[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  

[[Page 21727]]



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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