[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 193 (Monday, October 6, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60190-60191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23719]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0210]


Applications of Bioassay for Uranium

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-8054, ``Applications of 
Bioassay for Uranium.'' This guidance provides acceptable guidance for 
NRC licensees, for the development and implementation of a bioassay 
program that will monitor the intake of mixtures of the naturally 
occurring isotopes of uranium (U-234, U-235, and U-238) by occupational 
workers. A bioassay is a determination of the kind, quantity, location, 
or retention of radionuclides in the body by direct (in vivo) 
measurement or by indirect (in vitro) analysis of material excreted or 
removed from the body.

DATES: Submit comments by December 5, 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 NRC regulatory guides currently 
being developed or improvements in all published NRC regulatory guides 
are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of 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-2014-0210. 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, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-A44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harriet Karagiannis, telephone: 301-
251-7477; email: [email protected] or Casper Sun, telephone: 
301-251-7912; email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the Office 
of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0210 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this document by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0210. 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 draft regulatory guide 
is available electronically under ADAMS Accession No. ML14133A599. The 
regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML14133A612.
     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, MD 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0210 in the subject line of your 
comment submission 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 that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enters the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely 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

[[Page 60191]]

identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly 
disclosed in their comment submission. 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 DG in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public and the regulated community 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.
    This DG, entitled, ``Applications of Bioassay for Uranium,'' is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-8054. Draft regulatory 
guide, DG-8054 is a proposed revision to the NRC Regulatory Guide (RG) 
8.11, ``Applications of Bioassay for Uranium,'' (Revision 1 of RG 
8.11).
    The NRC issued RG 8.11 in June 1974 to provide guidance to NRC 
licensees on methods of uranium bioassay that the NRC staff found 
acceptable to demonstrate compliance with the then-current version of 
NRC's radiation protection regulations in part 20 of Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Standards for Protection 
against Radiation.'' In a 1991 rulemaking, the NRC promulgated 
amendments to its radiation protection regulations in 10 CFR part 20 
(May 21, 1991; 56 FR 23360). As such, DG-8054 cross-references to the 
relevant sections of the current 10 CFR part 20 regulations. In 
addition, DG-8054 endorses for use certain sections of a voluntary 
consensus standard, namely, the American National Standards Institute/
Health Physics Society (ANSI/HPS) N13.22-2013 standard, ``Bioassay 
Programs for Uranium,'' as a means for licensees to demonstrate 
compliance with the NRC regulations, 10 CFR 20.1201, ``Occupational 
Dose Limits for Adults,'' and 10 CFR 20.1204, ``Determination of 
Internal Exposure.'' Specifically, 10 CFR 20.1201(e) requires NRC 
licensees to limit the soluble uranium intake to an occupational worker 
to 10 milligrams in a week, in addition to annual occupational dose 
limits, and 10 CFR 20.1204(a) requires NRC licensees to take suitable 
and timely measurements of the concentrations of radioactive materials 
in air in work areas and the quantities of radionuclides in the bodies 
of occupational workers. Finally, DG-8054 identifies the bioassay 
interpretation methods in the NRC document NUREG/CR-4884, 
``Interpretation of Bioassay Measurement,'' as an acceptable method to 
comply with NRC requirements.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This DG, if finalized, would apply to current and future holders of 
special nuclear material licenses under 10 CFR part 70 and certificates 
of compliance or approvals of a compliance plan for gaseous diffusion 
plants under 10 CFR part 76 if they are also applicants for or holders 
of special nuclear materials licenses under 10 CFR part 70. If DG-8054 
is finalized and issued as a revision to RG 8.11, such issuance would 
not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR parts 70 or 76. As stated in 
the ``Implementation'' section of DG-8054, the NRC has no current 
intention to impose this regulatory guide on current holders of part 70 
licenses or part 76 certificates of compliance.
    This DG, if finalized as a revision to RG 8.11, could be applied to 
applications for part 70 licenses and part 76 certificates of 
compliance docketed by the NRC as of the date of issuance of the 
revised RG 8.11, as well as future such applications submitted after 
the issuance of the revised RG 8.11. Such action would not constitute 
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 70.76 and 76.76 inasmuch as such 
applicants or potential applicants are not within the scope of entities 
protected by 10 CFR 70.76 and 76.76.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of September, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-23719 Filed 10-3-14; 8:45 am]
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