[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4764-4765]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-2376]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Updated and Consolidated Decommissioning Policy and Guidance of 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards; Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) is announcing the availability of 
a draft document ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance: 
Decommissioning Process'' (NUREG-1757, Vol. 1), for public comment. 
This document provides guidance for the planning and implementation of 
the termination of licenses issued through NMSS's licensing programs. 
The guidance is intended for NRC staff, licensees, and the public and 
is being developed in response to the NMSS performance goals, in the 
NRC's Strategic Plan, of: Making NRC activities and decisions more 
effective, efficient, and realistic; and reducing unnecessary 
regulatory burden on stakeholders. NRC is seeking public comment in 
order to receive feedback from the widest range of interested parties 
and to ensure that all information relevant to developing the document 
is available to the NRC staff. This draft document is being issued for 
comment only and is not intended for interim use. The NRC will review 
public comments received on the draft document. Suggested changes will 
be incorporated, where appropriate, in response to those comments, and 
a final document will be issued for use.

DATES: Comments on this draft document should be submitted by May 1, 
2002. Comments received after that date will be considered to the 
extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: NUREG-1757 is available for inspection and copying for a fee 
at the Commission's Public Document Room, U.S. NRC's Headquarters 
Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland, and 
electronically from the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web 
site at, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. NUREG-1757 is also available 
on the NRC web site at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff or http://www.nrc.gov/materials/decommissioning/regs-guides-comm.html.
    A free single copy of NUREG-1757 will be available to interested 
parties until the supply is exhausted. Such copies may be requested by 
writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Distribution 
Services, Washington, DC 20555-0001 or submitting e-mail to 
[email protected].

[[Page 4765]]

    Members of the public are invited and encouraged to submit written 
comments to: Jack D. Parrott, Project Scientist, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, Mail Stop T-7F27, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand-deliver comments 
to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 
p.m., Federal workdays. Comments may also be sent electronically to 
[email protected]. Copies of comments received may be examined at 
the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site, and the NRC 
Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1F21, Rockville, MD 
20852. The NRC Public Document Room is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack D. Parrott, Mail Stop T-7F27, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. 
Telephone: (301) 415-6700; Internet: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of its redesign of the materials 
license program, the NRC's Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards (NMSS) is consolidating and updating numerous 
decommissioning guidance documents into a three-volume NUREG. The three 
volumes are as follows: (1) The General Materials Decommissioning 
Process; (2) Characterization, Survey, and Determination of 
Radiological Criteria; and (3) Financial Assurance, Recordkeeping, and 
Timeliness. Volume 1 of this NUREG series, entitled ``Consolidated NMSS 
Decommissioning Guidance: Decommissioning Process,'' is the first of 
these three volumes and is intended for use by licensees and NRC staff.
    The approaches to license termination described in this NUREG will 
help to identify the information (subject matter and level of detail) 
needed to terminate a license by considering the specific circumstances 
of the wide range of radioactive materials users licensed by NRC. This 
guidance takes a risk-informed, performance-based approach to the 
information needed to support an application for the termination of a 
materials license. When published as a final report, this guidance 
should be used by licensees in preparing license amendment requests. 
NRC staff will use the final guidance in reviewing these amendment 
requests.
    Draft NUREG-1757, Volume 1, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning 
Guidance: Decommissioning Process,'' is the first of three volumes on 
decommissioning guidance. When final, it is intended for use by 
applicants, licensees, NRC license reviewers, and other NRC personnel. 
This document updates and builds upon the risk-informed approach in, 
and in whole or in part incorporates the NMSS Decommissioning Handbook 
(NUREG/BR-0241, ``NMSS Handbook for Decommissioning Fuel Cycle and 
Materials Facilities,'' March 1997). This draft NUREG also incorporates 
the parts of the ``NMSS Decommissioning Standard Review Plan,'' NUREG-
1727, September 2000, that provide guidance for developing those parts 
of a decommissioning plan addressing general site description and 
current radiological conditions; decommissioning activities, 
management, and quality assurance; and modifications to decommissioning 
programs and procedures.
    The policies and procedures discussed in draft NUREG-1757, Volume 
1, will be used by NRC staff overseeing the decommissioning program at 
licensed fuel cycle, fuel storage, and materials sites to evaluate a 
licensee's decommissioning actions. This draft NUREG also describes, 
and make available to the public, methods acceptable to the NRC staff 
in implementing specific parts of the Commission's regulations, to 
delineate techniques and criteria used by the staff in evaluating 
decommissioning actions, and to provide guidance to licensees 
responsible for decommissioning NRC-licensed sites. This NUREG will not 
substitute for regulations, and compliance with it will not be 
required. Methods and solutions different from those in this NUREG will 
be acceptable, if they provide a basis for concluding that the 
decommissioning actions are in compliance with the Commission's 
regulations. Other NRC licensees, e.g. nuclear reactors or uranium 
recovery facilities, may find this information useful, but they are not 
the subject of this NUREG.
    Further information on the overall decommissioning guidance 
consolidation and updating project can be found in the Federal Register 
Notice publishing the plan for the project (66 FR 21793).
    Commentors are encouraged to submit their written comments to the 
addresses listed above. To ensure efficient and complete comment 
resolution, commentors are requested to reference the page number and 
the line number of the document to which the comment applies if 
possible.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 23rd day of January, 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Larry W. Camper,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Waste Management, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-2376 Filed 1-30-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P