[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 115 (Friday, June 14, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 35746-35747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-14159]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 71 and 73

[NRC-1999-0005]
RIN 3150-AG41


Advance Notification to Native American Tribes of Transportation 
of Certain Shipments of Nuclear Waste

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; implementation.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensees are 
currently required to provide advance notice to participating 
Federally-recognized Tribal governments regarding shipments of 
irradiated reactor fuel and certain nuclear wastes that pass within or 
across their reservations. Agreement State licensees will be required 
to provide advance notifications for certain shipments of radioactive 
material at the time the applicable Agreement State implements its 
requirements. The NRC is maintaining and providing a list of Tribal 
contacts and an interactive map of Tribal boundaries of participating 
Federally-recognized Tribes that is available on the NRC's public Web 
site. The list will be published annually in the Federal Register.

DATES: This document is effective on June 14, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-1999-0005 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this document. You may 
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses 
and is publicly available, by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-1999-0005. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this final rule.
     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 ADAMS accession number 
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Firth, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs; U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
6628; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 6, 1982 (47 FR 596 and 47 FR 
600), the NRC published regulations that require licensees to provide 
advance notice of certain shipments of irradiated reactor fuel and 
nuclear waste to State Governors or their designees. On June 11, 2012 
(77 FR 34194), the NRC amended the advance notification requirements of 
parts 71 and 73 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 
requiring licensees to provide advance notice to participating 
Federally-recognized Tribal governments regarding shipments of 
irradiated reactor fuel and certain nuclear wastes that pass within or 
across their reservations (i.e., Advance Tribal Notification Rule). The 
NRC's licensees are currently required to provide advance notification 
to participating Federally-recognized Tribal governments. Agreement 
State licensees will be required to provide advance notifications for 
certain shipments of radioactive material at the time the applicable 
Agreement State implements its requirements.
    The licensees must provide to participating Tribal officials, or 
their designees, advance notice of shipments of irradiated reactor fuel 
meeting the 10 CFR 73.37 criteria and other nuclear wastes meeting the 
criteria in 10 CFR 71.97 before passing through or crossing the border 
of their reservations. Specifically, 10 CFR 71.97 requires licensees to 
provide advance notice of shipments of certain licensed material that 
meet the following requirements: (1) The material is required to be 
shipped in Type B packaging; (2) the licensed material is being 
transported within or across the boundary of the Tribe's reservation 
and the shipment is being transported outside of the licensee's place 
of use en route to a disposal facility or to a collection point for 
transport to a disposal facility; and (3) the quantity of licensed 
material in a single package exceeds at least one of the following: (a) 
3000 times the A1 value of the radionuclides as specified in 
appendix A, Table A-1 in 10 CFR part 71 for special form radioactive 
material; (b) 3000 times the A2 value of the radionuclides 
as specified in appendix A, Table A-1 in 10 CFR part 71 for normal form 
radioactive material; or (c) 1000 terabecquerels (27,000 curies).
    As required by 10 CFR 73.37, licensees must provide advance notice 
of shipments of irradiated reactor fuel in excess of 100 grams in net 
weight of irradiated fuel, which has a total external radiation dose 
rate in excess of 1 Gray (100 rad) per hour at a distance of 0.91 
meters (3 feet) from any accessible surface without intervening 
shielding. The licensee is required to make this notification to any 
Tribe for which the irradiated reactor fuel is being transported within 
its Tribal reservation or across its Tribal reservation boundaries.
    Since the publication of the Advance Tribal Notification Rule, the 
NRC revised the advance notification requirements for certain shipments 
of irradiated reactor fuel in 10 CFR 73.37--``Physical Protection of 
Byproduct Material'' (March 19, 2013; 78 FR 16922). The revision 
requires licensees to provide advance notification for certain 
shipments of irradiated reactor fuel that are 100 grams or less in net 
weight of irradiated fuel. The compliance date of this new regulatory 
provision is March 19, 2014.
    For the purposes of the Advance Tribal Notification Rule, an 
``Indian tribe'' is defined as an Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, 
nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary

[[Page 35747]]

of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe pursuant to 
the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994. Tribal 
participation is voluntary. Tribes may express interest in 
participating in the advance notifications and may discontinue their 
participation at any time. Currently, 27 Tribes have expressed interest 
in receiving the advance notifications. Tribes meeting the criteria may 
receive advance notifications after certifying that the Safeguards 
Information associated with the shipments of these materials will be 
adequately protected by complying with the requirements in 10 CFR 73.21 
and 73.22.
    After the NRC receives this certification and the contact 
information for the Tribal official or Tribal official's designee, the 
NRC will add the Tribe to the list of advance notification contacts and 
the Tribal reservation information to the interactive map of Tribal 
boundaries at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/state-tribal/tribal-advance-notification.html. Current contact information can also be accessed 
throughout the year at http://nrc-stp.ornl.gov/special/designee.pdf. 
The list is published annually in the Federal Register on or about June 
30 to reflect any changes in information. Licensees should check these 
sites to determine whether they need to provide advance notification 
when they have any shipments meeting the criteria in 10 CFR 71.97 or 
73.37 that will pass within or across a participating Tribe's 
reservation.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of June 2013.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Melanie A. Galloway,
Acting Director, Division of Intergovernmental Liaison and Rulemaking, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-14159 Filed 6-13-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P