[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 169 (Monday, August 31, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 53690-53691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18746]


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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. 85, No. 169 / Monday, August 31, 2020 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 53690]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-123; NRC-2020-0155]


Public Protective Actions During a General Emergency

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 Thomas McKenna, dated June 1, 2020. The 
petitioner requests that the NRC revise its regulations so that 
protective actions implemented during a General Emergency at a nuclear 
power plant will most likely do more good than harm when the possible 
physical health effects of radiation exposure and protective actions 
are taken into consideration. The petition was docketed by the NRC on 
June 24, 2020, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-123. The NRC is 
examining the issues raised in PRM-50-123 to determine whether they 
should be considered in rulemaking. The NRC is requesting public 
comment on this petition at this time.

DATES: Submit comments by November 16, 2020. 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0155. 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.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
    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: Pamela Noto, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6795; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0155 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0155.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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.
     Attention: The Public Document Room (PDR), where you may 
examine and order copies of public documents is currently closed. You 
may submit your request to the PDR via email at [email protected] or 
call 1-800-397-4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2020-0155 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 
https://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

    The petition for rulemaking (PRM) was filed by Thomas McKenna, who 
stated in his petition that he has worked in emergency preparedness and 
response at both the NRC and the International Atomic Energy Agency and 
is one of the authors of the NRC's 1996 draft guidance on initial 
protective actions in the event of a severe accident. The draft 
guidance, NUREG-0654/FEMA-REP-1, Rev. 1, Supp. 3, ``Criteria for 
Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and 
Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants: Criteria for 
Protective Action Recommendations for Severe Accidents,'' dated July 
1996, may be found in ADAMS at Accession No. ML051120480.

III. The Petition

    The petitioner requests that the NRC amend part 50 of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) such that public protective 
actions implemented during a General Emergency at a nuclear power plant 
will most likely do more good than harm when the possible physical 
health effects of radiation exposure and protective actions are taken 
into consideration. The petition may be found in ADAMS at Accession No. 
ML20176A313.

[[Page 53691]]

IV. Discussion of the Petition

    The petitioner asserts that protective actions taken in accordance 
with NRC guidance during a General Emergency may cause 12 times more 
excess deaths among the public and 15 times more excess deaths among 
elderly residents of care facilities than caused by radiation exposure 
due to the General Emergency. The petitioner states that an objective 
of emergency response plans has been to provide dose savings and that 
the NRC's requirements were not established on a risk-informed basis 
that justifies protective actions will do more good than harm. The 
petitioner states that the NRC requirements are based on analyses that 
are 40 or more years old in some cases and do not reflect the latest 
studies of nuclear power plant emergencies, which project much smaller 
releases and thus result in smaller radiation-induced health 
consequences. The petitioner asks that the NRC carefully reexamine the 
agency's regulations and implementing guidance on protective actions 
during a General Emergency.

V. Conclusion

    The NRC has determined that the petition meets the sufficiency 
requirements for docketing a PRM under 10 CFR 2.803, ``Petition for 
rulemaking-NRC action.'' The NRC will examine the issues raised in PRM-
50-123 and any comments received in response to this comment request to 
determine whether these issues should be considered in rulemaking.

    Dated: August 21, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-18746 Filed 8-28-20; 8:45 am]
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