[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 212 (Friday, November 1, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66588-66592]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27861]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-79]


Lawrence T. Christian, et. al.; Receipt of Petition for 
Rulemaking

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of receipt.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for 
public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated 
September 4, 2002, which was filed with the Commission by Lawrence T. 
Christian, et al. The petition was docketed by the NRC on September 23, 
2002, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-79. The petition requests 
that the NRC amend its regulations regarding offsite emergency plans 
for nuclear power plants to insure that all day care centers and 
nursery schools in the vicinity of nuclear power facilities are 
properly protected in the event of a radiological emergency.

DATE: Submit comments by January 15, 2003. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of 
consideration can only be given to comments received on or before this 
date.

ADDRESSES: Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
    Deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 
between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
    For a copy of the petition, write to Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules 
and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.

[[Page 66589]]

    You may also provide comments via the NRC's interactive rulemaking 
website at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. This site allows you to upload 
comments as files in any format, if your web browser supports the 
function. The petition and any public comments received are available 
on the site. For information about the interactive rulemaking website, 
contact Carol Gallagher at (301) 415-5905 or via e-mail at [email protected].
    The petition and copies of comments received may be inspected, and 
copied for a fee, at the NRC Public Document Room, (first floor) 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. These same documents may be 
accessed via the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS) on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The ADAMS accession number for the petition is ML022590350.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001. Telephone: 301-415-7163 or Toll-free: 1-800-368-5642. E-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission received a petition for 
rulemaking dated September 4, 2002, submitted by Lawrence T. Christian, 
et al. (the petitioners). The petition was docketed by the NRC on 
September 23, 2002, and assigned Docket No. PRM-50-79.

The Petitioners

    Lawrence T. Christian submitted a letter and attachments stating 
the substance of the petition. Mr. Christian identified himself as a 
resident of the evacuation zone around the Three Mile Island Nuclear 
Power Station (TMI) and as the father of two preschool-aged children, 
including a four-year-old daughter who attends a nursery school within 
eyesight of TMI. Attached to the petition are pages bearing the 
signatures of over 3,000 public co-signers. Most of the co-petitioners 
indicated that they were residents of the State of Pennsylvania.

The Petitioners' Interest in the Requested Action

    According to the petitioners, there are currently no Federally-
mandated requirements specifically designed to protect daycare centers 
and nursery schools located in the evacuation zones around nuclear 
power stations. They believe that this regulatory deficiency puts 
preschool children at risk in the event of a nearby radiological 
accident and undermines FEMA requirements that offsite plans adequately 
protect the public health and safety.
    The petition states that Mr. Christian became aware of this 
situation after he contacted several daycare centers and nursery 
schools in his York County, Pennsylvania, community, and learned that 
none of them has an adequate emergency evacuation plan in case of a 
radiological emergency at the nearby TMI plant. Mr. Christian conducted 
an informal survey of local daycare and nursery school directors, and 
learned that most of them do not know what to do in case of a 
radiological emergency. Mr. Christian found that most daycare and 
nursery school directors in his area:
    1. Do not believe that they have been given adequate information or 
training to handle an evacuation of children in their care during a 
radiological emergency.
    2. Do not have copies of radiological emergency evacuation plans 
for their localities.
    3. Are frequently uncertain or mistaken as to how an evacuation of 
their own institution would proceed. Some directors assume that parents 
would pick up their own children; others assume that center or school 
staff would have to transport the children, but have no clear plan for 
executing a staff-run evacuation. Some mistakenly believe that York 
County would provide emergency bus service and relocation centers if an 
evacuation were necessary.
    4. Do not know where children would or should be taken in the event 
of an emergency evacuation in response to a radiological accident.
    5. Do not know whether the children in their charge would be 
transported in approved child-safety seats during an evacuation.
    6. Assume that, if no organized mass transportation were provided 
for the children in their charge, daycare center and nursery school 
employees would be required to stay in the workplace until every child 
had been safely picked up by their parents.
    7. Believe that the question of evacuation plans for their 
institutions needs to be addressed in a systematic way.
    The petition states that Mr. Christian reported his findings to the 
York County Board of Commissioners and the York County Director of 
Emergency Management, expressing his alarm at this gap in emergency 
planning. Mr. Christian received responses from the York County 
Director of Emergency Management and the Executive Director of York 
County's Department of Emergency Services indicating that Pennsylvania 
State law did not require licensed daycare centers and nursery schools 
to plan for radiological emergencies, and that the county did not have 
the authority to mandate such planning. Mr. Christian was advised by 
York County emergency management officials to ask municipal government 
officers in his community for emergency planning assistance concerning 
local daycare and nursery schools.
    According to the petition, municipal government officials advised 
Mr. Christian to have the director of his daughter's nursery school 
work with Exelon Corporation, which owns and operates TMI, to develop 
an evacuation plan for the school. The school director requested 
Exelon's assistance, but had received no response after 30 days. 
Moreover, the school director informed Mr. Christian that her 
institution did not have the resources to arrange for bus or van 
transportation for students in the event of an emergency, and that, 
should an accident occur at TMI, the school would have to request that 
parents pick up their children individually.
    The petitioners note that Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA) regulations pertaining to Radiological Emergency Readiness 
Planning (RERP) mandate that emergency offsite plans protect the public 
health and safety, and they stress that preschool-aged children are 
members of the public covered by that mandate. The petitioners believe 
that voluntary, ad hoc emergency evacuation plans that rely on parents 
to enter an evacuation zone to pick up preschool students during a 
radiological emergency are inadequate to protect the health and safety 
of the children at risk. The petitioners claim that Federally-required 
RERPs already mandate that public and private elementary, middle, 
junior, and high schools located in evacuation zones around nuclear 
power plants be provided with designated relocation centers, designated 
emergency transportation, rosters of emergency bus drivers, and 
educational materials about radiological emergency procedures. These 
institutions are also required to undergo state of readiness checks and 
must be included in local radiological emergency preparedness 
exercises. The petitioners contend that because no corresponding 
standard measure of adequate protection currently exists for daycare 
centers and nursery schools in the vicinity of nuclear power 
facilities, Federal, state and county emergency plans do not properly 
take these preschool institutions into account.

[[Page 66590]]

The Petitioners' Request

    The petitioners request that the NRC immediately establish a 
standard measure of adequate protection by creating new rules requiring 
that emergency planning for daycare centers and nursery schools located 
in evacuation zones be included in the offsite emergency plans of all 
NRC nuclear power facility licensees. The petitioners request that the 
NRC amend its regulations to insure that all children attending daycare 
centers and nursery schools within the evacuation zone are:
    1. Assigned to designated relocation centers established safely 
outside the evacuation zone.
    2. Provided with designated transportation to relocation centers in 
the event of an emergency evacuation.
    3. Transported in approved child-safety seats that meet State and 
Federal laws as they pertain to the transportation of children and 
infants under 50 pounds in weight or 4'9'' in height.
    The petitioners also request that the following be mandated by NRC 
regulations:
    4. The creation and maintenance of working rosters of emergency bus 
drivers and back-up drivers for nursery school and daycare center 
evacuation vehicles, and the establishment of a system for notifying 
these individuals in the event of a radiological emergency. These 
rosters should be regularly checked and updated, with a designated 
back-up driver listed for each vehicle and route.
    5. Notification of emergency management officials by individual 
preschools as to the details of each institution's radiological 
emergency plan.
    6. Annual site inspections of daycare centers and nursery schools 
within the evacuation zone by emergency management officials.
    7. Participation of daycare centers and nursery schools within the 
evacuation zone in radiological emergency preparedness exercises 
designed to determine each institution's state of readiness.
    8. Creation of identification cards, school attendance lists, and 
fingerprint records for all children who are to be transported to a 
relocation center, to insure no child is left behind or is unable, due 
to age, to communicate his or her contact information to emergency 
workers.
    9. Development by emergency management officials of educational 
materials for parents informing them what will happen to their children 
in case of a radiological emergency, and where their children can be 
picked up after an emergency evacuation.
    10. Stocking of potassium iodide (KI) pills and appropriate 
educational materials at all daycare centers and nursery schools within 
the evacuation zone.
    11. Radiological emergency preparedness training for all daycare 
center and nursery school employees within the evacuation zone.
    12. Listing of designated relocation centers for daycare centers 
and nursery schools in area phone directories so that parents can 
quickly and easily find where their children will be sent in case of a 
radiological emergency.
    13. Establishment of toll-free or 911-type telephone lines to 
provide information about radiological emergency plans and procedures 
for daycare centers and nursery schools within the evacuation zone.
    14. Creation of written scripts for use by the local emergency 
public broadcast system that include information about evacuation plans 
and designated relocation centers for daycare centers and nursery 
schools.

The Petitioners' Justification

    In support of their request, the petitioners detail their reasons 
for asking the NRC to change its regulations to include the 
aforementioned protective measures aimed at securing the health and 
safety of preschoolers in evacuation zones surrounding nuclear power 
plants. The petitioners stated reasons for requesting that the NRC 
amend its rules to mandate these emergency planning measures are as 
follows:

Establishment of Designated Relocation Centers

    The petitioners note that FEMA emergency planning regulations 
require that the health and safety of the general public be protected 
in the event of a radiological accident at a nuclear power plant. 
Preschoolers are part of the general population and their well-being 
must be provided for. The petitioners claim that the designation of 
emergency relocation centers for all elementary, middle school and high 
school students is already standard practice, and contend that the 
establishment of such centers for preschoolers is no less vital. 
Because the thyroid glands of young children are highly susceptible to 
damage by exposure to radiation, the petitioners stress that children 
attending daycare centers and nursery schools in the evacuation zone 
should be moved to safety as quickly and as efficiently as possible. If 
parents are forced to backtrack into the evacuation zone to fetch their 
preschool-aged children and carry them to safety one-by-one, frantic 
parents will clog evacuation routes. The petitioners conclude that 
radiological emergency plans should provide for the mass evacuation of 
children from daycare centers and nursery schools located in the 
evacuation zone to relocation centers situated at a safe distance from 
the nuclear power facility.

Provision of Designated Transportation; Creation of Working Rosters of 
Emergency Bus Drivers

    The petitioners note that most daycare centers and nursery schools 
currently have no access to public school buses or school bus drivers. 
If frantic parents must drive personal vehicles into the evacuation 
zone to pick up their children during a radiological emergency, 
evacuation routes will be clogged with private cars, the evacuation 
will be impeded, and the health and well-being of preschool children 
will not be adequately protected. Therefore, the petitioners conclude 
that the NRC should require that offsite emergency plans provide for 
designated busses or vans, manned by designated emergency drivers, to 
transport children from daycare centers and nursery schools located in 
the evacuation zone to designated relocation centers.

Use of Assigned and Installed, Approved Child-Safety Seats in the 
Evacuation of Preschoolers

    The petitioners note that newborns and infants cannot safely be 
placed on a standard bus seat and transported out of the evacuation 
zone. Unrestrained children could roll or fall off the seats and be 
injured or killed en route to designated relocation centers. Federal 
law requires all children under 50 lbs or under the height of 4'9'' to 
be placed in federally-approved child safety seats when riding in motor 
vehicles. The use of approved child-safety seats is the only safe and 
legal way to transport small children. The petitioners conclude that 
NRC regulations should require that infants and young children being 
evacuated during a radiological emergency be properly secured in 
approved child safety seats.

Notification to Emergency Management Officials; Annual Site 
Inspections; Inclusion of Daycare Centers and Nursery Schools in 
Radiological Preparedness Exercises

    The petitioners maintain that these measures are necessary to 
insure that daycare centers and nursery schools properly comply with 
the requested regulations and implement the

[[Page 66591]]

suggested emergency planning provisions.

Use of Identification Cards, School Attendance Lists and Fingerprinting 
To Keep Track of Children During an Emergency Evacuation

    The petitioners note that most children under the age of three do 
not know their parents' legal names, but will simply identify them as 
``Mommy'' or ``Daddy''. Preschool children are also typically unable to 
state their home address or phone number. Young children therefore have 
no effective means of communicating their parents' names or contact 
information to teachers, caregivers, or emergency workers. The 
petitioners conclude that identifying and tracking young children 
through the use of ID cards, school attendance lists, and 
fingerprinting is necessary to ensure that no preschool-aged child is 
left behind in a radiological emergency.

Preparation of Educational Materials for the Parents of Preschoolers

    The petitioners contend that such materials are necessary in order 
to properly inform parents about procedures for evacuating their 
preschool-aged children from the danger zone in case of a radiological 
emergency.

Stocking of KI Tablets and the Preparation of Relevant Educational 
Materials for the Parents of Preschoolers

    The petitioners note that preschool-aged children are particularly 
susceptible to thyroid damage due to exposure to radiation. Since the 
ingestion of KI protects against this damage, the petitioners contend 
that KI should be stocked by daycare centers and nursery schools in the 
evacuation zone for distribution to the children their charge in case 
of radiological emergency. However, because parents may be unaware of a 
young child's allergy to iodine, the petitioners believe that daycare 
centers and nursery schools should prepare for possible future 
radiological emergencies by having parents sign release forms giving 
daycare and nursery school workers standing permission to administer KI 
to their children, in the proper children's dose, in case of 
radiological emergency.

Radiological Emergency Preparedness Training for Employees of Daycare 
Centers and Nursery Schools

    The petitioners maintain that radiological emergency preparedness 
training is necessary to equip employees of daycare centers and nursery 
schools to properly respond in case of a radiological accident.

Phone Listings for Designated Relocation Centers Assigned to Local 
Daycare Centers and Nursery Schools; Toll-free and 911 Information 
Lines

    The petitioners claim that many parents are not acquainted with, or 
may not even have access to information about emergency procedures for 
evacuating their preschool-aged children from the danger zone following 
a radiological accident. Moreover, even if parents are well-informed, 
in the event of a radiological emergency, someone other than a parent 
(e.g., a grandparent, neighbor or friend) may be called upon to pick up 
a child from a designated relocation center. These individuals will 
need quick access to information about emergency plans and designated 
relocation centers for local preschools. Finally, the general public 
should have access to this information. The petitioners conclude that 
dedicated information lines and easy-to-find phone listings should be 
set up in order to avoid confusion in case of an emergency.

Creation of Written Scripts for the Public Emergency Broadcast System 
Which Include Information About Emergency Plans and Designated 
Relocation Centers for Daycare Centers and Nursery Schools

    The petitioners believe that, during an emergency, parents might 
panic if they cannot locate their children and do not have timely 
information about their movements in the event of an evacuation. The 
emergency broadcast system could be used to inform parents that their 
preschool-aged children have left their buildings and are en route to 
designated relocation centers. The petitioners contend that this will 
free parents to redirect their efforts toward escaping the danger zone 
themselves, rather than further exacerbating traffic problems by trying 
to move back into the evacuation zone to fetch their children from 
daycare centers or nursery schools. Finally, the petitioners say, the 
general public should have access to such information during a 
radiological emergency. The petitioners conclude that the public 
emergency broadcast system should prepare to disseminate information 
about the evacuation of daycare centers and nursery schools in the 
event of a radiological accident.

Specialized Evacuation Needs of Preschool-aged Children

    The petitioners also offer a statement in support of their request 
which focuses on the specialized evacuation needs of preschool-aged 
children. They note that very young children are more difficult to 
safely transport than school-aged children and would require more and 
different kinds of care from emergency workers. The petition makes the 
following points in this connection:
    1. Most children under the age of three have no effective way of 
communicating their parents legal names, but identify them only as 
``Mommy'' and ``Daddy''.
    2. Most children under the age of three cannot tell you their home 
address or phone number, and therefore have no effective means of 
communicating their contact information.
    3. Infants and newborns are usually unable to walk, so they are 
completely dependent on others for their safe relocation during an 
emergency evacuation.
    4. Infants and newborns have special dietary and sanitary needs.
    5. Infants and newborns can be easily injured if not properly 
handled, due to the weakness in their young spines and necks.
    6. Preschool children must be transported in approved child-safety 
seats when being evacuated. Young children cannot ride unsecured in bus 
seats, as they might fall off and be injured or killed.
    7. Unlike public school teachers, nursery school teachers and 
daycare center employees have little or no emergency evacuation 
training.
    8. Infants, newborns, toddlers, and preschoolers are physically and 
emotionally dependent on adults for their overall well-being. During an 
emergency, these needs are greatly amplified. Planning and training 
for, and providing proper supervision of the emergency evacuation of 
such young children is a therefore a necessity.
    9. Very young children have an especially high susceptibility to 
damage and health risks caused by radiation exposure. Because they are 
especially vulnerable, children in daycare centers and nursery schools 
require special protection in a radiological emergency.

The Petitioners' Conclusion

    The petitioners maintain that without new NRC requirements 
concerning offsite emergency plans no standard measure of adequate 
protection will ever exist for daycare centers and nursery schools 
located within evacuation zones surrounding nuclear power facilities. 
The petitioners note that a FEMA fact sheet concerning emergency 
radiological planning states that Federal law mandates that ``plans and 
preparedness must be determined

[[Page 66592]]

to adequately protect the public health and safety by providing 
reasonable assurance that appropriate measures can be taken offsite in 
the event of a radiological emergency.'' The petitioners add that 
society as a whole has a moral obligation to make sure that every 
possible measure is in place to insure the safety and well-being of 
young children.
    The petitioners contend that, if the NRC refuses to require the 
basic protections for preschoolers laid out in the petition, the agency 
will be perpetuating an improper implementation of FEMA regulations as 
they pertain to properly protecting the public in the event of a 
radiological emergency. The petitioners stress that the NRC's principal 
duty is to safeguard the public, and maintain that, barring the 
adoption of the provisions requested by the petitioners, the NRC will 
be guilty of negligence in the fulfillment of its duty.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of October, 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 02-27861 Filed 10-31-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P