[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]
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