Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1384: Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Facilities for Operator Training

Content

ACTION:

Draft guide; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG)-1384, “Nuclear Power
Plant Simulation Facilities for Use in Operator Training, License Examinations, and Applicant Experience Requirements.” This
DG is proposed Revision 5 of Regulatory Guide 1.149 of the same name. This proposed revision updates and clarifies the scope
of the guideline to better serve simulation facility licensees and the regulatory community. On October 10, 2019, the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved ANSI/ANS 3.5 2018, “Nuclear Power Plant Simulators for Use in Operator Training
and Examination” (Ref. 2), as an

     American National Standard. The American Nuclear Society (ANS) Standards Committee Working Group ANS 3.5 developed and approved
     this industry consensus standard. The proposed revision to RG 1.149 endorses this standard.

DATES:

Submit comments by May 15, 2026. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
NRC 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; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through
the Federal rulemaking website.

• Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2026-0133. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003; email: Bridget.Curran@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section of this document.

• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-5-A85, 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, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments”
in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lauren Nist, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-6043; email: Lauren.Nist@nrc.gov and James Steckel, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1026; email: James.Steckel@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-0133 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-2026-0133.

• 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 ADAMS Public Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document
Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is
mentioned in this document.

• NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment
to visit the PDR, please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-2026-0133 in 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 will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 into ADAMS.

II. Additional Information

The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's “Regulatory Guide” series. This series was developed to describe methods
that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, to explain techniques that
the staff uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to describe information that the staff needs in its
review of applications for permits and licenses.

The DG, entitled “Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Facilities for Use in Operator Training, License Examinations, and Applicant
Experience Requirements,” is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1384 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21263A127).

This guide helps to ensure that simulation facilities used to meet the requirements of part 55 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) are sufficient in both scope and fidelity for the regulatory purposes for which they are being used with respect
to (1) operating tests, as described in 10 CFR 55.45(a), (2) licensed operator requalification training requirements, as described
in 10 CFR 55.59, and (3) performance of control manipulations that affect reactivity to establish eligibility for an operator's
license, as described in 10 CFR 55.31(a)(5).

The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML25337A053). The staff developed
a regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing an RG as well as an alternative course of action.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

The issuance of DG-1384, if finalized, would be proposed Revision 5 to RG 1.149, which endorses industry guidance for use
to ensure that simulation facilities are sufficient in scope and fidelity for regulatory purposes to meet NRC regulations
in 10 CFR 55, “Operators' Licenses.” Issuance of DG-1384 in final form wouldnot constitute backfitting as defined in10 CFR
50.109, “Backfitting,” and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, “Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting,
Issue Finality, and Information Requests”; affect issue finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, “Licenses, Certificates,
and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants”; or constitute forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4. As explained in DG-1384, applicants
or licensees generally would not be required to comply with the positions in DG-1384.

IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development
of new RGs. Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html. Suggestions will be

  considered in future updates and enhancements to the “Regulatory Guide” series.

V. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that this DG is not a significant regulatory action under E.O.
12866.

(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)

Dated: April 13, 2026. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Stanley Gardocki, Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 2026-07320 Filed 4-14-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

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