[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2998-2999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-975]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. CP08-6-002]
Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Assessment of Materials and
Equipment Manual
AGENCY: Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental
Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE),
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) are announcing the availability of the
final ``Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Assessment of Materials and
Equipment manual'' (MARSAME). MARSAME provides information on planning,
conducting, evaluating, and documenting radiological surveys for
demonstrating compliance with measurable action levels. The MARSAME
manual is a multi-agency consensus document. The agencies previously
have sought public comment in order to receive feedback from the widest
range of interested parties and to ensure that all information relevant
to developing the document was received. The agencies reviewed public
comments received on the draft MARSAME as well as comments from a
concurrent, independent, technical peer review. Suggested changes were
incorporated, where appropriate, in response to those comments.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft MARSAME and all comments received may be
examined or copied for a fee electronically in http://www.regulations.gov, or in hard copy at the HQ EPA Docket Public
Reading Room, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Room 3334, Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0957, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460, and the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland 20852-2747. The HQ EPA Docket Public Reading Room
is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding
legal holidays. The telephone number for the EPA HQ Docket Public
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744. DOE, EPA, and NRC each have a
publication number for MARSAME. They are: For DOE, DOE/HS-0004; for
EPA, EPA 402-R-09-001; for NRC, NUREG-1575, Supp. 1. Copies of the
final MARSAME may be purchased by requests in writing to: The
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box
37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328. The document will be available
through the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/marssim.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any of the following points of contact
for each agency for technical information (see ADDRESSES section above
for directions on obtaining a copy of the draft MARSAME): DoD: Steven
Doremus, Phone: (757) 887-7745, U.S. Navy, NAVSEADET RASO, NWS, P.O.
Drawer 260, Yorktown, VA 23691-0260; DOE: W. Alexander Williams, Phone:
(301) 903-8149, U.S. Department of Energy (EM-23), 1000 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; EPA: Kathryn Snead, Phone: (202)
343-9228, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Stop 6608J, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-1000; NRC: Robert A.
Meck, Phone: (301) 251-7548, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail
Stop C3 C07M, Washington, DC 20555. Questions concerning the multi-
agency document development project should be addressed to Kathryn
Snead, Phone: (202) 343-9228, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Mail Stop 6608J, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-
1000.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MARSAME provides information on planning,
conducting, evaluating, and documenting environmental radiological
surveys for demonstrating compliance with measurable action levels
applied to materials and equipment. MARSAME is a multi-agency consensus
document and a supplement to the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site
Investigation Manual (MARSSIM).
MARSAME was developed collaboratively over the past six years by
the technical staffs of the four Federal agencies having authority for
control of radioactive materials: DoD, DOE, EPA, and NRC. For a time,
staff from the Department of Homeland Security participated in the
development of MARSAME. Contractors to the DOE, EPA, and NRC, and
members of the public have been present during the open meetings of the
MARSAME workgroup. MARSAME's objective is to describe standardized and
consistent approaches for surveys, which provide a high degree of
assurance that established action levels can be measured and an
appropriate disposition of materials or equipment can be technically
defended. The techniques, methodologies, and philosophies that form the
bases of this manual were developed to be consistent with current
Federal limits, guidelines, and procedures.
MARSAME benefited from extensive internal, public, and technical
peer reviews. In addition to written comments, the work group provided
the public with the opportunity to comment during the open meetings.
The document also received formal technical peer review under the
auspices of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). The results of the
peer review and the responses to comments by the EPA are publicly
available for examination and may be copied for a fee (see ADDRESSES
section above for directions). In its findings, the SAB stated that,
``The MARSAME manual impresses the Panel as an excellent technical
document for guiding a materials and equipment survey.'' The responses
to the technical review comments by the SAB may be viewed at the
following World-Wide-Web site: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
sabproduct.nsf/5520FF23A405DCEB8525749E00737EEF/$File/EPA-SAB-08-
010+Response+09-22-2008.pdf.
The author agencies solicit comments arising from review and use of
the final MARSAME. Comments will be reviewed periodically by the author
agencies, resolved as appropriate, and incorporated into future
revisions of the MARSAME. Members of the public are invited to submit
written comments to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Copies of all comments received by one
agency will be periodically copied and sent to the others. Revised
pages resulting from the resolution of comments will be
[[Page 2999]]
available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/marssim.
This EPA Web site is also accessible by links from the NRC home page
at: http://www.nrc.gov; and the DOE home page at: http://www.doe.gov.
For the Department of Defense, dated this 16th day of December
2008.
Alex Beehler,
Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, (Environment, Safety and
Occupational Health).
For the U.S. Department of Energy, dated this 18th day of
December 2008.
Andrew C. Lawrence,
Director, Office of Nuclear Safety, Quality Assurance and Environment,
Office of Health, Safety and Security.
For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dated this 15th
day of December 2008.
Elizabeth Cotsworth,
Director, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, dated this 9th day
of January 2009.
James E. Lyons,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E9-975 Filed 1-15-09; 8:45 am]
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