[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 38 (Friday, February 26, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 8843-8844]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-3989]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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. 75, No. 38 / Friday, February 26, 2010 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 8843]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[Docket No. PRM-50-94; RC-2010-0004]
Sherwood Martinelli; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of receipt.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for
public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated
December 23, 2009, which was filed with the NRC by Sherwood Martinelli.
The petition was docketed by the NRC on December 24, 2009, and has been
assigned Docket No. PRM-50-94. The petitioner requests that the NRC
amend its regulations regarding the domestic licensing of production
and utilization facilities. Specifically, the petitioner requests that
the NRC revise its regulations as they relate to decommissioning and
decommissioning funding.
DATES: Submit comments by May 12, 2010. 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: Please include Docket ID NRC-2010-0004 in the subject line
of your comments. Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form
will be posted on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web
site Regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to
remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you
against including any information in your submission that you do not
want to be publicly disclosed.
The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments
received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those
persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any
identifying or contact information, and therefore, they should not
include any information in their comments that they do not want
publicly disclosed.
You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2010-0004. Comments may
be submitted electronically through this Web site. Address questions
about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 301-492-3668, 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.
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
petition, including the incoming petition for rulemaking, using the
following methods:
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have
copied for a fee publicly available documents the NRC's PDR, Room O1
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC, including
the incoming petition for rulemaking (ADAMS Accession No. ML093620175),
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 Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and supporting
materials related to this petition for rulemaking can be found at
http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2010-0004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking
and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, Telephone: 301-492-3663 or Toll Free: 800-368-5642.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sherwood Martinelli (petitioner) submitted a petition for
rulemaking dated December 23, 2009. The petitioner requests that the
NRC revise its regulations as they relate to decommissioning and
decommissioning funding. The NRC has determined that the petition meets
the threshold sufficiency requirements for a petition for rulemaking
under 10 CFR 2.802. The petition has been docketed as PRM-50-94. The
NRC is requesting public comment on the petition for rulemaking.
Discussion of the Petition
The petitioner believes that with the current state of the economy,
a 2-year reporting requirement is not adequate to ensure the safety and
adequacy of funds set aside for the decommissioning of a nuclear power
plant. The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations to
require yearly reporting by licensees on the status of these financial
mechanisms used to ensure funding, and biannual reporting if the
license is within 5 years of expiration. The petitioner further
requests that the NRC require additional deposits to the funding
accounts within 90 days from the time a shortage is noted in the annual
reports.
According to the petitioner, licensees may choose from three
alternative decommissioning strategies: DECON (immediate removal or
decontamination), SAFSTOR (``delayed DECON''), or ENTOMB (permanent
encasement onsite). The petitioner believes that the SAFSTOR
decommissioning option allows licensees to turn the reactor sites into
long-term high-level waste storage facilities. The petitioner cites the
NRC Fact Sheet, Decommissioning Nuclear
[[Page 8844]]
Power Plants, which states that a decision by a licensee to adopt a
combination of DECON and SAFSTOR may be based on factors such as the
availability of waste disposal sites. The petitioner believes that this
wording creates a loophole whereby a site choosing the SAFSTOR option
would not be returned to unrestricted use within a period of 60 years
from the time reactor operation ceases. The petitioner requests that
the NRC amend its regulations to clarify that a licensee's choice of
alternative decommissioning strategy must result in the return of the
site to unrestricted use within 60 years and that the NRC eliminate the
ENTOMB strategy as an option.
The petitioner believes that, if implemented, the reporting and
financial assurance amendments proposed would provide reasonable
assurance that funds will be available when needed to clean up a plant
site and avoid costly legacy sites to be cleaned up at taxpayer
expense. With respect to the proposal to clarify the decommissioning
strategies available to licensees, the petitioner believes that these
proposed amendments assure that portions of the facility containing
radioactive contaminants would be removed or decommissioned to a level
that permits release of the property for unrestricted use within 60
years after the cessation of operations.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of February, 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-3989 Filed 2-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P