[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9926-9927]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-03698]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0108]


Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: NUREG; issuance.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing NUREG-
2125, ``Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment.'' This NUREG 
provides an update of the estimated impacts from transporting spent 
nuclear fuel (SNF) by highway or railway in NRC certified casks under 
both routine and accident conditions.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0108 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of 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: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     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. The NUREG is available electronically under ADAMS Accession 
No. ML14031A323.
     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: John R. Cook, Office of Nuclear 
Material, Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-287-9206; email: 
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion

    NUREG-2125, ``Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment,'' provides 
an update of the estimated impacts from transporting spent nuclear fuel 
(SNF) by highway or railway in NRC certified casks under both routine 
and accident conditions. The draft NUREG-2125 (ML12125A218) was issued 
on May 14, 2012 with a 60-day public comment period (77 FR 28406). The 
NRC received 4 public comments and the resolution of these comments is

[[Page 9927]]

included in the Public Comment Resolution Report (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13249A337). In addition, the report was reviewed by the NRC Advisory 
Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee on Radiation Protection 
and Nuclear Materials and by the full Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards (ACRS). The responses to comments from these two committees 
are included in the ACRS Comment Resolution Report (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13249A340). The final NUREG incorporates changes to address public 
and ACRS comments.
    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 NUREG shows that the risk from 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 NRC's original transportation risk assessment 
NUREG-0170, (ADAMS Accession No. ML022590355, 1977) and this risk 
assessment, the calculated dose due to the radiation from the cask 
under routine transport conditions is similar to what was found 
earlier. 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 in NUREG-2125 demonstrate that the NRC's regulations in 
Part 71 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, ``Packaging and 
Transportation of Radioactive Material'' continue to provide adequate 
protection of public health and safety during the transportation of 
SNF.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of February 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph Donoghue,
Acting Chief, Inspections, and Operations Branch, Division of Spent 
Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2014-03698 Filed 2-20-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P