ML25049A031
| ML25049A031 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/30/2025 |
| From: | NRC/EDO, NRC/SECY, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards |
| To: | |
| References | |
| RIN 3150-AL26, NRC-2025-0018 | |
| Download: ML25049A031 (10) | |
Text
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT BY THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION RELATING TO REVISING THE DURATION OF DESIGN CERTIFICATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION -------------------------------------------------
NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTION --------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED ACTION ----------------------------------
SEVERE ACCIDENT MITIGATION DESIGN ALTERNATIVE EVALUATION --------------
ALTERNATIVES TO THE PROPOSED ACTION --------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSIONS AND FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ------------------------------
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADAMS Agencywide Documents Access and Management System CFR Code of Federal Regulations COL combined license DC design certification EA environmental assessment EIS environmental impact statement ESBWR Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor FR Federal Register LWR light-water reactor NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended NRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission PDR Public Document Room SAMDA severe accident mitigation design alternative
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT RELATING TO REVISING THE DURATION OF DESIGN CERTIFICATIONS Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to revise the duration of design certifications (DCs). Specifically, this action replaces the 15-year duration for DCs with a 40-year duration period, both for existing DCs currently in effect and generically for future DCs, including DC renewals.1 This action does not change the date of issuance or renewal for existing DCs (i.e., the start date by which an existing DC may be referenced remains unchanged).
Current regulations establish the duration of DCs in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 52.55, Duration of certification, as a period of 15 years from the date of issuance of the DC, and the duration of DC renewals in 10 CFR 52.61, Duration of renewal, as a period of not less than 10 and not more than 15 years from the date of renewal. The DCs that are currently in effect are in Appendix A, Design Certification Rule for the U.S. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor; Appendix D, Design Certification Rule for the AP1000 Design; Appendix E, Design Certification Rule for the ESBWR Design; Appendix F, Design 1
For Appendix D to Part 52, Design Certification Rule for the AP1000 Design, this rule replaces the 20-year duration (rather than 15-year duration) with a 40-year duration period. The initial duration period was previously extended from 15 years to 20 years for the AP1000 design by direct final rule (86 FR 52593; September 22, 2021).
Certification Rule for the APR1400 Design; and Appendix G, Design Certification Rule for NuScale, to 10 CFR Part 52, Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants. Appendix B, Design Certification Rule for the System 80 + Design, and Appendix C, Design Certification Rule for the AP600 Design, to 10 CFR Part 52 have expired because no timely renewal applications were submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 52.57, Application for renewal.
The NRC developed this environmental assessment (EA) of the environmental impacts of the rule and has documented the staffs finding of no significant impact in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 51.21, Criteria for and identification of licensing and regulatory actions requiring environmental assessments; 10 CFR 51.31, Determinations based on environmental assessment; and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). This EA does not address the site-specific environmental impacts of constructing and operating any facility that references a DC at a particular site. The NRC would evaluate those impacts as part of any application(s) at the time of submission for the siting, construction, or operation of such a facility.
As discussed in section 7.0 of this EA, the NRC has determined that issuing the subject rule does not constitute a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. This determination is based, in part, on the generic finding made in 10 CFR 51.32(b)(1)-(2) that there is no significant environmental impact associated with issuing or amending a DC. Also, these DC rule changes do not authorize the siting, construction, or operation of a facility referencing the DC; they only codify a change to the duration period for DCs currently in effect and for future DCs, including DC renewals. Additionally, this action does not involve any design changes for the above-mentioned DCs and therefore does not require reassessment of existing or identification of new severe accident mitigation design alternatives (SAMDAs) at this time. Furthermore, because the certification is a rule rather than a physical action, it does not involve the commitment of any resources that have alternative uses.
Therefore, the NRC has not prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the action.
As discussed in section 5.0 of this EA, the NRC staff determined that the proposed rule changes would not cause a SAMDA that was previously rejected in the environmental review for the DCs currently in effect to become cost beneficial. Because the rule does not affect the overall risk profile for the design, no new SAMDAs need to be considered for incorporation.
Identification of the Proposed Action The proposed action is to amend 10 CFR Part 52 to extend the duration of DCs currently in effect and future DCs, including DC renewals, by replacing the 15-year duration for DCs with a 40-year duration period. The amended rule allows applicants to reference the affected DCs as part of a combined license (COL) application under 10 CFR Part 52, or as part of a construction permit or operating license under 10 CFR Part 50, Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities, until the corresponding extended expiration date.
Need for the Proposed Action The proposed action extends the duration of DCs currently in effect and future DCs, including DC renewals. The amended rule allows an applicant to reference the affected DCs as part of a COL application under 10 CFR Part 52, or as part of a construction permit or operating license under 10 CFR Part 50, until the corresponding extended expiration date. Those portions of the designs included in the scope of the DC rulemaking are not subject to further safety review or approval in a license proceeding. In addition, the DC rule could resolve SAMDAs for any future applications for facilities that reference the DCs. Extending the duration of DCs will lessen the unnecessary regulatory burden on applicants and save the NRC resources without reducing safety or security.
Environmental Impact of the Proposed Action The proposed action constitutes the issuance of a rule changing 10 CFR Part 52 to extend the duration of DCs currently in effect as well as future DCs, including DC renewals. As stated in 10 CFR 51.32(b)(1)-(2), no significant environmental impact is associated with the issuance or amendment of a DC. A DC merely codifies the Commissions approval of a standard design. Therefore, this rule extending the duration of DCs currently in effect would not have a significant environmental impact. By the same logic, the rules changes to 10 CFR 52.55, 10 CFR 52.57, and 10 CFR 52.61 to generically extend the duration of future DCs would also not have a significant environmental effect. Furthermore, because this action is a rule rather than a physical action, the action would not involve the commitment of any resources that have alternative uses.
As described in section 5.0 of this EA, the NRC staff has previously reviewed alternative design features for preventing and mitigating severe accidents. When the NRC issues or amends a DC, the agencys regulations at 10 CFR 51.30(d), in part, require consideration of the costs and benefits of SAMDAs and the bases for not incorporating them in a DC. Through an independent evaluation, described in section 5.0, the NRC concludes that extending the duration of DCs would not alter the staffs previous conclusions on not incorporating SAMDAs in the DCs currently in effect.
Finally, this rule does not authorize the siting, construction, or operation of a nuclear power plant facility. An applicant that references a DC for a COL under 10 CFR Part 52, or for a construction permit or operating license under 10 CFR Part 50, will be required to address the environmental impacts of construction and operation for its specific site. The NRC staff will then evaluate the environmental impacts for that particular site and issue an EIS in accordance with NEPA and 10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions. A SAMDA analysis completed as part of the previous EA for a given DC can be incorporated by reference into an EIS related to an application for the siting, construction, or operation of a nuclear plant that references a standard design.
Severe Accident Mitigation Design Alternative Evaluation Consistent with the objectives of standardization and early resolution of design issues, the Commission decided to evaluate SAMDAs as part of the original DCs. In its Policy Statement on Severe Reactor Accidents Regarding Future Designs and Existing Plants (50 FR 32138; August 8, 1985), the Commission defined the term severe accident as an event that is beyond the substantial coverage of design basis events, including events where there is substantial damage to the reactor core (whether or not there are serious offsite consequences).
Design-basis events are analyzed in accordance with NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition, and documented in several chapters of the design control documents.
Because this rule does not include any design changes to any DC and because SAMDA analyses are already complete for each DC currently in effect, additional SAMDA analyses are not necessary at this time. A SAMDA analysis will occur for a DC when a design change amendment is submitted, or when a DC is referenced in a relevant license application. In such cases, the NRC will evaluate the DC amendment or license application, consistent with the requirements in 10 CFR Part 51. That is, for DC amendment requests, the NRC will evaluate under 10 CFR 51.30(d) whether a design change associated with the amendment renders a SAMDA previously rejected in an earlier EA to become cost beneficial, or results in the identification of new SAMDAs, in which case the costs and benefits of new SAMDAs and the basis for incorporating them in the DC will be assessed at the time of the submission. For license applications referencing a DC, the NRC will similarly evaluate design changes and perform site-specific SAMDA analyses, including for any design issues not within the scope of a given DC.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action Under 10 CFR 51.30(d), the issuance or amendment of a DC does not require consideration of alternatives to the proposed action other than SAMDAs. However, the rule changes to 10 CFR 52.55, 10 CFR 52.57, and 10 CFR 52.61 are subject to 10 CFR 51.30(a),
which requires, among other things, that NRC EAs include a brief discussion of alternatives.
Therefore, the staff considered reasonable alternatives with respect to the agencys action to extend the duration of DCs, including renewals.
The proposed agency action under this direct final rule is to replace the 15-year duration for DCs with a 40-year duration period. The only reasonable alternative the staff identified is the no-action alternative (i.e., to not issue the rule and retain the existing duration for all DCs).2 The no-action alternative would not have a significant environmental impact, but neither would the proposed agency action. Also, not implementing the rule will fail to accomplish the rules objective to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on applicants and save NRC resources.
Furthermore, implementation of the rule would not result in any reduction in safety or security.
Therefore, the no-action alternative would not accomplish the objectives of, nor is it environmentally preferable to, the proposed agency action.
Conclusions and Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of 10 CFR 51.32(b) and this EA, the NRC staff finds that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC staff is not required to prepare an EIS for the proposed action. This finding of no significant impact incorporates by reference the EA in sections 1.0-6.0 of this document.
The documents referenced in the preamble for the final rule contain further details on the proposed action. These documents, including this EA and finding of no significant impact, may 2
The staff is not further addressing variations on the proposed agency action (i.e., to extend the duration of DCs by a different amount of time) because there would be no difference in environmental impacts from such alternatives.
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