[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 93 (Monday, May 14, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28406-28407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11672]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0108]


Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

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[[Page 28407]]

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is issuing for public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2125, ``Spent Fuel 
Transportation Risk Assessment (SFTRA).''

DATES: Submit comments by July 13, 2012. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related 
to this document by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under 
Docket ID NRC-2012-0108.
    You may submit comments by the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0108. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
     Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John R. Cook, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3318; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0108 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access information related to this document by the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0108.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The draft NUREG is available 
electronically under ADAMS Accession No. ML12125A218. The draft NUREG 
will also be accessible through the NRC's public site under draft 
NUREGs for comment.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0108 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly 
disclosed. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into 
ADAMS, and the NRC does not edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information in their comment submissions 
that they do not want to be publicly disclosed. Your request should 
state that the NRC will not edit comment submissions to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

Discussion

    The NRC is responsible for issuing regulations (Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 71, ``Packaging and 
Transportation of Radioactive Waste,'' dated January 26, 2004) for the 
packaging and transport of spent nuclear fuel (and other large 
quantities of radioactive material) that provide for public health and 
safety during transport. In September 1977, the NRC published NUREG-
0170, ``Final Environmental Statement on the Transportation of 
Radioactive Material by Air and Other Modes,'' which assessed the 
adequacy of those regulations to provide safety assurance. In that 
assessment, the measure of safety was the risk of radiation doses to 
the public under routine and accident transport conditions, and the 
risk was found to be acceptable. Since that time there have been two 
affirmations of this conclusion for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) 
transportation, each using improved tools and information. This report 
presents the results of a fourth investigation into the safety of SNF 
transportation. The risks associated with SNF transportation come from 
the radiation that the spent fuel emits, which is reduced--but not 
eliminated--by the transportation cask's shielding, and from the 
possibility of the release of some quantity of radioactive material 
during a severe accident. This investigation shows that the risk from 
the radiation emitted from the cask is a small fraction of naturally 
occurring background radiation, and that the risk from accidental 
release of radioactive material is several orders of magnitude less. 
Because there have been only minor changes to the radioactive material 
transportation regulations between NUREG-0170 and this risk assessment, 
the calculated dose due to the radiation from the cask under routine 
transport conditions is similar to what was found in earlier studies. 
The improved analysis tools and techniques, improved data availability, 
and a reduction in the number of conservative assumptions has made the 
estimate of accident risk from the release of radioactive material in 
this study approximately five orders of magnitude less than what was 
estimated in NUREG-0170. The results demonstrate that the NRC 
regulations continue to provide adequate protection of public health 
and safety during the transportation of SNF. The staff is seeking any 
information that is germane to these results that the public may wish 
to offer.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of May, 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christian Araguas,
Acting Chief, Rules, Inspections, and Operations Branch, Division of 
Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2012-11672 Filed 5-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P