[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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