[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 26, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16832-16833]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06649]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0062]


Special Nuclear Material Doorway Monitors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-5038, ``Special Nuclear 
Material Doorway Monitors.'' This guidance addresses NRC requirements 
that individuals must be searched as they leave a material access area 
(MAA) for facilities that contain special nuclear material (SNM) of a 
type and quantity that require an MAA.

DATES: Submit comments by April 25, 2014. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods (unless 
this document describes a different method for submitting comments on a 
specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0062. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN 06A-A44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    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: Al Tardiff, Office of Nuclear Security 
and Incident Response, telephone: 301-415-7015, email: 
[email protected] or, Richard Jervey, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: telephone: 301-251-7404, email: 
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0062 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-2014-0062.
     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 regulatory guide 
is available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML12237A125. 
The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML12237A124.
     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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

B. Submitting Comments.

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0062 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.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a draft guide in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public such information as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff 
needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    The DG, entitled, ``Special Nuclear Material Doorway Monitors,'' is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-5038. Draft Guide-5038 is 
proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 5.27, dated June 1974.
    The NRC proposes to update RG 5.27 because it is out of date and 
not current with contemporary consensus standards and specifications. 
The detection equipment has changed considerably since the RG was 
issued in 1974. The proposed revision provides current industry 
references that are well known and understood by the user community.
    The RG applies to facilities that contain SNM of a type and 
quantity to require an MAA. An MAA is any location which contains 
special nuclear material, within a vault or a building, the roof, 
walls, and floor of which each constitute a physical barrier.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This DG, if finalized, would apply to applicants for, and current 
and future holders of, special nuclear material licenses under part 70 
of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), and power 
reactor licenses under parts 50 and 52 and certificates of compliance 
or approvals of a compliance plan for gaseous diffusion plants under 
part 76 if they are also applicants for or holders of special nuclear 
material licenses under part 70. Issuance of this DG in final form 
would not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR parts 50, 70, or 76 and 
would not be otherwise

[[Page 16833]]

inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. As 
discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this DG, the NRC has no 
current intention to impose this regulatory guide on current holders of 
part 50 operating licenses, part 52 combined licenses, part 70 
licensees, or part 76 certificates of compliance. The NRC has 
determined that the backfit provisions in section 50.109 do not apply 
to non-power reactor licensees because the rulemaking record for 
section 50.109 indicates that the Commission likely intended to apply 
this provision to only power reactors, and NRC practice has been 
consistent with this rulemaking record. The part 52 issue finality 
provisions do not apply to non-power reactors because part 52 does not 
apply to non-power reactors.
    This RG could be applied to applications for part 50 operating 
licenses, part 52 combined licenses, part 70 licenses, and part 76 
certificates of compliance docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final regulatory guide, as well as future such 
applications submitted after the issuance of the final RG. Such action 
would not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, 70.76, or 
76.76, or be otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue finality 
provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or potential 
applicants are not within the scope of entities protected by 10 CFR 
50.109, 70.76, and 76.76, or the relevant issue finality provisions in 
part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of March, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guide Development Branch, Division of Engineering, 
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-06649 Filed 3-25-14; 8:45 am]
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