Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern medical use of byproduct material related to reporting and notifications of medical events (MEs) to clarify requirements for permanent implant brachytherapy. The proposed amendments would change the criteria for defining an ME for permanent implant brachytherapy from dose-based to activity-based; add a requirement to report, as an ME, any administration requiring a written directive (WD) if a WD was not prepared; clarify requirements for WDs for permanent implant brachytherapy; and make certain administrative and clarification changes. These amendments regarding permanent implant brachytherapy are being proposed in response to several incidents involving therapeutic use of byproduct material. The proposed changes are based in part on recommendations from NRC's Advisory Committee on the Medical Use of Isotopes (ACMUI) and the NRC's Medical Radiation Safety Team. This proposed rule would affect all medical licensees that perform procedures using byproduct material that require completion of a WD.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), in cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), will hold a joint course on fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). Since 2002, RES and EPRI, under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperative Nuclear Safety Research, have been developing state-of-the-art methods for conduct of fire PRA. In September 2005, this work produced the ``EPRI/NRC-RES Fire PRA Methodology for Nuclear Power Facilities,'' NUREG/CR-6850 (EPRI 1011989). The course covers this state-of-the-art methodology. Purpose: To provide training for users of ``EPRI/NRC-RES Fire PRA Methodology for Nuclear Power Facilities,'' NUREG/CR-6850 (EPRI 1011989).

The NRC is conducting a public meeting to solicit early public input on major issues associated with the use of certain forms of cesium chloride (CsCl) currently used by NRC- and Agreement State- licensees. To aid in that process, the NRC is requesting comments on the issues discussed in this notice. While the NRC has not initiated rulemaking on this subject, we are utilizing the conventionally established rulemaking comment channels. Additionally, the NRC is requesting names of individuals to participate at the public meeting in a roundtable discussion of the issues discussed in Sections II and III of this notice.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the availability of Research Information Letter (RIL) 0801, ``Technical Basis for Revision of Embrittlement Criteria in 10 CFR 50.46'' and NUREG/CR-6967, ``Cladding Embrittlement During Postulated Loss-of- Coolant Accidents,'' and is seeking public comment on these documents. The NRC is soliciting comment on the subject documents to confirm that a sufficient technical basis exists to proceed with new performance- based regulations on emergency core cooling system (ECCS) acceptance criteria, and to identify issues that may arise with respect to experimental data development or regulatory costs or impacts of new requirements.

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The NRC published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on May 8, 2008. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR Part 31, General Domestic Licenses for Byproduct Material. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0016. 4. The form number if applicable: N/A. 5. How often the collection is required: Reports are submitted as events occur. General license registration requests may be submitted at any time. Changes to the information on the registration may be submitted as they occur. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: Persons receiving, possessing, using, or transferring devices containing byproduct material. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 35,663 (1,073 NRC responses + 3,900 NRC recordkeepers + 11,290 Agreement State responses + 19,400 Agreement State recordkeepers). 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: Approximately 3,900 NRC general licensees and 19,400 Agreement State general licensees. 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 10,868 hours (1,460 hours for NRC licensees [485 hours reporting and 975 hours recordkeeping] and 9,408 hours for Agreement State licensees [4,558 hours reporting and 4,850 hours recordkeeping]). 10. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 31 establishes general licenses for the possession and use of byproduct material in certain devices. General licensees are required to keep testing records and submit event reports identified in Part 31, which assist NRC in determining with reasonable assurance that devices are operated safely and without radiological hazard to users or the public. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by September 2, 2008. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking comment from all interested persons on options for improving the level of openness and transparency associated with security-related information obtained from the conduct of NRC inspection and licensee performance assessments.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issues raised in a petition for rulemaking submitted by Scott Portzline, on behalf of the Three Mile Island Alert, in the ongoing ``Power Reactor Security Requirements'' rulemaking. The petitioner requested that the NRC regulations governing physical protection of plants and materials be amended to require NRC licensees to post at least one armed guard at each entrance to the ``owner controlled areas'' (OCAs) surrounding all U.S. nuclear power plants. The petitioner stated that this should be accomplished by adding armed site protection officers (SPOs) to the security forcesnot by simply moving SPOs from their protected area (PA) posts to the OCA entrances. The petitioner believes that its proposed amendment would provide an additional layer of security that would complement existing measures against radiological sabotage and would be consistent with the long- standing principle of defense-in-depth.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with the cooperation of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division, is issuing for public comment a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft GEIS) that identifies and evaluates on a programmatic basis, the potential environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning at in-situ leach (ISL) uranium milling facilities located in particular regions of the western United States. The Draft GEIS addresses environmental issues common to ISL milling facilities to aid in making more efficient environmental reviews of individual site-specific ISL license applications. The NRC anticipates that nearly 75 percent of new license applications for uranium milling received by the agency within the next several years will propose use of the ISL process. By addressing common issues associated with environmental reviews of ISL facilities, the NRC will use the GEIS to provide a starting point in the staff's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses for site-specific license applications for new ISL facilities. Additionally, the NRC staff plans to use the GEIS, along with applicable previous site-specific environmental review documents, in its NEPA analysis for the restart or expansions of existing ISL facilities. In its review of individual ISL license applications, the NRC would evaluate the site-specific data to determine whether relevant sections of the GEIS could be incorporated by reference into the site-specific environmental review. Additionally, the NRC would determine whether aspects of the site and/or the applicant's proposed activities are consistent with those evaluated in the GEIS or are such that additional analysis in specific topic areas would be required. As such, the subsequent site-specific NEPA reviews (i.e., either environmental assessments or environmental impact statements) will tier from the analyses of common issues evaluated in the GEIS and address the unique attributes of individual sites. To encourage broad participation in the preparation of the GEIS, the NRC staff has scheduled a series of public meetings in potentially affected regions of the four states (Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico) where uranium milling companies have indicated to the NRC their desire to pursue uranium recovery using the ISL process. The purpose of these meetings will be for the NRC staff to present an overview of the Draft GEIS and to accept oral and written public comments on the Draft GEIS from interested members of the public. The meeting dates, times, and locations are listed below: Meeting Date: August 25, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center, 305 N. 27th Street, Spearfish, SD 57783, Phone (605) 642-4683. Meeting Date: August 27, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Chadron State College, Student Center Ballroom, 1000 Main Street, Chadron, NE., 69337, Phone (308) 432-6380. Meeting Date: August 29, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Weston Senior Center, 627 Pine Street, Newcastle, WY 82701, Phone (307) 746-4903. Meeting Date: September 8, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Inn & Suites, 3009 West Highway 66, Gallup, NM, Phone (505) 722-2221. Meeting Date: September 9, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Inn & Suites, 1501 East Santa Fe Ave., Grants, NM, 87020, Phone (505) 287-7901. Meeting Date: September 11, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Hilton Albuquerque, 1901 University Boulevard NE., Albuquerque, NM, Phone (505) 884-2500. Meeting Date: September 23, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Ramkota Hotel, 800 N. Poplar, Casper, WY, Phone (307) 266-6000. Meeting Date: September 25, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Tower West Lodge, 109 North U.S. Highway 14 &16, Gillette, WY, 82716, Phone (307) 686-2210. For each meeting, members of the NRC staff will be available for informal discussions with members of the public from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The formal meeting and associated NRC presentation will begin at 7 p.m. For planning purposes, those who wish to present oral comments at a particular meeting are encouraged to pre-register no later than one week (7 days) prior to the meeting by contacting either Tarsha Moon of the NRC at 1-800-368-5642, extension 7843 or Antoinette Walker-Smith of the NRC at 1-800-368-5642, Extension 6390. Interested persons also may register to speak at the meetings. Depending on the number of speakers for a meeting, each speaker may be limited in the amount of time allocated for their comments so that all speakers will have an opportunity to offer comments. The NRC will issue a Final GEIS after considering both oral and written public comments on the Draft GEIS.

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The NRC published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on April 14, 2008. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR Part 32 Specific Domestic Licenses to Manufacture or Transfer Certain Items Containing Byproduct Material. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0001. 4. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 653. 5. How often the collection is required: There is a one-time submittal of information to receive a certificate of registration for a sealed source and/or device. Certificates of registration for sealed sources and/or devices can be amended at any time. In addition, licensee recordkeeping must be performed on an on-going basis, and reporting of transfer of byproduct material must be reported every calendar year, and in some cases, every calendar quarter. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: All specific licensees who manufacture or initially transfer items containing byproduct material for sale or distribution to general licensees, or persons exempt from licensing, medical use product distributors to specific licensees, and those requesting a certificate of registration for a sealed source and/or device. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 1,315 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 846 (239 NRC licensees and registration certificate holders and 607 Agreement State licensees and registration certificate holders). 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 166,054 (10,635 reporting hours, 155,285 hours for recordkeeping, and 134 hours for third party disclosures) 10. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 32 establishes requirements for specific licenses for the introduction of byproduct material into products or materials and transfer of the products or materials to general licensees, or persons exempt from licensing, medical use product distributors to specific licensees, and those requesting a certificate of registration for a sealed source and/or device. It also prescribes requirements governing holders of the specific licenses. Some of the requirements are for information which must be submitted in an application for a certificate of registration for a sealed source and/ or device, records which must be kept, reports which must be submitted, and information which must be forwarded to general licensees and persons exempt from licensing. As mentioned, 10 CFR Part 32 also prescribes requirements for the issuance of certificates of registration (concerning radiation safety information about a product) to manufacturers or initial transferors of sealed sources and devices. Submission or retention of the information is mandatory for persons subject to the 10 CFR Part 32 requirements. The information is used by NRC to make licensing and other regulatory determinations concerning the use of radioactive byproduct material in products and devices. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by August 20, 2008. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date.