[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 91 (Thursday, May 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25128-25129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2349]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Draft Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public
comment a draft revision to an existing guide in the agency's
Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed to describe and
make available to the public such information as methods that are
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating
specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff
needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
The draft Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 3.71, entitled ``Nuclear
Criticality Safety Standards for Fuels and Material Facilities,'' is
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-3023, which should be
mentioned in all related correspondence. Like its predecessor, the
proposed revision describes methods that the NRC staff finds acceptable
for complying with the NRC's regulations in Title 10, parts 70 and 76,
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR parts 70 and 76).
In 10 CFR Part 70, ``Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear
Material,'' Section 70.20, ``General License To Own Special Nuclear
Material,'' defines a specific license to acquire, deliver, receive,
possess, use, transfer, import, or export special nuclear material.
According to 10 CFR 70.22, ``Contents of Applications,'' each
application for such a license must contain proposed procedures to
avoid nuclear criticality accidents. In 10 CFR Part 76, ``Certification
of Gaseous Diffusion
[[Page 25129]]
Plants,'' Section 76.87, ``Technical Safety Requirements,'' states that
the technical safety requirements should reference procedures and
equipment that are applicable to criticality prevention.
The NRC initially issued Regulatory Guide 3.71 in 1998 to provide
guidance concerning procedures that the staff considered acceptable for
complying with these portions of the NRC's regulations. Toward that
end, the original guide endorsed specific nuclear criticality safety
standards developed by the American Nuclear Society's Standards
Subcommittee 8 (ANS-8), ``Operations with Fissionable Materials Outside
Reactors.'' Those national standards provide guidance, criteria, and
best practices for use in preventing and mitigating criticality
accidents during operations that involve handling, processing, storing,
and/or transporting special nuclear material at fuel and material
facilities. The original guide also took exceptions to certain portions
of individual ANS-8 standards. In addition, the original guide
consolidated and replaced a number of earlier NRC regulatory guides,
thereby providing all of the relevant guidance in a single document.
Since that time, several ANS-8 nuclear criticality safety standards
have been added, reaffirmed, revised, or withdrawn. Consequently, the
NRC staff has decided to update this guide to clarify which standards
the agency endorses and to clearly state exceptions to individual
standards. This proposed revision does not change any of the guidance
provided in Regulatory Guide 3.71; rather, it provides guidance
concerning changes that have occurred since the NRC published the
original guide in 1998.
The NRC staff is soliciting comments on Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
3023. Comments may be accompanied by relevant information or supporting
data. Please mention DG-3023 in the subject line of your comments.
Comments on this draft regulatory guide submitted in writing or in
electronic form will be made available to the public in their entirety
on the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).
Personal information will not be removed from your comments. You may
submit comments by any of the following methods.
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
E-mail comments to: [email protected]. You may also submit comments
via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Address
questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol A. Gallagher (301)
415-5905; e-mail [email protected].
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on
Federal workdays.
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-5144.
Requests for technical information about Draft Regulatory Guide DG-
3023 may be directed to H.D. Felsher, at (301) 415-5521 or via e-mail
to [email protected].
Comments would be most helpful if received by June 20, 2005.
Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical
to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments
received on or before this date. Although a time limit is given,
comments and suggestions in connection with items for inclusion in
guides currently being developed or improvements in all published
guides are encouraged at any time.
Electronic copies of Draft Regulatory Guide DG-3023 are available
through the NRC's public Web site under Draft Regulatory Guides in the
Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading
Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic
copies are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html,
under Accession ML050390450. Note, however, that the NRC has
temporarily limited public access to ADAMS so that the agency can
complete security reviews of publicly available documents and remove
potentially sensitive information. Please check the NRC's Web site for
updates concerning the resumption of public access to ADAMS.
In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at
(301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548; and by e-
mail to [email protected]. Requests for single copies of draft or final
guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic
distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in specific
divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and
Distribution Services Section; by e-mail to [email protected]; or by
fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is
not required to reproduce them. (5 U.S.C. 552(a)).
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of April, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mabel F. Lee,
Director, Program Management, Policy Development and Analysis Staff,
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E5-2349 Filed 5-11-05; 8:45 am]
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