[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 73 (Friday, April 17, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17794-17795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-8830]


 ========================================================================
 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. 74, No. 73 / Friday, April 17, 2009 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 17794]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 37

[NRC-2008-0120]
RIN 3150-AI12


Physical Protection of Byproduct Material

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Availability of preliminary draft rule language.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making available 
preliminary draft proposed rule language to amend its regulations to 
add a new part 37 to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This 
new part 37 will contain the security (physical protection) 
requirements that are designed to provide reasonable assurance of 
preventing the theft or diversion of category 1 and category 2 
quantities of radioactive material as designated by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The new provisions will address background 
investigations, access control, physical security during use, and 
physical security during any transport of category 1 and category 2 
quantities of radioactive material. At this time, the staff is only 
posting the preliminary draft language for the background 
investigations and access control program. These requirements will be 
contained in subpart B of the new part 37. The draft preliminary 
language for the transportation security was noticed in November 2008 
(73 FR 69590; November 19, 2008). Draft preliminary language for 
physical security during use will be posted and noticed in the future. 
The availability of the preliminary draft rule language is intended to 
inform stakeholders of the current status of the NRC's activities and 
solicit public comments on the information being provided at this time. 
Comments may be provided as indicated under the ADDRESSES heading. The 
NRC may post updates periodically under Docket  NRC-2008-0120 
on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov that 
may be of interest to stakeholders.

DATES: Submit comment by June 1, 2009. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods. 
Please include the number RIN 3150-AI12 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 in NRC's 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) and at http://www.regulations.gov. Personal information, such as your name, address, 
telephone number, e-mail address, etc., will not be removed from your 
submission.
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID [NRC-2008-0120]. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 301-415-5905; e-mail 
[email protected].
    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 301-415-1677. Comments can also be submitted via 
the Federal eRulemaking 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-
415-1677)
    Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 
301-415-1101.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this 
document using the following methods:
    NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have 
copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public 
File Area O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738.
    NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): 
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are 
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain 
entry into 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's PDR 
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID [NRC-2008-0120].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Merri Horn, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone 301-415-
8126, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The preliminary draft rule language can be 
viewed and downloaded electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
at http://www.regulations.gov by searching for Docket  NRC-
2008-0120 as well as in ADAMS under ADAMS Accession Number ML090900428.
    The staff is proposing to add a new part 37 that will contain the 
security (physical protection) requirements that are designed to 
provide reasonable assurance of preventing the theft or diversion of 
category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material as 
designated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The new 
provisions will address background investigations and access control, 
physical security during use, and physical security during any 
transport of category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive 
material. At this time, the staff is only posting the preliminary draft 
language for the background investigation and access control program. 
These requirements will be contained in subpart B of the new part 37. 
Draft preliminary language for physical protection during use will be 
posted and noticed in the future.
    The NRC is making a preliminary version of this draft proposed rule 
language available to inform

[[Page 17795]]

stakeholders of the current status of this proposed rulemaking. The NRC 
is inviting stakeholders to comment on the draft preliminary language. 
This preliminary draft rule language may be subject to significant 
revisions during the rulemaking process. Public input at this stage 
will help inform the development of the proposed rule.
    The NRC will review and consider any comments received; however, 
the NRC will not respond to any comments received at this pre-
rulemaking stage. As appropriate, the Statements of Consideration for 
the proposed rule will briefly discuss any substantive changes made to 
the preliminary draft proposed rule language as a result of comments 
received on this preliminary version. Stakeholders will also have an 
opportunity to comment on the rule language when it is published as a 
proposed rule in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative 
Procedure Act. The NRC will respond to any such comments in the 
Statements of Consideration for the final rule.
    The NRC may post updates to the preliminary draft proposed rule 
language on the Federal eRulemaking Portal under Docket  NRC-
2008-0120. Regulations.gov allows members of the public to set-up 
notifications so that they may be alerted when documents are added to a 
docket. Users are notified via e-mail at an e-mail address provided at 
the time of registration for the notification. Directions for signing 
up for the automatic notifications can be found at http://www.regulations.gov. To do so, search for the docket you are interested 
in and then choose ``Notification,'' found under the title of each 
action.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of April 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark R. Shaffer,
Director, Division of Intergovernmental Liaison and Rulemaking, Office 
of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-8830 Filed 4-16-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P