Nuclear Regulatory Commission March 19, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is correcting a notice that was published in the Federal Register (FR) on March 5, 2013 (78 FR 14361), regarding the order approving the proposed internal restructuring and indirect transfer of license. This action is necessary to correct the date of a safety evaluation that was incorrectly referenced in Section II of this notice. The safety evaluation date was corrected by letter dated February 25, 2013, which is available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML13056A266.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to establish security requirements for the use and transport of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. The NRC considers these quantities to be risk significant and, therefore, to warrant additional protection. Category 1 and category 2 thresholds are based on the quantities established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources, which the NRC endorses. The objective of this final rule is to provide reasonable assurance of preventing the theft or diversion of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material. The regulations also include security requirements for the transportation of irradiated reactor fuel that weighs 100 grams or less in net weight of irradiated fuel. The final rule affects any licensee that possesses an aggregated category 1 or category 2 quantity of radioactive material, any licensee that transports these materials using ground transportation, and any licensee that transports small quantities of irradiated reactor fuel. The rule also considers a petition for rulemaking (PRM-71-13) submitted by the State of Washington that requested that the NRC adopt the use of global positioning satellite tracking as a national requirement for vehicles transporting highly radioactive mobile or portable radioactive devices.