Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical Position, 3166-3167 [2016-00972]

Download as PDF 3166 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 20, 2016 / Notices Sciences, Suite 1045, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. Telephone: 703–292–7165. Purpose of Meeting: To provide advice and recommendations to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on issues within the field of astronomy and astrophysics that are of mutual interest and concern to the agencies. Agenda: To provide updates on agency activities and to discuss the Committee’s draft annual report due 15 March 2016. Dated: January 14, 2016. Crystal Robinson, Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 2016–00996 Filed 1–19–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7555–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC–2011–0022] Don Lowman, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 5452; email: Donald.Lowman@nrc.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical Position Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Branch technical position; request for comment. AGENCY: tkelley on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting comments on whether the NRC staff should formally document a position on contaminated material and contaminated trash. The NRC issued Revision 1 of the Branch Technical Position on Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation (CA BTP) in February of 2015. The CA BTP provides acceptable methods that can be used to perform concentration averaging of Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) for the purpose of determining its waste class for disposal. When the NRC issued the revised CA BTP, it noted that one issue, distinguishing contaminated materials from contaminated trash, may need further clarification. The NRC also stated that it would consider whether additional guidance, such as a Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS), would be warranted for distinguishing contaminated materials from contaminated trash. DATES: Submit comments by March 21, 2016. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this date. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods (unless this document describes a different SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:12 Jan 19, 2016 method for submitting comments on a specific subject): • Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2011–0022. 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. Jkt 238001 A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2011– 0022 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–2011–0022. • 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 Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the revised CA BTP are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML12254B065 and ML12326A611, respectively. • 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. PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket ID NRC–2011– 0022 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 you 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 submissions into ADAMS. II. Background The NRC issued Revision 1 of the CA BTP (‘‘Revised CA BTP’’) on February 25, 2015, (80 FR 10165). This revision provided updated guidance on the interpretation of § 61.55(a)(8) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Determination of concentrations in wastes,’’ as it applies to the classification (as Class A, B, or C waste) of a variety of different types and forms of LLW. Section 61.55(a)(8) states that radionuclide concentrations can be averaged over the volume of the waste or its weight if the units are expressed as nanocuries per gram. The average radionuclide concentrations are compared with the waste classification tables in § 61.55 to determine the class of the waste. The waste class determines the minimum safety measures to be applied in order to provide reasonable assurance of safe disposal of the waste. The previous version of the CA BTP was published in 1995 (ADAMS Accession No. ML033630732). In developing the Revised CA BTP, the staff identified one issue that may need further clarification. One of the categories of discrete wastes that are subject to additional concentration averaging constraints is ‘‘contaminated materials.’’ Both the 1995 and Revised CA BTPs define contaminated materials as components or metals on which radioactivity resides on or near the surface in a fixed or removable condition. To demonstrate compliance with these averaging constraints, the E:\FR\FM\20JAN1.SGM 20JAN1 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 20, 2016 / Notices tkelley on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES radiological characteristics and volumes of individual items are typically determined. However, items with surface contamination may also be categorized as contaminated trash which has fewer averaging constraints. Both the 1995 and the Revised CA BTP used the term contaminated trash which is intended to be the equivalent of waste descriptor codes 39 and 40 (i.e., Compactible Trash and Noncompactible Trash) of NRC Form 541, ‘‘Uniform Low-Level Radioactive Waste Manifest—Container and Waste Description.’’ Items in contaminated trash do not need to be individually characterized. Instead, a container of contaminated trash can be surveyed to determine its overall radioactivity and its classification determined by dividing the overall activity by the waste volume. Neither the 1995 CA BTP nor draft revisions published for public comment provided guidance for categorizing items as either contaminated materials or contaminated trash. In addition, the NRC received no comments from stakeholders on this issue. The NRC is now addressing whether additional guidance, such as a Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS), is warranted for distinguishing contaminated materials from contaminated trash. III. Specific Request for Comments The NRC is trying to determine what items that could be defined as contaminated material per the CA BTP, if any, are currently being disposed of as contaminated trash. The NRC is requesting that persons consider and address the following questions as they develop and provide their comments: 1. Is additional guidance needed to clarify the distinction between contaminated trash and contaminated material? 2. When filling out the Uniform Waste Manifest (UWM)(NRC Forms 540, 541, and 542), how is contaminated equipment (UWM code 33) currently distinguished from contaminated trash (UWM codes 39 and 40)? 3. Should numerical constraints be developed to clarify the distinction between contaminated materials and contaminated trash? If so, what basis should be used to develop the numerical constraints? If not, what qualitative factors should be considered? 4. If numerical values are developed, would activity or concentration constraints be preferable? Would an option to use either be feasible to implement? 5. What challenges, if any, do you foresee with implementing numerical thresholds for distinguishing between VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:12 Jan 19, 2016 Jkt 238001 contaminated trash and contaminated materials? How could these challenges be ameliorated? 6. Would an emphasis on using process knowledge be sufficient to avoid the unintended consequence of causing licensees to characterize individual pieces of trash that have radionuclide concentrations significantly less than the class limits? 7. The NRC understands that items referred to as ‘‘high rad trash’’ are placed in containers of contaminated trash and averaged. The NRC also understands that this practice reduces worker exposure as compared to evaluating each item of trash. Please provide examples of ‘‘high rad trash,’’ estimated annual volume, areas of the facilities where this waste is generated, and typical contact dose rates (if available). 8. When classifying contaminated trash, is the same sample data (e.g., scaling factors) for determining the radionuclide content of ‘‘normal’’ contaminated trash used for classifying the ‘‘high rad trash’’? 9. What process currently is used to determine whether items of ‘‘high rad trash’’ can be disposed of with loweractivity contaminated trash or whether items are treated as contaminated materials and averaged with the constraints described for contaminated materials under the 1995 CA BTP? 10. Is clarification needed for the term ‘‘component’’ in the definition of contaminated materials used in the 1995 and 2015 CA BTP? Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of January 2016. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Andrew Persinko, Deputy Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 2016–00972 Filed 1–19–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Excepted Service; Consolidated Listing of Schedules A, B, and C Exceptions Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: This provides the consolidated notice of all agency specific excepted authorities, approved by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), under Schedule A, B, and C, as SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00074 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3167 of June 30, 2015, as required by Civil Service Rule VI, Exceptions from the Competitive Service. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Senior Executive Resources Services, Senior Executive Service and Performance Management, Employee Services, 202–606–2246. Civil Service Rule VI (5 CFR 6.1) requires the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to publish notice of exceptions granted under Schedule A, B, and C. Under 5 CFR 213.103(a) it is required that all Schedule A, B, and C appointing authorities available for use by all agencies to be published as regulations in the Federal Register (FR) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Excepted appointing authorities established solely for use by one specific agency do not meet the standard of general applicability prescribed by the Federal Register Act for regulations published in either the FR or the CFR. Therefore, 5 CFR 213.103(b) requires monthly publication, in the Notices section of the Federal Register, of any Schedule A, B, and C appointing authorities applicable to a single agency. Under 5 CFR 213.103(c) it is required that a consolidated listing of all Schedule A, B, and C authorities, current as of June 30 of each year, be published annually in the Notices section of the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov/ agencies/personnel-management-office. That notice follows. Governmentwide authorities codified in the CFR are not printed in this notice. When making appointments under an agency-specific authority, agencies should first list the appropriate Schedule A, B, or C, followed by the applicable number, for example: Schedule A, 213.3104(x)(x). Agencies are reminded that all excepted authorities are subject to the provisions of 5 CFR part 302 unless specifically exempted by OPM at the time of approval. OPM maintains continuing information on the status of all Schedule A, B, and C appointing authorities. Interested parties needing information about specific authorities during the year may obtain information by writing to the Senior Executive Resource Services, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street NW., Room 7412, Washington, DC 20415, or by calling (202) 606–2246. The following exceptions are current as of June 30, 2015. Schedule A SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: E:\FR\FM\20JAN1.SGM 20JAN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3166-3167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00972]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0022]


Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical 
Position

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Branch technical position; request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is requesting 
comments on whether the NRC staff should formally document a position 
on contaminated material and contaminated trash. The NRC issued 
Revision 1 of the Branch Technical Position on Concentration Averaging 
and Encapsulation (CA BTP) in February of 2015. The CA BTP provides 
acceptable methods that can be used to perform concentration averaging 
of Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) for the purpose of determining 
its waste class for disposal. When the NRC issued the revised CA BTP, 
it noted that one issue, distinguishing contaminated materials from 
contaminated trash, may need further clarification. The NRC also stated 
that it would consider whether additional guidance, such as a 
Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS), would be warranted for distinguishing 
contaminated materials from contaminated trash.

DATES: Submit comments by March 21, 2016. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 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-2011-0022. 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: Don Lowman, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-5452; email: Donald.Lowman@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0022 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-2011-0022.
     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. 
Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the revised CA BTP are available in ADAMS 
under Accession Nos. ML12254B065 and ML12326A611, respectively.
     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-2011-0022 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 
you 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 submissions into ADAMS.

II. Background

    The NRC issued Revision 1 of the CA BTP (``Revised CA BTP'') on 
February 25, 2015, (80 FR 10165). This revision provided updated 
guidance on the interpretation of Sec.  61.55(a)(8) of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Determination of concentrations 
in wastes,'' as it applies to the classification (as Class A, B, or C 
waste) of a variety of different types and forms of LLW. Section 
61.55(a)(8) states that radionuclide concentrations can be averaged 
over the volume of the waste or its weight if the units are expressed 
as nanocuries per gram. The average radionuclide concentrations are 
compared with the waste classification tables in Sec.  61.55 to 
determine the class of the waste. The waste class determines the 
minimum safety measures to be applied in order to provide reasonable 
assurance of safe disposal of the waste. The previous version of the CA 
BTP was published in 1995 (ADAMS Accession No. ML033630732).
    In developing the Revised CA BTP, the staff identified one issue 
that may need further clarification. One of the categories of discrete 
wastes that are subject to additional concentration averaging 
constraints is ``contaminated materials.'' Both the 1995 and Revised CA 
BTPs define contaminated materials as components or metals on which 
radioactivity resides on or near the surface in a fixed or removable 
condition. To demonstrate compliance with these averaging constraints, 
the

[[Page 3167]]

radiological characteristics and volumes of individual items are 
typically determined. However, items with surface contamination may 
also be categorized as contaminated trash which has fewer averaging 
constraints. Both the 1995 and the Revised CA BTP used the term 
contaminated trash which is intended to be the equivalent of waste 
descriptor codes 39 and 40 (i.e., Compactible Trash and Noncompactible 
Trash) of NRC Form 541, ``Uniform Low-Level Radioactive Waste 
Manifest--Container and Waste Description.'' Items in contaminated 
trash do not need to be individually characterized. Instead, a 
container of contaminated trash can be surveyed to determine its 
overall radioactivity and its classification determined by dividing the 
overall activity by the waste volume. Neither the 1995 CA BTP nor draft 
revisions published for public comment provided guidance for 
categorizing items as either contaminated materials or contaminated 
trash. In addition, the NRC received no comments from stakeholders on 
this issue. The NRC is now addressing whether additional guidance, such 
as a Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS), is warranted for distinguishing 
contaminated materials from contaminated trash.

III. Specific Request for Comments

    The NRC is trying to determine what items that could be defined as 
contaminated material per the CA BTP, if any, are currently being 
disposed of as contaminated trash. The NRC is requesting that persons 
consider and address the following questions as they develop and 
provide their comments:
    1. Is additional guidance needed to clarify the distinction between 
contaminated trash and contaminated material?
    2. When filling out the Uniform Waste Manifest (UWM)(NRC Forms 540, 
541, and 542), how is contaminated equipment (UWM code 33) currently 
distinguished from contaminated trash (UWM codes 39 and 40)?
    3. Should numerical constraints be developed to clarify the 
distinction between contaminated materials and contaminated trash? If 
so, what basis should be used to develop the numerical constraints? If 
not, what qualitative factors should be considered?
    4. If numerical values are developed, would activity or 
concentration constraints be preferable? Would an option to use either 
be feasible to implement?
    5. What challenges, if any, do you foresee with implementing 
numerical thresholds for distinguishing between contaminated trash and 
contaminated materials? How could these challenges be ameliorated?
    6. Would an emphasis on using process knowledge be sufficient to 
avoid the unintended consequence of causing licensees to characterize 
individual pieces of trash that have radionuclide concentrations 
significantly less than the class limits?
    7. The NRC understands that items referred to as ``high rad trash'' 
are placed in containers of contaminated trash and averaged. The NRC 
also understands that this practice reduces worker exposure as compared 
to evaluating each item of trash. Please provide examples of ``high rad 
trash,'' estimated annual volume, areas of the facilities where this 
waste is generated, and typical contact dose rates (if available).
    8. When classifying contaminated trash, is the same sample data 
(e.g., scaling factors) for determining the radionuclide content of 
``normal'' contaminated trash used for classifying the ``high rad 
trash''?
    9. What process currently is used to determine whether items of 
``high rad trash'' can be disposed of with lower-activity contaminated 
trash or whether items are treated as contaminated materials and 
averaged with the constraints described for contaminated materials 
under the 1995 CA BTP?
    10. Is clarification needed for the term ``component'' in the 
definition of contaminated materials used in the 1995 and 2015 CA BTP?


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of January 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew Persinko,
Deputy Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and 
Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2016-00972 Filed 1-19-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.