[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 187 (Thursday, September 26, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60707-60708]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24441]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Consolidated 
Decommissioning Guidance: Characterization, Survey, and Determination 
of Radiological Criteria; 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: 
Characterization, Survey, and Determination of Radiological Criteria'' 
(NUREG-1757, Vol. 2), for public comment. This document provides 
guidance for compliance with the radiological criteria for termination 
of licenses. The guidance is intended for NRC staff, licensees, and the 
public. The guidance is being developed in response to the NMSS 
performance goals, in the NRC's Strategic Plan, of: (1) making NRC 
activities and decisions more effective, efficient, and realistic; and 
(2) 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. In response to those comments, suggested changes will be 
incorporated, where appropriate, and a final document will be issued 
for use.

DATES: Comments on this draft document should be submitted by December 
26, 2002. Comments received after that date will be considered to the 
extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: NUREG-1757, Volume 2, 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. NUREG-1757, Volume 2, is also available electronically from 
the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, and on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff.
    A free single copy of NUREG-1757, Volume 2, 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].
    Members of the public are invited and encouraged to submit written 
comments to: Duane W. Schmidt, Project Manager, 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 in 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: Duane W. Schmidt, Mail Stop T-7F27, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. 
Telephone: (301) 415-6919; Internet: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of its redesign of the materials 
license program, NMSS is consolidating and updating numerous 
decommissioning guidance documents into a three-volume NUREG report. 
The three volumes are as follows: (1) Decommissioning Process for 
Materials Licensees; (2) Characterization, Survey, and Determination of 
Radiological Criteria; and (3) Financial Assurance, Recordkeeping, and 
Timeliness. Volume 2 of this NUREG series, entitled ``Consolidated NMSS 
Decommissioning Guidance: Characterization, Survey, and Determination 
of Radiological Criteria,'' is the second of these three volumes and, 
when finalized, is intended for use by applicants, licensees, NRC 
license reviewers, other NRC personnel, and Agreement State staff.
    The approaches to license termination described in Volume 2 of 
NUREG-1757 will help to identify the information (subject matter and 
level of detail) needed to terminate a license by considering the wide 
range of radioactive materials users licensed by NRC. Volume 2 of the 
NUREG addresses compliance with the radiological criteria for license 
termination of the License Termination Rule (10 CFR part 20, subpart E) 
and incorporates the risk-informed and performance-based alternatives 
of the rule. Volume 2 updates and builds upon the risk-informed 
approach used in the NMSS Decommissioning Standard Review Plan (NUREG-
1727, September 2000), and, in whole or in part, incorporates the parts 
of NUREG-1727 that provide guidance for demonstrating compliance with 
Subpart E. This draft Volume 2 describes and makes available to the 
public (1) methods acceptable to the NRC staff in implementing specific 
parts of the Commission's regulations; (2) techniques and criteria used 
by the staff in evaluating decommissioning actions; and (3) guidance to 
licensees responsible for decommissioning NRC-licensed sites.
    When published as a final report, the guidance in draft NUREG-1757, 
Volume 2, should be used by fuel cycle, fuel storage, materials, and 
reactor licensees in preparing decommissioning license amendment 
requests, decommissioning plans, and related compliance documents. 
Other NRC licensees, e.g., uranium recovery facilities, may find this 
information useful, but they are not the subject of this NUREG. When 
finalized, NRC staff will use the policies and procedures discussed in 
Volume 2 to evaluate a licensee's decommissioning actions. 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.
    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).

[[Page 60708]]

    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 section, page, 
and line numbers of the document to which the comment applies, if 
possible.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 20th day of September, 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. 02-24441 Filed 9-25-02; 8:45 am]
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