[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 36 (Friday, February 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11661-11662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03600]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0057]


Physical Inventories and Material Balances at Fuel Cycle 
Facilities

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- 5056, ``Physical 
Inventories and Material Balances at Fuel Cycle Facilities.'' This new 
regulatory guide (RG) would provide implementing guidance for material 
control and accounting (MC&A) requirements in NRC regulations related 
to the performance, evaluation, and reporting of physical inventories 
of special nuclear material, and material balances at fuel cycle 
facilities. Guidance on these requirements was previously provided in 
RG 5.13, ``Conduct of Nuclear Material Physical Inventories,'' and RG 
5.33, ``Statistical Evaluation of Material Unaccounted For,'' that were 
issued in 1973 and 1974, respectively. Both RG 5.13 and RG 5.33 would 
be withdrawn concurrent with issuance of DG-5056 in final form.

DATES: Submit comments by April 25, 2017. 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 any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specified subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0057. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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: OWFN-12H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glenn Tuttle, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, 301-415-7230, email: 
[email protected], or Mekonen Bayssie, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, 301-415-1699, email: [email protected]. Both are staff 
members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0057 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this action. You may 
obtain publically-available information related to this action, by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0057.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this 
document. The DG-5056 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML15268A458.
     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-2017-0057 in 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 that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC posts 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 identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment

[[Page 11662]]

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 information regarding 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 events, and data that the staff needs 
in its review of applications for permits and licenses. The DG, 
entitled ``Physical Inventories and Material Balances at Fuel Cycle 
Facilities,'' is a proposed new guide, temporarily identified by its 
task number, DG-5056. This new RG would provide guidance for meeting 
the nuclear material control and accounting (MC&A) requirements in part 
74 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Material 
Control and Accounting of Special Nuclear Material,'' that cover these 
topics. The DG-5056 updates guidance previously provided by:
     RG 5.13, ``Conduct of Nuclear Material Physical 
Inventories,'' published in November 1973; and
     RG 5.33, ``Statistical Evaluation of Material Unaccounted 
For'' published in June 1974.
    Due to several rulemakings that occurred from 1985 to 2002, which 
significantly amended the MC&A requirements, the above regulatory 
guides are now outdated as they no longer cite the correct sections of 
the regulations. Accordingly, RG 5.13 and RG 5.33 will be withdrawn 
concurrent with any later issuance of DG-5056 in final form, as DG-5056 
would provide the correct citations to the 10 CFR part 74 regulations.
    The NRC's guidance on the MC&A requirements pertaining to the 
performance, evaluation, and reporting of physical inventories and 
material balances at fuel cycle facilities is also provided in the 
following NUREGs that were issued in conjunction with the 1985-2002, 
MC&A rulemakings:
     NUREG-1280, ``Standard Format and Content Acceptance 
Criteria for the Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) Reform 
Amendment,'' applicable to facilities using formula quantities of 
strategic SNM.
     NUREG-1065, ``Acceptable Standard Format and Content for 
the Fundamental Nuclear Material Control (FNMC) Plan Required for Low-
Enriched Uranium Facilities,'' applicable to fuel fabrication 
facilities using low-enriched uranium.
     NUREG/CR-5734, ``Recommendations to the NRC on Acceptable 
Standard Format and Content for the Fundamental Nuclear Material 
Control (FNMC) Plan Required for Low-Enriched Uranium Enrichment 
Facilities,'' applicable to uranium enrichment plants.
    This DG-5056 incorporates guidance from these NUREGs that relates 
to physical inventories and material balances for SNM. In addition to 
providing guidance on these topics, the NUREGs listed above cover other 
MC&A requirements as well. Accordingly, these NUREGs would not be 
withdrawn when DG-5056 is issued in final form.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    Issuance of DG-5056 in final form would not constitute backfitting 
as defined in 10 CFR 70.76 or violate the issue finality provisions of 
part 52 for several reasons. First, many of the provisions in the 
guidance are only updated to reflect the codification of several MC&A 
provisions in part 74 from part 70, and do not represent substantive 
changes. Second, DG-5056 would incorporate relevant guidance from 
NUREG-1280, NUREG-1065, and NUREG/CR-5734 and associated rulemakings 
without making substantive changes to those positions; these 
rulemakings and guidance considered the backfitting implications of any 
new positions, as appropriate, upon their issuance. Finally, as 
discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of DG-5056, applicants and 
licensees may voluntarily use its guidance to demonstrate compliance 
with the part 74 MC&A regulations pertaining to the performance, 
evaluation, and reporting of physical inventories and material 
balances. Alternate methods of demonstrating such compliance may be 
deemed acceptable if they provide sufficient basis and information for 
the NRC staff to verify that the proposed alternative demonstrates 
compliance with the relevant NRC regulations.
    Accordingly, the issuance of this guidance in final form would not 
constitute a ``new'' or ``different'' staff position within the 
definition of ``backfitting'' in 10 CFR 70.76 or the issue finality 
provisions in part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of February, 2017.

    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. 2017-03600 Filed 2-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P