[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 222 (Thursday, November 18, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 70618-70619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-29108]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 70, 170 and 171

[NRC-2009-0084]
RIN 3150-AH15


Distribution of Source Material to Exempt Persons and to General 
Licensees and Revision of General License and Exemptions; Extension of 
Comment Period

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule: extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: On July 26, 2010, the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC 
or the Commission) published for public comment a proposed rule to 
amend its regulations to require that the initial distribution of 
source material to exempt persons or general licensees be explicitly 
authorized by a specific license. The proposed rule would also modify 
the existing possession and use requirements of the general license for 
small quantities of source material and revise, clarify, or delete 
certain source material exemptions from licensing. The public comment 
period for this proposed rule was to have expired on November 23, 2010. 
The NRC has determined a need to develop draft implementation guidance 
to support this proposed rule and plans to publish such draft guidance 
no later than early January 2011. In order to allow the public 
sufficient time to review and comment on the proposed rule with the 
benefit of review of the draft implementation guidance, the NRC has 
decided to extend the comment period until February 15, 2011.

DATES: The comment period has been extended and now expires on February 
15, 2011. 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-2009-0084 in the subject line 
of your comments. For instructions on accessing documents related to 
this action, see ``Submitting Comments and Accessing Information'' in 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. 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-2009-0084. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone: 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 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. (Telephone 
301-415-1677.)
    Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 
301-415-1101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary Comfort, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-
8106, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Submitting Comments and Accessing Information

    Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted 
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal Rulemaking Web site http://www.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 can access publicly available documents related to this 
proposed rule 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, Room O-
1 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 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 proposed rule can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2009-0084.

Discussion

    The NRC published a proposed rule that would amend its regulations 
in part 40 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations to require 
that the initial distribution of source material to exempt persons or 
general licensees be explicitly authorized by a specific license, which 
would include new reporting requirements. The proposed rule is intended 
to provide the Commission with more complete and timely information on 
the types and quantities of source material distributed for use either 
under exemption or by general licensees. In addition, the NRC is 
proposing to modify the existing possession and use requirements of the 
general license for small quantities of source material to better align 
the requirements with current health and safety standards. Finally, the 
NRC is proposing to revise, clarify, or delete certain source material 
exemptions from licensing to make the exemptions more risk informed. 
This proposed rule would affect manufacturers and distributors of 
certain products and materials containing source material and certain 
persons using source material under general license and under 
exemptions from licensing.
    The proposed rule was published on July 26, 2010 (75 FR 43425) and 
the public comment period was to have expired November 23, 2010. The 
NRC has determined a need to develop draft implementation guidance to 
support this proposed rule and plans to publish the draft 
implementation guidance no

[[Page 70619]]

later than early January 2011. In order to allow the public sufficient 
time to review and comment on the proposed rule with the benefit of 
review of the draft implementation guidance, the NRC has decided to 
extend the comment period until February 15, 2011.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of November 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-29108 Filed 11-17-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P