[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21727-21728]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09981]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 15, 2019 /
Proposed Rules
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50 and 52
[Docket No. PRM-50-118; NRC-2019-0071]
Measurement Standards Used at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of docketing and request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a
petition for rulemaking from Michael Taylor, dated December 3, 2018, as
amended on January 24, 2019. The petitioner requests that the NRC amend
its regulations to revise the measurement standards used at U.S.
nuclear power plants. The petition was docketed by the NRC on March 4,
2019, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-118. The NRC is examining
the issues raised in PRM-50-118 to determine whether they should be
considered in rulemaking. The NRC is requesting public comment on this
petition.
DATES: Submit comments by July 29, 2019. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to assure consideration only for comments received on or 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-2019-0084. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact
us at 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at 301-415-1101.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
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: Solomon Sahle, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3407; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0071 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-2019-0071.
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 ``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.
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-2019-0071 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. The Petitioner and Petition
The petition was filed by Michael Taylor. Michael Taylor is a
private citizen. The petitioner is requesting that the NRC amend its
regulations regarding the measurement standards used at U.S. nuclear
power plants. The petitioner is concerned that U.S. nuclear power
plants are not required to use or have internal metrology or
calibration laboratories that are certified under accrediting
organization standards, as a part of normal and required operations.
The petitioner observed that certain important factors are not
currently considered in measurements conducted at nuclear power plants,
including the ratio of measurement standards to units under test. The
petitioner proposed that the NRC require all internal metrology/
calibration laboratories in U.S. nuclear power plants to become
accredited by an accrediting organization, and require training of all
personnel and their management that make measurements at nuclear power
plants. The petition may be found in ADAMS at Accession No.
ML19074A303.
III. Discussion of the Petition
The petitioner requests that the NRC revise its regulations to
require internal metrology or calibration laboratories in U.S. nuclear
power plants to become
[[Page 21728]]
accredited by accrediting organizations such as the American
Association for Laboratory Accreditation, National Voluntary Laboratory
Accreditation Program, under the guidance of International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) and American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) (specifically, under guidance ISO/IEC 17025 or ANSI/NCSLI
Z540.3), as a part of normal and required operations. The petitioner
notes that some nuclear power plant metrology laboratories are
accredited under these standards voluntarily, but also notes that the
lack of requirements for nuclear power plants allows for degraded
measurements and is a safety concern. The petitioner also states that,
according to these standards and scientific documents, measurements
made without this guidance are subject to significant errors. The
petitioner contends that this leads to an unresolved safety issue for
``Q'' measurements in particular. The petitioner also states existing
internal quality assurance and documents and standards currently in use
for inspections and audits do not adequately address this concern.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of May 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-09981 Filed 5-14-19; 8:45 am]
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