[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5934-5935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2249]



[[Page 5934]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8770-4]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of Public 
Meetings of the Science Advisory Board Radiation Advisory Committee 
Augmented for the Review of EPA's Radiogenic Cancer Risk Assessment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces 
two public meetings of the SAB Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC) 
augmented with additional experts to review the draft EPA document 
entitled ``EPA Radiogenic Cancer Risk Models and Projections for the 
U.S. Population,'' December 2008.

DATES: The SAB Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC), augmented for the 
review of EPA's radiogenic cancer risk assessment, will hold a public 
teleconference on Friday, February 27, 2009 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
(Eastern Time) and a public face-to-face meeting on Monday, March 23 
through Wednesday, March 25, 2009, commencing at 9 a.m. (Eastern Time). 
The final agendas for these public meetings will be posted on the SAB's 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

ADDRESSES: The public teleconference meeting of February 27, 2009 will 
take place via telephone only. The March 23-25, 2009 meeting will take 
place in the Washington, DC area. The final meeting location will be 
posted on the SAB Web site.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain the call-in number and access code for the public teleconference 
meeting, or further information concerning the face-to-face public 
meeting may contact Dr. K. Jack Kooyoomjian, Designated Federal Officer 
(DFO), by mail at the EPA SAB Staff Office (1400F), U.S. EPA, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; by telephone at (202) 
343-9984; by fax at (202) 233-0643; or by e-mail at 
[email protected]. General information concerning the SAB can be 
found on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 
Public Law 92-463, the SAB Staff Office hereby gives notice of one 
public teleconference meeting and one face-to-face public meeting of 
the SAB Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC) augmented for review of 
EPA's radiogenic cancer risk assessment. The SAB was established by 42 
U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent scientific and technical advice, 
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the 
technical basis for Agency positions and regulations. The augmented RAC 
will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB 
procedural policies.
    The SAB Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC) augmented for review of 
EPA's radiogenic cancer risk assessment will provide advice to EPA on a 
topic of long-term interest to the Agency.
    In 1994, the EPA published a report, entitled ``Estimating 
Radiogenic Cancer Risks,'' which lays out the EPA's methodology for 
quantitatively estimating radiogenic cancer risks (http://epa.gov/radiation/docs/assessment/402-r-93-076.pdf). That document revised the 
methodology for EPA's estimation of cancer risks due to low-Linear-
Energy-Transfer (LET) radiation exposures developed in light of 
information on the Japanese atomic bomb survivors. In 1999, a follow-on 
report made minor adjustments to the previous estimates and presented a 
partial analysis of the uncertainties in the numerical estimates 
(http://epa.gov/radiation/docs/assessment/402-r-99-003.pdf). Also in 
1999 the Agency published Federal Guidance Report 13 (http://epa.gov/radiation/docs/federal/402-r-99-001.pdf) which utilized the previously 
published cancer risk models in conjunction with International 
Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) dosimetric models and the 
U.S.A. usage patterns, to obtain cancer risk estimates for over 800 
radionuclides, and for several exposure pathways. These were later 
updated at http://www.epa.gov/radiation/federal/techdocs.html#cd_supplement. Prior to their publications, these three documents were 
first reviewed by the EPA's SAB.
    In 2006, the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy 
of Sciences (NAS/NRC) released ``Health Risks from Exposure to Low 
Levels of Ionizing Radiation BEIR VII Phase 2,'' which primarily 
addresses cancer and genetic risks from low doses of low-LET radiation 
available at http://newton.nap.edu/catalog/11340.html#toc.
    In August, 2006 EPA prepared the draft ``White Paper: Modifying EPA 
Radiation Risk Models Based on BEIR VII'' available at http://epa.gov/radiation/docs/assessment/white-paper8106.pdf, where the Agency 
proposed changes to the EPA's methodology for estimating radiogenic 
cancers, based on the contents of BEIR VII and some ancillary 
information. The Agency expected to adopt the models and methodology 
recommended in BEIR VII, but believed that certain modifications and 
expansions were desirable or necessary for the EPA's purposes. EPA's 
Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) requested the SAB to review 
the Agency's draft White Paper and provide advice regarding the 
proposed approach to dose-response assessment of radionuclides. The EPA 
SAB/RAC prepared an advisory entitled ``Advisory on Agency Draft White 
Paper entitled Modifying EPA Radiation Risk Models Based on BEIR VII'' 
(EPA-SAB-08-006) dated January 31, 2008 (see http://yosemite.epa.gov/
sab/sabproduct.nsf/FD9963E56C66E4FF852573E200493359/$File/EPA-SAB-08-
006-unsigned.pdf).
    The EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) has asked the 
SAB to review a draft document entitled ``EPA Radiogenic Cancer Risk 
Models and Projections for the U.S. Population,'' dated December 2008. 
The document under preparation utilizes the advice contained in the 
NAS/NRC BEIR VII, Phase 2 report, as well as the SAB's recently 
completed advisory (EPA-SAB-08-006) described above. The specific 
charge questions will be provided with the completed draft document and 
will ask for comments from the SAB's augmented RAC on application of 
the overall approach to cancer risk estimates for radionuclides. The 
document to be reviewed will include the uncertainty estimates (which 
were a separate analysis in the 1999 document review by the SAB/RAC), 
as well as for specific applications of risk assessment calculations 
for many radionuclides. It is anticipated that there will likely be 
questions pertaining to the specific calculations of uncertainty and 
subsequent risk to the life tables, the lifetime attributable risk, and 
risks for special populations, as well as alternative models for 
calculating radiogenic cancer risk for specific applications and 
projections for the U.S. population.
    Purpose of the Teleconference and Meeting: The purpose of the 
February 27, 2009 teleconference is to discuss EPA's charge to the 
augmented RAC and the agenda for the face-to-face meeting in March. The 
purpose of the March 23-25, 2009 meeting is to discuss responses to the 
charge questions and begin to draft the response.

[[Page 5935]]

    Availability of Meeting Materials: A roster and biosketches of the 
augmented RAC, the meeting agenda, the charge to the SAB for review, 
and other supplemental material will be posted on the SAB Web site at 
http://www.epa.gov/sab prior to the teleconference and meeting.
    The draft document, ``EPA Radiogenic Cancer Risk Models and 
Projections for the U.S. Population,'' December 2008 is available at 
http://epa.gov/radiation/assessment/pubs.html.
    Technical Contact: For questions and information concerning the 
EPA's draft document to be reviewed, please contact Dr. Mary E. Clark 
of the U.S. EPA, ORIA by telephone at (202) 343-9348, fax at (202) 243-
2395, or e-mail at [email protected].
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the 
public may submit relevant written or oral information for the SAB's 
augmented RAC to consider during the review process. Oral Statements: 
In general, individuals or groups requesting an oral presentation at a 
public teleconference will be limited to three minutes per speaker with 
no more than a total of fifteen minutes for all speakers. For face-to-
face meetings, in general, individuals or groups requesting an oral 
presentation at a public face-to-face meeting will be limited to five 
minutes per speaker with no more than a total of one hour for all 
speakers. Interested parties who wish to be placed on the public 
speaker list should contact the DFO, contact information provided 
above, in writing via e-mail seven days prior to the teleconference 
meeting date. For the February 27, 2009 teleconference meeting, the 
deadline is Friday, February 20, 2009. For the March 23, 24, and 25, 
2009 meeting, the deadline is Monday, March 16, 2009. Written 
Statements: Written statements should be received in the SAB Staff 
Office seven days prior to the teleconference meeting, so that the 
information may be made available to the SAB's augmented RAC for their 
consideration. For the Friday, February 27, 2009 teleconference 
meeting, the deadline is Friday, February 20; for the March 23, 24, and 
25, 2009 meeting the deadline is Monday, March 16, 2009. Written 
statements should be supplied to the DFO in the following formats: one 
hard copy with original signature, and one electronic copy via e-mail 
to [email protected] (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat PDF, 
WordPerfect, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM-PC/
Windows 98/2000/XP format). Submitters are asked to provide versions of 
each document submitted with and without signatures, because the SAB 
Staff Office does not publish documents with signatures on its Web 
sites.
    Meeting Accommodations: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact the DFO, contact 
information provided above. To request accommodation of a disability, 
please contact the DFO, preferably at least 10 days prior to the 
meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to process your request.

    Dated: January 28, 2009.
Patricia Thomas,
Acting Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E9-2249 Filed 2-2-09; 8:45 am]
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