[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 326-327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-29154]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0278]
Measuring, Evaluating, and Reporting Radioactive Material in
Liquid and Gaseous Effluents and Solid Waste
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public
comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1377, ``Measuring, Evaluating,
and Reporting Radioactive Material in Liquid and Gaseous Effluents and
Solid Waste.'' This DG is proposed revision 3 of Regulatory Guide (RG)
1.21 of the same name. The proposed revision describes an approach that
is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to meet regulatory requirements
for; (1) measuring, evaluating, and reporting plant related
radioactivity in effluents and solid radioactive waste shipments from
NRC licensed facilities, and (2) assessing and reporting the public
dose to demonstrate compliance with NRC regulations.
DATES: Submit comments by February 19, 2021. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods;
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking Website:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0278. Address
questions about Docket IDs to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-9221;
email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7A06, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001. ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing 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: Steven Garry, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2766, email:
[email protected], and Kyle Song, Office of Nuclear Regulatory
Research, telephone: 301-415-3637, email: [email protected]. Both are
staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0278 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding 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-2020-0278.
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]. DG-1377 is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML20287A423 and the regulatory analysis for DG-1377 is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML20287A434.
Attention: The 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 or
301-415-4737 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking Website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2020-0278 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 posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enters 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 submissions into ADAMS.
II. Additional Information
The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific
parts of the NRC's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff
uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to
describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications
for permits and licenses.
The DG, titled, ``Measuring, Evaluating, and Reporting Radioactive
Material in Liquid and Gaseous Effluents and Solid Waste,'' is a
proposed revision temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1377
(ADAMS Accession No. ML20287A423). The draft guide is proposed revision
3 of RG 1.21 of the same name (ADAMS Accession No. ML091170109). The
guide proposes revised guidance for measuring, evaluating, and
reporting plant-related radioactivity in effluents and solid
radioactive waste shipments from NRC licensed facilities. This guidance
provides clarity and consistency regarding the assessing and
[[Page 327]]
reporting the public dose to demonstrate compliance with part 20 of
title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Standards For
Protection Against Radiation'' and 40 CFR part 190, ``Environmental
Radiation Protection Standards for Nuclear Power Operations.''
Substantial changes are integrated in this revision. This revision
provides (1) guidance on acceptable methods for calibration of
accident-range radiation monitors and accident-range effluent monitors,
(2) updated guidance on reviewing and updating long-term, annual
average X/Q and D/Q values used for determining dose to
individual members of the public, (3) clarification on reporting
requirements for low-level waste shipments from the site that waste
classification does not need to be reported, and (4) clarification that
drinking water sampling would only be performed under the guidance when
the calculated dose from I-131 is greater than 1 mrem/yr. This guide
also incorporates the risk-informed principles of the Reactor Oversight
Process. A risk-informed, performance-based approach to regulatory
decision making combines the ``risk informed'' and ``performance
based'' elements discussed in the staff requirements memorandum to SECY
98-144, ``Staff Requirements--SECY-98-144--White Paper on Risk-Informed
and Performance-Based Regulation,'' dated February 24, 1999 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML003753593). In particular, the guidance in this RG
gives licensees the option of deciding on what effluents to monitor
based on a risk-significance basis.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML20287A434). The staff develops a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting and Issue Finality
The draft regulatory guide (DG-1377), if finalized, would not
constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,''
and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information
Requests.'' It also would not constitute forward fitting as that term
is defined and described in MD 8.4; or affect the issue finality of any
approval issued under 10 CFR part 52. As explained in DG-1377,
applicants and licensees would not be required to comply with the
positions set forth in DG-1377.
Dated: December 30, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mekonen M. Bayssie,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-29154 Filed 1-4-21; 8:45 am]
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