Abnormal Occurrence Reports, 49177-49181 [2015-20260]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 158 / Monday, August 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules
records’’ is a group of any records under
the control of an agency from which
information is retrieved by the name of
the individual or by some identifying
number, symbol, or other identifying
particular assigned to the individual. In
the Privacy Act, an individual is defined
to encompass U.S. citizens and lawful
permanent residents. As a matter of
policy, DHS extends administrative
Privacy Act protections to all
individuals where systems of records
maintain information on U.S. citizens,
lawful permanent residents, and nonimmigrant aliens.
The Privacy Act allows government
agencies to exempt certain records from
the access and amendment provisions. If
an agency claims an exemption,
however, it must issue a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking to make clear to
the public the reasons why a particular
exemption is claimed.
DHS is claiming exemptions from
certain requirements of the Privacy Act
for DHS/CBP–001 Import Information
System System of Records.
No exemption shall be asserted with
respect to information maintained in the
system as it relates to data submitted by
or on behalf of a person who travels to
visit the United States, nor shall an
exemption be asserted with respect to
the resulting determination (authorized
to travel, not authorized to travel,
pending).
Some information in DHS/CBP–001
Import Information System System of
Records relates to official DHS national
security, law enforcement or
intelligence activities. This system may
contain records or information
pertaining to the accounting of
disclosures made from IIS to other law
enforcement or intelligence agencies
(Federal, State, local, foreign,
international, or tribal) in accordance
with the published routine uses. For the
accounting of these disclosures only, in
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2) and
(k)(2), DHS will claim the original
exemptions for these records or
information from subsection (c)(3),
(e)(8), and (g) of the Privacy Act of 1974,
as amended, as necessary and
appropriate to protect such information.
Moreover, DHS will add this exemption
to Appendix C to 6 CFR part 5, DHS
Systems of Records Exempt from the
Privacy Act. Such exempt records or
information may be law enforcement or
national security investigation records,
law enforcement activity and encounter
records, or terrorist screening records.
DHS needs these exemptions in order
to protect information relating to law
enforcement investigations from
disclosure to subjects of investigations
and others who could interfere with
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investigatory and law enforcement
activities. Specifically, the exemptions
are required to: Preclude subjects of
investigations from frustrating the
investigative process; avoid disclosure
of investigative techniques; protect the
identities and physical safety of
confidential informants and of law
enforcement personnel; ensure DHS’s
and other federal agencies’ ability to
obtain information from third parties
and other sources; protect the privacy of
third parties; and safeguard sensitive
information.
Nonetheless, DHS will examine each
request on a case-by-case basis, and,
after conferring with the appropriate
component or agency, may waive
applicable exemptions in appropriate
circumstances and where it would not
appear to interfere with or adversely
affect the law enforcement or national
security investigation.
Again, DHS will not assert any
exemption with respect to information
maintained in the system that is
collected from a person and submitted
by that person’s air or vessel carrier, if
that person, or his or her agent, seeks
access or amendment of such
information.
List of Subjects in 6 CFR Part 5
Freedom of information, Privacy.
For the reasons stated in the
preamble, DHS proposes to amend
Chapter I of Title 6, Code of Federal
Regulations, as follows:
PART 5—DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS
AND INFORMATION
49177
circumstances and where it would not appear
to interfere with or adversely affect the law
enforcement purposes of the systems from
which the information is recompiled or in
which it is contained. Exemptions from the
above particular subsections are justified, on
a case-by-case basis to be determined at the
time a request is made, when information in
this system of records is may impede a law
enforcement, intelligence activities and
national security investigation:
(a) From subsection (c)(3) (Accounting for
Disclosure) because making available to a
record subject the accounting of disclosures
from records concerning him or her would
specifically reveal any investigative interest
in the individual. Revealing this information
could reasonably be expected to compromise
ongoing efforts to investigate a violation of
U.S. law, including investigations of a known
or suspected terrorist, by notifying the record
subject that he or she is under investigation.
This information could also permit the
record subject to take measures to impede the
investigation, e.g., destroy evidence,
intimidate potential witnesses, or flee the
area to avoid or impede the investigation.
(b) From subsection (e)(8) (Notice on
Individuals) because to require individual
notice of disclosure of information due to
compulsory legal process would pose an
impossible administrative burden on DHS
and other agencies and could alert the
subjects of counterterrorism or law
enforcement investigations to the fact of
those investigations when not previously
known.
(c) From subsection (g)(1) (Civil Remedies)
to the extent that the system is exempt from
other specific subsections of the Privacy Act.
Dated: July 31, 2015.
Karen L. Neuman,
Chief Privacy Officer, Department of
Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2015–19726 Filed 8–14–15; 8:45 am]
■
1. The authority citation for Part 5
continues to read as follows:
BILLING CODE 9111–14–P
Authority: Pub. L. 107–296, 116 Stat.
2135, 6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.; 5 U.S.C. 301.
Subpart A also issued under 5 U.S.C. 552.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISION
2. At the end of Appendix C to Part
5, add paragraph ‘‘74’’ to read as
follows:
■
Appendix C to Part 5—DHS Systems of
Records Exempt From the Privacy Act.
*
*
*
*
*
74. DHS/CBP–001, Import Information
System (IIS). A portion of the following
system of records is exempt from 5 U.S.C.
552a(c)(3), (e)(8), and (g)(1) pursuant to 5
U.S.C. 552a(j)(2), and from 5 U.S.C.
552a(c)(3) pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2).
Further, no exemption shall be asserted with
respect to information maintained in the
system as it relates to data submitted by or
on behalf of a person who travels to visit the
United States and crosses the border, nor
shall an exemption be asserted with respect
to the resulting determination (approval or
denial). After conferring with the appropriate
component or agency, DHS may waive
applicable exemptions in appropriate
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10 CFR Chapter I
[NRC–2015–0176]
Abnormal Occurrence Reports
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Proposed revision to policy
statement; request for comments.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is proposing
revisions to its policy statement on
reporting abnormal occurrences (AO) to
Congress. The proposed revisions would
clarify and restructure the criteria used
by the NRC and Agreement States for
determining whether to consider an
incident or event as an AO. The
proposed revisions to the policy
statement would ensure consistency
with current NRC guidance and
SUMMARY:
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 158 / Monday, August 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules
regulations. The NRC is requesting
public comments on the proposed
revision to the policy statement at this
time.
DATES: Submit comments by November
16, 2015. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical
to do so, but the Commission is able to
assure consideration only for comments
received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by any of the following methods (unless
this document describes a different
method for submitting comments on a
specific subject):
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2015–0176. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463;
email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For
technical questions, contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
document.
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey,
Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
OWFN–12–H08, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001.
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: Luis
A. Benevides, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–2457;
email: Luis.Benevides@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments
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A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2015–
0176 when contacting the NRC about
the availability of information for this
action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this
action by any of the following methods:
• Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2015–0176.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select
‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then
select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC’s Public
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Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1–800–397–4209, 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 the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section.
• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and
purchase copies of public documents at
the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC–2015–
0176 in the subject line of 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. Background
Section 208 of the Energy
Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended
(Pub. L. 93–438), defines an AO as an
unscheduled incident or event that the
NRC determines to be significant from
the standpoint of public health or safety.
The Federal Reports Elimination and
Sunset Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–66)
requires that AOs be reported to
Congress annually. As required by
Section 208, the discussion for each
event includes the date and place, the
nature and probable consequences, the
cause or causes, and the action taken to
prevent recurrence. The Commission
must also widely disseminate the AO
report to the public within 15 days of
publishing the AO report to Congress.
Abnormal Occurrence Reporting
The Commission has developed the
AO policy statement to comply with
Section 208 of the Energy
Reorganization Act of 1974, as
amended. The intent of the act is to
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keep Congress and the public informed
of unscheduled incidents or events that
the Commission considers significant
from the standpoint of public health and
safety. The policy reflects a range of
health and safety concerns and applies
to incidents and events involving a
single individual, as well as those
having an overall impact on the general
public. The AO criteria use a high
reporting threshold so that only those
events considered significant from the
standpoint of public health and safety
are reported to Congress.
Applicability
Implementation of Section 208 of the
Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as
amended, ‘‘Abnormal Occurrence
Reports,’’ involves the conduct of
Commission business and does not
impose requirements on licensees or
certified facilities. The reports cover
certain unscheduled incidents or events
related to the manufacture,
construction, or operation of a facility or
conduct of an activity subject to the
requirements of parts 20, 30 through 37,
39, 40, 50, 61, 70, 71, 72, or 76 in
chapter I of Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
Agreement States provide information
to the NRC on incidents and events
involving applicable nuclear materials
in their States. Agreement States are
those States that have entered into
formal agreements with the NRC,
pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA)
(Pub. L. 83–703), to regulate certain
quantities of AEA material at facilities
located within their borders. Events
reported by Agreement States that reach
the threshold for reporting as AOs are
also published in the ‘‘Report to
Congress on Abnormal Occurrences.’’
Proposed Revisions
The NRC is proposing revisions to the
AO criteria to clarify the criteria for
determining events that are significant
from the standpoint of public health and
safety and should therefore be
considered AOs. The proposed revisions
would also make the criteria consistent
with NUREG–1614, Volume 6, ‘‘U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014–
2018,’’ issued August 2014 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML14246A439), and new
NRC requirements in 10 CFR part 37,
‘‘Physical protection of category 1 and
category 2 quantities of radioactive
material.’’ Further, the NRC proposes to
revise the AO criteria to separate ‘‘Other
Events of Interest’’ from the AO criteria
to clearly delineate that events
considered ‘‘Other Events of Interest’’
are not AOs, but do represent significant
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events that the Commission deems
appropriate to report to Congress.
Finally, restructuring and minor
editorial changes are proposed to some
sections for clarity.
The NRC is requesting public
comments on the proposed revision to
the policy statement at this time. The
NRC is specifically seeking public
comments on screening all reports for
exposures to embryo/fetus or nursing
child as an AO under Criteria l.A.2,
unintended radiation exposure, versus
screening reports required by 10 CFR
35.3047 for exposures to embryo/fetus
or nursing child resulting from
treatment to a patient as an AO under
Criteria III.C, ‘‘Events involving the
Medical Use of Radioactive Materials in
Patients or Human Research Subjects.’’
The entire text of the proposed
revision of the policy statement is
available as an attachment to this
document.
Licensee Reports
The proposed changes to the general
policy statement would not change the
reporting requirements for NRC
licensees in Commission regulations,
license conditions, or technical
specifications. The NRC licensees will
continue to submit required reports on
a wide range of events, including
instrument malfunctions and deviations
from normal operating procedures that
may not be significant from the
standpoint of the public health and
safety but provide data useful to the
Commission in monitoring operating
trends of licensed facilities and in
comparing the actual performance of
these facilities with their design and/or
licensing basis.
III. Paperwork Reduction Act
This policy statement does not
contain information collection
requirements that are subject to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
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Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor,
and a person is not required to respond
to, a request for information or an
information collection requirement
unless the requesting documents
displays a currently valid Office of
Management and Budget control
number.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day
of August, 2015.
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For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
Attachment—Abnormal Occurrence
Statement of Policy
The Commission will apply the
following policy in determining
whether an incident or event at a facility
or involving an activity that is licensed
or otherwise regulated by the
Commission or an Agreement State is an
abnormal occurrence (AO).1
An incident or event is considered an
AO if it involves a major reduction in
the protection of public health or safety.
The incident or event has a moderate or
severe impact on public health or safety
and could include, but need not be
limited to, the following:
(1) Moderate exposure to, or release
of, radioactive material licensed by or
otherwise regulated by the Commission
or Agreement States;
(2) major degradation of essential
safety-related equipment;
(3) major deficiencies in design,
construction, use of, or management
controls for facilities or radioactive
material licensed by or otherwise
regulated by the Commission or
Agreement States; or
(4) substantiated case of actual loss,
theft, or diversion of risk significant
radioactive material licensed by or
otherwise regulated by the Commission
or Agreement States.
The criteria for determining whether
to consider an incident or event for
reporting as an AO are set forth in
Appendix A of this policy statement.
Commission Dissemination of Abnormal
Occurrence Information
The Commission widely disseminates
the AO reports to the public. The
Commission will submit an annual
report to Congress on AOs that occur at
or are associated with any facility or
activity that is licensed or otherwise
regulated pursuant to the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, as amended, or the Energy
Reorganization Act of 1974, as
amended. This report gives the date,
place, nature, and probable
consequences of each AO; the cause or
causes of each AO; and any action taken
to prevent recurrence.
Appendix A: Abnormal Occurrence
Criteria
An accident or event is considered an
abnormal occurrence (AO) if it involves a
major reduction in the degree of protection
of public health or safety. This type of
1 Events reported to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) by Agreement States that reach
the threshold for reporting as AOs will be reported
as such by the Commission.
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49179
incident or event has a moderate or severe
impact on public health or safety and could
include, but need not be limited to, the
following:
(1) Moderate exposure to, or release of,
radioactive material licensed by or otherwise
regulated by the Commission or Agreement
States;
(2) major degradation of essential safetyrelated equipment;
(3) major deficiencies in design,
construction, use of, or management controls
for facilities or radioactive material licensed
by or otherwise regulated by the Commission
or Agreement States; or
(4) substantiated case of actual loss, theft,
or diversion of risk-significant radioactive
material licensed by or otherwise regulated
by the Commission or Agreement States.
Abnormal Occurrence Criteria
The following presents the criteria, by
types of events, used to determine which
events will be considered for reporting as
AOs.
I. All Licensees 2
A. Human Exposure to Radiation From
Licensed Material
1. Any unintended radiation exposure to
an adult (any individual 18 years of age or
older) resulting in:
(a) An annual total effective dose
equivalent (TEDE) of 250 millisievert (mSv)
(25 rem) or more;
(b) an annual sum of the deep dose
equivalent (external dose) and committed
dose equivalent (intake of radioactive
material) to any individual organ other than
the lens of the eye, the bone marrow, and the
gonads of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more;
(c) an annual dose equivalent to the lens
of the eye of 1 Sv (100 rem) or more;
(d) an annual sum of the deep dose
equivalent and committed dose equivalent to
the bone marrow of 1 Sv (100 rem) or more;
(e) a committed dose equivalent to the
gonads of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more; or
(f) an annual shallow dose equivalent to
the skin or extremities of 2,500 mSv (250
rem) or more.
2. Any unintended radiation exposure to
any minor (an individual less than 18 years
of age) resulting in an annual TEDE of 50
mSv (5 rem) or more, or to an embryo/fetus
resulting in a dose equivalent of 50 mSv (5
rem) or more.
3. Any radiation exposure that has resulted
in unintended permanent functional damage
to an organ or a physiological system as
determined by an independent physician 3
deemed qualified by the NRC or Agreement
State.
2 Medical patients are excluded from
consideration under this criterion and these criteria
do not apply to medical events defined in § 35.3045
of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR), which are considered in AO Criteria III.C,
‘‘Events involving the Medical Use of Radioactive
Materials in Patients or Human Research Subjects.’’
3 Independent physician is defined to be a
physician not on the licensee’s staff and who was
not involved in the care of the patient involved.
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special nuclear material 8 or an inventory
discrepancy of a formula quantity of special
nuclear material that is judged to be caused
by theft or diversion.
4. Any substantial breakdown 9 of physical
security, cyber security, or material control
and accountability programs that
significantly weakens the protection against
loss, theft, diversion, or sabotage.
5. Any significant unauthorized
disclosures (loss, theft, and/or deliberate) of
classified information that harms national
security or safeguards information that
threatens public health and safety.
C. Theft, Diversion, or Loss of Licensed
Material; Sabotage; or Security Breach 4 5 6
1. Any stolen, diverted, abandoned, or
unrecovered lost radioactive material that
meets or exceeds the thresholds listed in
appendix A of 10 CFR part 37, ‘‘Physical
protection of category 1 and category 2
quantities of radioactive material.’’ Excluded
from reporting under this criterion are those
events involving sources that are lost or
abandoned under the following conditions:
Sources that have been lost and for which a
reasonable attempt at recovery has been
made without success or irretrievable well
logging sources as defined in 10 CFR 39.2,
‘‘Definitions.’’ These sources are only
excluded if there is reasonable assurance that
the doses from these sources have not
exceeded and will not exceed the reporting
thresholds specified in AO Criteria I.A.1 and
I.A.2 and the agency has determined that the
risk of theft or diversion is acceptably low.
2. An act that results in radiological
sabotage as defined in 10 CFR 73.2,
‘‘Definitions.’’
3. Any substantiated 7 case of actual theft,
diversion, or loss of a formula quantity of
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B. Discharge or Dispersal of Radioactive
Material From Its Intended Place of
Confinement
The release of radioactive material to an
unrestricted area in concentrations that, if
averaged over a period of 24 hours, exceeds
5,000 times the values specified in Table 2
of appendix B, ‘‘Annual Limits on Intake
(ALIs) and Derived Air Concentrations
(DACs) of Radionuclides for Occupational
Exposure; Effluent Concentrations;
Concentrations for Release to Sewerage,’’ to
10 CFR part 20, ‘‘Standards for protection
against radiation,’’ unless the licensee has
demonstrated compliance with 10 CFR
20.1301, ‘‘Dose limits for individual members
of the public,’’ using 10 CFR 20.1302(b)(1) or
10 CFR 20.1302(b)(2)(ii). This criterion does
not apply to transportation events.
A. Malfunction of Facility, Structures, or
Equipment
1. Exceeding a safety limit of license
technical specification (TS) (10 CFR
50.36(c)).
2. Serious degradation of fuel integrity,
primary coolant pressure boundary, or
primary containment boundary.
3. Loss of plant capability to perform
essential safety functions so that a release of
radioactive materials, which could result in
exceeding the dose limits of 10 CFR part 100,
‘‘Reactor Site Criteria,’’ or five times the dose
limits of General Design Criteria (GDC) 19 in
appendix A, ‘‘General Design Criteria for
Nuclear Power Plants,’’ to 10 CFR part 50,
‘‘Domestic licensing of production and
utilization facilities,’’ could occur from a
postulated transient or accident (e.g., loss of
emergency core cooling system, loss of
control rod system).
4 Information pertaining to certain incidents may
be either classified or under consideration for
classification because of national security
implications. Classified information will be
withheld when formally reporting these incidents
in accordance with Executive Order 13526, as
amended (‘‘Classified National Security
Information’’ (75 FR 707), or any predecessor or
successor order to require protection against
unauthorized disclosures. Any classified details
about these incidents would be available to the
Congress, upon request, under appropriate security
arrangements.
5 Information pertaining to certain incidents may
be Safeguards Information as defined in 10 CFR
73.2 because of safety and security implications.
The AO report would withhold specific safeguards
information in accordance with Section 147 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Any
safeguards details regarding these incidents would
be available to the Congress, upon request, under
appropriate security arrangements.
6 Reporting lost or stolen material is based on the
activity of the source at the time the radioactive
material was known to be lost or stolen. If, by the
time the AO report is due to Congress, the
radioactive material has decayed to below the
thresholds listed in appendix A of 10 CFR part 37,
the report will clarify that the radioactive material
has decayed below the thresholds.
7 ‘‘Substantiated’’ means a situation in which
there is an indication of loss, theft, or unlawful
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D. Initiation of High-Level NRC Team
Inspection 10
II. Commercial Nuclear Power Plant
Licensees
B. Design or Safety Analysis Deficiency,
Personnel Error, or Procedural or
Administrative Inadequacy
1. Discovery of a major condition not
specifically considered in the safety analysis
report or TS that requires immediate
remedial action.
2. Personnel error or procedural
deficiencies that result in loss of plant
capability to perform essential safety
functions so that a release of radioactive
materials, which could result in exceeding
the dose limits of 10 CFR part 100 or five
diversion, such as: An allegation of diversion,
report of lost or stolen material, or other indication
of loss of material control or accountability that
cannot be refuted following an investigation; and
requires further action on the part of the agency or
other proper authorities.
8 Formula quantity of special nuclear material is
defined in 10 CFR 70.4, ‘‘Definitions.’’
9 A substantial breakdown is defined as a red
finding under the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP)
in the physical security inspection program or any
plant or facility determined to have overall
unacceptable performance.
10 This item addresses initiation of any incident
investigation teams, as described in NRC
Management Directive (MD) 8.3, ‘‘NRC Incident
Investigation Program’’ (see https://
www.internal.nrc.gov/policy/directives/toc/
md8.3.htm), or initiation of any accident review
groups, as described in MD 8.9, ‘‘Accident
Investigation’’ (see https://www.internal.nrc.gov/
policy/directives/toc/md8.9.htm).
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times the dose limits of GDC 19 in appendix
A to 10 CFR part 50, could occur from a
postulated transient or accident (e.g., loss of
emergency core cooling system, loss of
control rod drive mechanism).
C. Any Operating Reactor Events or
Conditions Evaluated by the NRC Reactor
Oversight Process (ROP) To Be the Result of
or Associated With Licensee Performance
Issues of High Safety Significance 11
D. Any Operating Reactor Events or
Conditions Evaluated by the NRC Accident
Sequence Precursor (ASP) Program To Have
a Conditional Core Damage Probability
(CCDP) or Change in Core Damage
Probability (DCDP) of Greater Than or Equal
to 1 × 10¥3 12
E. Any Operating Reactor Plants That Are
Determined To Have Overall Unacceptable
Performance or Are in a Shutdown Condition
as a Result of Significant Performance
Problems and/or Operational Event(s) 13
III. Events at Facilities Other Than Nuclear
Power Plants and All Transportation Events
A. Events Involving Design, Analysis,
Construction, Testing, Operation, Transport,
Use, or Disposal
1. An accidental criticality.
2. A major deficiency in design,
construction, control, or operation having
significant safety implications that require
immediate remedial action.
3. A serious safety-significant deficiency in
management or procedural controls.
4. A series of events (in which the
individual events are not of major
importance), recurring incidents, or incidents
with implications for similar facilities
11 The NRC ROP uses four colors to describe the
safety significance of licensee performance. As
defined in NRC MD 8.13, ‘‘Reactor Oversight
Process’’ (see https://www.internal.nrc.gov/policy/
directives/toc/md8.13.htm), green is used for very
low safety significance, white is used for low to
moderate safety significance, yellow is used for
substantial safety significance, and red is used for
high safety significance. Reactor conditions or
performance indicators evaluated to be red are
considered AOs.
12 Results from the NRC ASP program are used to
monitor agency performance against the agency’s
strategic safety goal (e.g., ensure the safe use of
radioactive materials) and objectives (e.g., prevent
and mitigate accidents and ensure radiation safety).
A precursor event with a CCDP or DCDP of greater
than or equal to 1 × 10¥3 is used as a performance
indicator for the strategic safety goal by determining
that there have been no significant precursors of a
nuclear reactor accident and that there have been
no more than one significant adverse trend in
industry safety performance.
13 Any plants assessed by the ROP to be in the
unacceptable performance column, as described in
NRC Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0305,
‘‘Operating Reactor Assessment Program’’ (see
https://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1508/
ML15089A315.pdf), or under the NRC IMC 0350,
‘‘Oversight of Reactor Facilities in a Shutdown
Condition Due to Significant Performance and/or
Operational Concerns’’ (see https://
pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0634/
ML063400076.pdf). This assessment of safety
performance is based on the number and
significance of NRC inspection findings and
licensee performance indicators.
E:\FR\FM\17AUP1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 158 / Monday, August 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules
(generic incidents) that raise a major safety
concern.
B. Fuel Cycle Facilities 14
1. Absence or failure of all safety controls
(engineered and human) such that conditions
were present for the occurrence of a highconsequence event involving an NRCregulated hazard (radiological or chemical).15
2. An NRC-ordered safety-related or
security-related immediate remedial action.
C. Events Involving the Medical Use of
Radioactive Materials in Patients or Human
Research Subjects 16
1. A medical event, as defined in 10 CFR
35.3045, which results in a dose that:
(a) Is equal to or greater than 1 Gray (Gy)
(100 rad) to a major portion of the bone
marrow or to the lens of the eye; or equal or
greater than 2.5 Gy (250 rad) to the gonads;
or
(b) exceeds, by 10 Gy (1,000 rad), the
expected dose to any other organ or tissue
from the administration defined in the
written directive; and
2. A medical event, as defined in 10 CFR
35.3045, which involves:
(a) A dose or dosage that is at least 50
percent greater than that prescribed, or
(b) a prescribed dose or dosage that
(i) uses the wrong radiopharmaceutical or
unsealed byproduct material; or
(ii) is delivered by the wrong route of
administration; or
(iii) is delivered to the wrong treatment
site; or
(iv) is delivered by the wrong treatment
mode; or
(v) is from a leaking source or sources; or
(vi) is delivered to the wrong individual or
human research subject.
Appendix B: Other Events of Interest
mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
This appendix discusses other events of
interest that do not meet the AO criteria in
Appendix A. The Commission may
determine that events, other than AOs, may
be of interest to Congress and the public and
should be included in an appendix to the AO
14 Criterion III.A also applies to Fuel Cycle
Facilities.
15 High-consequence events for facilities licensed
under 10 CFR part 70 are those that could seriously
harm the worker or a member of the public in
accordance with 10 CFR 70.61. The integrated
safety analysis (ISA) conducted and maintained by
the licensee or applicant of 10 CFR part 70 fuel
cycle facilities identifies such hazards and the
safety controls (10 CFR 70.62(c)) applied to meet
the performance requirements in accordance with
10 CFR 70.61(b) through (d). Fuel cycle facilities
licensed under 10 CFR part 40 or certified under 10
CFR part 76 have licensing basis documents that
describe facility specific hazards, consequences,
and those controls utilized to prevent or mitigate
the consequences of such accidents. For these
facilities, a high-consequence event would be a
release that has the potential to cause acute
radiological or chemical exposures to a worker or
a member of the public similar to that defined in
NUREG–1520, Revision 2, Appendix A to Chapter
3, Section A.2, under ‘‘Consequence Category 3
(High Consequences)’’ (see https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1520/).
16 Criteria III.A.2, III.A.3, and III.A.4 also apply to
medical licensees.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:52 Aug 14, 2015
Jkt 235001
report as ‘‘Other Events of Interest.’’ Such
events may include, but are not necessarily
limited to, events that do not meet the AO
criteria but that have been perceived by
Congress or the public to be of high health
and safety significance, have received
significant media coverage, or have caused
the NRC to increase its attention to or
oversight of a program area, or a group of
similar events that have resulted in licensed
materials entering the public domain in an
uncontrolled manner.
[FR Doc. 2015–20260 Filed 8–14–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 73
[Docket No. FAA–2014–0370; Airspace
Docket No. 14–ASO–2]
RIN 2120–AA66
Proposed Redesignation and
Expansion of Restricted Area R–4403;
Gainesville, MS
Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Supplemental notice of
proposed rulemaking (SNPRM).
AGENCY:
This SNPRM amends the
notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)
published in the Federal Register on
July 10, 2014, proposing to redesignate
and expand restricted area R–4403,
Gainesville, MS, by changing the
parameters of some restricted area
subareas. The changes would include
expanding the time of designation,
modifying some restricted area lateral
and vertical boundaries, and eliminating
the proposed air-to-ground munitions
delivery in some parts of the restricted
area complex.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before October 1, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Send comments on this
proposal to the U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations, M–
30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001; telephone:
(202) 366–9826. You must identify FAA
Docket No. FAA–2014–0370 and
Airspace Docket No. 14–ASO–2, at the
beginning of your comments. You may
also submit comments through the
Internet at www.regulations.gov.
Comments on environmental and land
use aspects to should be directed to: Mr.
David Lorance, P.E., Center
Environmental Officer, Center
Operations Directorate, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Stennis Space Center, Roy S.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
49181
Estess Building 1100, Mail Code RA02,
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529–6000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul
Gallant, Airspace Policy and
Regulations Group, Office of Airspace
Services, Federal Aviation
Administration, 800 Independence
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591;
telephone: (202) 267–8783.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority for This Rulemaking
The FAA’s authority to issue rules
regarding aviation safety is found in
Title 49 of the United States Code.
Subtitle I, Section 106 describes the
authority of the FAA Administrator.
Subtitle VII, Aviation Programs,
describes in more detail the scope of the
agency’s authority. This rulemaking is
promulgated under the authority
described in Subtitle VII, Part A,
Subpart I, Section 40103. Under that
section, the FAA is charged with
prescribing regulations to assign the use
of the airspace necessary to ensure the
safety of aircraft and the efficient use of
airspace. This regulation is within the
scope of that authority as it would
restructure the restricted airspace at the
Stennis Space Center, MS, to enhance
aviation safety and accommodate
essential NASA and Naval Special
Warfare Command (NSWC)
requirements.
Comments Invited
Interested parties are invited to
participate in this proposed rulemaking
by submitting such written data, views,
or arguments as they may desire.
Comments that provide the factual basis
supporting the views and suggestions
presented are particularly helpful in
developing reasoned regulatory
decisions on the proposal. Comments
are specifically invited on the overall
regulatory, aeronautical, economic,
environmental, and energy-related
aspects of the proposal.
Communications should identify both
docket numbers (FAA Docket No. FAA–
2014–0370 and Airspace Docket No. 14–
ASO–2) and be submitted in triplicate to
the Docket Management System (see
ADDRESSES section for address and
phone number). You may also submit
comments through the Internet at
www.regulations.gov.
Commenters wishing the FAA to
acknowledge receipt of their comments
on this action must submit with those
comments a self-addressed, stamped
postcard on which the following
statement is made: ‘‘Comments to FAA
Docket No. FAA–2014–0370 and
Airspace Docket No. 14–ASO–2.’’ The
postcard will be date/time stamped and
returned to the commenter.
E:\FR\FM\17AUP1.SGM
17AUP1
]]>Agencies
- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISION
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 158 (Monday, August 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49177-49181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20260]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISION
10 CFR Chapter I
[NRC-2015-0176]
Abnormal Occurrence Reports
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed revision to policy statement; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing
revisions to its policy statement on reporting abnormal occurrences
(AO) to Congress. The proposed revisions would clarify and restructure
the criteria used by the NRC and Agreement States for determining
whether to consider an incident or event as an AO. The proposed
revisions to the policy statement would ensure consistency with current
NRC guidance and
[[Page 49178]]
regulations. The NRC is requesting public comments on the proposed
revision to the policy statement at this time.
DATES: Submit comments by November 16, 2015. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission is able to assure consideration only for comments received
on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0176. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
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: Luis A. Benevides, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2457; email: Luis.Benevides@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0176 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 Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0176.
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 ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 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 the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0176 in the subject line of 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. Background
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended
(Pub. L. 93-438), defines an AO as an unscheduled incident or event
that the NRC determines to be significant from the standpoint of public
health or safety. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of
1995 (Pub. L. 104-66) requires that AOs be reported to Congress
annually. As required by Section 208, the discussion for each event
includes the date and place, the nature and probable consequences, the
cause or causes, and the action taken to prevent recurrence. The
Commission must also widely disseminate the AO report to the public
within 15 days of publishing the AO report to Congress.
Abnormal Occurrence Reporting
The Commission has developed the AO policy statement to comply with
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended. The
intent of the act is to keep Congress and the public informed of
unscheduled incidents or events that the Commission considers
significant from the standpoint of public health and safety. The policy
reflects a range of health and safety concerns and applies to incidents
and events involving a single individual, as well as those having an
overall impact on the general public. The AO criteria use a high
reporting threshold so that only those events considered significant
from the standpoint of public health and safety are reported to
Congress.
Applicability
Implementation of Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of
1974, as amended, ``Abnormal Occurrence Reports,'' involves the conduct
of Commission business and does not impose requirements on licensees or
certified facilities. The reports cover certain unscheduled incidents
or events related to the manufacture, construction, or operation of a
facility or conduct of an activity subject to the requirements of parts
20, 30 through 37, 39, 40, 50, 61, 70, 71, 72, or 76 in chapter I of
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
Agreement States provide information to the NRC on incidents and
events involving applicable nuclear materials in their States.
Agreement States are those States that have entered into formal
agreements with the NRC, pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) (Pub. L. 83-703), to regulate certain
quantities of AEA material at facilities located within their borders.
Events reported by Agreement States that reach the threshold for
reporting as AOs are also published in the ``Report to Congress on
Abnormal Occurrences.''
Proposed Revisions
The NRC is proposing revisions to the AO criteria to clarify the
criteria for determining events that are significant from the
standpoint of public health and safety and should therefore be
considered AOs. The proposed revisions would also make the criteria
consistent with NUREG-1614, Volume 6, ``U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018,'' issued August
2014 (ADAMS Accession No. ML14246A439), and new NRC requirements in 10
CFR part 37, ``Physical protection of category 1 and category 2
quantities of radioactive material.'' Further, the NRC proposes to
revise the AO criteria to separate ``Other Events of Interest'' from
the AO criteria to clearly delineate that events considered ``Other
Events of Interest'' are not AOs, but do represent significant
[[Page 49179]]
events that the Commission deems appropriate to report to Congress.
Finally, restructuring and minor editorial changes are proposed to some
sections for clarity.
The NRC is requesting public comments on the proposed revision to
the policy statement at this time. The NRC is specifically seeking
public comments on screening all reports for exposures to embryo/fetus
or nursing child as an AO under Criteria l.A.2, unintended radiation
exposure, versus screening reports required by 10 CFR 35.3047 for
exposures to embryo/fetus or nursing child resulting from treatment to
a patient as an AO under Criteria III.C, ``Events involving the Medical
Use of Radioactive Materials in Patients or Human Research Subjects.''
The entire text of the proposed revision of the policy statement is
available as an attachment to this document.
Licensee Reports
The proposed changes to the general policy statement would not
change the reporting requirements for NRC licensees in Commission
regulations, license conditions, or technical specifications. The NRC
licensees will continue to submit required reports on a wide range of
events, including instrument malfunctions and deviations from normal
operating procedures that may not be significant from the standpoint of
the public health and safety but provide data useful to the Commission
in monitoring operating trends of licensed facilities and in comparing
the actual performance of these facilities with their design and/or
licensing basis.
III. Paperwork Reduction Act
This policy statement does not contain information collection
requirements that are subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a request for information or an information collection
requirement unless the requesting documents displays a currently valid
Office of Management and Budget control number.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of August, 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
Attachment--Abnormal Occurrence Statement of Policy
The Commission will apply the following policy in determining
whether an incident or event at a facility or involving an activity
that is licensed or otherwise regulated by the Commission or an
Agreement State is an abnormal occurrence (AO).\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Events reported to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) by Agreement States that reach the threshold for reporting as
AOs will be reported as such by the Commission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An incident or event is considered an AO if it involves a major
reduction in the protection of public health or safety. The incident or
event has a moderate or severe impact on public health or safety and
could include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) Moderate exposure to, or release of, radioactive material
licensed by or otherwise regulated by the Commission or Agreement
States;
(2) major degradation of essential safety-related equipment;
(3) major deficiencies in design, construction, use of, or
management controls for facilities or radioactive material licensed by
or otherwise regulated by the Commission or Agreement States; or
(4) substantiated case of actual loss, theft, or diversion of risk
significant radioactive material licensed by or otherwise regulated by
the Commission or Agreement States.
The criteria for determining whether to consider an incident or
event for reporting as an AO are set forth in Appendix A of this policy
statement.
Commission Dissemination of Abnormal Occurrence Information
The Commission widely disseminates the AO reports to the public.
The Commission will submit an annual report to Congress on AOs that
occur at or are associated with any facility or activity that is
licensed or otherwise regulated pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended, or the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended.
This report gives the date, place, nature, and probable consequences of
each AO; the cause or causes of each AO; and any action taken to
prevent recurrence.
Appendix A: Abnormal Occurrence Criteria
An accident or event is considered an abnormal occurrence (AO)
if it involves a major reduction in the degree of protection of
public health or safety. This type of incident or event has a
moderate or severe impact on public health or safety and could
include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) Moderate exposure to, or release of, radioactive material
licensed by or otherwise regulated by the Commission or Agreement
States;
(2) major degradation of essential safety-related equipment;
(3) major deficiencies in design, construction, use of, or
management controls for facilities or radioactive material licensed
by or otherwise regulated by the Commission or Agreement States; or
(4) substantiated case of actual loss, theft, or diversion of
risk-significant radioactive material licensed by or otherwise
regulated by the Commission or Agreement States.
Abnormal Occurrence Criteria
The following presents the criteria, by types of events, used to
determine which events will be considered for reporting as AOs.
I. All Licensees \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Medical patients are excluded from consideration under this
criterion and these criteria do not apply to medical events defined
in Sec. 35.3045 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR), which are considered in AO Criteria III.C, ``Events involving
the Medical Use of Radioactive Materials in Patients or Human
Research Subjects.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Human Exposure to Radiation From Licensed Material
1. Any unintended radiation exposure to an adult (any individual
18 years of age or older) resulting in:
(a) An annual total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) of 250
millisievert (mSv) (25 rem) or more;
(b) an annual sum of the deep dose equivalent (external dose)
and committed dose equivalent (intake of radioactive material) to
any individual organ other than the lens of the eye, the bone
marrow, and the gonads of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more;
(c) an annual dose equivalent to the lens of the eye of 1 Sv
(100 rem) or more;
(d) an annual sum of the deep dose equivalent and committed dose
equivalent to the bone marrow of 1 Sv (100 rem) or more;
(e) a committed dose equivalent to the gonads of 2,500 mSv (250
rem) or more; or
(f) an annual shallow dose equivalent to the skin or extremities
of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more.
2. Any unintended radiation exposure to any minor (an individual
less than 18 years of age) resulting in an annual TEDE of 50 mSv (5
rem) or more, or to an embryo/fetus resulting in a dose equivalent
of 50 mSv (5 rem) or more.
3. Any radiation exposure that has resulted in unintended
permanent functional damage to an organ or a physiological system as
determined by an independent physician \3\ deemed qualified by the
NRC or Agreement State.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Independent physician is defined to be a physician not on
the licensee's staff and who was not involved in the care of the
patient involved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 49180]]
B. Discharge or Dispersal of Radioactive Material From Its Intended
Place of Confinement
The release of radioactive material to an unrestricted area in
concentrations that, if averaged over a period of 24 hours, exceeds
5,000 times the values specified in Table 2 of appendix B, ``Annual
Limits on Intake (ALIs) and Derived Air Concentrations (DACs) of
Radionuclides for Occupational Exposure; Effluent Concentrations;
Concentrations for Release to Sewerage,'' to 10 CFR part 20,
``Standards for protection against radiation,'' unless the licensee
has demonstrated compliance with 10 CFR 20.1301, ``Dose limits for
individual members of the public,'' using 10 CFR 20.1302(b)(1) or 10
CFR 20.1302(b)(2)(ii). This criterion does not apply to
transportation events.
C. Theft, Diversion, or Loss of Licensed Material; Sabotage; or
Security Breach 4 5 6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Information pertaining to certain incidents may be either
classified or under consideration for classification because of
national security implications. Classified information will be
withheld when formally reporting these incidents in accordance with
Executive Order 13526, as amended (``Classified National Security
Information'' (75 FR 707), or any predecessor or successor order to
require protection against unauthorized disclosures. Any classified
details about these incidents would be available to the Congress,
upon request, under appropriate security arrangements.
\5\ Information pertaining to certain incidents may be
Safeguards Information as defined in 10 CFR 73.2 because of safety
and security implications. The AO report would withhold specific
safeguards information in accordance with Section 147 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Any safeguards details regarding
these incidents would be available to the Congress, upon request,
under appropriate security arrangements.
\6\ Reporting lost or stolen material is based on the activity
of the source at the time the radioactive material was known to be
lost or stolen. If, by the time the AO report is due to Congress,
the radioactive material has decayed to below the thresholds listed
in appendix A of 10 CFR part 37, the report will clarify that the
radioactive material has decayed below the thresholds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Any stolen, diverted, abandoned, or unrecovered lost
radioactive material that meets or exceeds the thresholds listed in
appendix A of 10 CFR part 37, ``Physical protection of category 1
and category 2 quantities of radioactive material.'' Excluded from
reporting under this criterion are those events involving sources
that are lost or abandoned under the following conditions: Sources
that have been lost and for which a reasonable attempt at recovery
has been made without success or irretrievable well logging sources
as defined in 10 CFR 39.2, ``Definitions.'' These sources are only
excluded if there is reasonable assurance that the doses from these
sources have not exceeded and will not exceed the reporting
thresholds specified in AO Criteria I.A.1 and I.A.2 and the agency
has determined that the risk of theft or diversion is acceptably
low.
2. An act that results in radiological sabotage as defined in 10
CFR 73.2, ``Definitions.''
3. Any substantiated \7\ case of actual theft, diversion, or
loss of a formula quantity of special nuclear material \8\ or an
inventory discrepancy of a formula quantity of special nuclear
material that is judged to be caused by theft or diversion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ ``Substantiated'' means a situation in which there is an
indication of loss, theft, or unlawful diversion, such as: An
allegation of diversion, report of lost or stolen material, or other
indication of loss of material control or accountability that cannot
be refuted following an investigation; and requires further action
on the part of the agency or other proper authorities.
\8\ Formula quantity of special nuclear material is defined in
10 CFR 70.4, ``Definitions.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Any substantial breakdown \9\ of physical security, cyber
security, or material control and accountability programs that
significantly weakens the protection against loss, theft, diversion,
or sabotage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ A substantial breakdown is defined as a red finding under
the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) in the physical security
inspection program or any plant or facility determined to have
overall unacceptable performance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Any significant unauthorized disclosures (loss, theft, and/or
deliberate) of classified information that harms national security
or safeguards information that threatens public health and safety.
D. Initiation of High-Level NRC Team Inspection \10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ This item addresses initiation of any incident
investigation teams, as described in NRC Management Directive (MD)
8.3, ``NRC Incident Investigation Program'' (see https://www.internal.nrc.gov/policy/directives/toc/md8.3.htm), or initiation
of any accident review groups, as described in MD 8.9, ``Accident
Investigation'' (see https://www.internal.nrc.gov/policy/directives/toc/md8.9.htm).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Commercial Nuclear Power Plant Licensees
A. Malfunction of Facility, Structures, or Equipment
1. Exceeding a safety limit of license technical specification
(TS) (10 CFR 50.36(c)).
2. Serious degradation of fuel integrity, primary coolant
pressure boundary, or primary containment boundary.
3. Loss of plant capability to perform essential safety
functions so that a release of radioactive materials, which could
result in exceeding the dose limits of 10 CFR part 100, ``Reactor
Site Criteria,'' or five times the dose limits of General Design
Criteria (GDC) 19 in appendix A, ``General Design Criteria for
Nuclear Power Plants,'' to 10 CFR part 50, ``Domestic licensing of
production and utilization facilities,'' could occur from a
postulated transient or accident (e.g., loss of emergency core
cooling system, loss of control rod system).
B. Design or Safety Analysis Deficiency, Personnel Error, or
Procedural or Administrative Inadequacy
1. Discovery of a major condition not specifically considered in
the safety analysis report or TS that requires immediate remedial
action.
2. Personnel error or procedural deficiencies that result in
loss of plant capability to perform essential safety functions so
that a release of radioactive materials, which could result in
exceeding the dose limits of 10 CFR part 100 or five times the dose
limits of GDC 19 in appendix A to 10 CFR part 50, could occur from a
postulated transient or accident (e.g., loss of emergency core
cooling system, loss of control rod drive mechanism).
C. Any Operating Reactor Events or Conditions Evaluated by the NRC
Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) To Be the Result of or Associated
With Licensee Performance Issues of High Safety Significance \11\
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\11\ The NRC ROP uses four colors to describe the safety
significance of licensee performance. As defined in NRC MD 8.13,
``Reactor Oversight Process'' (see https://www.internal.nrc.gov/policy/directives/toc/md8.13.htm), green is used for very low safety
significance, white is used for low to moderate safety significance,
yellow is used for substantial safety significance, and red is used
for high safety significance. Reactor conditions or performance
indicators evaluated to be red are considered AOs.
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D. Any Operating Reactor Events or Conditions Evaluated by the NRC
Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) Program To Have a Conditional
Core Damage Probability (CCDP) or Change in Core Damage Probability
([Delta]CDP) of Greater Than or Equal to 1 x 10-\3\ \12\
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\12\ Results from the NRC ASP program are used to monitor agency
performance against the agency's strategic safety goal (e.g., ensure
the safe use of radioactive materials) and objectives (e.g., prevent
and mitigate accidents and ensure radiation safety). A precursor
event with a CCDP or [Delta]CDP of greater than or equal to 1 x
10-\3\ is used as a performance indicator for the
strategic safety goal by determining that there have been no
significant precursors of a nuclear reactor accident and that there
have been no more than one significant adverse trend in industry
safety performance.
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E. Any Operating Reactor Plants That Are Determined To Have Overall
Unacceptable Performance or Are in a Shutdown Condition as a Result
of Significant Performance Problems and/or Operational Event(s)
\13\
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\13\ Any plants assessed by the ROP to be in the unacceptable
performance column, as described in NRC Inspection Manual Chapter
(IMC) 0305, ``Operating Reactor Assessment Program'' (see https://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1508/ML15089A315.pdf), or under the NRC IMC
0350, ``Oversight of Reactor Facilities in a Shutdown Condition Due
to Significant Performance and/or Operational Concerns'' (see https://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0634/ML063400076.pdf). This assessment of
safety performance is based on the number and significance of NRC
inspection findings and licensee performance indicators.
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III. Events at Facilities Other Than Nuclear Power Plants and All
Transportation Events
A. Events Involving Design, Analysis, Construction, Testing,
Operation, Transport, Use, or Disposal
1. An accidental criticality.
2. A major deficiency in design, construction, control, or
operation having significant safety implications that require
immediate remedial action.
3. A serious safety-significant deficiency in management or
procedural controls.
4. A series of events (in which the individual events are not of
major importance), recurring incidents, or incidents with
implications for similar facilities
[[Page 49181]]
(generic incidents) that raise a major safety concern.
B. Fuel Cycle Facilities \14\
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\14\ Criterion III.A also applies to Fuel Cycle Facilities.
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1. Absence or failure of all safety controls (engineered and
human) such that conditions were present for the occurrence of a
high-consequence event involving an NRC-regulated hazard
(radiological or chemical).\15\
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\15\ High-consequence events for facilities licensed under 10
CFR part 70 are those that could seriously harm the worker or a
member of the public in accordance with 10 CFR 70.61. The integrated
safety analysis (ISA) conducted and maintained by the licensee or
applicant of 10 CFR part 70 fuel cycle facilities identifies such
hazards and the safety controls (10 CFR 70.62(c)) applied to meet
the performance requirements in accordance with 10 CFR 70.61(b)
through (d). Fuel cycle facilities licensed under 10 CFR part 40 or
certified under 10 CFR part 76 have licensing basis documents that
describe facility specific hazards, consequences, and those controls
utilized to prevent or mitigate the consequences of such accidents.
For these facilities, a high-consequence event would be a release
that has the potential to cause acute radiological or chemical
exposures to a worker or a member of the public similar to that
defined in NUREG-1520, Revision 2, Appendix A to Chapter 3, Section
A.2, under ``Consequence Category 3 (High Consequences)'' (see
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1520/).
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2. An NRC-ordered safety-related or security-related immediate
remedial action.
C. Events Involving the Medical Use of Radioactive Materials in
Patients or Human Research Subjects \16\
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\16\ Criteria III.A.2, III.A.3, and III.A.4 also apply to
medical licensees.
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1. A medical event, as defined in 10 CFR 35.3045, which results
in a dose that:
(a) Is equal to or greater than 1 Gray (Gy) (100 rad) to a major
portion of the bone marrow or to the lens of the eye; or equal or
greater than 2.5 Gy (250 rad) to the gonads;
or
(b) exceeds, by 10 Gy (1,000 rad), the expected dose to any
other organ or tissue from the administration defined in the written
directive; and
2. A medical event, as defined in 10 CFR 35.3045, which
involves:
(a) A dose or dosage that is at least 50 percent greater than
that prescribed, or
(b) a prescribed dose or dosage that
(i) uses the wrong radiopharmaceutical or unsealed byproduct
material; or
(ii) is delivered by the wrong route of administration; or
(iii) is delivered to the wrong treatment site; or
(iv) is delivered by the wrong treatment mode; or
(v) is from a leaking source or sources; or
(vi) is delivered to the wrong individual or human research
subject.
Appendix B: Other Events of Interest
This appendix discusses other events of interest that do not
meet the AO criteria in Appendix A. The Commission may determine
that events, other than AOs, may be of interest to Congress and the
public and should be included in an appendix to the AO report as
``Other Events of Interest.'' Such events may include, but are not
necessarily limited to, events that do not meet the AO criteria but
that have been perceived by Congress or the public to be of high
health and safety significance, have received significant media
coverage, or have caused the NRC to increase its attention to or
oversight of a program area, or a group of similar events that have
resulted in licensed materials entering the public domain in an
uncontrolled manner.
[FR Doc. 2015-20260 Filed 8-14-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
