a Code Case before the effective date of the NRCs final rule incorporating its revision may continue to use the previous version for the remainder of the 120-month ISI or IST interval. This relieves licensees of the costs of having to update their ISI or IST program each time the NRC incorporates a revised Code Case. In their subsequent ISI or IST interval, licensees code of record updates must also update any Code Cases they chose to use or apply for a Code Case request under 10 CFR 50.55a(z).

2.3 Objective The objective of this regulatory action is to incorporate by reference the latest revisions to three RGs that list Code Cases published by ASME and approved by the NRC:

(1) RG 1.84, Revision 39 (2) RG 1.147, Revision 20 (3) RG 1.192, Revision 4 These revisions supersede the incorporation by reference of RG 1.84, Revision 38 (NRC, 2019a); RG 1.147, Revision 19 (NRC, 2019b); and RG 1.192, Revision 3 (NRC, 2019c). This regulatory action also is incorporating by reference NUREG-2228, which provides the procedure for validating the weld residual stress analysis methodology associated with ASME Code Case N-847. This regulatory action (1) improves the effectiveness of future licensing actions, (2) is consistent with the provisions of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA) that encourage Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry, and (3) is consistent with the agency policy of evaluating the latest version of consensus standards already approved by the NRC in terms of their suitability for endorsement by regulation or RG.

3. Identification and Preliminary Analysis of Alternative Approaches The NRC has identified two alternatives to this action:

(1) Alternative 1: Take no action (i.e., status quo, regulatory baseline).

(2) Alternative 2: Through rulemaking, incorporate by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a the NRC-approved ASME BPV Code Cases in RG 1.84, Revision 39, and RG 1.147, Revision 20, the ASME OM Code Cases in RG 1.192, Revision 4, and NUREG-2228.

No. ML21312A490), for recent Commission direction regarding rulemaking to change the requirements for code of record updates.

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3.1 Alternative 1: No Action The no-action alternative (status quo, regulatory baseline) is a nonrulemaking alternative. The no-action alternative would not revise the NRCs regulations to incorporate by reference the latest revisions to these three RGs and would not make conforming changes to 10 CFR 50.55a to comply with guidance from the Office of the Federal Register for incorporating by reference multiple standards into regulations. The no-action alternative would likely result in licensees and applicants requesting and receiving NRC approval under 10 CFR 50.55a(z) to use alternatives each time they want to use these ASME Code Cases. The NRC does not recommend this alternative for the following reasons:

• Licensees and applicants would continue to submit requests for alternatives to apply Code Cases under 10 CFR 50.55a(z) because the NRC has not approved those Code Cases in the RGs and has not incorporated them by reference in 10 CFR 50.55a. This process would continue to impose a regulatory cost on licensees, applicants, and the NRC.

• Public confidence in the NRC as an effective regulator may be reduced because ASME periodically publishes, revises, and annuls its Code Cases. Under Alternative 1, outdated material and possibly inaccurate information would remain incorporated by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations.

• This alternative does not meet the intent of the NTTAA, which encourages Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to their de novo development of standards affecting an industry.

3.2 Alternative 2: Incorporate by Reference NRC-Approved ASME BPV and OM Code Cases Alternative 2 would incorporate by reference the latest revisions to the RGs listing ASME Code Cases that are newly approved by the NRC. It would allow licensees and applicants to implement these ASME Code Cases and their conditions and modifications, if any, without seeking prior NRC approval. This alternative continues the agencys use of periodic rulemakings to incorporate by reference in 10 CFR 50.55a the latest RGs that list NRC approved alternatives to the provisions of the ASME BPV and OM Codes.

The NRC recommends the rulemaking alternative for the following reasons:

• This alternative reduces the regulatory cost on applicants or holders of licenses for nuclear power plants by eliminating the need to submit plant-specific requests for alternatives in accordance with 10 CFR 50.55a(z), and it reduces the need for the NRC to review those submittals.

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• This alternative meets the NRCs goal of ensuring the protection of public health and safety and the environment by continuing to provide NRC approval of new, revised, or reaffirmed ASME Code Cases, which would allow the use of the most current methods and technology.

• This alternative supports the NRCs goal of maintaining an open regulatory process by informing the public about the process and by giving the public the opportunity to participate in it.

• This alternative supports the NRCs commitment to participating in the national consensus standard process through the approval of these ASME Code Cases, and it conforms to NTTAA requirements.

• This alternative is quantitatively cost beneficial. Section 5 of this analysis discusses the costs and benefits of this alternative relative to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1).

4. Estimation and Evaluation of Costs and Benefits This section presents the process for evaluating the costs and benefits expected to result from Alternative 2 compared to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1). All costs and benefits are monetized when possible. The net costs and benefits are then summed to determine whether the difference between the costs and benefits results in a positive benefit. In some cases, costs and benefits are not monetized because meaningful quantification is not possible.

4.1 Identification of Affected Attributes This section identifies the components of the public and private sectors, commonly referred to as attributes, that the NRC staff expects to be affected by Alternative 2 (the rulemaking alternative identified in Section 3.2). Alternative 2 would apply to licensees and applicants for nuclear power plants and nuclear power plant design certifications. The NRC believes that nuclear power plant licensees would be the primary beneficiaries. The staff developed an inventory of the affected attributes using the list in NUREG/BR-0058, Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, draft Revision 5, issued January 2020 (NRC, 2020a).

The rule would affect the following attributes:

• Public Health (Accident). This attribute accounts for expected changes in radiation exposure to the public caused by changes in accident frequencies or accident consequences associated with Alternative 2 (i.e., delta risk relative to Alternative 1).

Compared to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1), Alternative 2 meets the NRCs goal of ensuring the protection of public health and safety and the environment by continuing to approve new ASME Code Cases that allow the use of the most current methods and 5

technology and that may decrease the likelihood of an accident and, therefore, decrease the overall risk to public health.

• Occupational Health (Accident). This attribute measures immediate and longterm health effects experienced by site workers because of changes in accident frequency or consequences associated with Alternative 2 (i.e., delta risk). A decrease in worker radiological exposure is a decrease in risk (i.e., a benefit); an increase in worker exposures is an increase in risk (i.e., a negative benefit). The use of ASME Code Cases may decrease the incremental risk to occupational health following an accident, but this effect is not easily quantifiable. For example, advances in ISI and IST may lead to an incremental decrease in the frequency of an accident, resulting in averted worker postaccident radiological exposure when compared to the regulatory baseline.

• Occupational Health (Routine). This attribute accounts for radiological exposures to workers during normal facility operations (i.e., nonaccident situations). The staff expects that licensees voluntary use of NRC-approved Code Cases would reduce occupational radiation exposure in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. For example, the staff expects that the use of the approved Code Cases would reduce worker radiological exposures during routine inspections or testing when compared to the regulatory baseline.

• NRC Implementation. This attribute accounts for the projected net economic effect on the NRC to place the alternative into operation. To implement Alternative 2, the NRC incurs a cost in relation to Alternative 1 (i.e., regulatory baseline) for developing the proposed and final rule and updating corresponding guidance in RG 1.84, RG 1.147, and RG 1.192. These costs are sunk at the end of the final rule stage, which is when this regulatory analysis is published.

• Industry Operation. This attribute accounts for the projected net economic effect on all affected licensees caused by routine and recurring activities required by Alternative 2.

Under Alternative 2, licensees of nuclear power plants would submit fewer Code Case requests under 10 CFR 50.55a(z), which would provide a net benefit (i.e., averted cost) to the licensees.

• NRC Operation. This attribute accounts for the projected net economic effect on the NRC after the action is taken. If a licensee or applicant wants to use an ASME Code Case that the NRC has not approved, it will typically request, under 10 CFR 50.55a(z),

permission to use the ASME Code Case through a submittal. This submittal requires additional NRC staff time to evaluate the Code Case to determine its acceptability and whether any limitations or modifications should apply. Under Alternative 2, these Code Case alternative requests would be reduced, resulting in a net benefit (i.e., averted cost) to the NRC.

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• Improvements in Knowledge. This attribute accounts for improvements in knowledge by permitting licensees to use advances in ISI and IST. Such advances may also result in the earlier identification of material or equipment degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation that could eventually lead to a plant transient or the unavailability of plant equipment to respond to a plant transient.

• Regulatory Efficiency. This attribute accounts for regulatory and compliance improvements resulting from the implementation of Alternative 2 compared to Alternative 1. Alternative 2 would increase regulatory efficiency because licensees and applicants that wish to use NRCapproved ASME Code Cases would not require 10 CFR 50.55a(z) alternative requests. Further, Alternative 2 is consistent with NTTAA provisions that encourage Federal agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to their de novo development of standards affecting an industry. Alternative 2 is consistent with the NRCs policy of evaluating the latest version of consensus standards in terms of their suitability for endorsement by regulations and RGs. In addition, Alternative 2 is consistent with the NRCs goal to harmonize its regulations with international standards to improve regulatory efficiency for both the NRC and international standards groups.

• Attributes with No Effects. Attributes that are not expected to contribute to the results under either of the alternatives include industry implementation; public health (routine);

offsite property; onsite property; other government, general public, safeguards, and security considerations; and environmental considerations addressing Section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

4.2 Analytical Methodology This section describes the process used to evaluate costs and benefits associated with the alternatives. The benefits include any desirable changes in affected attributes (e.g., monetary savings, improved safety, improved security). The costs include any undesirable changes in affected attributes (e.g., monetary costs, increased exposures).

Of the eight affected attributes, the analysis quantitatively evaluates three: industry operation, NRC implementation, and NRC operation. Quantitative analysis requires a baseline characterization of the affected society, including factors such as the number of affected entities, the nature of the activities currently performed, and the types of systems and procedures that licensees or applicants would implement, or would no longer implement, because of the alternatives. Where possible, the staff calculated costs for these three attributes using three-point estimates to quantify uncertainty. The detailed cost tables used in this regulatory analysis are included in the individual sections for each of the provisions. The staff evaluated the remaining five attributes qualitatively because the benefits relating to consistent policy application and improvements in ISI and IST techniques are not easily quantifiable or because the data necessary to quantify and monetize the impacts on these attributes are not available.

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The staff documents its assumptions throughout this regulatory analysis. For reader convenience, Appendix A summarizes the major assumptions and input data used in this analysis.

4.2.1 Regulatory Baseline This regulatory analysis provides the incremental impacts of the final rule relative to a baseline that reflects anticipated behavior if the NRC does not undertake regulatory or nonregulatory action. The regulatory baseline assumes full compliance with existing NRC requirements, including current regulations and relevant orders. This is consistent with NUREG/BR-0058 (NRC, 2020a), which states that in evaluating a new requirementthe staff should assume that all existing NRC and Agreement State requirements have been implemented. Section 5 of this regulatory analysis presents the estimated incremental costs and benefits of Alternative 2 compared to this baseline, the no-action alternative (i.e., Alternative 1).

4.2.2 Affected Entities This final rule will affect all operating light-water nuclear power plants. The analysis considers 52 plant sites containing one or more operating U.S. light-water nuclear power reactor units in 2022, decreasing to 51 sites in 2025-2027.

4.2.3 Base Year All monetized costs are expressed in 2021 dollars. Ongoing costs of operation related to Alternative 2 are assumed to begin no earlier than 30 days after publication of the final rule in the Code of Federal Regulations unless otherwise stated, and they are modeled on an annual cost basis. All NRC implementation costs are now sunk costs at this stage of rulemaking.

Estimates are made for recurring annual operating expenses. The values for annual operating expenses are modeled as a constant expense for each year of the analysis horizon. The staff performed a discounted cash flow calculation to discount these annual expenses to 2021 dollar values.

4.2.4 Discount Rates In accordance with guidance from U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-4, Regulatory Analysis, issued September 2003 (OMB, 2003), and NUREG/BR-0058, draft Revision 5 (NRC, 2020a), the staff used net present value (NPV) calculations to determine how much society would need to invest today to ensure that the designated dollar amount is available in a given year in the future. By using NPVs, the staff can value costs and benefits to a reference year for comparison, regardless of when the cost or benefit is incurred. The choice of a discount rate and its associated conceptual basis is a topic of ongoing discussion within the Federal government. Based on OMB Circular A-4 and consistent with NRC past practice and guidance, present-worth calculations in this analysis use 3-percent and 7-percent real discount 8

rates. A 3-percent discount rate approximates the real rate of return on long-term government debt, which serves as a proxy for the real rate of return on savings to reflect reliance on a social rate of time preference discounting concept.4 A 7-percent discount rate approximates the marginal pretax real rate of return on an average investment in the private sector; it is the appropriate discount rate whenever the main effect of a regulation is to displace or alter the use of capital in the private sector. A 7-percent rate is consistent with an opportunity cost5 of capital concept to reflect the time value of resources directed to meet regulatory requirements.

4.2.5 Cost and Benefit Inflators The staff estimated the analysis inputs for some attributes based on the values published in NUREG/BR-0058 (NRC, 2020a) or other sources as referenced, which are provided in prior-year dollars. To evaluate the costs and benefits consistently, these inputs are converted into base-year dollars. The most common inflator is the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPIU), developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Using the CPI-U, the prior-year dollars are converted to 2021 base-year dollars. The following formula is used to determine the amount in 2021 base-year dollars from 2020:

=

Table 1 summarizes the values of CPI-U used in this regulatory analysis.

Table 1 CPI-U Inflator CPI-U Annual Actual/Forecast Percent Base Year Average a Change from Previous Year 2020 258.811 2021 265.114 b 2.44%

a Statistics from BLS, Archived Consumer Price Index Supplemental Files: Historical CPI-U, May 2021 (BLS, 2021b).

b The average CPI-U value for January 2021 through May 2021.

4.2.6 Labor Rates For the purposes of this regulatory analysis, the staff applied strict incremental cost principles to develop labor rates that include only labor and material costs that are directly related to the 4 The social rate of time preference discounting concept refers to the rate at which society is willing to postpone a marginal unit of current consumption in exchange for more future consumption.

5 Opportunity cost represents what is foregone by undertaking a given action. If the licensee personnel were not engaged in revising procedures, they would be occupied by other work activities. Throughout the analysis, the NRC estimates the opportunity cost of performing these incremental tasks as the industry personnels pay for the designated unit of time.

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implementation, operation, and maintenance of the final rule requirements. This approach is consistent with the guidance in NUREG/CR-3568, A Handbook for Value-Impact Assessment, issued December 1983 (NRC, 1983), and general cost-benefit methodology. The NRC incremental labor rate is $137 per hour.6 The staff used the 2020 BLS Occupational Employment and Wages data (https://www.bls.gov),

which provided labor categories and the mean hourly wage rate by job type. The staff used the inflator discussed in Section 4.2.5 to inflate these labor rate data to 2021 dollars. The labor rates used in the analysis reflect net hourly compensation, which includes wages and nonwage benefits (using a burden factor of 2.4, applicable for contract labor and conservative for regular utility employees). The staff used the BLS data tables to select appropriate hourly labor rates for performing the estimated procedural, licensing, and utility-related work necessary during and after implementation of the alternative. In establishing this labor rate, wages paid to the individuals performing the work plus the associated fringe benefit component of labor cost (i.e., the time for plant management exceeding those directly expensed) are considered incremental expenses and are included. Table 2 summarizes the BLS labor categories the staff used to estimate industry labor costs to implement this final rule, and Appendix A lists the industry labor rates used in the analysis. The staff performed an uncertainty analysis, which is discussed in Section 5.12.

Table 2 Position Titles and Occupations Position Title (in this Regulatory Standard Occupational Classification Code Analysis)

Top Executives (11-1000)

Chief Executives (11-1011)

General and Operations Managers (11-1021)

Managers Industrial Production Managers (11-3051)

First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics Installers and Repairers (49-1011)

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (51-1011)

Nuclear Engineers (17-2161)

Physicists (19-2012)

Technical Staff Nuclear Technicians (19-4051)

Industrial Machinery Mechanics (49-9041)

Nuclear Power Reactor Operators (51-8011)

Office and Administrative Support Occupations (43-0000)

Administrative Staff First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers (43-1011)

Office Clerks, General (43-9061)

Lawyers (23-1011)

Licensing Staff Paralegals and Legal Assistants (23-2011) 6 The NRC labor rates presented here differ from those developed under the NRCs license fee recovery program (10 CFR Part 170, Fees for facilities, materials, import and export licenses, and other regulatory services under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended). NRC labor rates for fee recovery purposes are appropriately designed for full-cost recovery of the services rendered and thus include nonincremental costs (e.g., overhead, administrative, and logistical support costs).

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Source: BLS, Standard Occupational Classification (BLS, 2021a) 4.2.7 Sign Conventions The sign conventions used in this analysis are that all favorable consequences for Alternative 2 are positive and all adverse consequences are negative. Negative values are shown using parentheses (e.g., negative $500 is displayed as ($500)).

4.2.8 Analysis Horizon The staff analyzed the ASME Code Cases that are (1) acceptable without conditions or (2) acceptable with conditions. The ASME Code Cases are in effect for a span of 3 years, renewable once for 3 additional years, for a total of 6 years.

4.2.9 Cost Estimation To estimate the costs associated with the evaluated alternatives, the staff used a work breakdown approach to deconstruct each requirement down to its mandated activities. For each required activity, the NRC further subdivided the work across labor categories (i.e., executives, managers, technical staff, administrative staff, and licensing staff). The staff estimated the required level of effort (LOE) for each required activity and used a blended labor rate to develop bottom up cost estimates.

The staff gathered data from several sources and consulted ASME Code working group members to develop LOE and unit cost estimates. The staff applied several cost estimation methods in this analysis and used its collective professional knowledge and judgment to estimate many of the costs and benefits. Additionally, the staff used a buildup method, solicitation of licensee input, and extrapolation techniques to estimate costs and benefits.

The staff began by estimating the cost of some activities using the engineering buildup method, which combines the incremental costs of an activity from the bottom up to establish a net cost.

For this step, the NRC reviewed previous license submittals, determined the number of pages in each section, and then used these data to develop preliminary LOEs.

The staff consulted subject matter experts within and outside the agency to develop most of the LOE estimates used in the analysis. For example, to estimate licensee costs and averted costs (benefits) related to the NRC conditions on the ASME codes in the final rule, the staff consulted licensees for information on the associated LOE. The staff contributed to the estimation of LOE for review-related activities.

The staff extrapolated to estimate the cost of some activities, relying on actual past or current costs to estimate the future cost of similar activities. For example, to calculate the estimated averted costs of Code Case alternative requests and the costs for preparation of the final rule and accompanying regulatory guidance, the staff used data from past projects to determine the 11

labor categories of the staff who would perform the work and to estimate the amount of time required under each category to complete the work. If data were not available, the staff estimated the LOE based on similar steps in the process for which data were available.

To evaluate the effect of uncertainty in the model, the staff employed a Monte Carlo simulation, which is an approach to uncertainty analysis in which input variables are expressed as distributions. The simulation was run 10,000 times, and values were chosen at random from the distributions of the input variables provided in Table 9. The result was a distribution of values for the output variable of interest. Monte Carlo simulation also enables users to determine the input variables that have the greatest effect on the value of the output variable. Section 5.12 gives a detailed description of the Monte Carlo simulation methods and presents the results.

4.2.10 NRC Code Cases Incorporated by Reference When the NRC incorporates by reference Code Cases unconditionally, the licensees do not need to submit alternative requests to use these Code Cases. The lack of alternative requests for these Code Cases presents a cost savings to the industry and the NRC. Table 1 of RG 1.147, RG 1.84, and RG 1.192 includes the ASME Code Cases, both new and revised, that the final rule would incorporate by reference.

When the NRC incorporates by reference Code Cases with conditions, licensees may incur an additional regulatory cost to meet the conditioned Code Cases (i.e., Code Cases with new conditions as a result of this final rule). The conditions would specify (for each applicable Code Case) the additional activities that must be performed, the limits on the activities specified in the Code Case, and the supplemental information needed to provide clarity. Table 2 of RG 1.147, RG 1.84, and RG 1.192 includes these ASME Code Cases, both new and revised, that the final rule would incorporate by reference. The final rule and the RGs discuss the NRCs evaluation of the Code Cases and the reasons for the agencys conditions. The conditioned Code Cases can possibly place an additional resource cost on licensees under the affected attribute of industry operation. However, licensees would not need to submit alternative requests to use the conditioned Code Cases. The lack of alternative requests for these conditioned Code Cases presents a cost savings to the industry and the NRC. Table 3 lists the conditions on the Code Cases that this final rule would add, modify, or remove and indicates whether the conditions present an additional resource cost on the industry.

The NRC is including approved Code Cases in this update of the RGs whether or not licensees are likely to use the Code Cases. The incorporation by reference of Code Cases provides the industry flexibility to use certain Code Case methodologies without NRC approval or alternative requests. Any Code Case the staff does not expect the industry to use is estimated as having negligible costs and benefits.

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Table 3 Conditioned Code Cases Under Consideration Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number RG 1.84 N-71-20 The conditions on Code Case N-71-20 are All of these conditions are effectively the same as the conditions on N-71-19 effectively identical to the that the NRC approved in Revision 38 of conditions in the previous RG 1.84. When ASME revised N-71, it did not version of the Code Case.

modify the Code Case in a way that would make Therefore, no incremental it possible for the NRC to remove the conditions. resources are needed for Therefore, Revision 39 of RG 1.84 would retain any licensee that uses the the conditions, with one change made to Code Case.

condition 1 to explain why the condition is in effect:

(1) The maximum measured ultimate tensile strength of the component support material must not exceed 170 ksi because of the susceptibility of high-strength materials to brittleness and stress-corrosion cracking.

RG 1.84 N-155-3 The conditions on Code Case N-155-3 are the All of these conditions are same as the conditions on N-155-2 that the NRC identical to the conditions in approved in Revision 38 of RG 1.84. When the previous version of the ASME revised N-155, it did not modify the Code Code Case. Therefore, no Case in a way that would make it possible for the incremental resources are NRC to remove the conditions. Therefore, needed for any licensee that Revision 39 of RG 1.84 retains the conditions. uses the Code Case.

RG 1.84 N-755-4 This Code Case is applicable only to butt fusion All of these conditions are joints and eventually became Mandatory identical to the conditions in Appendix XXVI in the 2015 Edition of ASME BPV the previous version of the Code Section III. The relevant provisions of Code Case. Therefore, no Code Case N-755-4 are the same as those in incremental resources are Mandatory Appendix XXVI. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.84 N-779 The NRC finds the Code Case satisfactory and This condition is a technically acceptable for use only with code clarification that this Code editions from summer 1979 and later. This Code Case is acceptable as is Case, as written, is not acceptable for use with with ASME BPV Code editions of ASME BPV Code Section III earlier Section III, Summer 1979 than the Summer 1979 Edition, which included Addenda and later editions.

the Delta T1 term in NB-3600 Equation 10, Therefore, the staff has because the Code Case is based on equations determined that the used in the Summer 1979 Edition and later condition would have no editions of the BPV Code. effect on the incremental resources needed for a licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.84 N-852 The NRC is including a condition that this Code The staff has determined Case can only be used for the service life of a that this condition would component that had the horizontally arranged have no effect on the National Pipe Thread Tapered Code Symbol incremental resources Stamp applied from January 1, 2005, through needed for a licensee that December 31, 2015. uses the Code Case.

RG 1.84 N-883 This Code Case may be used for the construction The staff has determined of items by a holder of a construction permit, that this condition would operating license, manufacturing license, or have no effect on the combined license under 10 CFR Part 50 or incremental resources 10 CFR Part 52 before the establishment of an needed for a licensee that owner. uses the Code Case.

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Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number RG 1.84 N-886 This Code Case is applicable for the use of The staff has determined polyethylene pipe in ASME BPV Code Section III, that this condition would Class 3, Division 1, above ground applications. have no effect on the This Code Case refers to Mandatory incremental resources Appendix XXVI to Section III of the ASME Code. needed for a licensee that The 2015 Edition of Mandatory Appendix XXVI uses the Code Case.

contains butt fusion joints for buried piping. The 2017 Edition of Mandatory Appendix XXVI contains butt fusion and electrofusion joints for buried piping. The NRC is removing three conditions from this Code Case as it was presented in the proposed rule, after determining they are not necessary for safety. The condition that remains is that the use of high-density polyethylene piping in aboveground applications shall be considered in the plant fire protection program.

RG 1.147 N-513-5 Code Case N-513-5 contains provisions to permit These conditions apply only temporary acceptance of flaws, in moderate if a planar or nonplanar flaw energy Class 2 or 3 piping, including elbows, pipe is found during an bends, reducers, expanders, branch tees, and augmented examination.

gate valves without performing a repair/replacement activity for a limited period. These conditions clarify how the Code Case should be The Code Case contains provisions on the used, and so the staff has scope, flaw characterization, periodic leakage determined that these monitoring, flaw evaluation, and augmented conditions would have no examinations. The NRC finds that the provisions effect on the incremental of N-513-5 are acceptable except for the resources needed for a augmented examination provisions in Section 5 licensee that uses the Code of the Code Case. Case.

The NRC proposes two conditions to define flaw and significant flaw as those terms are used in Section 5 of N-513-5. The first condition defines a flaw as a nonthrough-wall planar or nonplanar flaw with a wall thickness less than 87.5 percent of the nominal wall thickness of the pipe or the design minimum wall thickness. The second condition defines significant flaw as any pipe location that does not satisfy the provisions of Section 3 of N-513-5 or if any detected flaw has a depth greater than 75 percent of the pipe wall thickness.

RG 1.147 N-516-5 In the rulemaking for the 2009 Addenda through The additional conditions 2013 Editions of the ASME Code (82 FR 32934), clarify NRC regulations and the NRC-specified conditions should be applied were determined by the staff to Section XI, Article IWA-4660, when performing to have no effect on the underwater welding on irradiated materials. incremental resources These conditions provide guidance on what level needed for a licensee that of neutron irradiation, helium content, or both uses the Code Case.

would require review and approval by the NRC because of the impact of neutron fluence on weldability. These conditions provide separate criteria for three generic classes of material:

ferritic material, austenitic material other than P-No. 8 (e.g., nickel-based alloys) and austenitic P-No. 8 material (e.g., stainless steel 14

Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number alloys)..These conditions are currently located in 10 CFR 50.55a(b)(2)(xii)(A) and (B).

RG 1.147 N-597-3 The NRC made minor editorial changes to the These editorial changes will conditions in this Code Case. not result in an incremental cost to licensees.

RG 1.147 N-705-1 The condition on Code Case N-705-1 is identical The condition is identical to to the condition on Code Case N-705 that the the condition in the previous NRC approved in Revision 19 of RG 1.147. version of the Code Case.

Therefore, no incremental resources are needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.147 N-766-3 The conditions on Code Case N-766-3 are All of these conditions are identical to the conditions on N-766-1 that the identical to the conditions in NRC approved in Revision 19 of RG 1.147. the previous version of the Code Case. Therefore, no incremental resources are needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.147 N-778 The NRC changed the time limit in the second The staff does not expect condition from 90 days to 120 days: The ISI this change to result in an summary report must be submitted within incremental cost or cost 120 calendar days of the completion of each reduction to licensees.

refueling outage.

RG 1.147 N-831-1 The conditions on Code Case N-831-1 are All of these conditions are identical to the conditions on N-831 that the NRC identical to the conditions in approved in Revision 19 of RG 1.147. the previous version of the Code Case. Therefore, no incremental resources are needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.147 N-847 The Code Case provides guidelines and The staff expects that requirements for a repair/mitigation process for licensees are unlikely to use welds. The process, excavation and weld repair this Code Case and has (EWR), removes susceptible material from the determined that these outside diameter of the pipe and replaces it with conditions would have a more resistant weld material. However, the EWR negligible effect on the process, as defined in this Code Case, has incremental resources certain challenges addressing the cracking needed by licensees. The mechanisms in these operating environments staff does not expect the and materials. Therefore, the NRC is proposing change to condition 3 to six conditions to ensure the ISI frequency result in a change in costs guidelines of the Code Case are in line with the to licensees.

previous requirements and guidance:

(1) The first condition is a continuation of the condition of 10 CFR 50.55a(g)(6)(ii)(F)(16),

which requires that a partial arc EWR, as described in Inspection Item O of ASME Code Case N-770-5, cannot be used without NRC review and approval for pressurized-water reactor designs.

(2) The second condition is related to Figure 1A and Figure 1B of the Code Case. The NRC requires, through the second condition, that the intersection points at the interface between EWR metal and existing base metal 15

Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number must be rounded to minimize stress concentration.

(3) The third condition is related to Section 2(d)(2) of the Code Case, which discusses the flaw evaluations required for the design considerations of the EWR.

Therefore, the NRC requires, through the third condition, that flaw analysis include the potential for crack growth through the dilution zone. The NRC has added language to the end of this condition, that the evaluation must allow for change in flaw growth direction.

(4) The fourth condition is related to Section 2 of the Code Case. The NRC requires the use of NUREG-2228, Weld Residual Stress Finite Element Analysis Validation: Part II Proposed Validation Procedure, issued July 2020, because it provides a proven method for validating the weld residual stress analysis methodology.

(5) For the fifth condition, the NRC has concluded that the inspection requirements related to the volumetric examinations for EWRs for boiling-water reactors (BWRs) need to be augmented as follows:

a. The first volumetric examination following application of BWR EWR-2A, EWR-1B, and EWR-2B welds is performed to verify effectiveness of the repair/mitigation before the new weld can be placed in a longer term volumetric inspection frequency. Based on the lower operating temperatures of a BWR, and hence the potential slow crack growth rate of the remaining flaw left in service, the NRC has concluded that the examination should occur during the second refueling outage after the EWR application.

b. The long-term volumetric inspections for BWRs require modification for EWR-1A EWRs and EWR-1B EWRs because, for EWR-1A EWRs, the augmented inspection requirements are consistent with the conditions of the inspection frequencies of Code Case N-770-5, and for EWR-1B EWRs, due to the design, which would allow a crack to be left in service, should not be allowed to go uninspected for the remainder of plant life. Therefore, the NRC requires the long-term volumetric inspection of these welds at each a10-year ISI interval.

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Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number (6) For the sixth condition, the NRC has concluded that NRC Generic Letter 88-01, NRC Position on IGSC in BWR Austenitic Stainless Steel Piping, dated January 25, 1988, and its Supplement 1, dated February 4, 1992, or BWRVIP-75-A, represents sufficient requirements subject to the fifth condition above, to determine examination frequencies and scope expansion criteria. Therefore, the sixth condition requires that licensees not use an alternative other than those specified in Table 1, Note (1), of the Code Case.

RG 1.147 N-864 Code Case N-864 proposes to eliminate the The staff has determined required ASME Code Section XI examination for that these conditions would the reactor vessel threads-in-flange for all ISI have no effect on the intervals. The NRC is proposing conditions on incremental resources the use of Code Case N-864 that are consistent needed for a licensee that with the limits the NRC has placed on uses the Code Case. The alternatives requests. addition to the second condition is a clarifying The first condition requires that the reactor relaxation that may result in pressure vessel threads-in-flange examinations a minor cost reduction that (ASME Code Section XI, Examination was not quantified in this Category B-G-1, Item No. B6.40) be performed in regulatory analysis.

at least every third 10-year ISI interval. The second condition in Code Case N-864 ensures that sufficient monitoring and maintenance activities are performed when the Code Case is applied. The NRC has added to the second condition that A facility's maintenance procedures for removal, care, and visual inspection of the reactor head closure studs and threads in flange during each refueling outage satisfy this condition.

RG 1.147 N-869 The Code Case contains provisions on the These conditions apply only scope, flaw characterization, periodic leakage if a planar or nonplanar flaw monitoring, flaw evaluation, and augmented is found during an examinations. The NRC finds that the augmented examination.

augmented examination provisions in Section 5 of the Code Case are inadequate and need These conditions clarify how additional requirements. The NRC, therefore, the Code Case should be proposes two conditions to define flaw and used, and so the staff has significant flaw as those terms are used in determined that these Section 5 of Code Case N-869. Licensees would conditions would have no apply these definitions to Section 5 when using effect on the incremental the Code Case. resources needed for a licensee that uses the Code The first condition defines a flaw as a Case.

nonthrough-wall planar or nonplanar flaw with a wall thickness less than 87.5 percent of the nominal wall thickness of the pipe or the design minimum wall thickness. The second condition defines significant flaw as any pipe location that does not satisfy the provisions of Section 3 of Code Case N-869 or any detected flaw that has a depth greater than 75 percent of the pipe wall thickness.

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Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number RG 1.147 N-876 The NRC is proposing two conditions on this These conditions provide Code Case. The first condition applies when criteria for when the Code performing underwater laser beam welding on Case can be used.

irradiated materials and provides guidance on what level of neutron irradiation, helium content, The staff has determined or both would require NRC review and approval that these conditions would because of the impact of neutron fluence on have no effect on the weldability. The second condition limits the depth incremental resources of the cladding repair due to concerns with the needed for a licensee that fracture toughness of the base metal. uses the Code Case.

RG 1.147 N-878 This Code Case addresses the testing and These conditions provide certification of material used in the manufacture clarification for how the of nonwelded fittings but does not address how Code Case should be used.

the licensee must ensure that the procured nonwelded fittings meet the design and testing The staff has determined requirements of ASME BPV Code Section III, that these conditions would NB/NC/ND-3671.7, for Class 1, 2, or 3 have no effect on the applications. Therefore, the NRC is proposing incremental resources conditions for the licensee to verify the design needed for a licensee that and testing activities associated with qualification uses the Code Case. The of nonwelded fittings required by ASME BPV staff does not expect the Code Section III, NB/NC/ND-3671.7, that are clarifying note to result in performed by the fabricator. incremental cost to licensees.

The NRC has added a clarification: Note: This condition applies only for the licensees that implemented ASME Code,Section III design requirements for their original construction code and/or the licensees that have upgraded their original design requirements to ASME Code,Section III. The licensee must give the Authorized Nuclear Inservice Inspector (ANII) an opportunity to review the design report prior to installation.

RG 1.147 N-880 This Code Case does not address how the These conditions provide licensee must ensure the procured welded fittings clarification for how the meet the design and testing requirements of Code Case should be used.

ASME BPV Code Section III, NB/NC/ND-3671.7, for Class 1, 2, or 3 applications. Verification that The staff has determined the Section III requirements for the design and that these conditions would testing of these welded fittings are met before have no effect on the use is essential in ensuring that the structural incremental resources integrity of these Class 1, 2 and 3 systems is needed for a licensee that maintained. Therefore, the NRC is proposing uses the Code Case.

conditions requiring the licensee to verify the design and testing activities associated with The staff does not expect qualification of welded fittings required by ASME the clarifying note to result BPV Code Section III, NB/NC/ND-3671.7, that in incremental cost to are performed by the fabricator. licensees.

The NRC has added a clarification: Note: This condition applies only for the licensees that implemented ASME Code Section III design requirements for their original construction code and the licensees that have upgraded their original design requirements to ASME Code Section III.

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Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number RG 1.147 N-889 The NRC is proposing three conditions on this These conditions provide Code Case. The first condition states that this criteria for when the Code Code Case may not be applied for neutron Case can be used.

exposures greater than 20 displacements per atom (dpa). The second condition states that, at The staff has determined dose levels below 0.75 dpa, the user must use that these conditions would the higher of the CGR predictions in Code Case have no effect on the N-889 or ASME Code Section XI, Nonmandatory incremental resources Appendix C, C-8520. The final condition states needed for a licensee that that the irradiated yield stress model for uses the Code Case.

cold-worked molybdenum-bearing materials must be used for cold-worked nonmolybdenum-bearing stainless steels (including Type 204 and 247 stainless steels).

RG 1.147 N-890 The condition requires the user to comply with These conditions clarify how the provisions of ASME BPV Code Section III, the Code Case should be NB-2300, and Section III, G-2110(b), to used.

demonstrate the applicability of the ASME KIc curve to SA-533, Type B, Class 2, material. The staff has determined These provisions require the user to generate the that these conditions would necessary toughness data to demonstrate that have no effect on the the ASME KIC curve is a conservative incremental resources representation of the actual material toughness. needed for a licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-1 Rev 2 The conditions on Code Case OMN-1, Revision 2 All of these conditions are (2020 Edition), are identical to the conditions on identical to the conditions in OMN-1, Revision 2 (2017 Edition), that the NRC the previous version of the approved in Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME Code Case. Therefore, no reaffirmed OMN-1, Revision 2, in the 2020 incremental resources are Edition with no change to the Code Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-3 The conditions on Code Case OMN-3 (2020 All of these conditions are Edition) are identical to the conditions on OMN-3 identical to the conditions in (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed OMN- Code Case. Therefore, no 3 in the 2020 Edition with no change to the Code incremental resources are Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-4 The conditions on Code Case OMN-4 (2020 All of these conditions are Edition) are identical to the conditions on OMN-4 identical to the conditions in (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed OMN- Code Case. Therefore, no 4 in the 2020 Edition with no change to the Code incremental resources are Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-9 The conditions on Code Case OMN-9 (2020 All of these conditions are Edition) are identical to the conditions on OMN-9 identical to the conditions in (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed OMN- Code Case. Therefore, no 9 in the 2020 Edition with no change to the Code incremental resources are Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-12 The conditions on Code Case OMN-12 (2020 All of these conditions are Edition) are identical to the conditions on OMN- identical to the conditions in 12 (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed OMN- Code Case. Therefore, no 12 in the 2020 Edition with no change to the incremental resources are Code Case.

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Conditioned RG Incremental Resources Code Case New Condition(s) Description Listing Required Number needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-18 The staff removed the condition from this Code The staff estimates the Case based on public comment. The condition removed condition would that was removed described the upper end result in a minor cost values of the Group A test acceptable ranges, reduction to licensees that and the high values of the required action ranges, was not quantified. No for flow and differential pressure. additional incremental resources are needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-19 The conditions on Code Case OMN-19 All of these conditions are (2020 Edition) are identical to the conditions on identical to the conditions in OMN-19 (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed Code Case. Therefore, no OMN-19 in the 2020 Edition with no change to incremental resources are the Code Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

RG 1.192 OMN-20 The conditions on Code Case OMN-20 (2020 All of these conditions are Edition) are identical to the conditions on identical to the conditions in OMN-20 (2017 Edition) that the NRC approved in the previous version of the Revision 3 of RG 1.192. ASME reaffirmed Code Case. Therefore, no OMN-20 in the 2020 Edition with no change to incremental resources are the Code Case. needed for any licensee that uses the Code Case.

4.3 Data The staff used data from subject matter experts and knowledge gained from past rulemakings to estimate the costs and benefits associated with this final rule. Quantitative and qualitative (i.e., non-quantified) information on attributes affected by the final rule came from the staff. The NRC considered the potential differences between the new requirements and the current requirements and estimated the impacts of the incremental changes into this regulatory analysis.

5 Results This section presents the quantitative and qualitative results by attribute relative to the regulatory baseline. As described in the previous sections, costs and benefits are quantified where possible and can have either a positive or a negative algebraic sign, depending on whether Alternative 2 has a favorable or adverse effect compared to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1). This section discusses those attributes that are not easily represented in monetary values. Although this ex ante cost-benefit analysis7 provides information that can be used when deciding whether to select the rulemaking alternative, the analysis is based on estimates of the future costs and benefits. Whether the estimates hold in the future, the process 7 An ex ante cost-benefit analysis is prepared before a policy, program, or alternative is in place and can assist in the decision about whether resources should be allocated to that alternative.

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of conducting regulatory analyses has value in and of itself because it helps decisionmakers think in depth about specific rulemaking alternatives and their associated results.

The regulatory analysis guidelines (NRC, 2020) state that the NRCs periodic review and endorsement of consensus standards, such as new versions of the ASME codes and associated Code Cases, is a special case because consensus standards have already undergone extensive external review and have been endorsed by the industry. In addition, endorsement of the ASME codes and Code Cases has been a longstanding NRC policy.

Licensees and applicants participate in the development of the ASME codes and Code Cases and are aware that periodic updating of the ASME codes is part of the regulatory process.

Code Cases are ASME-developed alternatives to the BPV and OM Codes that licensees and applicants may voluntarily choose to adopt without an alternative requestif the Code Cases are approved through incorporation by reference in the NRCs regulations. Finally, endorsement of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and Code Cases is consistent with the NTTAA, inasmuch as the NRC has determined that sound regulatory reasons exist for establishing, by rulemaking, regulatory requirements for design, maintenance, ISI, IST, and examinations.

In a typical incorporation of Code Cases, the NRC endorsements can involve hundreds, if not thousands, of individual provisions. Evaluating the benefit in relation to the cost of each individual provision in this regulatory analysis would be prohibitive, and such an exercise would have limited value. Thus, this regulatory analysis does not evaluate individual requirements of the consensus standards.

5.1 Public Health (Accident)

Industry practice to adopt ASME BPV and OM Code Cases through incorporation by reference into the regulations may incrementally reduce the likelihood of a radiological accident in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. Pursuing Alternative 2 would continue to meet the NRCs goal of maintaining safety by still providing its approval of new ASME Code Cases to allow licensees to gain experience with new technology before incorporation into the ASME code. Alternative 2 would also permit licensees to use advances in ISI and IST, provide alternative examinations for older plants, respond promptly to user needs, and offer a limited and clearly focused alternative to specific ASME code provisions. Improvements in ISI and IST may also result in the earlier identification of material degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation that could eventually lead to a plant transient. For these reasons, Alternative 2 maintains the same level of, or may provide an incremental improvement in, safety when compared to the regulatory baseline.

5.2 Occupational Health (Accident and Routine)

The NRCs practice of reviewing ASME BPV and OM Code Cases, determining their acceptability, and specifying its findings in RGs that are incorporated by reference into the regulations ensures that the mandated ASME code requirements and approved code alternatives result in an acceptable level of quality and safety. Pursuing Alternative 2 (the rule 21

alternative) would continue to meet the NRCs goal of maintaining safety, permitting licensees to use ISI and IST advancements, providing alternative examinations, responding to user needs, and offering alternatives to ASME Code provisions. The staff expects that licensees and applicants voluntary use of NRC-approved Code Cases would reduce occupational radiation exposure in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. For example, the staff expects that the use of the approved Code Cases would result in an incremental decrease in the likelihood of an accident and would reduce worker radiological exposures during routine inspections or testing when compared to the regulatory baseline.

5.3 Industry Operation This attribute accounts for the projected net economic effect of routine and recurring activities required by the alternative for all affected licensees. Under Alternative 2, a nuclear power plant licensee would not need to submit a request for an alternative under 10 CFR 50.55a(z) or a relief request under 10 CFR 50.55a(f) or (g) to receive permission to use a later edition or addendum of the ASME codes (as an alternative to the ASME code provisions) that provides a net benefit (i.e., averted cost) to the licensee.

The use of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes would benefit nuclear power plant licensees and applicants for several reasons. Later editions and addenda may introduce the use of advanced techniques, procedures, and measures. Alternative 2 has the advantage that, on implementation of the final rule, licensees and applicants would be able to voluntarily ask to use a more recent edition or addendum of the ASME BPV and OM Codes under the provisions in 10 CFR 50.55a(f)(4)(iv) and (g)(4)(iv).8 Submission of a Code Case relief or alternative request to the NRC is not a trivial matter. Once ASME issues a code edition, the licensee or applicant must determine the applicability to its facility and the benefit derived from its use. If the licensee or applicant determines that use of the code would be beneficial, but the NRC has not approved the code edition, the licensee or applicant must request the use of the Code Case, and appropriate levels of licensee or applicant management must review and approve the request before submission to the NRC. A review of Code Case requests submitted to the NRC over a 5 year period of time ending in 2014 found that they ranged from a few pages to several hundred pages, with an average of approximately 32 pages of average technical complexity.

Therefore, the NRC estimates that a Code Case request submittal requires an average of 150 hours0.00174 days <br />0.0417 hours <br />2.480159e-4 weeks <br />5.7075e-5 months <br /> of effort to develop the technical justification and an additional 80 hours9.259259e-4 days <br />0.0222 hours <br />1.322751e-4 weeks <br />3.044e-5 months <br /> to research, review, approve, process, and submit the document to the NRC for the use of the Code Case alternatives under 10 CFR 50.55a(z) (for a total of 230 hours0.00266 days <br />0.0639 hours <br />3.80291e-4 weeks <br />8.7515e-5 months <br /> per submittal). The actual time for 8 Regulations in 10 CFR 50.55a(f)(4) and (g)(4) establish the effective ASME code edition and addenda to be used by licensees in performing IST of pumps and valves and ISIs of components (including supports),

respectively. NRC Regulatory Issue Summary 2004-12, Clarification on Use of Later Editions and Addenda to the ASME OM Code and Section XI, dated July 28, 2004 (NRC, 2004), clarified the requirements for IST and ISI programs when using later editions and addenda of the ASME OM Code.

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a Code Case request submittal may be lower or higher than 230 hours0.00266 days <br />0.0639 hours <br />3.80291e-4 weeks <br />8.7515e-5 months <br />, depending on its complexity. The NRC assumes that licensees or applicants would decide whether to request the use of a code alternative by weighing the cost against the benefit to be derived. In some cases, licensees may decide to forfeit the benefits of using the newer ASME code, whether in terms of radiological considerations or cost reduction.

A review of past submittals of Code Case requests has determined that plant owners submit Code Case relief and alternative requests that cover multiple units and multiple plant sites.

Based on annual Code Case relief and alternative request submissions before and after ASME final rules are published, the staff estimated that, if Alternative 2 is not adopted, operating sites would submit 26 relief requests annually for the Code Cases in this final rule. Under Alternative 2, a nuclear power plant licensee would no longer need to submit these Code Case alternative requests under 10 CFR 50.55a(z), which would provide a net benefit (i.e., averted cost) to the licensee. As shown in Table 4, Alternative 2 would avert 26 additional Code Case submittals (and their associated preparation) each year under 10 CFR 50.55a(z). The averted Code Case submittals would start in 2022, the year that the final rule is expected to take effect.

Table 4 Industry OperationAverted Costs for Requests Relief Total Labor Requests Hours per Weighted Cost Year Activity Prepared Relief Hourly Rate per Year Request Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Code Case relief request 2022 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $770,000 $800,000 submission Code Case relief request 2023 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $720,000 $770,000 submission Code Case relief request 2024 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $670,000 $750,000 submission Code Case relief request 2025 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $630,000 $730,000 submission Code Case relief request 2026 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $580,000 $710,000 submission Code Case relief request 2027 preparation and 26 230 $137 $820,000 $550,000 $690,000 submission Total: $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 5.4 Net Industry Costs Table 5 shows the net industry implementation and operation costs for the requirements under Alternative 2. These net industry costs represent savings of $3.92 million at a 7-percent NPV and $4.45 million at a 3-percent NPV.

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Table 5 Net Industry Costs Industry Costs Attribute Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Net Implementation Costs: $0 $0 $0 Net Operation Costs: $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 Net Industry Cost: $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 Note: Costs are rounded to three significant figures.

5.5 NRC Implementation The NRC has incurred implementation costs to complete the rulemaking process. These costs include writing the Federal Register notice, revising the RGs, reviewing and addressing public comments on the rule, and finalizing the rule. At the conclusion of the final rule stage, all of these NRC implementation costs are sunk, and there is no estimated NRC implementation cost.

5.6 NRC Operation When the NRC receives a request to use a Code Case as an alternative, the staff requires additional time to evaluate the acceptability relative to the criteria currently approved by the agency. Under Alternative 2, the additional 26 Code Case requests per year would not be required. The averted Code Case requests would start in 2022, the year that the final rule is expected to take effect. If the NRC incorporates the ASME Code Cases by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations, a nuclear power plant licensee could use these ASME Code Cases without submitting a request to the NRC for review.

As shown in Table 6, the NRC estimates that each submittal would require, on average, 115 hours0.00133 days <br />0.0319 hours <br />1.901455e-4 weeks <br />4.37575e-5 months <br /> of staff time to perform the technical review (including resolving technical issues),

document the evaluation, and respond to the licensees request. The absence of these submittals would result in an NRC averted cost that ranges from $1.94 million based on a 7 percent NPV to $2.22 million based on a 3 percent NPV. Therefore, Alternative 2 would provide a net benefit (i.e., averted cost).

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Table 6 NRC Operation CostsAverted Cost for Requests Relief Total NRC Requests Staff Hours Weighted Cost Year Activity Reviewed per Relief Hourly Rate per Year Request Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Review Code Case relief 2022 26 115 $137 $410,000 $380,000 $400,000 request submittal Review Code Case relief 2023 26 115 $137 $410,000 $360,000 $390,000 request submittal Review Code Case relief 2024 26 115 $137 $410,000 $330,000 $380,000 request submittal Review Code Case relief 2025 26 115 $137 $410,000 $310,000 $360,000 request submittal Review Code Case relief 2026 26 115 $137 $410,000 $290,000 $350,000 request submittal Review Code Case relief 2027 26 115 $137 $410,000 $270,000 $340,000 request submittal Total: $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 5.7 Net NRC Costs Table 7 shows the net NRC implementation and operation costs for Alternative 2. The NRC costs represent cost savings; these savings are estimated to range from $1.94 million at a 7 percent discount rate to $2.22 million at a 3 percent discount rate.

Table 7 Net NRC Costs NRC Costs Attribute Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Net Implementation Cost: $0 $0 $0 Net Operation Cost: $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 Net NRC Cost: $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 5.8 Net Costs Table 8 shows the net implementation and operation costs for the industry and the NRC under Alternative 2. These costs represent cost savings to the industry and the NRC and are estimated to range from $5.86 million at a 7 percent discount rate to $6.67 million at a 3 percent discount rate.

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Table 8 Net Costs Total Averted Costs (Costs)

Attribute Undiscounted 7% NPV 3% NPV Industry Implementation $0 $0 $0 Industry Operation $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 Net Industry Cost $4,920,000 $3,920,000 $4,450,000 NRC Implementation $0 $0 $0 NRC Operation $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 Net NRC Cost $2,460,000 $1,940,000 $2,220,000 Net: $7,380,000 $5,860,000 $6,670,000 5.9 Improvements in Knowledge Compared to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1), Alternative 2 would improve the knowledge of the industry and the NRC staff by permitting licensees to use advances in ISI and IST. The industry and the NRC would develop greater knowledge and common understanding of the ASME Code.

5.10 Regulatory Efficiency Compared to the baseline, Alternative 2 would increase regulatory efficiency because licensees that want to use NRC-approved ASME Code Cases would not need to submit requests for alternatives to the NRCs regulations. This would give licensees flexibility and decrease their uncertainty when modifying or preparing to perform ISI or IST. Further, Alternative 2 is consistent with the provisions of the NTTAA, which encourages Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry. Alternative 2 is also consistent with the NRCs policy of evaluating the latest versions of consensus standards in terms of their suitability for endorsement by regulations and RGs. Finally, Alternative 2 is consistent with the NRCs goal of harmonizing its regulations with international standards to improve regulatory efficiency for both the NRC and international standards groups.

5.11 Other Considerations 5.11.1 National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 Alternative 2 is consistent with the provisions of the NTTAA and its implementing guidance in OMB Circular A-119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities, dated January 27, 2016 (OMB, 2016), which encourage Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry.

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5.11.2 Continued NRC Practice of Incorporation by Reference of ASME Code Editions and Addenda into the Code of Federal Regulations Alternative 2 would continue the NRCs practice of establishing requirements for the design, construction, operation, ISI, and IST of nuclear power plants by approving the use of new ASME BPV and OM Code Cases in 10 CFR 50.55a.

Given the existing data and information, Alternative 2 is an effective way to implement the updated ASME Code Cases. The updates would amend 10 CFR 50.55a to incorporate by reference the latest revisions to RGs 1.84, 1.147, and 1.192, which list Code Cases published by ASME and approved by the NRC.

5.12 Uncertainty Analysis The staff completed a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis using the specialty software @RISK.

The Monte Carlo approach answers the question, What distribution of net costs and benefits results from multiple draws of the probability distribution assigned to key variables?

5.12.1 Uncertainty Analysis Assumptions The staff provides the following analysis of the variables with the greatest uncertainty on estimates of values. To conduct this analysis, the staff performed a Monte Carlo simulation using the @RISK software program.9 Monte Carlo simulations involve introducing uncertainty into the analysis by replacing the point estimates of the variables used to determine base-case costs and benefits with probability distributions. By defining input variables as probability distributions instead of point estimates, the influence of uncertainty on the results of the analysis (i.e., the net benefits) can be effectively modeled.

The probability distributions chosen to represent the different variables in the analysis were bounded by the range-referenced input and the staffs professional judgment. When defining the probability distributions for use in a Monte Carlo simulation, summary statistics are needed to characterize the distributions. These summary statistics include the minimum, most likely, and maximum values of a program evaluation and review technique (PERT) distribution,10 the minimum and maximum values of a uniform distribution, and the specified integer values of a 9 Information about this software is available at https://www.palisade.com.

10 A PERT distribution is a special form of the beta distribution with specified minimum and maximum values.

The shape parameter is calculated from the defined most likely value. The PERT distribution is similar to a triangular distribution in that it has the same set of three parameters. Technically, it is a special case of a scaled beta (or beta general) distribution. The PERT distribution is generally considered superior to the triangular distribution when the parameters result in a skewed distribution, as the smooth shape of the curve places less emphasis in the direction of skew. Similar to the triangular distribution, the PERT distribution is bounded on both sides and, therefore, may not be adequate for modeling purposes that need to capture tail or extreme events.

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discrete population. The staff used the PERT distribution to reflect the relative spread and skewness of the distribution defined by the three estimates.

Table 9 identifies the data elements; the distribution; and the low, most likely, and high estimates of the distribution that were used in the uncertainty analysis.

Table 9 Uncertainty Analysis Variables Most Mean Low High Data Element Distribution Likely Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate Averted Relief Request (Industry)

Hours to produce request 230 PERT 200 230 260 Annual number of requests 26 PERT 24 26 28 Averted Review of Relief Request (NRC)

Hours to review 115 PERT 100 115 130 Number of actions (this is a 26 PERT 24 26 28 recurring averted cost)

Hourly Rate for NRC Weighted hourly rate (NRC) $137.00 PERT $136.00 $137.00 $138.00 Hourly Rate for Industry Weighted hourly rate (industry) $137.20 PERT $109.09 $139.16 $157.43 5.12.2 Uncertainty Analysis Results The NRC performed the Monte Carlo simulation by recalculating the results 10,000 times. For each iteration, the values identified in Table 9 were chosen randomly from the probability distributions that define the input variables. The values of the output variables were recorded for each iteration, and these values were used to define the resultant probability distribution.

For the analysis shown in each figure below, 10,000 simulations were run in which the key variables were changed to assess the resulting effect on costs and benefits. Figure 1, 2, and 3 display the histograms of the incremental costs and benefits from the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1). The analysis shows that both the industry and the NRC would benefit in terms of cost savings (positive cost) if this rule were issued.

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3.330 4.490 5.0% 90.0% 5.0%

Total Industry Cost 7% NPV Minimum $2,760,000 Maximum $5,090,000 Mean $3,910,361 Std Dev $339,031 5% $3,330,000 95% $4,490,000 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00 5.50 Values in Millions ($)

Figure 1 Net Industry Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 1.760 2.140 5.0% 90.0% 5.0%

Total NRC Cost 7% NPV Minimum $1,630,000 Maximum $2,340,000 Mean $1,952,440 Std Dev $111,918 5% $1,760,000 95% $2,140,000 1.60 1.70 1.80 1.90 2.00 2.10 2.20 2.30 2.40 Values in Millions ($)

Figure 2 Net NRC Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 29

5.240 6.490 5.0% 90.0% 5.0%

Total Cost 7% NPV Minimum $4,700,000 Maximum $7,210,000 Mean $5,862,801 Std Dev $374,102 5% $5,240,000 95% $6,490,000 4.50 5.00 5.50 6.00 6.50 7.00 7.50 Values in Millions ($)

Figure 3 Net Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 Table 10 presents descriptive statistics for the uncertainty analysis.

Table 10 Descriptive Statistics for Uncertainty Results (7-Percent NPV)

Incremental Cost-Benefit (2021 million dollars)

Uncertainty Result Min Mean Std Dev Max 5% 95%

Net Industry Cost $2.76 $3.91 $0.34 $5.09 $3.33 $4.49 Net NRC Cost $1.63 $1.95 $0.11 $2.34 $1.76 $2.91 Net Cost $4.70 $5.86 $0.37 $7.21 $5.24 $6.49 Table 10 displays the key statistical results, including the 90-percent confidence interval in which the net benefits would fall between the 5-percent and 95-percent values.

Figure 4 shows a tornado diagram that identifies the cost drivers for this final rulemaking. This figure ranks the cost drivers based on their contribution to the uncertainty in cost. The largest cost drivers are the industry labor rate and the hours for industry to process a relief request and submit it to the NRC. These cost drivers generate the largest variation in the Net costs due to uncertainty. The remaining cost drivers show a diminishing variation of the net cost.

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Industry Labor Rate $5,411,390 $6,258,370 Average hours for industry to process a relief request $5,540,170 $6,193,320 Input High Annual Relief Requests without ASME Rule $5,581,340 $6,149,090 Input Low Average hours for NRC to evaluate a relief request $5,710,730 $6,024,120 NRC Labor Rate $5,839,810 $5,881,680 Baseline = $5,862,801 5.40 5.50 5.60 5.70 5.80 5.90 6.00 6.10 6.20 6.30 Total Cost 7% NPV Values in Millions ($)

Figure 4 Top 5 Cost Drivers For Which Uncertainty Impacts The Net Costs (7-percent NPV)Alternative 2 5.12.3 Summary of Uncertainty Analysis The simulation analysis shows that the estimated mean benefit (i.e., positive averted costs or savings) for this final rule is $5.86 million with 90 percent confidence that the net benefit is between $5.24 million and $6.49 million using a 7 percent discount rate. A reasonable inference from the uncertainty analysis is that proceeding with the final rule represents an efficient use of resources and averted costs for the NRC and the industry because the minimum calculated uncertainty result is a positive value. Also, the staff estimates that the rule alternative is cost beneficial to the industry and to the NRC when they are considered separately.

5.13 Disaggregation The NRC performed a screening review to determine whether any of the individual requirements (or set of integrated requirements) of the rule would be unnecessary to achieve the objectives of the rulemaking. The NRC determined that the objectives of the rulemaking are to incorporate RGs by reference and to make conforming changes. Furthermore, the NRC concludes that each of the rules requirements would be necessary to achieve one or more objectives of the rulemaking. Table 11 provides the results of this review.

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Table 11 Disaggregation (1) Approve Use of (2) Make Incorporation the New Code Regulatory Goals for Final Rule by Reference Cases in Each of Conforming Changes the RGs 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3)(i), NRC X X RG 1.84, Revision 39 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3)(ii), NRC X X RG 1.147, Revision 20 10 CFR 50.55a(a)(3)(iii), NRC X X RG 1.192, Revision 4 NUREG-2228, Revision 0 X 5.14 Summary This regulatory analysis identified both quantifiable and nonquantifiable costs and benefits that would result from incorporating NRC-approved ASME BPV and OM Code Cases by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations. Although quantifiable costs and benefits appear to be more tangible, the staff urges decisionmakers not to discount costs and benefits that cannot be quantified. Such benefits or costs can be as important as or even more important than benefits or costs that can be quantified and monetized.

5.14.1 Quantified Net Benefit As shown in Table 8 above, the estimated quantified averted costs for Alternative 2, compared to the regulatory baseline (Alternative 1), over 6 years will be from approximately $6.20 million (7-percent discount rate) to $7.04 million (3-percent discount rate). Table 8 shows that Alternative 2 would also be cost beneficial for the NRC and the industry when they are considered separately.

5.14.2 Nonquantified Benefits In addition to the quantified costs discussed in this regulatory analysis, the attributes of public health (accident), occupational health (accident and routine), improvements in knowledge, regulatory efficiency, and other considerations would produce several non-quantified costs and benefits for the general public, the industry, and the NRC. The sections below summarize these benefits.

5.14.2.1 Advances in Inservice Inspection and Inservice Testing Advances in ISI and IST may incrementally decrease the likelihood of a radiological accident, the likelihood of post-accident plant worker exposures, and the level of plant worker radiological exposures during routine inspections or testing. The NRCs approval of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and associated Code Cases may contribute to plant safety by providing alternative examination methods that may result in the earlier identification 32

of material degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation and eventually lead to a plant transient. These alternative methods may increase assurance of plant safety system readiness and may prevent, through inspection and testing, the introduction of a new failure mode or common-cause failure mode not previously evaluated.

5.14.2.2 Reduction in Public Health Radiation Exposures The industrys practice of adopting the ASME BPV and OM Code Cases that are incorporated by reference into the regulations may incrementally reduce the likelihood of a radiological accident in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. Pursuing Alternative 2 would continue to meet the NRC goal of maintaining safety by approving later editions and addenda of the ASME codes and associated Code Cases to permit licensees to use advances in ISI and IST, provide alternative examinations for older plants, respond promptly to user needs, and offer a limited and clearly focused alternative to specific ASME code provisions. Improvements in ISI and IST may also result in the earlier identification of material degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation that eventually could lead to a plant transient. As such, Alternative 2 would maintain the same or possibly an incrementally improved level of safety that could result in an incremental decrease in public radiation exposures when compared to the regulatory baseline.

5.14.2.3 Reduction in Worker Radiation Exposures The NRCs approval of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and associated Code Cases may reduce occupational radiation exposures in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. For example, the advances in ISI and IST may result in an incremental decrease in the likelihood of an accident resulting in worker exposure when compared to the regulatory baseline.

5.14.2.4 Improvements in Inservice Inspection and Inservice Testing Knowledge The NRC approval of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and associated Code Cases would improve knowledge by enhancing the ability of the industry and the staff to gain experience with new technology before its incorporation into the ASME codes and by permitting licensees to use advances in ISI and IST. Improved ISI and IST may result in the earlier identification of material degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation that could eventually lead to a plant transient.

5.14.2.5 Consistent with National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 and Implementing Guidance Alternative 2 is consistent with the provisions of the NTTAA and its implementing guidance in OMB Circular A-119, which encourage Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry.

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5.14.2.6 Continued NRC Practice of Incorporation by Reference of ASME Code Editions and Addenda into the Code of Federal Regulations Alternative 2 would continue the NRCs practice of establishing requirements for the design, construction, operation, ISI, and IST of nuclear power plants by approving the use of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes in 10 CFR 50.55a.

5.14.2.7 Increased Public Confidence Alternative 2 would incorporate the current ASME BPV and OM Code edition, addenda, and Code Cases for the design, construction, operation, ISI, and IST of nuclear power plants by approving their use in 10 CFR 50.55a. This alternative would allow licensees to use risk-informed, performance-based approaches and the most current methods and technology to design, construct, operate, examine, and test nuclear power plant components while maintaining NRC oversight of these activities.

The timely incorporation by reference of current addenda and editions of the ASME BPV and OM Codes into the Code of Federal Regulations and the review and approval of associated Code Cases would help the NRC remain an effective industry regulator. This role would be undermined if outdated material remains incorporated by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations.

5.14.3 Nonquantified Costs The staff believes that incorporating by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations the most recent ASME BPV and OM Code editions and addenda and associated NRC-approved Code Cases would decrease industry and NRC operating costs. If the staff has underestimated the number or the complexity of these eliminated submittals, then the averted costs would increase proportionally.

5.15 Safety Goal Evaluation The final rule alternative would allow licensees and applicants to apply the most recent ASME BPV and OM Code Cases approved by the NRC, sometimes with NRC-specified conditions.

The NRCs safety goal evaluation applies only to regulatory initiatives considered to be generic safety enhancement backfits subject to the substantial additional protection standard in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(3). The NRC does not regard the incorporation by reference of NRC-approved ASME Code Cases to be backfitting or to represent an inconsistency with any issue finality provisions in 10 CFR Part 52, Licenses, certifications, and approvals for nuclear power plants. The Federal Register notice of the final rule states the basis for this determination.

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5.15.1 Section A: Incorporation by Reference of Later Editions and Addenda of Section III, Division 1, of the ASME BPV Code Incorporation by reference of the Code Cases of Section III, Division 1, of the ASME BPV Code is prospective in nature. Incorporation of the Code Cases would not affect a design that has been approved or a plant that has received a construction permit, an operating license, or a combined license. This is because the Code Cases of the ASME BPV Code to be used in constructing a plant are, by rule, determined based on the date of the construction permit or the combined license and are not changed, except voluntarily by the licensee with NRC approval.

Thus, incorporation by reference of later Code Cases of Section III, Division 1, of the ASME BPV Code would not constitute a backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1).

5.15.2 Section B: Incorporation by Reference of Later Editions and Addenda of Section XI, Division 1, of the ASME BPV and OM Codes Incorporation by reference of later Code Cases of Section XI, Division 1, of the ASME BPV Code and of the ASME OM Code would affect the ISI and IST programs of operating reactors.

However, the Backfit Rule generally does not apply to incorporation by reference of later Code Cases of Section XI of the ASME BPV Code and of the ASME OM Code for the following reasons:

• The NRCs longstanding policy has been to incorporate later versions of the ASME BPV and OM Codes into its regulations; thus, licensees know when receiving their operating licenses that such updating is part of the regulatory process. This is reflected in 10 CFR 50.55a, which requires licensees to revise their ISI and IST programs every 120 months to the latest edition and addenda of Section XI of the ASME BPV Code and of the ASME OM Code incorporated by reference into 10 CFR 50.55a that are in effect 12 months before the start of a new 120-month ISI and IST interval. Thus, when the NRC endorses a later version of an ASME code, it is implementing this longstanding policy.

• The ASME BPV and OM Codes are national consensus standards developed by participants with broad and varied interests, in which all interested parties, including the NRC staff and nuclear utility personnel, participate. This consideration is consistent with both the intent and spirit of the Backfit Rule (i.e., the NRC provides for the protection of public health and safety but does not unilaterally impose an undue cost on applicants or licensees).

5.15.3 Other Circumstances in Which the NRC Does Not Apply the Backfit Rule to the Endorsement of a Later Code The NRC does not apply the Backfit Rule to the endorsement of a later code in the following other circumstances:

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• When the NRC takes exception to a later ASME BPV or OM Code provision and merely retains the current existing requirement or limits or prohibits the use of the later code provision, the Backfit Rule would not apply because the NRC is not imposing new requirements. However, the NRC provides the technical or policy bases, or both, for taking exceptions to the code in the Statement of Considerations for the rule.

• When an NRC exception relaxes an existing ASME BPV or OM Code provision but does not prohibit a licensee from using the existing code provision, the Backfit Rule would not apply.

5.15.4 Safety Goal Evaluation Result Based on the reasons described, a safety goal evaluation is not appropriate for this regulatory analysis.

5.16 Results for the Committee to Review Generic Requirements This section addresses regulatory analysis information requirements for rulemaking actions or staff positions subject to review by the Committee to Review Generic Requirements (CRGR).

All information called for by the CRGR procedures (NRC, 2018) is presented in this regulatory analysis or in the Federal Register notice for the final rule. Table 12 provides a cross-reference between the relevant information and its location in this document or the Federal Register notice.

Table 12 Specific CRGR Information Requirements for Regulatory Analysis CRGR Information Item To Be Included in a Regulatory Where Item Is Procedures Analysis Prepared for CRGR Review Discussed Citation (NRC, 2018)

Appendix B, (i) The new or revised generic requirement or staff Final rule text in Federal position as it is issued as a final rule Register notice for the final rule Appendix B, (ii) Draft papers or other documents supporting the Federal Register notice requirements or staff positions for the final rule Appendix B, (iii) The sponsoring offices position on each requirement Regulatory Analysis, or staff position as to whether it would modify, Section 5, and implement, relax, or reduce existing requirements or Backfitting and Issue staff positions Finality,Section XIII, Federal Register notice for the final rule Appendix B, (iv) The method of implementation Regulatory Analysis, Section 7 36

CRGR Information Item To Be Included in a Regulatory Where Item Is Procedures Analysis Prepared for CRGR Review Discussed Citation (NRC, 2018)

Appendix B, (vi) Identification of the category of power reactors, new Regulatory Analysis, reactors, or nuclear materials facilities or activities to Section 4.2.2 which the generic requirement or staff position applies Appendix B, If the action involves a power reactor backfit and the Backfitting and Issue (vii)-(viii) exceptions at 10 CFR 50.109(a)(4) are not applicable, Finality,Section XIII, the items required at 10 CFR 50.109(c) and the Federal Register notice required rationale at 10 CFR 50.109(a)(3) for the final rule Appendix B, (xvi) An assessment of how the action relates to the Regulatory Analysis, Commissions Safety Goal Policy Statement Section 5.15 6 Decision Rationale Table 13 provides the quantified and qualified costs and benefits for Alternative 2. The quantitative analysis used best estimate values.

Table 13 Summary of Costs and Benefits Net Monetary Savings or (Costs)Net Nonquantified Benefits or (Costs)

Present Value Alternative 1: No action

$0 None Alternative 2: Incorporate by reference Benefits:

RG 1.84, Revision 39; RG 1.147,

• Advances in ISI and IST: May Revision 20; RG 1.192, Revision 4; and incrementally decrease the likelihood of a NUREG-2228 radiological accident, the likelihood of post-accident plant worker exposure, and Industry (all provisions): the level of plant worker radiological

$3.92 million using a 7% discount rate exposures during routine inspections or

$4.45 million using a 3% discount rate testing.

NRC (all provisions):

• Public Health (Accident): May

$1.94 million using a 7% discount rate incrementally reduce the likelihood of a

$2.22 million using a 3% discount rate radiological accident in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. Pursuing Net Benefit (Cost) (all provisions): Alternative 2 would continue to meet the

$5.86 million using a 7% discount rate NRC goal of maintaining safety by

$6.67 million using a 3% discount rate approving the use of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and applicable Code Cases to 37

Net Monetary Savings or (Costs)Net Nonquantified Benefits or (Costs)

Present Value permit licensees to use advances in ISI and IST, provide alternative examinations for older plants, respond expeditiously to user needs, and provide a limited and clearly focused alternative to specific ASME Code provisions. Improvements in ISI and IST may also result in the earlier identification of material degradation that, if undetected, could cause further degradation that could eventually lead to a plant transient. As such, when compared to the regulatory baseline, Alternative 2 would maintain or possibly incrementally improve the level of safety, which may result in an incremental decrease in public radiation exposures.

• Occupational Health (Accident and Routine): The use of later editions and addenda of the ASME BPV and OM Codes and applicable Code Cases may reduce post-accident occupational radiation exposures in a positive, but not easily quantifiable, manner. The advances in ISI and IST may result in an incremental decrease in the likelihood of an accident resulting in worker exposure when compared to the regulatory baseline.

• Improvements in Knowledge: The NRC and industry staff would gain experience with new technology and ISI and IST advances.

• Consistent with the NTTAA and Implementing Guidance: Alternative 2 is consistent with the provisions of the NTTAA and implementing guidance in OMB Circular A-119, which encourage Federal regulatory agencies to consider adopting voluntary consensus standards 38

Net Monetary Savings or (Costs)Net Nonquantified Benefits or (Costs)

Present Value as an alternative to de novo agency development of standards affecting an industry. Furthermore, the ASME code consensus process is an important part of the regulatory framework.

Costs:

• Nonquantified Costs: If the staff has underestimated the number or the complexity of these eliminated submittals, then the averted costs would increase proportionally.

The industry and the NRC benefit from the final rule (Alternative 2) because of the averted costs from licensees not needing to submit and the NRC not needing to review and approve ASME Code Case requests on a plant-specific basis under 10 CFR 50.55a(z).

Alternative 2 would also have the qualitative benefit of meeting the NRC goal of ensuring the protection of public health and safety and the environment through the NRCs approval of the use of later ASME BPV and OM Code Cases. It would also allow for the use of the most current methods and technology. This alternative would support the NRCs goal of maintaining an open regulatory process, because approving ASME Code Cases would demonstrate the agencys commitment to participating in the national consensus standards process and maintain the NRCs role as an effective regulator.

The NRC has had a decades-long practice of approving or mandating, or both, the use of certain of these ASME Code Cases in 10 CFR 50.55a through the rulemaking process of incorporation by reference. Retaining the practice of approving or mandating the ASME Codes would continue the regulatory stability and predictability provided by the current practice.

Retaining the practice would also ensure consistency across the industry and assure the industry and the public that the NRC will continue to support the use of the most updated and technically sound techniques developed by ASME to provide adequate protection to the public.

In this regard, these ASME codes are voluntary consensus standards developed by participants with broad and varied interests, and they have already undergone extensive external review before being evaluated by the NRC. Finally, the NRCs use of the ASME codes is consistent with the NTTAA, which directs Federal agencies to adopt voluntary consensus standards instead of developing Government-unique standards (i.e., those developed by Federal agencies), unless inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical.

Based solely on quantified costs and benefits, the regulatory analysis shows that the rulemaking is justified because the net quantified benefits of the regulatory action would exceed the costs of the action, for all discount rates up to 7 percent. Certainly, if the qualitative benefits (including 39

the safety benefit, regulatory efficiency, and other nonquantified benefits) are considered together with the quantified benefits, then the benefits would outweigh the identified quantitative and qualitative impacts. The uncertainty analysis shows a net benefit (averted cost) for all simulations with a range of averted cost from $4.70 million to $7.20 million at a 7-percent NPV.

Therefore, integrating both quantified and nonquantified costs and benefits, the benefits of the final rule outweigh the costs to implement the rule.

7 Implementation Schedule This rule will become effective 30 days after the publication of the final rule in the Federal Register.

40

8 References Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Standard Occupational Classification, U.S. Department of Labor, January 2021a. Available at https://www.bls.gov/soc/home.htm; last accessed on March 16, 2021.

BLS, Archived Consumer Price Index Supplemental Files: Historical CPI-U, May 2021, May 2021b. Available at https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/supplemental-files/home.htm; last accessed on June 15, 2021.

National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, as amended, Public Law 104-113.

Available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ113/pdf/PLAW-104publ113.pdf.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Circular A-4, Regulatory Analysis, September 2003. Available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/circulars/A4/a-4.pdf.

OMB, Circular No. A-119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities, January 27, 2016. Available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/01/27/2016-01606/revision-of-omb-circular-no-a-119-federal-participation-in-the-development-and-use-of-voluntary.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), NUREG/CR-3568, A Handbook for Value-Impact Assessment, December 1983 (ADAMS Accession No. ML062830096).

NRC, Regulatory Issue Summary 2004-12, Clarification on Use of Later Editions and Addenda to the ASME OM Code and Section XI, July 28, 2004 (ADAMS Accession No. ML042090436).

NRC, Committee to Review Generic Requirements Procedures and Internal Administrative Process, June 2018. Available at (ADAMS Accession No. ML17355A533).

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 38, October 2019a (ADAMS Accession No. ML19128A276).

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 19, October 2019b (ADAMS Accession No. ML19128A244).

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 3, October 2019c (ADAMS Accession No. ML19128A261).

NRC, NUREG/BR-0058, Regulatory Analysis Guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, draft Revision 5, January 2020a (ADAMS Accession No. ML19261A277).

NRC, NUREG-2228, Weld Residual Stress Finite Element Analysis Validation: Part II-Proposed Validation Procedure, July 2020b (ADAMS Accession No. ML20212L592).

41

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.84, Design, Fabrication, and Materials Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section III, Revision 39, October 2021a (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A225).

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.147, Inservice Inspection Code Case Acceptability, ASME Section XI, Division 1, Revision 20, October 2021b (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A222).

NRC, Regulatory Guide 1.192, Operation and Maintenance Code Case Acceptability, ASME OM Code, Revision 4, October 2021c (ADAMS Accession No. ML21181A223).

42

Appendix A Major Assumptions and Input Data Table A-1 Major Assumptions and Input Data Best Data Element Unit Source or Basis of Estimate Estimate Key Years Year of final rule 2022 year U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) input.

Analysis base year 2021 year NRC input.

Number of Reactor Units Number of currently Based on Appendix A to NUREG-1350, Volume 32, 2020-2021 Information operating reactor units in 92 units Digest, issued October 2020.

2022 Number of forecasted Based on NUREG-1350, Volume 32, Appendix A; the staff anticipates operating reactor units in 91 units operation of Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4, in 2021 and 2025 2022, respectively.

Number of forecasted Based on NUREG-1350, Volume 32, Appendix A; the staff anticipates operating reactor units in 90 units operation of Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4, in 2021 and 2026 2022, respectively.

Number of Sites Information on operating reactor sites was obtained from the NRCs Number of sites with Operating Nuclear Power Reactors (by Location or Name) at currently operating 52 sites https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/ with data current as of reactors in 2022 March 24, 2021 (last accessed on April 15, 2021).

Calculation: [total number of sites with operating reactors] + [sites with construction completed in years 2020 through 2024] - [sites with all units Number of sites forecasted closed in years 2020 through 2024]. Information on operating reactor sites with currently operating 51 sites was obtained from the NRCs Operating Nuclear Power Reactors (by reactors in 2025 Location or Name) https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/ with data current as of March 24, 2021 (last accessed on April 15, 2021).

A-1

Best Data Element Unit Source or Basis of Estimate Estimate Applicability Period (Years)

Code Cases last 3 years and are typically renewed once, for a total of Final rule applicability term 6 years 6 years.

Labor Rates Labor rates used are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employer Costs for National Compensation Survey dataset, 2020 values. These Dollars hourly rates were inflated to 2021 dollars using values of the Consumer Executive $229 per hour Price Index for All Urban Consumers. A multiplier of 2.4, which includes fringe and indirect management costs, was then applied and resulted in the displayed labor rates.

Dollars Managers $144 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars Technical staff $119 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars Administrative staff $76 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars Licensing staff $138 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars Nuclear engineer $153 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars Nuclear technician $107 BLS tables.

per hour Dollars NRC staff $137 NRC calculation, 2021.

per hour A-2

PKG: ML21194A054; RA: ML21196A096 *concurred via email OFFICE NMSS/REFS/RASB* QTE* NMSS/REFS/RASB/RAT* NMSS/DRM/RASB/BC NMSS/DRM/RRPB/BC CBladey (ALove-Blair NAME ASanders JDougherty FSchofer* IBerrios for)

DATE 6/15/21 6/28/21 6/29/21 10/19/2021 8/13/2021 OFFICE NMSS/REFS/D OGC NRR/D NAME JTappert (KCoyne for) SClark AVeil DATE 12/2/2021 11/29/2021