[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 203 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56237-56238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28191]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Announcement of Workshops on Draft Guidance on Radiological 
Criteria for License Termination

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Announcement of workshop.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the schedule for a series of workshops 
on the draft guidance, the website address and structure, and staff 
plans to hold additional technical meetings and telephone conferences, 
as needed, to discuss emerging issues and to prepare for the workshops. 
The date, time, location, and agendas for the workshops and meetings 
will be announced on the NRC web site.

Background

    On July 8, 1998, the Commission approved the publication of the 
draft guidance for the final rule on Radiological Criteria for License 
Termination (License Termination Rule,

[[Page 56238]]

LTR) (62 FR 39058) for a two year interim use period. The Commission 
also directed the staff to maintain a dialogue with the public through 
the use of a website and public workshops. In addition, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is developing a standard review plan 
(SRP) for use in reviewing licensee submittals related to the LTR.

Workshops on Guidance for Radiological Criteria for License 
Termination

    The NRC has scheduled six workshops during the period 12/98 to 10/
99. All of the workshops will be held at NRC Headquarters in the 
auditorium of the Two White Flint North building. The address is 11545 
Rockville Pike, Rockville MD, 20852. The dates for the workshops are 
listed below.
    Workshop Dates: December 1-2, 1998, January 21-22, 1999, March 18-
19, 1999, June 16-17, 1999, August 18-19, 1999, October 20-21, 1999.
    The final workshop agendas will depend on the issues that emerge as 
industry, NRC, and other stakeholders review, and gain experience 
using, the draft guidance. However, the general topics to be covered 
are dose modeling, demonstrating as low as is reasonably achievable 
(ALARA), final status surveys, and restricted use/alternate criteria. 
Issues of concern that emerge from industry and stakeholder review and 
use of the guidance will be posted and discussed on the web site, and 
during any additional meetings held between the workshops. The 
workshops will be focused on specific technical or policy issues. The 
agendas will be posted 6-8 weeks in advance of the scheduled date. The 
final agenda for the first workshop, to be held on December 1-2, 1998, 
is not yet finalized, but is expected to include the following topics:
    1. Overview of the process to solicit stakeholder input on the 
draft guidance,
    2. NRC test cases,
    3. resuspension factor parameter in the building occupancy model,
    4. measuremements when the compliance levels are close to 
background,
    5. NRC's approach to refining the screening model for alpha 
emitting radionuclides,
    6. licensee test cases.
    The address for the web site containing the technical conference on 
the draft guidance for the License Termination Rule is HTTP://
TECHCONF.LLNL.GOV/INDEX.HTML. The site contains seven major functional 
areas. Four separate areas have been created for discussion on the 
major topics in Draft Regulatory Guide DG-4006, ``Demonstrating 
Compliance With The Radiological Criteria For Decommissioning.'' The 
four areas are: 1) dose modeling, 2) final status survey, 3) ALARA, and 
4) restricted use/alternate criteria. Comments, questions, and case-
specific experiences can be posted in these areas by any interested 
party. The issues raised in these discussion areas will be considered 
as topics for workshops, or for one of the periodic meetings or 
telephone conferences. The web site will also contain an area where NRC 
will post draft agendas for meetings and workshops for review and 
comment. The final agenda, including workshop and meeting dates, times, 
and locations will also be posted. Finally, the site will contain a 
Question and Answer (Q&A) area where NRC will post the resolution to 
issues raised during workshops and meetings. During a public meeting 
held on August 14, 1998, the Q&A format was suggested by the Nuclear 
Energy Institute as a useful format for publishing NRC's resolution of 
issues.
    NRC strongly encourages stakeholder participation in this process 
to finalize RG-4006 and develop an SRP for the license termination 
rule. The data and information generated during the review and 
implementation of the draft guidance, as well as the results of 
industry research and test cases, will play a significant role in the 
development of effective final guidance documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information, contact Mr. 
David N. Fauver, Sr. Health Physicist, Low-Level Waste and 
Decommissioning Projects Branch, Division of Waste Management, Office 
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington DC, 20555-0001, telephone number at (301) 415-
6625.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of October, 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lawrence Bell,
Acting Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch, 
Division of Waste Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 98-28191 Filed 10-20-98; 8:45 am]
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