[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 7, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 76327-76328]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31367]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 73

[Docket Nos. PRM-73-15; NRC-2011-0251]


Installation of Radiation Alarms for Rooms Housing Neutron 
Sources

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
has received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) dated September 15, 2011, 
from George Hamawy (the petitioner). The petitioner requests that the 
NRC require installation of radiation alarms in rooms housing neutron 
sources.

DATES: Submit comments by February 21, 2012. 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-2011-0251 in the subject line 
of your comments. For additional instructions on submitting comments 
and 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-
2011-0251. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 
telephone: (301) 492-3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attn: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
     Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do 
not receive a reply email 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: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 492-3667, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. 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 
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, 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/

[[Page 76328]]

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 email to [email protected]. 
The ADAMS accession number for the incoming petition for rulemaking is 
ML112700682.
     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-2011-
0251.

II. Petitioner

    Mr. George Hamawy works at Columbia University in New York City, 
Radiation Safety for Research. Mr. Hamawy is concerned about the 
security of neutron sources.

III. Petition

    The petitioner states that the construction of sources used at 
colleges and universities for irradiating foils makes the sources an 
easy target for theft. The petitioner states:

    The source is located at the end of a rod in the middle of a 55-
gallon drum. The source is surrounded inside the drum by a plastic 
or wax shielding. The samples are lowered in holes next to the 
source for irradiation. The drum has a cover that can be easily 
removed and the source is taken out to be placed in a smaller drum 
for get away.

    The petitioner explains that GTRI (the U.S. Department of Energy's 
Global Threat Reduction Initiative came) to the Columbia University 
facility and ``placed wires around the drum and was attached to the 
wall.'' The petitioner claims that ``if someone wants to take the 
source they do not have to disturb the wire just remove the cover [of 
the drum] and take the source.''
    The petitioner states that there is no current requirement to 
install radiation alarms in rooms containing neutron sources. The 
petitioner requests that the NRC require installation of radiation 
alarms that are connected to the Public Safety Department that can be 
triggered when a source is removed. The petitioner believes 
installation of the radiation alarms will be effective in preventing 
source removal. The petitioner is especially concerned with hostage 
situations where the intruder gains entry to the room housing the 
sources.

IV. Conclusion

    The NRC is soliciting comments on the petition for rulemaking 
requesting that the NRC require installation of radiation alarms for 
rooms housing neutron sources.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of December 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011-31367 Filed 12-6-11; 8:45 am]
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