[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 94 (Monday, May 16, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 28193-28194]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11923]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 72, 74, and 150

RIN 3150-AI61
[NRC-2009-0096]


Amendments to Material Control and Accounting Regulations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Availability of preliminary proposed rule language.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is 
making available for comment preliminary proposed rule language 
concerning the NRC's proposed amendments to the material control and 
accounting (MC&A) regulations. These regulations apply to NRC licensees 
who are authorized to hold special nuclear material (SNM) and to 
certain licensees within the jurisdiction of the Agreement States that 
hold SNM and submit material status reports to the NRC. The goal of 
this rulemaking is to revise and consolidate the MC&A requirements. 
This Notice briefly summarizes the proposed amendments. After the 
Commission has reviewed and approved the proposed rule, it will be 
formally published for comment.

DATES: Submit comments by June 30, 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-2009-0096 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, 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 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-
2009-0096. 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.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this notice 
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, O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available online in the NRC Library 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 the 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]. 
The preliminary proposed rule language is available electronically 
under ADAMS Accession number ML111250585.
     Federal rulemaking Web site: Public comments and 
supporting materials related to this notice, including the preliminary 
proposed rule language, can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by 
searching on Docket ID NRC-2009-0096.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Young, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone 301-415-
5795, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC plans to amend parts 72, 74, and 150 
to title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). The majority 
of the changes would be to the MC&A provisions in 10 CFR part 74.

A. Background

    The existing 10 CFR part 74 regulations are organized in a graded 
fashion. General MC&A reporting and recordkeeping requirements in 
subpart B apply to all licensees authorized to hold SNM under 10 CFR 
part 70. Licensees authorized to hold SNM of ``low strategic 
significance'' (defined in 10 CFR 74.4) are subject to the more 
rigorous MC&A requirements in subpart C. Such licensees operate what 
are known as Category III facilities, which include all uranium 
enrichment facilities and the fuel fabrication facilities supplying 
fresh fuel assemblies to commercial power reactors. Licensees 
authorized to hold SNM of ``moderate strategic significance'' (defined 
in 10 CFR 74.4) are subject to the MC&A requirements in subpart D, and 
are authorized to operate Category II facilities (no such facilities 
now operate). The most rigorous MC&A requirements are in subpart E, and 
apply to licensees authorized to hold a ``formula quantity'' (defined 
in 10 CFR 74.4) of strategic SNM. Such licensees

[[Page 28194]]

operate what are known as Category I facilities, which supply fuel for 
use in naval reactors and in research and test reactors.
    The MC&A requirements for Category I-III facilities include general 
performance objectives, and most of these facilities must meet item 
control requirements.

B. Discussion

    The MC&A provisions would be revised to include general performance 
objectives applicable to all licensees authorized to possess SNM. 
Licensees authorized to hold significant amounts of SNM would be 
required to have written MC&A procedures. Licensees authorized to 
possess any quantity of SNM would be required to have item control 
systems. Subparts C and D of 10 CFR part 74 (applicable to Category 
III, and II facilities, respectively) would be revised to remove most 
of the current exemptions from the item control requirements. Subparts 
C, D, and E would be revised to introduce the two-person rule (i.e., 
having at least two, qualified and authorized individuals to complete 
and observe certain operations). Category I, II and III facilities 
would be required to establish procedures for tamper-safing storage 
containers or locations, and to specify material balance areas, item 
control areas, and custodial responsibility for these areas.
    Category I, II and III facilities must have fundamental nuclear 
material control (FNMC) plans that have been approved by the NRC. The 
NRC staff's view is that FNMC is an outdated term, as it does not 
include ``accounting,'' and thus does not fully describe the accounting 
aspects that MC&A programs must include. Existing references in 
subparts C, D, and E of 10 CFR part 74 to FNMC plans would therefore be 
replaced with references to an MC&A plan. The proposed rulemaking would 
also:
     Consolidate in 10 CFR part 74 the MC&A requirements 
currently in 10 CFR part 72 for independent spent fuel storage 
installations (ISFSIs);
     Revise 10 CFR 150.17, which is applicable to those 
authorized to hold SNM in Agreement States, to conform to the proposed 
revisions to 10 CFR 74.13. No substantive changes would be involved;
     Make references to due dates and reporting frequencies 
more uniform by expressing such timeframes in terms of calendar days;
     Amend 10 CFR 74.4 by adding, removing, and modifying 
certain defined terms that are used throughout 10 CFR part 74. The 
proposed definitions to be added are: Accounting, custodian, item 
control area, item control system, material balance area, material 
control and accounting, and two-person rule. The term effective 
kilograms of special nuclear material would be removed. In this regard, 
the affected requirements would instead refer to grams or kilograms of 
material. Definitions of the following terms would be modified: Formula 
quantity, special nuclear material of moderate strategic significance, 
and special nuclear material of low strategic significance. These terms 
would be modified respectively to refer to certain quantities of SNM as 
Category I, Category II, or Category III, consistent with the existing 
definitions of these terms in 10 CFR parts 70 and 73;
     Add Appendix A, ``Categories of Special Nuclear 
Material,'' to 10 CFR part 74. This Appendix would be based on existing 
Appendix M to 10 CFR part 110, and would show the SNM quantity limits 
respectively for Category I, Category II, and Category III; the 
corresponding subpart in 10 CFR part 74 for each category; and the 
formulae to calculate any combination of strategic SNM within the 
quantity limits for a category.
    The NRC is making the preliminary proposed rule language summarized 
in this notice available to inform stakeholders of the current status 
of this proposed rulemaking, and is inviting comment on the language. 
This preliminary proposed 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 language as a result of the comments now being 
solicited. Stakeholders will have a further opportunity to comment on 
the rule language when it is published as a proposed rule in accordance 
with the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act. The NRC will 
respond to any such comments in the Statements of Consideration 
published with the final rule language.
    The NRC may post updates to the preliminary proposed rule language 
on the Federal rulemaking Web site under Docket ID NRC-2009-0096. 
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 E-
mail Alerts.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of May 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Josephine M. Piccone,
Director, Division of Intergovernmental Liaison and Rulemaking, Office 
of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-11923 Filed 5-13-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P