[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3791-3792]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-676]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 73

RIN 3150-AH60


Design Basis Threat; Reopening of Comment Period

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule: Reopening of comment period.

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

SUMMARY: On November 7, 2005 (70 FR 67380), the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) published for public comment a proposed rule 
consolidating the supplemental requirements established by the April 
29, 2003, design basis threat (DBT) orders with the existing DBT 
requirements in 10 CFR 73.1(a). Specific details of the attributes of 
the DBT to be protected against, which include both safeguards 
information (SGI) and classified information, are consolidated in 
adversary characteristics documents (ACDs) and Regulatory Guides (RGs). 
The proposed rule would revise the DBT requirements both for 
radiological sabotage and for theft or diversion of Strategic Special 
Nuclear Material (SSNM). ACDs and RGs provide guidance to licensees 
concerning the DBT for radiological sabotage, theft and diversion. They 
contain the specific details of the attributes of the threat which 
licensees need to know in order to evaluate what is necessary to comply 
with the proposed rule. On December 21, 2005, the Nuclear Energy 
Institute (NEI) requested a 30 day extension to the public comment 
period. Their request was based on the fact that though the proposed 
rule was published on November 7, 2005, the RGs and the ACDs were not 
available at that time. NEI requested copies of these documents. The 
NRC staff agreed to

[[Page 3792]]

provide these documents to the properly cleared individuals with a need 
to know, and NEI received the draft RGs and ACDs for power reactors on 
December 19, 2005. In view of the delay in providing the documents to 
the cleared personnel and in the interests of obtaining public comment 
from the broadest range of stakeholders, the comment period on the 
proposed rule is being extended for an additional 30 days from the 
original January 23, 2006, deadline to February 22, 2006.

DATES: The comment period has been extended and now expires on February 
22, 2006. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is 
practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration 
only for comments received before this date.

ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attn: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
    Hand delivered comments should also be addressed to the Secretary, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and delivered to 11555 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, MD, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays.
    You may also provide comments via the NRC's interactive rulemaking 
Web site: http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. This site also provides the 
availability to upload comments as files (any format), if your Web 
browser supports that function. For information about the interactive 
rulemaking site, contact Ms. Carol Gallagher, (301) 415-5905; e-mail: 
[email protected].
    Certain documents relating to this rulemaking, including comments 
received, may be examined at the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Room O1-F21, Rockville, MD. The same documents may also 
be viewed and downloaded electronically via the rulemaking Web site: 
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Documents created or received at the NRC 
after November 1, 1999 are also available electronically at the NRC's 
Public Electronic Reading room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. From this site, the public can gain entry into 
the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), 
which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. For more 
information, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff 
at 1-800-397-4209, 202-634-3273 or by e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Manash K. Bagchi, Office of the 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone (301) 415-2905; e-mail 
[email protected] or Mr. Richard Rasmussen, Office of Nuclear Security and 
Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone (301) 415-8380; e-mail [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of January, 2006.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 06-676 Filed 1-23-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P