Development of an Ex Situ Performance Testing Protocol for Nuclear Power Plant Flood Penetration Seals
| Published date | 03 August 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 46734 |
| Record Number | 2020-16717 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 149 (Monday, August 3, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 149 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46734-46735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16717]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2018-0028]
Development of an Ex Situ Performance Testing Protocol for
Nuclear Power Plant Flood Penetration Seals
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2240, ``Development of an Ex Situ
Performance Testing Protocol for Nuclear Power Plant Flood Penetration
Seals.'' This draft NUREG summarizes a research project that developed
a test protocol for evaluating flood penetration seals using simulated
flooding conditions in a laboratory setting.
DATES: Submit comments by September 2, 2020. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received
on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0028. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments,
[[Page 46735]]
see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Aird, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2442; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0028 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0028.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public
Document Room reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by
email to [email protected]. The draft NUREG-2240 is available in
ADAMS under Accession ML20206L359.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0028 in the subject line of your
comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
Draft NUREG-2240 summarizes the results of a research project on
flood penetration seals installed at nuclear power plants (NPPs). The
objectives of this research project were to characterize flood
penetration seals currently installed at NPPs and to develop a test
protocol that evaluated the effectiveness and performance of flood
penetration seals in their installed configurations. The test protocol
described in draft NUREG-2240 is intended to support the evaluation of
the flood mitigation performance of penetration seals that are
installed to protect openings in barriers (walls/floors) that have been
otherwise credited as having a flood resistance rating in support of a
flood mitigation program at NPPs.
The overall research project consisted of three phases: (1)
Profiling of flood penetration seals currently used in U.S. NPPs; (2)
developing a draft ex-situ performance testing protocol; and (3)
performing limited testing of several seal types and applications to
evaluate and refine the testing protocol. Project materials including a
draft test protocol from phases 1 and 2 were published in the Federal
Register for public comment on February 20, 2018 (83 FR 7239). After a
30-day public comment period, the public comments were assessed, and
the draft test protocol was updated as necessary.
As part of the third and final phase of this research project, a
limited series of flood tests were conducted to assess the
effectiveness and viability of the developed testing protocol. As the
flood experiments took place, the draft protocol was assessed using the
test data. Informal observations of individual flood seal performance
were recorded and described in the draft NUREG, but such observations
should not be considered exhaustive or as ascribing specific
properties/qualifications to the flood seals themselves. The overall
results of these tests and subsequent amendments to the test protocol
are outlined in draft NUREG-2240.
This document is not intended for interim use. The NRC will review
public comments received on the document and incorporate suggested
changes as appropriate.
Dated: July 28, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark H. Salley,
Chief, Fire and External Hazard Analysis Branch, Division of Risk
Analysis, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-16717 Filed 7-31-20; 8:45 am]
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