[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 137 (Wednesday, July 18, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39354-39355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13924]


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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. 72, No. 137 / Wednesday, July 18, 2007 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 39354]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-86]


Sherwood Martinelli; Denial of Petition for Rulemaking

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Denial of petition for rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a petition 
for rulemaking (PRM-50-86) submitted by Sherwood Martinelli. The 
petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations to provide 
financial protection for individuals harmed by releases of nuclear 
material following an incident or attack at a nuclear facility, and to 
require licensees to pay for satellite communication systems for 
nuclear power plant communities to ``protect human health and the 
environment.'' The petitioner also requested that nuclear facilities 
licensed by the NRC or the Federal government provide adequate funding 
to enable every family living within 10 miles of a nuclear facility to 
build, stock, and maintain a personal family shelter to allow families 
to shelter in place during releases of nuclear material following an 
incident or attack at a nuclear facility.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the petition for rulemaking and NRC's letter to 
the petitioner may be examined at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), 
Public File Area Room O-1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. 
These documents also may be viewed and downloaded electronically via 
the rulemaking Web site.
    The NRC maintains an Agencywide Document Access and Management 
System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public 
documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are 
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC 
PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking, 
Directives, and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7163; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Petition

    The petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations to 
provide financial protection for individuals harmed by releases of 
nuclear material following an incident or attack at a nuclear facility, 
and to require licensees to pay for satellite communication systems for 
nuclear power plant communities to ``protect human health and the 
environment.'' The petitioner also requested that nuclear facilities 
licensed by the NRC or the Federal government provide adequate funding 
to enable every family living within 10 miles of a nuclear facility to 
build, stock, and maintain a personal family shelter to allow families 
to shelter in place during releases of nuclear material following an 
incident or attack at a nuclear facility.
    The petitioner also requested that the NRC amend its regulations so 
that anyone living within 10 miles of a licensed nuclear facility is 
able to demand an Independent Safety Assessment (ISA), which would 
include public review of onsite security and offsite evacuation plans 
for that licensee. The petitioner also sought other types of relief 
related to security issues at nuclear power plants.
    A notice of receipt of this petition was not published in the 
Federal Register.

Reasons for Denial

    The NRC is denying this petition because the NRC has determined 
that PRM-50-86 requests the NRC to take actions that exceed the NRC's 
authority, requests that the NRC address issues that the NRC has 
already considered in previous rulemakings, and fails to adequately 
support its requests to revise NRC regulations.
    The petition requests the NRC to modify its regulations to require 
nuclear facilities licensed by the NRC or the Federal Government to 
provide adequate funding to enable every family living within 10 miles 
of a nuclear facility to build, stock, and maintain a personal family 
shelter to allow families to shelter in place during releases of 
nuclear material following an incident or attack at a nuclear facility. 
The NRC cannot grant this request, in part because the NRC is not 
authorized by Congress to make financial payments to individuals. 
Further, the petition does not establish that requiring licensees to 
pay for these shelters would be necessary, in light of existing NRC 
requirements on emergency preparedness, to provide reasonable assurance 
that adequate protective measures can and will be taken in the event of 
a radiological emergency.
    The petition also asks that NRC regulations be revised to require 
licensees to pay for satellite communication systems for nuclear power 
plant communities to ``protect human health and the environment.'' The 
petition does not demonstrate how requiring licensees to pay for these 
satellite communication systems would provide, in light of existing NRC 
requirements on emergency preparedness, reasonable assurance that 
adequate protective measures can and will be taken in the event of a 
radiological emergency.
    The petition requests that NRC rules be changed so that anyone 
living within 10 miles of a licensed nuclear facility is able to demand 
an ISA, which would include public review of onsite security and 
offsite evacuation plans for that licensee. The NRC already conducts 
detailed, objective inspections of licensed research and test reactors, 
operating power reactors, and fuel facilities. The NRC also performs 
assessments under a program called the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) 
at all operating power reactor facilities on a continuous basis. These 
assessments measure performance in seven fundamental areas to ensure 
safe plant operation. The ROP, as currently implemented, effectively 
incorporates the inspection elements of the 1996 Maine Yankee ISA. The 
NRC believes the ROP and NRC's regulatory framework effectively examine 
the same key aspects of plant safety as an ISA, but

[[Page 39355]]

with a better focus on potentially risk-significant problems.
    The request for public review of onsite security plans cannot be 
granted because public review of these plans is not permissible. 
Allowing the details of these plans to be made public could aid 
adversaries. However, information concerning emergency plans is 
publicly available. Residents within a radius of approximately 10 miles 
from a nuclear power plant receive emergency information materials 
annually, including information about protective actions such as 
evacuation and sheltering. For more information concerning emergency 
plans, including public inspection of these plans, a resident should 
contact their local emergency management organization.
    The petition also seeks revisions to NRC regulations because the 
petitioner claims that the Price-Andersen Act , the structures of 
corporate organizations, and NRC regulations do not adequately provide 
financial protection for individuals harmed by releases of nuclear 
material following an incident or attack at a nuclear facility. This 
claim challenges a statutory framework that the NRC is not authorized 
to change. Further, the petition does not explain why the current NRC 
regulations do not assure that the public will receive prompt financial 
compensation under available indemnity and underlying financial 
protection for damage resulting from the hazardous properties of 
radioactive materials or radiation.
    The petition seeks other relief related to security issues at 
nuclear power plants. The petition does not provide significant new 
information or arguments that were not previously considered by the 
Commission in its final rule on the Design Basis Threat, which was 
published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2007 (72 FR 12705), and 
became effective on April 18, 2007.
    For the reasons cited in this document, the NRC denies this 
petition.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of July 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E7-13924 Filed 7-17-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P