Pursuant to 5
CFR 1320.11, OMB Pre-approval contingent upon no substantive
changes to this collection after adoption of the final rule.
Otherwise this collection should be re-submitted to OMB for
review.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
01/31/2021
03/31/2018
07/31/2020
45,016
0
45,054
4,355,554
0
4,369,994
1,779,000
0
1,779,000
FINAL RULE, APPROVAL OF AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS' CODE CASES The U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to
incorporate by reference (IBR) the latest revisions of three
regulatory guides (RGs) approving new, revised, and reaffirmed Code
Cases published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME). This 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 Code Cases listed
in these RGs as alternatives to engineering standards for the
construction, inservice inspection (ISI), and inservice testing
(IST) of nuclear power plant components. These engineering
standards are set forth in the ASME’s Boiler and Pressure Vessel
(BPV) Codes and ASME Operation and Maintenance (OM) Codes, which
are currently incorporated by reference into the NRC’s regulations.
This final rule announces the availability of the final versions of
the three RGs that are being incorporated by reference. Further,
the final rule announces the availability of a related RG, not
incorporated by reference into the NRC’s regulations that lists
Code Cases that the NRC has not approved for use.
The final rule will decrease
the burden for 10 CFR Part 50 from 4,369,994 hours and 45,054
responses to 4,355,554 hours and 45,016 responses, a reduction of
14,440 hours and 38 responses. This represents a reduction in
burden costs for Part 50 licensees of $ 3,869,920 (14,440 hours x
$268/hr). The final rule will reduce burden by incorporating by
reference revised NRC RGs that provide NRC approval to use certain
ASME Code Cases. As a result of this incorporation by reference,
burden on licensees to submit requests for alternatives under 10
CFR 50.55a(z) will be reduced. Licensees would no longer need to
submit alternative requests in order to use these Code Cases once
they are approved in NRC’s RGs. The NRC previously estimated that
the burden to prepare and submit an alternative to the NRC for
authorization was 80 hours per alternative. However, a review of
such requests submitted to the NRC over the last 5 years identified
that these submittals ranged from a few pages to several hundred
pages with an average of approximately 32 pages with average
technical complexity. Therefore, the NRC estimates that a request
requires an average of 300 hours of effort to develop the technical
justification and an additional 80 hours to perform research,
review, approve, process, and submit the document to the NRC for
use of alternatives under 10 CFR 50.55a(z). Therefore, the revised
total estimated burden is 380 hours per request.
$83,938,437
No
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Jennifer Tobin 301
415-2328
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Final Rule SS for ASME Code Cases RGs (2).docx
10 CFR Part 50, Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities