[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 187 (Thursday, September 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78917-78918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22003]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2024-0151]
Draft Interim Staff Guidance: Contamination Control, Radiological
Survey, and Dose Modeling Considerations To Support License Termination
at Sites With Environmental Discrete Radioactive Particle Contamination
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), DUWP-ISG-03,
``Draft Interim Staff Guidance on Contamination Control, Radiological
Survey, and Dose Modeling Considerations to Support License Termination
at Sites with Environmental Discrete Radioactive Particle
Contamination.'' The draft ISG addresses contamination control,
radiological surveys, and dose modeling regarding discrete radioactive
particles (DRPs) that are found in the environment due to an unplanned
release or that potentially could be released to the environment during
decommissioning. If finalized, this ISG would allow staff to develop
consistent guidance regarding contamination control, particularly
focused on non-diffuse contamination, during the decommissioning
process, as well as provide acceptable survey approaches and dose
methods for discrete radioactive particles until the appropriate NRC
regulatory guidance can be updated.
DATES: Submit comments by October 28, 2024. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received
on or before this date.
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-2024-0151. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, 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: Amy M. Snyder, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone:
[[Page 78918]]
301-415-6822; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0151 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-2024-0151.
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, at 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 this document. The draft ISG is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML24219A032.
NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. 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
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (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-2024-0151 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. Discussion
Current decommissioning guidance is focused on addressing diffuse
residual radioactivity with respect to performing surveys and assessing
potential public exposure after license termination and does not
address discrete radioactive particle contamination nor discuss how to
control this type of contamination during decommissioning. For these
reasons, the NRC staff have approached each past instance of DRP
contamination on a case-by-case basis which may have led to some
perceived inconsistencies in the approach to decommissioning. This
draft guidance presents an acceptable approach for addressing discrete
radioactive particle contamination throughout the decommissioning
process. Such non-diffuse contamination can be found at power reactors,
as well as fuel cycle facilities during any phase of decommissioning.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML24227A987).
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of this ISG, if finalized, would not (i) constitute
backfitting as defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Backfitting,'' 70.76, ``Backfitting,''
and 72.62, ``Backfitting,'' and as described in Management Directive
(MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality,
and Information Requests''; or (ii) affect issue finality of any
approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants''; or (iii) constitute forward
fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4, because
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth
in this ISG, if finalized.
Dated: September 20, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jane Marshall,
Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste
Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-22003 Filed 9-25-24; 8:45 am]
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