[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 59 (Wednesday, March 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 15543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-06177]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0077]


Recommended Practice for Dealing With Outlying Observations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing 
Regulatory Guide (RG) 5.36, ``Recommended Practice for Dealing with 
Outlying Observations.'' This RG is being withdrawn because guidance 
for licensees to develop written procedures describing statistical 
analyses of nuclear material accounting data, specifically when dealing 
with outlying observations in samples and for testing their statistical 
significance, is no longer needed.

DATES: The effective date of the withdrawal of RG 5.36 is March 29, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0077 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document, 
using the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0077. 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.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Document 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 in this notice (if 
that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a 
document is referenced. The basis for the withdrawal of this guide is 
in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16225A444.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glenn Tuttle, Office of Nuclear 
Materials Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7230; email: 
[email protected]; and Harriet Karagiannis, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-2493; email: 
[email protected]. Both are staff members of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC staff issued RG 5.36 in June 1974 to 
provide guidance on meeting the requirements related to material 
control and accounting (MC&A) statistical control procedures in section 
70.22(b) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Contents of applications.'' This requirement, regarding submittal of 
the licensees description of its material control and accounting (MC&A) 
procedures, did not specifically require the methodology that the 
guidance in RG 5.36 addressed and no longer exists in 10 CFR 70.22(b). 
The MC&A requirements have all been moved to 10 CFR part 74, and no 
specific requirements exist for performing outlier testing.
    Regulatory guide 5.36 endorsed American Society for Testing and 
Materials (ASTM) Standard E178-74, ``Recommended Practice for Dealing 
with Outlying Observations,'' with qualifications. ASTM E178-74 
provided a common method used in testing for outlying observations. 
However, the NRC is not aware that any licensee ever used this 
particular RG or the ASTM standard it endorsed since it is not required 
by NRC regulations. Instructions on performing such an analysis, if a 
licensee chose to test their MC&A data for outliers, can be found in 
NUREG/CR-4604 (PNL-5849), ``Statistical Methods for Nuclear Material 
Management'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML103430339). NUREG/CR-4604 was 
developed to be a comprehensive guidance document on statistical 
methods that licensees may use in evaluating MC&A data.
    Withdrawal of an RG means that the guide no longer provides useful 
information or has been superseded by other guidance, technological 
innovations, congressional actions, or other events. The NRC is 
withdrawing RG 5.36 because it is no longer needed. The withdrawal of 
RG 5.36 does not alter any prior or existing NRC licensing approvals or 
the acceptability of licensee commitments to RG 5.36. Although RG 5.36 
is withdrawn, current licensees may continue to use it, and withdrawal 
does not affect any existing licenses or agreements.
    However, by withdrawing RG 5.36, the NRC will no longer 
specifically approve its use in future requests or applications for NRC 
licensing actions.


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of March 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. 2017-06177 Filed 3-28-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P