[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32144-32145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10538]


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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. 88, No. 97 / Friday, May 19, 2023 / Proposed 
Rules  

[[Page 32144]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2023-0075]


Abnormal Occurrence Reporting

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed limited revision to policy statement; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing 
limited revisions to its policy statement on reporting abnormal 
occurrences (AO) to Congress. The proposed revisions are to the medical 
event criteria for determining events that are significant from the 
standpoint of public health or safety.

DATES: Submit comments by August 17, 2023. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
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 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject); 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-2023-0075. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Dawn Forder; telephone: 301-415-3407; 
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 (ET), 
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: Edward Harvey, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3704; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information.

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2023-0075 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-2023-0075.
     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 ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then 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].
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make 
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), 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-2023-0075 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. Background

    Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended 
(Pub. L. 93-438), defines an AO as an unscheduled incident or event 
that the NRC determines to be significant from the standpoint of public 
health or safety. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 
1995 (Pub. L. 104-66) requires that AOs be reported to Congress 
annually. As required by section 208, the discussion for each event 
includes the date and place, the nature and probable consequences, the 
cause or causes, and the action taken to prevent recurrence. The 
Commission must also widely disseminate the AO report to the public 
within 15 days of publishing the AO report to Congress.

Abnormal Occurrence Reporting

    The Commission has developed the AO policy statement to comply with 
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended. The 
annual AO report is developed based upon the criteria in the AO policy 
statement. The AO report keeps Congress and the public informed of 
unscheduled incidents or events that

[[Page 32145]]

the Commission considers significant from the standpoint of public 
health or safety. This policy addresses a range of health or safety 
concerns and applies to incidents and events involving a single 
individual, as well as those having an overall impact on the general 
public. The AO criteria set out in the policy use a reporting threshold 
so that only those events considered significant from the standpoint of 
public health or safety are reported to Congress.

Applicability

    Implementation of section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 
1974, as amended, ``Abnormal Occurrence Reports,'' involves the conduct 
of Commission business and does not establish requirements for 
licensees or certified facilities. The reports cover certain 
unscheduled incidents or events related to the manufacture, 
construction, or operation of a facility or conduct of an activity 
subject to the requirements of parts 20, 30 through 37, 39, 40, 50, 61, 
70, 71, 72 or 76 of chapter I, title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR).
    Agreement States provide information to the NRC on incidents and 
events involving applicable nuclear materials in their States. 
Agreement States are those States that have entered into formal 
agreements with the NRC, pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954 (AEA) (Pub. L. 83-703), to regulate certain quantities of 
radioactive material at facilities located within their borders. Events 
reported by Agreement States that reach the threshold for reporting as 
AOs are also published in the ``Report to Congress on Abnormal 
Occurrences.''

Proposed Revisions

    The NRC is proposing revisions to the AO criteria for medical 
events. The revisions to the medical event criteria improve conformance 
to current regulatory requirements, and reflect new developments in the 
new medical radiation treatments.
    The NRC is requesting public comments on this policy statement at 
this time for medical event criteria. These proposed revisions may be 
found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23123A351.

Licensee Reports

    The changes to the general policy statement do not change the 
reporting requirements for licensees in Commission or Agreement State 
regulations, license conditions, or technical specifications. The 
licensees will continue to submit required reports on a wide range of 
events, including instrument malfunctions and deviations from normal 
operating procedures that may not be significant from the standpoint of 
the public health or safety but provide data useful to the Commission 
in monitoring operating trends of licensed facilities and in comparing 
the actual performance of these facilities with their design and/or 
licensing basis.

III. Paperwork Reduction Act

    This policy statement does not contain a collection of information 
as defined in the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.) and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless the document requesting 
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid Office of 
Management and Budget control number.

    Dated: May 12, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Wesley W. Held,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-10538 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P