NRC Regulatory Guides

On this page:

• Regulatory Guides
• Draft Regulatory Guides
• Public Comment Submission
• Regulatory Guide Update Program
• Withdrawal of a Regulatory Guide
• Notes on Regulatory Guides

Regulatory Guides

The Regulatory Guide series provides guidance to licensees and applicants on implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques used by the NRC staff in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data needed by the staff in its review of applications for permits or licenses.

Regulatory guides are issued in the following 10 broad divisions:

1. Power Reactors
2. Research and Test Reactors
3. Fuels and Materials Facilities
4. Environmental and Siting
5. Materials and Plant Protection
6. Products
7. Transportation
8. Occupational Health
9. Antitrust and Financial Review
10. General

Each guide is identified by a number composed of the regulatory guide designator (RG), followed by a division number, a period, and a sequential guide number (e.g., RG 1.25). Individual guides may also be further identified by revision numbers (as appropriate) or dates of issuance.

Draft Regulatory Guides

The NRC issues regulatory guides in draft form to solicit public comment and involve the public in developing the agency's regulatory positions. Some draft guides are proposed revisions of existing guides. Draft regulatory guides have not received complete staff review and, therefore, they do not represent official NRC staff positions. In finalizing the guides, the staff considers all comments received during the public comment period, as appropriate.

Like regulatory guides, draft regulatory guides are issued in the following 10 broad divisions:

1. Power Reactors
2. Research and Test Reactors
3. Fuels and Materials Facilities
4. Environmental and Siting
5. Materials and Plant Protection
6. Products
7. Transportation
8. Occupational Health
9. Antitrust and Financial Review
10. General

Each draft guide is identified by a number composed of the draft guide designator (DG), followed by a hyphen and a sequential four-digit guide number in which the first digit indicates the division (e.g., DG-1172).

Public Comment Submission

Draft Regulatory Guides for Comment

• Comments on draft regulatory guides can be submitted by any one of the following methods:
  • Electronically via web site: Submit comments via the Regulations.gov website. See Documents for Comment page.
  • Mail: Submit comments to Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-07-A06, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
• Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site, Regulations.gov. The comments will likely be made publically available, and will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Therefore, the NRC cautions against including any information in the submission that should not be publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments from other persons inform those persons that the NRC will likely make their comments publically available, that NRC will not edit their comments to remove any identifying or contact information, and therefore they should not include any information in the comments that they do not want publicly disclosed.

Issued Regulatory Guides

• Suggestions on final regulatory guides can be submitted electronically via the Suggestions page. Please include the specific RG number and revision in your email correspondence.

Regulatory Guide Update Program

In 2006 the NRC staff initiated an effort to review, prioritize, and revise all Regulatory Guides. Although all Regulatory Guides were included, the focus was on those most needed to support new, near-term reactor licensing activities. Those Regulatory Guides most needed to support new licensing activities were revised or found to be acceptable without revision by the end of March 2007. The NRC is continuing this effort to ensure that appropriate guidance is available for all categories of licensees. This effort may result in a revision to the guide, a finding that the guide does not need revision, or the withdrawal of the guide.

Withdrawal of a Regulatory Guide

Withdrawal of a Regulatory Guide should be thought of as the final revision of the guide. Guides are revised for a variety of reasons including changes in technology and methodology. Although a RG is withdrawn, current licensees may continue to use it, and withdrawal does not affect any existing licenses or agreements. Withdrawal means that the guide should not be used for future NRC licensing activities. Changes to existing licenses would be accomplished using other regulatory products.

Notes on Regulatory Guides

• You can access publicly available regulatory guides and related documents by using any of the following methods:

• • NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC’s PDR, O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
  • Electronically: You may obtain an electronic copy of a regulatory guide or draft guide, free of charge, by downloading the guide from the related Division page listed above under Regulatory Guides or Draft Regulatory Guides for Public Comment.
  • Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and supporting materials related to recently issued regulatory guides can be found at Regulations.gov.