[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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