Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations governing the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in a proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The final rule implements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) revised standards for doses that could occur after 10,000 years, but within the period of geologic stability. The final rule also specifies a range of values for the deep percolation rate to be used to represent climate change after 10,000 years, as called for by EPA, and specifies that calculations of radiation doses for workers use the same weighting factors that EPA is using for calculating individual doses to members of the public.

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 December 10, 2008. 1. Type of Submission, New, Revision, or Extension: Extension. 2. The Title of the Information Collection: 10 CFR Part 30Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material. Current OMB Approval Number: 3150-0017. 3. The Form Number if Applicable: N/A. 4. How Often the Collection is Required: Required reports are collected and evaluated on a continuing basis as events occur. There is a one-time submittal of information to receive a license. Renewal applications are submitted every 10 years. Information submitted in previous applications may be referenced without being resubmitted. In addition, recordkeeping must be performed on an on-going basis. 5. Who Will be Required or Asked to Report: All persons applying for or holding a license to manufacture, produce, transfer, receive, acquire, own, possess, or use radioactive byproduct material. 6. An Estimate of the Number of Annual Responses: 38,407 (6,623 NRC Licensee responses (2,754 Responses + 3,869 Recordkeepers) and 31,784 Agreement State Licensee responses (13,213 Responses + 18,571 Recordkeepers)). 7. The Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 22,440 (3,869 NRC licensees and 18,571 Agreement State licensees). 8. An Estimate of the Total Number of Hours Needed Annually to Complete the Requirement or Request: 314,844 (NRC licensees 54,250 hours (24,633 reporting + 29,617 recordkeeping) and Agreement State licensees 260,594 hours (118,597 reporting + 141,997 recordkeeping)). 9. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 30 establishes requirements that are applicable to all persons in the United States governing domestic licensing of radioactive byproduct material. The application, reporting and recordkeeping requirements are necessary to permit the NRC to make a determination whether the possession, use, and transfer of byproduct material is in conformance with the Commission's regulations for protection of the public health and safety. 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, MD 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 April 13, 2009. 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) has received and requests public comment on a petition for rulemaking dated November 24, 2008, filed by the C-10 Research and Education Foundation, Inc. (petitioner). The petition was docketed by the NRC and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-72-6. The petitioner is requesting that the NRC amend the regulations that govern licensing requirements for the independent storage of spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related greater than class C waste. The petitioner believes that the current regulations do not provide sufficient requirements for safe storage of spent nuclear fuel in dry cask storage or in independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs). The petitioner states that the NRC does not adequately enforce the current regulations that govern dry cask storage by allowing manufacturers, vendors, and licensees to use alternatives to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code. The petitioner also states that the NRC has not specified license requirements for multiple cask designs under different expiration dates at the same ISFSI, has not adequately considered age-related degradation of dry cask systems, and has no requirements in place to address sabotage and adverse environmental effects on ISFSIs and current and future dry cask storage systems.

The NRC invites public comment about our intention to request the OMB's approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR Part 140, ``Financial Protection Requirements and Indemnity Agreements. 2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0039. 3. How often the collection is required: As necessary in order for NRC to meet its responsibilities called for in Sections 170 and 193 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act). 4. Who is required or asked to report: Licensees authorized to operate reactor facilities in accordance with 10 CFR Part 50 and licensees authorized to construct and operate a uranium enrichment facility in accordance with 10 CFR Parts 40 and 70. 5. The number of annual respondents: 91. 6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 1307. 7. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 140 of the NRC's regulations specifies information to be submitted by licensees to enable the NRC to assess (a) the financial protection required of licensees and for the indemnification and limitation of liability of certain licensees and other persons pursuant to Section 170 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and (b) the liability insurance required of uranium enrichment facility licensees pursuant to Section 193 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Submit, by May 1, 2009, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology? A copy of the draft 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, MD 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 submitted in writing or in electronic form will be made available for public inspection. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including any information in your submission that you do not want to be publicly disclosed. Comments submitted should reference Docket No. NRC-2009-0054. You may submit your comments by any of the following methods. Electronic comments: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. NRC-2009-0054. Mail comments to NRC Clearance Officer, Gregory Trussell (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Questions about the information collection requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Gregory Trussell (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at 301- 415-6445, or by e-mail to INFOCOLLECTS.Resource@NRC.GOV.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), as amended, which requires that the NRC recover through fees approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in fiscal year (FY) 2009, less the amounts appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), amounts appropriated for Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR), and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities. Based on the FY 2009 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, reported by the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, the NRC's required fee recovery amount for the FY 2009 budget would be approximately $870.6 million. After accounting for billing adjustments, the total amount to be billed as fees would be approximately $864.8 million.

This document corrects a rule that appeared in the Federal Register on October 24, 2008 (73 FR 63546), that amends the regulations for the protection of Safeguards Information (SGI) to protect SGI from inadvertent release and unauthorized disclosure which might compromise the security of nuclear facilities and materials. This document is necessary to correct an erroneous amendatory instruction which resulted in duplicate paragraph designations.

On December 23, 2008 (73 FR 78599), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a final rule that amended the NRC's regulations to implement the requirements under the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America (Additional Protocol) for certain NRC and Agreement State licensees to report information on various nuclear fuel cycle-related activities and to provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with access to those locations. This document is necessary to correct an erroneous amendatory instruction which resulted in two undesignated center headings.