[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 78 (Wednesday, April 23, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20034-20035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10010]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Announcement of Pubic Meeting

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Announcement of a meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting a 
rulemaking to amend its regulations for medical use of byproduct 
material to address issues related to training and experience 
associated with recognition of Specialty Boards by the NRC. To aid in 
that process, the NRC is holding a public meeting to solicit input from

[[Page 20035]]

representatives of professional specialty boards and other interested 
parties that may be useful in drafting a proposed rule.

DATE/TIME/LOCATION: The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. 
on Tuesday, May 20, 2003, at NRC headquarters, One White Flint North, 
Room 1F16, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roger W. Broseus, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, Division of Industrial and Medical 
Nuclear Safety, Rulemaking and Guidance Branch, Mail Stop T9-C24, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 
(301) 415-7608; E-mail: [email protected]. All persons planning to attend the 
meeting should contact Ms. Jayne McCausland in advance at (301) 415-
6219 or by E-mail at [email protected] to facilitate entrance into the 
building on the day of the meeting. If calling from outside of the 
Washington, DC metropolitan area, Ms. McCausland can be reached at 1-
800-368-5642, extension 6219. Individuals who need accommodations under 
the Americans with Disabilities Act should also provide advanced 
notification to Ms. McCausland. Attendees should arrive early to allow 
time to clear security check points.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC is conducting a rulemaking to revise 
10 CFR part 35, ``Medical Use of Byproduct Material,'' to address 
training and experience issues associated with recognition of specialty 
boards by the NRC. The issues were identified by the NRC's Advisory 
Committee on the Medical Use of Isotopes (ACMUI) during a briefing of 
the Commissioners on February 19, 2002, during which they expressed 
concern there could be potential shortages of authorized individuals 
without changes to the rule. At the time, the NRC was preparing to 
publish a final comprehensive revision to 10 CFR part 35. Under 
provisions of 10 CFR part 35, the use of byproduct material in medicine 
must be done by or under the supervision of authorized users who meet 
specific training and experience (T&E) criteria. Likewise, T&E 
requirements are also specified for an individual serving as Radiation 
Safety Officer (RSO), Authorized Nuclear Pharmacist (ANP), or 
Authorized Medical Physicist (AMP). One method of satisfying the T&E 
requirements specified in the draft-final revision of 10 CFR part 35 
was for individuals to be certified by a specialty board ``recognized'' 
by the NRC. To be ``recognized,'' a board's certification process must 
satisfy the specific requirements for T&E in 10 CFR part 35. However, 
the ACMUI noted that most boards did not meet the requirements for 
recognition by the NRC. The ACMUI recommended that the NRC remedy the 
situation to avoid a shortage of authorized individuals and RSOs. As a 
result, the Commission decided to retain the original subpart J in 10 
CFR 35 to provide a short-term solution. Subpart J was set to be 
effective for 2 years from the effective date of the final revision to 
10 CFR part 35, i.e., until October 2004, thereby continuing the 
recognition of specialty boards in Subpart J. The Commission instructed 
the NRC staff to work towards a resolution of the problem during this 
period of time. Working in consultation with the ACMUI, the staff 
presented three options for addressing the issues related to 
recognition of specialty boards in a commission paper dated October 30, 
2002. The issues mentioned above, including options for rulemaking, are 
discussed in more depth in a Commission paper entitled ``Options for 
Addressing Part 35 Training and Experience Issues Associated With 
Recognition of Specialty Boards by NRC'' (SECY-02-0194).
    The Commission, in a Staff Requirements Memo (SRM) dated February 
12, 2003 (SRM SECY-0-2-0194), directed the NRC staff to proceed with 
rulemaking related to recognition of specialty boards and the T&E 
requirements. In the SRM, the NRC staff was directed to move directly 
to preparing a proposed rule, followed by a final rule, with the 
expectation that a final rule would be published while subpart J of 10 
CFR part 35 remains in effect, i.e., October 24, 2004. This SRM and the 
associated Commission Paper (SECY-02-0194) referenced above, are 
available on the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission.
    In addition, the Commission SRM directed the staff to address the 
following: revise 10 CFR part 35 based on recommendations of the ACMUI 
(discussed as part of option 3 in SECY-02-0194); list boards recognized 
by the NRC on it's Web site rather than in the rule; retain in the rule 
a requirement for a preceptor statement, with the clarifications that a 
statement of general clinical competency is not required, but, that the 
attestation should include a statement that the candidate has the 
knowledge to fulfill the duties of the position for which certification 
is sought; and, preserve this form of attestation for both pathways of 
demonstrating adequacy of T&E. The Commission also indicated that, 
because of the important role of board certification, there should be a 
clear regulatory determination that all boards, both new and existing, 
are to meet relevant criteria. Staff was directed to discuss 
implementing procedures for additions to, or deletion from, the listing 
of recognized specialty boards.
    The purpose of the meeting, to be conducted on May 20, 2003, is to 
solicit input from stakeholders in the specialty board community, and 
other interested parties, on the issues discussed above as input to the 
staff development of a proposed rule. The meeting will be open to 
observation by the public. The proposed rule will be published for 
public comment in the Federal Register at a later date and posted on 
the NRC's RuleForum, located on the web at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of April, 2003.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Gary S. Janosko,
Acting Chief, Rulemaking and Guidance Branch, Division of Industrial 
and Medical Nuclear Safety, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 03-10010 Filed 4-22-03; 8:45 am]
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