[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37529-37530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16392]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2018-0159]


Interim Staff Guidance for Decommissioning Funding Plans for 
Materials Licensees

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) on 
Decommissioning Funding Plans (DFP) for materials licensees. The 
purpose of this ISG is to provide the NRC staff and the industry with 
guidance based on recent developments and lessons learned in financial 
assurance since the last update to NUREG-1757, Vol. 3, Rev. 1, 
``Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance Financial Assurance, 
Recordkeeping, and Timeliness'' (NUREG-1757, Vol. 3).

[[Page 37530]]


DATES: Submit comments by September 17, 2018. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0159. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, 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: Kenneth Kline, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7075, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0159 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0159.
     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 
ISG for Decommissioning Funding Plans for Materials Licensees is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18163A087.
     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-2018-0159 in your comment submission.
    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 enter 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 submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    Since 1988, NRC licensees have been required to provide 
decommissioning financial assurance. The NRC published its 
``Decommissioning Planning Rule'' in the Federal Register on June 17, 
2011 (76 FR 35512). The rule became effective on December 17, 2012. The 
rule's purpose is to minimize the likelihood of new ``legacy sites,'' 
those sites owned or controlled by licensees with insufficient 
resources to complete decommissioning. Successful completion of 
decommissioning is a prerequisite to the NRC terminating the license.
    The NRC's radioactive materials licensing regulations, part 30 of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Rules of 
General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of Byproduct Material''; 10 
CFR part 40, ``Domestic Licensing of Source Material''; and 10 CFR part 
70, ``Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material,'' require NRC 
licensees to provide adequate financial assurance for all 
decommissioning activities.\1\ The NRC staff utilizes NUREG-1757, Vol. 
3 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12048A683), as guidance to evaluate DFPs 
submitted by 10 CFR parts 30, 40 and 70 licensees. The NRC's Regulatory 
Guide (RG) 4.22, ``Decommissioning Planning During Operations'' (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML12158A361), provides guidance to licensees for use 
during licensed operations to minimize radiological contamination, 
including radiological subsurface contamination, and to properly retain 
survey results. For those licensees having or likely to have 
significant residual radioactivity, RG 4.22 provides guidance on 
arranging for sufficient funding to complete decommissioning, thereby 
allowing the NRC to terminate the license.
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    \1\ The specific NRC regulations are 10 CFR 30.35, 10 CFR 40.36, 
and 10 CFR 70.25, each entitled ``Financial Assurance and 
Recordkeeping for Decommissioning.''
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    The purpose of this ISG is to provide NRC staff and industry with 
guidance based on developments and lessons learned in financial 
assurance since the last update to NUREG-1757, Vol. 3. The ISG covers 
decommissioning cost estimates describing current facility conditions, 
evaluating events since the last DFP approval, and updates for certain 
financial instruments.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of July, 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

John R. Tappert,
Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste 
Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2018-16392 Filed 7-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P