[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 13, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34024-34025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9179]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 13, 2006 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 34024]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 20 and 32
RIN 3150-AH48
National Source Tracking of Sealed Sources
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend
its regulations to establish a National Source Tracking System for
certain sealed sources. The NRC is proposing to change the basis for
the rule from the NRC's authority to promote the common defense and
security to protection of the public health and safety and is seeking
public comment on this issue.
DATES: Submit comments on the basis change by July 3, 2006. Comments
received after the above date will be considered if it is practical to
do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments
received after these dates.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Please include the following number (RIN 3150-AH48) in the subject line
of your comments. Comments on rulemakings submitted in writing or in
electronic form will be made available to the public in their entirety
on the NRC rulemaking Web site. Personal information will not be
removed from your comments.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
E-mail comments to: [email protected]. If you do not receive a reply e-
mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us
directly at (301) 415-1966. 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 Gallagher (301) 415-5905; email
[email protected]. Comments can also be submitted via the Federal Rulemaking
Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm Federal workdays. (Telephone (301)
415-1966).
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at
(301) 415-1101.
You may submit comments on the information collections by the
methods indicated in the Paperwork Reduction Act Statement.
Publicly available documents related to this rulemaking may be
examined and copied for a fee at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
Public File Area O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland. Selected documents, including comments, can be
viewed and downloaded electronically via the NRC rulemaking Web site at
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after
November 1, 1999, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic
Reading Room 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. If you do not have access to ADAMS or
if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS,
contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-
397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Merri Horn, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-8126, e-mail, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The proposed rule on national source tracking was published in the
Federal Register on July 28, 2005 (70 FR 43646) for public comment. The
comment period closed October 11, 2005. The proposed rule was issued
under the NRC's statutory authority to promote common defense and
security. After publication of the proposed rule, the NRC issued Orders
requiring increased controls for the remainder of the licensees
possessing risk-significant quantities of radioactive material under
the NRC's statutory authority to protect the public health and safety.
Agreement States issued legally binding requirements for the increased
controls for their licensees. The NRC has reevaluated the underlying
basis for the National Source Tracking rule and is now proposing that
the rule be issued under its statutory authority to protect the public
health and safety. The change in basis is consistent with the framework
established for the increased controls that were issued by December
2005. The basis change will allow the Agreement States to issue legally
binding requirements for their licensees and to conduct the national
source tracking inspections of their licensees. The proposed changes to
10 CFR part 150 would not be included in the final rule as these were
to cover the Agreement State licensees.
The database for the National Source Tracking System would still be
maintained by the NRC. Both NRC and Agreement State licensees would
report their transactions to the National Source Tracking System.
The NRC is specifically inviting comment on the issue of the change
in the basis for issuing the rule to protection of the public health
and safety. Because the issue on which comment is sought is limited to
a change in the basis under which the rule is to be issued, NRC is
providing a limited comment period. With the change in basis, the final
rule would be an immediate mandatory matter of compatibility and be
classified as Compatibility Category ``B.'' The Agreement State
Compatibility section of the Statement of Considerations would be
revised and is provided below.
II. Agreement State Compatibility
Under the ``Policy Statement on Adequacy and Compatibility of
Agreement State Programs'' approved by the Commission on June 30, 1997,
and published in the Federal Register on September 3, 1997 (62 FR
46517), Sec. 20.2207, the final rule would be classified as
Compatibility Category ``B.'' The NRC program elements in this category
are those that apply to
[[Page 34025]]
activities that have direct and significant transboundary implications.
An Agreement State should adopt program elements essentially identical
to those of NRC. Agreement State and NRC licensees would report their
transactions to the National Source Tracking System. The database would
be maintained by NRC.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of June, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E6-9179 Filed 6-12-06; 8:45 am]
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