Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by Annette User on Behalf of GE Osmonics, Inc., 36386-36387 [2011-15593]

Download as PDF 36386 Proposed Rules Federal Register Vol. 76, No. 120 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 10 CFR Part 30 [Docket No. PRM–30–65; NRC–2011–0134] Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by Annette User on Behalf of GE Osmonics, Inc. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; receipt and request for comment. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated April 18, 2011, which was filed with the NRC by Annette User on behalf of GE Osmonics, Inc (the petitioner). The petition was docketed by the NRC on April 20, 2011, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM– 30–65. The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations regarding the commercial distribution of byproduct material to allow recipients of exempt quantities of polymer (polycarbonate or polyester) track etch (PCTE) membranes that have been irradiated with mixed fission products (MFP) to commercially redistribute the material without a license. DATES: Submit comments by September 6, 2011. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. ADDRESSES: Please include Docket ID NRC–2011–0134 in the subject line of your comments. For instructions on submitting comments and accessing documents related to this action, see ‘‘Submitting Comments and Accessing Information’’ in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. You may submit comments by any one of the following methods: • Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC–2011–0134. Address questions srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS SUMMARY: VerDate Mar<15>2010 19:53 Jun 21, 2011 Jkt 223001 about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone: 301–492–3668; e-mail: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. • Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. • E-mail comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us directly at 301–415–1966. • Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. during Federal workdays (Telephone 301–415–1966). • Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 415–1101. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, telephone: 301–492– 3667, e-mail: Cindy.Bladey@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Submitting Comments and Accessing Information Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site, https:// www.regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including any information in your submission that you do not want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any identifying or contact information, and therefore, they should not include any information in their comments that they do not want publicly disclosed. You can access publicly available documents related to this document using 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, Room O– 1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 • NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are available online in the NRC Library at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ adams.html. From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of the NRC’s public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC’s PDR reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, or 301–415–4737, or by e-mail to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. • Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and supporting materials related to this action can be found at https://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC–2011– 0134. Background GE Osmonics, Inc. (GE) is a manufacturer of PCTE/MFP membranes. PCTE membranes are irradiated with MFP in a GE-owned irradiator housed inside a reactor at Texas A&M University. The irradiation is performed by the university, under contract to GE and under Texas A&M NRC License No. R–83, to produce an ion track. After irradiation and a period of storage for decay, the university ships the PCTE/ MFP membranes to GE’s Bryan, Texas facility, which receives, possesses, and processes the membranes under a Texas Agreement State license. Byproduct material which remains after decay is embedded/tightly bound in the membrane. At the Bryan, Texas facility, GE chemically etches the membranes to produce the desired pore size. Until February 2010, GE transferred the PCTE/MFP membranes to two GE redistribution facilities in Westborough, Massachusetts, and Minnetonka, Minnesota. However, GE states that as part of the Bryan, Texas license renewal process, the Texas Department of State Health Services advised GE that it could no longer transfer the PCTE/MFP membranes to those two facilities for commercial distribution without a specific exempt distribution license from the NRC. GE states that it has submitted such a license application to the NRC. Annette User, on behalf of GE, submitted a petition for rulemaking dated April 18, 2011, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations regarding the E:\FR\FM\22JNP1.SGM 22JNP1 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 120 / Wednesday, June 22, 2011 / Proposed Rules commercial distribution of byproduct material to allow recipients of exempt quantities of PCTE/MFP to commercially redistribute the material without a license. The petitioner states that once GE obtains an exempt quantity distribution license from the NRC, there should be no significant health, safety or common defense and security concerns that would preclude its customers from further redistribution of the material without a license. The NRC has determined that the petition meets the threshold sufficiency requirements for a petition for rulemaking under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 2.802, and the petition has been docketed as PRM–30–65. The NRC is requesting public comment on the petition for rulemaking. srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS Discussion of the Petition The petitioner states that under current NRC regulations (and with a specific license, if approved), it is able to manufacture and commercially distribute PCTE/MFP membranes to that segment of its customers that will not be further distributing the product for commercial purposes. However, current regulations at 10 CFR 30.18(c) and (d) prohibit the petitioner from distribution of the material to a substantial portion of its customer base that would commercially redistribute the material if authorized to do so. The petitioner proposes that 10 CFR 30.18 be modified as follows: (c) This section does not authorize for purposes of commercial distribution the production, packaging, repackaging, or transfer of byproduct material or the incorporation of byproduct material into products intended for commercial distribution, except as provided in § 30.18(f). (d) Except as provided in § 30.18(f), no person may, for purposes of commercial distribution, transfer byproduct material in the individual quantities set forth in § 30.71 Schedule B, knowing or having reason to believe that such quantities of byproduct material will be transferred to persons exempt under this section or equivalent regulations of an Agreement State, except in accordance with a license issued under § 32.18 of this chapter, which license states that the byproduct material may be transferred by the licensee to persons exempt under this section or the equivalent regulations of an Agreement State. (f) Polymer track etch membrane containing mixed fission products in individual quantities, each of which does not exceed the applicable quantity set forth in § 30.71 Schedule B, may be redistributed commercially to any person without the redistributor obtaining a specific license under § 32.18, so long as the person who initially manufactures, processes, produces, packages, repackages, or transfers quantities of byproduct material for commercial VerDate Mar<15>2010 19:53 Jun 21, 2011 Jkt 223001 distribution obtains a specific license under § 32.18. The petitioner has separately requested an NRC exempt distribution license under 10 CFR 32.18 to authorize it to commercially distribute the PCTE/ MFP membranes to its customers, and believes that once it obtains the license, there should be no significant health, safety or common defense and security concerns that would preclude its customers from further redistribution without a license. The petitioner included an analysis in the petition for rulemaking document to support its belief. The petitioner states that PCTE/ MFP membranes are used in a wide variety of research, medical, academic, scientific and industrial applications. In particular, PCTE/MFP membranes are used in pharmaceutical, medical device, and water filtration applications. The petitioner believes that the amendments are necessary to allow it to distribute the PCTE/MFP membranes to the full range of its customers. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 16th day of June, 2011. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Annette Vietti-Cook, Secretary of the Commission. [FR Doc. 2011–15593 Filed 6–21–11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 39 [Docket No. FAA–2011–0570; Directorate Identifier 2011–NM–014–AD] RIN 2120–AA64 Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A300 Series Airplanes; Model A310 Series Airplanes; and Model A300 B4– 600, B4–600R, and F4–600R Series Airplanes, and Model C4–605R Variant F Airplanes (Collectively Called A300– 600 Series Airplanes) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). AGENCY: We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as: * * * * * SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 36387 A recent analysis conducted by the manufacturer showed a particular risk for explosive failure of the * * * hydraulic accumulator. This condition, if not detected and corrected, might, for some aeroplane installations, lead to damage to all three hydraulic circuits, possibly resulting in loss of control of the aeroplane or could, for certain other aeroplane installations, lead to an undetected fire in the wheel bay. * * * * * The proposed AD would require actions that are intended to address the unsafe condition described in the MCAI. DATES: We must receive comments on this proposed AD by August 8, 2011. ADDRESSES: You may send comments by any of the following methods: • Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. • Fax: (202) 493–2251. • Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. • Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. For service information identified in this proposed AD, contact Airbus SAS— EAW (Airworthiness Office), 1 Rond Point Maurice Bellonte, 31707 Blagnac Cedex, France; telephone +33 5 61 93 36 96; fax +33 5 61 93 44 51; e-mail: account.airworth-eas@airbus.com; Internet https://www.airbus.com. You may review copies of the referenced service information at the FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call 425–227– 1221. Examining the AD Docket You may examine the AD docket on the Internet at https:// www.regulations.gov; or in person at the Docket Operations office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains this proposed AD, the regulatory evaluation, any comments received, and other information. The street address for the Docket Operations office (telephone (800) 647–5527) is in the ADDRESSES section. Comments will be available in the AD docket shortly after receipt. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan Rodina, Aerospace Engineer, International Branch, ANM–116, E:\FR\FM\22JNP1.SGM 22JNP1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 120 (Wednesday, June 22, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 36386-36387]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15593]


========================================================================
Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

========================================================================


Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 120 / Wednesday, June 22, 2011 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 36386]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 30

[Docket No. PRM-30-65; NRC-2011-0134]


Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by Annette User on Behalf of GE 
Osmonics, Inc.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; receipt and request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for 
comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated April 
18, 2011, which was filed with the NRC by Annette User on behalf of GE 
Osmonics, Inc (the petitioner). The petition was docketed by the NRC on 
April 20, 2011, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-30-65. The 
petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations regarding the 
commercial distribution of byproduct material to allow recipients of 
exempt quantities of polymer (polycarbonate or polyester) track etch 
(PCTE) membranes that have been irradiated with mixed fission products 
(MFP) to commercially redistribute the material without a license.

DATES: Submit comments by September 6, 2011. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: Please include Docket ID NRC-2011-0134 in the subject line 
of your comments. For instructions on submitting comments and accessing 
documents related to this action, see ``Submitting Comments and 
Accessing Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 
this document. You may submit comments by any one of the following 
methods:
     Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-
2011-0134. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 
telephone: 301-492-3668; e-mail: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
     E-mail comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do 
not receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your 
comments, contact us directly at 301-415-1966.
     Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. during Federal workdays 
(Telephone 301-415-1966).
     Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission at 301-415-1101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-492-3667, e-mail: 
Cindy.Bladey@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Submitting Comments and Accessing Information

    Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted 
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site, https://www.regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to remove 
any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against 
including any information in your submission that you do not want to be 
publicly disclosed.
    The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments 
received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those 
persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any 
identifying or contact information, and therefore, they should not 
include any information in their comments that they do not want 
publicly disclosed.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this 
document using 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, Room O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available online in the NRC Library at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 
which provides text and image files of the NRC's public documents. If 
you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing 
the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR reference staff 
at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and 
supporting materials related to this action can be found at https://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2011-0134.

Background

    GE Osmonics, Inc. (GE) is a manufacturer of PCTE/MFP membranes. 
PCTE membranes are irradiated with MFP in a GE-owned irradiator housed 
inside a reactor at Texas A&M University. The irradiation is performed 
by the university, under contract to GE and under Texas A&M NRC License 
No. R-83, to produce an ion track. After irradiation and a period of 
storage for decay, the university ships the PCTE/MFP membranes to GE's 
Bryan, Texas facility, which receives, possesses, and processes the 
membranes under a Texas Agreement State license. Byproduct material 
which remains after decay is embedded/tightly bound in the membrane. At 
the Bryan, Texas facility, GE chemically etches the membranes to 
produce the desired pore size.
    Until February 2010, GE transferred the PCTE/MFP membranes to two 
GE redistribution facilities in Westborough, Massachusetts, and 
Minnetonka, Minnesota. However, GE states that as part of the Bryan, 
Texas license renewal process, the Texas Department of State Health 
Services advised GE that it could no longer transfer the PCTE/MFP 
membranes to those two facilities for commercial distribution without a 
specific exempt distribution license from the NRC. GE states that it 
has submitted such a license application to the NRC.
    Annette User, on behalf of GE, submitted a petition for rulemaking 
dated April 18, 2011, requesting that the NRC amend its regulations 
regarding the

[[Page 36387]]

commercial distribution of byproduct material to allow recipients of 
exempt quantities of PCTE/MFP to commercially redistribute the material 
without a license. The petitioner states that once GE obtains an exempt 
quantity distribution license from the NRC, there should be no 
significant health, safety or common defense and security concerns that 
would preclude its customers from further redistribution of the 
material without a license.
    The NRC has determined that the petition meets the threshold 
sufficiency requirements for a petition for rulemaking under Title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 2.802, and the petition 
has been docketed as PRM-30-65. The NRC is requesting public comment on 
the petition for rulemaking.

Discussion of the Petition

    The petitioner states that under current NRC regulations (and with 
a specific license, if approved), it is able to manufacture and 
commercially distribute PCTE/MFP membranes to that segment of its 
customers that will not be further distributing the product for 
commercial purposes. However, current regulations at 10 CFR 30.18(c) 
and (d) prohibit the petitioner from distribution of the material to a 
substantial portion of its customer base that would commercially 
redistribute the material if authorized to do so.
    The petitioner proposes that 10 CFR 30.18 be modified as follows:

    (c) This section does not authorize for purposes of commercial 
distribution the production, packaging, repackaging, or transfer of 
byproduct material or the incorporation of byproduct material into 
products intended for commercial distribution, except as provided in 
Sec.  30.18(f).
    (d) Except as provided in Sec.  30.18(f), no person may, for 
purposes of commercial distribution, transfer byproduct material in 
the individual quantities set forth in Sec.  30.71 Schedule B, 
knowing or having reason to believe that such quantities of 
byproduct material will be transferred to persons exempt under this 
section or equivalent regulations of an Agreement State, except in 
accordance with a license issued under Sec.  32.18 of this chapter, 
which license states that the byproduct material may be transferred 
by the licensee to persons exempt under this section or the 
equivalent regulations of an Agreement State.
    (f) Polymer track etch membrane containing mixed fission 
products in individual quantities, each of which does not exceed the 
applicable quantity set forth in Sec.  30.71 Schedule B, may be 
redistributed commercially to any person without the redistributor 
obtaining a specific license under Sec.  32.18, so long as the 
person who initially manufactures, processes, produces, packages, 
repackages, or transfers quantities of byproduct material for 
commercial distribution obtains a specific license under Sec.  
32.18.

    The petitioner has separately requested an NRC exempt distribution 
license under 10 CFR 32.18 to authorize it to commercially distribute 
the PCTE/MFP membranes to its customers, and believes that once it 
obtains the license, there should be no significant health, safety or 
common defense and security concerns that would preclude its customers 
from further redistribution without a license. The petitioner included 
an analysis in the petition for rulemaking document to support its 
belief. The petitioner states that PCTE/MFP membranes are used in a 
wide variety of research, medical, academic, scientific and industrial 
applications. In particular, PCTE/MFP membranes are used in 
pharmaceutical, medical device, and water filtration applications. The 
petitioner believes that the amendments are necessary to allow it to 
distribute the PCTE/MFP membranes to the full range of its customers.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 16th day of June, 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011-15593 Filed 6-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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