[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 70 (Monday, April 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18008-18009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-9676]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5995-3]
RIN 2060-AF04
Health Risks From Low-Level Environmental Exposure to
Radionuclides--Federal Guidance Report No.13--Part 1; Interim Version
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the
availability of the report, Health Risks from Low-Level Environmental
Exposure to Radionuclides--Federal Guidance Report No.13--Part 1. This
report has been issued in interim form to provide government agencies
and other interested parties an opportunity to become familiar with its
supporting methodology, and to solicit comments for consideration
before publishing the final version. The report is intended to promote
consistency in assessments of the risks to health from radiation and to
help ensure that such assessments are based on up-to-date scientific
information. Interim Federal Guidance Report No.13 was published on
January 30, 1998, and is now available for review.
DATES: Written comments in response to this notice must be received on
or before June 30, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Written comments must be submitted electronically
([email protected]) or in duplicate to: Central Docket Section
(6102), Environmental Protection Agency, ATTN: Air Docket No. A-98-11,
Washington, D.C. 20460. The docket is available for public inspection
between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday, in
Room M1500 of Waterside Mall, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C.
20460. The FAX number is (202) 260-4400. If copies of docket materials
are requested, a reasonable fee may be charged for photocopying.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of Federal Guidance Report
No.13 (FGR-13) are available by contacting EPA's National Center for
Environmental Publication and Information on 1-800-490-9198 or by
visiting their web site (www.epa.gov/ncepihom). For technical
information only, contact Mike Boyd on 202-564-9395, or by e-mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information presented in FGR-13 is
intended for use in assessing risks from exposure to radionuclides. The
report provides, for the first time, comprehensive tabulations of
cancer risk coefficients that use state-of-the-art models for
estimating cancer risks from external and internal exposure. These
coefficients may be used in a variety of applications ranging from
environmental impact analyses for specific sites to the general
analyses that support rulemaking. FGR-13 provides coefficients for
assessing cancer risks from environmental exposure to about 100
radionuclides. Both cancer mortality and incidence risk coefficients
are tabulated for inhalation, food and water ingestion, submersion in
air and exposure to uniform soil concentrations. The age-averaged
coefficients consider age-specific intake rates, dose modeling, and
risk modeling.
As part of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970, EPA took over the
functions of the Federal Radiation Council (FRC), which was formed
through Executive Order 10831 in 1959.
Under this authority it is the responsibility of the Administrator
to ``advise the President with respect to radiation matters, directly
or indirectly affecting health, including guidance for all Federal
agencies in the formulation of radiation standards and in the
establishment and execution of programs of cooperation with States.''
In carrying out this responsibility, EPA strives: (1) To ensure that
the regulation of exposure to ionizing radiation is adequately
protective, (2) to reflect the best available scientific information;
and (3) to ensure that this is done in a consistent manner.
Since the mid-1980's, EPA has issued a series of Federal guidance
documents for the purpose of providing Federal agencies technical
information to assist in their implementation of radiation protection
programs. The first report in this series, Federal Guidance Report No.
10 (1984), presented derived concentrations of radioactivity in air and
water corresponding to the limiting
[[Page 18009]]
annual doses recommended for workers in 1960. That report was
superseded in 1988 by Federal Guidance Report No. 11 (1988), which
provides dose coefficients for internal exposure of members of the
general public and limiting values of radionuclides intake and air
concentrations for workers, based on updated biokinetic and dosimetric
models. Federal Guidance Report No. 12 (1993) tabulates dose
coefficients for external exposure to radionuclides in air, water, and
soil.
EPA currently plans for final publication of FGR13 for the fall of
1998. This interim version provides tabulations of risk estimates, or
``risk coefficients'', for approximately 100 important radionuclides.
The tabulations in the final version will extend the methodology of
the interim version to all radionuclides that are included in Federal
Guidance Reports No. 11 and No. 12.
Dated: April 6, 1998.
Richard D. Wilson,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 98-9676 Filed 4-10-98; 8:45 am]
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