2016-05028: Environmental Qualification of Electrical Equipment

Summary

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a petition for rulemaking (PRM) submitted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC), and Mr. Paul M. Blanch (collectively, the petitioners) on June 18, 2012. The petitioners requested that the NRC amend its regulations to clearly and unequivocally require the environmental qualification of all safety-related cables, wires, splices, connections and other ancillary electrical equipment that may be subjected to submergence and/or moisture intrusion during normal operating conditions, severe weather, seasonal flooding, and seismic events, and post-accident conditions, both inside and outside of a reactor's containment building. The NRC is denying this petition because the current regulations already address environmental qualification in both mild and design basis event conditions of electrical equipment located both inside and outside of the containment building that is important to safety, and the petition does not provide significant new or previously unconsidered information sufficient to justify rulemaking.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 4 parts of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 10 CFR 50 Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities
• 10 CFR 52 Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants
• 10 CFR 54 Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants
• 10 CFR 100 Reactor Site Criteria