[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 130 (Monday, July 8, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32327-32328]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14478]
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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. 130 / Monday, July 8, 2019 / Proposed
Rules
[[Page 32327]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 40, 70, 72, 74, and 150
[NRC-2009-0096]
RIN 3150-AI61
Amendments to Material Control and Accounting Regulations
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Discontinuation of rulemaking activity.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is discontinuing
a rulemaking activity that would have consolidated and revised the
material control and accounting requirements for special nuclear
material. The purpose of this action is to inform members of the public
of the discontinuation of the rulemaking activity and to provide a
brief discussion of the NRC's decision. The rulemaking activity will no
longer be reported in the NRC's portion of the Unified Agenda of
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the Unified Agenda).
DATES: As of July 8, 2019, the rulemaking activity discussed in this
document is discontinued.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2009-0096 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-2009-0096. 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.
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 the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Young, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-5795, email:
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The NRC ensures that its licensees control and account for special
nuclear material (SNM) through the provisions that are currently in
part 74 and several sections of part 72 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR). These material control and accounting
(MC&A) regulations are intended to ensure that the information about
SNM is accurate, authentic, and sufficiently detailed to enable a
licensee to maintain current knowledge of its SNM and manage its
program for securing and protecting SNM from any loss, theft,
diversion, or misuse. The requirements for MC&A, together with those
for physical protection of facilities and information security, make up
the primary elements of the NRC's SNM safeguards program. The MC&A
component of the larger SNM safeguards program helps ensure that SNM is
not stolen or otherwise diverted from the facility and supports the
NRC's strategic goal of ensuring the secure use of radioactive
materials.
Following the events of September 11, 2001, the NRC completed a
comprehensive review of its safeguards and security programs, including
MC&A requirements. Physical protection and MC&A programs complement
each other in the safeguarding of nuclear materials. In SECY-08-0059,
``Rulemaking Plan: Part 74--Material Control and Accounting of Special
Nuclear Material,'' dated April 25, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML080580307), the NRC staff provided the Commission with a range of
options for amending the MC&A regulations to provide a more risk-
informed regulatory framework commensurate with the post-September 11,
2001, threat environment.
In the staff requirements memorandum (SRM) for SECY-08-0059, dated
February 5, 2009 (ADAMS Accession No. ML090360473), the Commission
approved Option 4 of the rulemaking plan, which directed the NRC staff
to revise and consolidate the existing MC&A requirements into 10 CFR
part 74 in order to update, clarify, and strengthen the regulations.
II. Discussion
On November 8, 2013, the NRC published a proposed rule and draft
regulatory guidance documents in the Federal Register for public
comment (78 FR 67225; 78 FR 67224, respectively). The proposed rule
would have added new requirements for NRC licensees authorized to
possess SNM in a quantity greater than 350 grams. Most of the proposed
rule requirements would have clarified existing language and
consolidated MC&A requirements into 10 CFR part 74. Other proposed rule
requirements were intended to strengthen specific sections of the
requirements for some types of facilities by providing: General
performance objectives; item control system requirements; the use of
tamper-safing procedures; and the designation of material balance
areas, item control areas, and material custodians. The proposed rule
would have applied, to different extents, to facilities licensed under
10 CFR parts 50, 52, 70, and 72.
The NRC received 27 comment submissions from members of the nuclear
industry, Agreement State organizations, and private citizens.
Regarding the proposed rule, several commenters expressed concerns that
meeting the general performance objectives would require extensive
changes to existing MC&A programs and that the general performance
objectives were in some cases too restrictive. Commenters also spoke to
the proposed removal of some thresholds and exemptions in the item
control system requirements and their perception that
[[Page 32328]]
requirements for tamper-safing and for material balance areas and item
control areas were too far-reaching. In addition, several commenters
requested that the NRC prepare a more complete regulatory analysis and
a backfit analysis. Several commenters provided input to improve the
clarity and utility of the draft associated regulatory guidance
documents.
In response to the public comments, the NRC issued a revised
regulatory analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML18061A055) and a backfit
evaluation (ADAMS Accession No. ML18061A058). A full list of comments
received, and the NRC's responses, is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML18061A050.
In SECY-18-0104, ``Draft Final Rule: Amendments to Material Control
and Accounting Regulations (RIN 3150-Al61; NRC-2009-0096),'' dated
October 15, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18061A056), the staff requested
Commission approval to publish the final rule in the Federal Register.
The final rule would have included revisions made to the proposed rule
in response to public comments and revisions to the six draft
associated regulatory guidance documents to reflect and explain the
revised MC&A requirements in 10 CFR part 74.
In SRM-SECY-18-0104, dated April 3, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19093B393), the Commission disapproved the draft final rule and
directed the staff to discontinue this rulemaking activity.
III. Conclusion
The NRC is discontinuing this rulemaking activity for the reasons
discussed in this document. In the next edition of the Unified Agenda,
the NRC will update the entry for this rulemaking activity and
reference this document to indicate that the rulemaking activity is no
longer being pursued. This rulemaking activity will appear in the
completed actions section of that edition of the Unified Agenda but
will not appear in future editions. If the NRC decides to pursue
similar or related rulemaking activities in the future, it will inform
the public through new rulemaking entries in the Unified Agenda.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of July 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Denise L. McGovern,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-14478 Filed 7-5-19; 8:45 am]
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