[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 142 (Monday, July 28, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35441-35445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14146]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

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. 90, No. 142 / Monday, July 28, 2025 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 35441]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-121; NRC-2020-0055]


Voluntary Adoption of Revised Design Basis Accident Dose Criteria

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; denial.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a 
petition for rulemaking, dated November 23, 2019, submitted by John G. 
Parillo. The petition requested that the NRC develop a rule that would 
allow nuclear power plant licensees to voluntarily adopt a revised 
accident dose acceptance criteria for the control room, exclusion area 
boundary, and the low population zone outer boundary. The petition 
further requested revisions to clarify footnotes discussing these dose 
acceptance criteria in the applicable regulations. The NRC docketed the 
petition on February 19, 2020, and assigned it Docket No. PRM-50-121. 
The NRC is denying the petition because the information presented does 
not support rulemaking and the proposed changes are not necessary to 
provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health 
and safety.

DATES: The docket for the petition for rulemaking PRM-50-121 is closed 
on July 28, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0055 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-2020-0055. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Helen Chang; telephone: 301-415-3228; 
email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact the 
persons listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 
document.
     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]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this document.
     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 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elijah Dickson, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-7647, email: 
[email protected] or Tyler Hammock, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-1381, email: 
[email protected]. Both are employees of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. The Petition

    Section 2.802 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR), ``Petition for rulemaking--requirements for filing,'' provides an 
opportunity for any interested person to petition the Commission to 
issue, amend, or rescind any regulation. On November 23, 2019, the NRC 
received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) from John G. Parillo.
    The petition requested that the NRC develop a rule allowing 
licensees to voluntarily adopt a revised dose acceptance criteria of 10 
rem total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) for the control room, the 
exclusion area boundary, and the low population zone. The petitioner 
identified concerns with the current acceptance (i.e., dose) criteria 
in 10 CFR part 100, ``Reactor Site Criteria,'' Sec.  100.11, 
``Determination of exclusion area, low population zone, and population 
center distance,'' its basis document, Technical Information Document 
(TID)-14844, ``Calculation of Distance Factors for Power and Test 
Reactor Sites,'' United States Atomic Energy Commission, March 23, 
1962, and the alternate accident source term requirements in 10 CFR 
part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities,'' Sec.  50.67, ``Accident source term.'' Additionally, this 
petition examined the objectives of the control room design criterion 
in 10 CFR part 50, appendix A, ``General Design Criteria for Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' criterion 19, ``Control Room,'' and the relationship 
between the control room design criterion and the reactor site 
criteria. The petitioner also identified concerns with the translation 
of the Sec.  100.11 dose criteria (25 rem whole body and 300 rem 
thyroid) into the single 25 rem dose criterion used in other 
regulations, including requirements applicable to: (1) construction 
permit applicants under Sec.  50.34(a); (2) applicants under 10 CFR 
part 52, ``Licenses, Certification, and Approvals for Nuclear Power 
Plants;'' and (3) licensees of operating nuclear power plants 
originally licensed prior to January 10, 1997, who seek to revise their 
accident source term under Sec.  50.67. With regard to these 
regulations, applicants must demonstrate that the following 
radiological acceptance criteria are met: (1) an individual located on 
any point on the boundary of the exclusion area for any 2-hour period 
following the onset of postulated fission product release would not 
receive a radiation dose in excess of 0.25 sievert (Sv) (25 rem) TEDE; 
(2) an individual located at any point on the outer boundary of the low 
population zone, who is exposed to the radioactive cloud resulting from 
the postulated fission product release (during the entire period of its 
passage), would not receive a radiation dose in excess of 0.25 Sv (25 
rem) TEDE; and (3) adequate radiation protection is provided to permit 
access to, and occupancy of, the control room under accident conditions 
without personnel receiving radiation exposures in excess of 0.05 Sv (5 
rem) TEDE for the duration of the accident.

[[Page 35442]]

    For the purposes of this document, ``siting criteria'' refers to 
the 0.25 Sv (25 rem) exclusion area boundary and low population zone 
TEDE criteria, and the ``control room design criterion'' refers to the 
0.05 Sv (5 rem) control room TEDE criterion.
    The NRC identified three unique categories of petitioned changes 
within PRM-50-121: (1) voluntary rule development; (2) conforming 
changes to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.183, ``Alternative Radiological 
Source Terms for Evaluating Design Basis Accidents at Nuclear Power 
Reactors'' (ML003716792); and (3) other petitioned changes, which 
include proposed changes to footnotes.

Voluntary Rule Development

    The petition requested that the NRC develop a rule that would allow 
licensees to voluntarily adopt a revised accident dose acceptance 
criterion of 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE for the three criteria in Sec.  
50.67(b)(2). The petition stated that the voluntary rule would be 
reflective of modern health physics recommendations and modern plant 
designs. The petition stated that NRC's design basis accident (DBA) 
dose criteria and the resulting design of accident mitigation systems 
could be perceived to emphasize protection of the control room operator 
over protection of the public. Further, the petition stated that the 
proposed change would provide a better balance between protection of 
the control room operators and the protection of the public. The 
petition also noted that the control room design criterion has proven 
to be challenging to demonstrate because most nuclear power plants have 
minimal margin to the 0.05 Sv (5 rem) TEDE regulatory criterion 
contained in Sec.  50.67(b)(2)(iii). The petition claimed that a 
uniform criterion of 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE in a new Sec.  50.67a would 
relieve the current regulatory burden associated with meeting the 
current control room design criterion for current operating nuclear 
power plants. Therefore, the petition also recommended conforming 
changes to General Design Criterion (GDC) 19 of appendix A to 10 CFR 
part 50 to permit the use of a 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE control room design 
criterion if a 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE criterion for the alternate source-
term siting criterion was voluntarily adopted.

Proposed Changes to Regulatory Guide 1.183

    The petition suggested that RG 1.183 be revised to align with the 
regulations in new Sec.  50.67a, as proposed by the petition.

Other Petitioned Changes

    The petition proposed several revisions to footnotes to 10 CFR 
parts 50, 52, and 100. First, the petition suggested that the NRC 
remove references to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Handbook 
69, ``Maximum Permissible Body Burdens and Maximum Permissible 
Concentrations of Radionuclides in Air and in Water for Occupational 
Exposure,'' in 10 CFR parts 50, 52, and 100 (i.e., Sec. Sec.  50.34, 
52.17, 52.47, 52.79, 52.137, 52.157, and 100.11) based on the 
petition's assertion that the NBS Handbook 69 is outdated, conflicts 
with 10 CFR part 20, ``Standards for Protection Against Radiation,'' 
and was only intended to be used for a once-in-a-lifetime accidental or 
emergency dose to radiation workers. Second, the petition stated that 
there are inconsistencies between the terms ``whole-body dose'' and 
``total effective dose equivalent,'' describing the 0.25 Sv (25 rem) 
criterion in current regulations in 10 CFR parts 50, 52, and 100 
footnotes. Third, the petition suggested revisions to footnotes to 10 
CFR parts 50 and 52 to address the relationship between cancer and 
radiation exposures. Lastly, the petition noted a grammatical error in 
a footnote to Sec.  52.17(a)(1)(ix)(A).
    The petition provided a review and analysis of the regulatory 
history of each of the criteria and derivations from the previous 
whole-body and thyroid criteria to the TEDE criteria (i.e., Sec.  50.34 
(61 FR 65157; December 11, 1996)). The petition also provided 
references to current health physics guidance recommendations from the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the International 
Commission on Radiological Protection, the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, Duke University and Duke Medicine, the Health Physics Society, 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the NRC. The 
petition provided this information to present perspectives between the 
selected criteria numerical values to radiation protection 
recommendations for emergency workers, the general public, and in-utero 
fetal development. Lastly, the petition provided data listing the 
current operating reactor fleet analysis of records of licensing-basis 
results for each of the three Sec.  50.67(b)(2) criteria. This data 
suggests that a number of operating reactors could meet a uniform 10 
rem acceptance criteria without making any changes to their analysis of 
record radiological consequence analyses and that there is relatively 
small margin for most facilities with respect to the current 5 rem 
control room design criterion.

II. Public Comments on the Petition

    On May 27, 2020 (85 FR 31709), the NRC published a notice of 
docketing and request for comment on the PRM in the Federal Register. 
The comment period closed on August 10, 2020. All comment submissions 
received on this petition are available on https://www.regulations.gov 
by searching for Docket ID NRC-2020-0055.
    Three comment submissions were received: one from the Nuclear 
Energy Institute and two from private citizens. Of the three comment 
submissions, one provided general support for the petition, one opposed 
the petition, and one submission addressed matters outside the scope of 
the petition. A summary of the substantive comments and the NRC's 
responses follows. The comments are available as indicated in the 
Availability of Documents section of this document.

Comment 1: General Support for Updating the Requirements

    The commenter endorsed the use of ``current science based values'' 
and claimed using data gained over the last 50 years would ``better 
protect populations and ease regulatory burden.''

NRC Response

    The NRC agrees with the general assertion that regulations should 
be based on modern scientific data, operating experience, and analysis; 
however, the commenter did not present additional new information to 
support the petitioner's proposal that the NRC should amend its 
regulations to include a new voluntary rule.

Comment 2: Opposes the Petition Regarding the Need for a Universal 
Design and Siting Criteria for the Control Room and the Public

    A commenter recommended that the NRC deny the petition and that no 
changes be made to specify a uniform value of 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE for 
offsite locations and the control room design criteria. The comment 
asserted that Sec.  50.67, 10 CFR part 100, GDC-19, 10 CFR part 20, and 
by extension, the EPA Protective Action Guidelines (PAGs) all were 
established for different purposes and the different requirements work 
together to establish a defense-in-depth strategy to protect the 
workers and the public. The comment also noted that 10 CFR part 20 dose 
limits are not directly applicable in an emergency, and that industry 
uses 10 CFR part 20 in conjunction with the EPA's PAGs, in

[[Page 35443]]

responding to a significant plant event. The comment stated that the 
petitioner did not provide any supporting evidence that members of the 
public perceive the NRC to emphasize protection of the control room 
over protection of the public. The comment also stated that the dose 
value the NRC has established for control room operators likely 
enhances the perception that protection of the public is the primary 
concern. Furthermore, the comment indicated that 10 CFR part 100 
appears to address this concern by stating that the numbers in the 
criteria are not intended to constitute acceptable limits for emergency 
doses to the public under accident conditions. Lastly, the commenter 
noted that they are unaware of any licensee that would pursue the 
voluntary rule and argued that changing nuclear power plant licensing-
basis regulations would place additional burdens on licensees (e.g., 
revising licensing-basis documents, procedures, and training programs, 
etc.) with no commensurate improvement in safety.

NRC Response

    The NRC agrees the petition should be denied. The NRC agrees that 
changes to the regulations to allow licensees to voluntarily adopt a 
revised universal acceptance criterion of 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE for the 
control room, exclusion area boundary, and the low population zone 
outer boundary are not needed.
    Further, the NRC agrees with the comment that the acceptance 
criteria in 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 are not operational radiation 
exposure limits under emergency conditions and recognizes that they are 
not the sole regulations applicable during an event. While both the 
siting criteria and control room design criterion are computed in terms 
of ``dose,'' they are ``figures-of-merit'' used to characterize the 
minimum necessary design, fabrication, construction, testing, and 
performance requirements for structures, systems, and components. The 
numerical selection for both acceptance criteria does not imply 
acceptable radiation exposure limits for the public or control room 
operators under accident conditions. The acceptance criteria represent 
reference values to be used for evaluating plant features and site 
characteristics intended to mitigate the radiological consequences of 
accidents to provide assurance of low risk to the public under 
postulated accidents. The current radiation protection framework, 
including the requirements of Sec.  50.67, is coherent and consistent 
with international and national radiation protection standards and 
recommendations, and continues to provide reasonable assurance of 
adequate protection of control room operations and the public.

III. Reasons for Denial

    The NRC is denying the petition. This is based on the consideration 
of defense-in-depth features of licensed nuclear power plants; the 
intended purpose of the 0.25 Sv (25 rem) TEDE siting criteria as a 
reference value to evaluate plant design features; modern health 
physics knowledge and recommendations; and previous NRC decisions 
related to the use of the 0.05 Sv (5 rem) TEDE for the control room 
design criteria and 0.25 Sv (25 rem) for the exclusion area boundary 
and the low population zone outer boundary.
    The petition requested that the NRC develop a new rule (Sec.  
50.67a) that would allow licensees to voluntarily adopt revised 
accident dose acceptance criteria of 0.1 Sv (10 rem) TEDE for the 
control room, exclusion area boundary, and the low population zone 
outer boundary. The NRC assessed the selected numerical radiation dose 
values referenced in Sec.  50.67(b)(2), considering the modern health 
physics recommendations and current plant design information provided 
by the petition. The NRC also assessed the criteria based on the 
historical evaluation and previous NRC decisions for establishing these 
numerical values as representative reference values to be used for 
evaluating plant features and site characteristics intended to mitigate 
the radiological consequences of accidents to provide reasonable 
assurance of adequate protection to the public under postulated 
accidents. The evaluation was performed using the criteria provided in 
Sec.  2.803, as summarized below. Based on this evaluation, the NRC 
concluded that the current regulations provide an adequate level of 
protection and rulemaking is not justified.
    The siting and control room design criteria in Sec.  50.67(b)(2) 
require, in part, that an individual located at any point on the outer 
boundary of the low population zone would not receive a radiation dose 
in excess of 0.25 Sv (25 rem) TEDE and that personnel in the control 
room would not receive radiation exposures in excess of 0.05 Sv (5 rem) 
TEDE under accident conditions for the duration of the accident. A 
detailed rationale for the use of 0.25 Sv (25 rem) TEDE as an accident 
dose criterion and the use of the 2-hour exposure period resulting in 
the maximum dose is provided in the final rule on reactor site criteria 
for nuclear power plants (61 FR 65157; December 11, 1996). As discussed 
in the final rule preamble, the NRC's use of the 0.25 Sv (25 rem) TEDE 
value does not mean that this is an acceptable limit for an emergency 
dose to the public under accident conditions, but only that it 
represents a reference value to be used for evaluating plant features 
and site characteristics intended to mitigate the radiological 
consequences of accidents in order to provide assurance of low risk to 
the public under postulated accidents.
    A detailed rationale for the use of the 0.05 Sv (5 rem) TEDE 
control room design criterion is provided in the final rule for use of 
alternative source terms for operating reactors (64 FR 71990; December 
23, 1999). In the preamble for the final alternate source term rule, 
the NRC stated that the control room design criteria are not an 
acceptable exposure during emergency conditions, or that other 
radiation protection standards of 10 CFR part 20, including individual 
organ dose limits, do not apply. Instead, the control room design 
criterion is provided only to assess the acceptability of design 
provisions for protecting control room operators under postulated DBA 
conditions. Further, the NRC noted that DBA conditions assumed in these 
analyses, although credible, generally do not represent actual accident 
sequences but are specified as conservative surrogates to create 
bounding conditions for assessing the acceptability of engineered 
safety features.
    In evaluating PRM-50-121, the NRC also considered the following: 
(1) providing a consistent dosimetry methodology with 10 CFR part 20 
based on the recommendations contained in International Commission on 
Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 26, adopted January 17, 
1977, and the scientific information contained in ICRP Publication 30; 
(2) the basis of the conversion from whole-body and thyroid dose 
criteria to the updated TEDE criteria described in the final rule on 
reactor site criteria for nuclear power plants in light of more modern 
health physics models; (3) the significant margins that exist for 
operating plants compared to the latent cancer fatality quantitative 
health objective established by the NRC's Safety Goal policy (51 FR 
30028; August 21, 1986); and (4) the extensive NRC and industry 
licensing experience in applying these dose acceptance criteria and the 
inherent conservatisms in their application. In addition, the NRC 
considered operational experience with the maximum whole-body dose 
received following major core damage accidents at Three Mile Island in 
March 1979 and

[[Page 35444]]

the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011. As discussed 
in the final rule on reactor site criteria, the maximum whole body dose 
received by an actual individual during the Three Mile Island accident 
was estimated to be about 0.1 rem. The NRC also considered recently 
discontinued rulemaking activities (81 FR 95410; December 28, 2016) 
associated with revising the radiation protection regulations in 10 CFR 
part 20 and 10 CFR part 50, appendix I. This rulemaking activity was 
initially intended, in part, to reflect modern health physics 
recommendations from the ICRP. In discontinuing this rulemaking 
activity, the NRC noted that the current NRC regulatory framework 
continues to provide adequate protection of the health and safety of 
workers, the public and the environment.
    Further, there is additional defense-in-depth in plant designs and 
operational programs (e.g., conservative analysis assumptions, 
engineered safety features to reduce likelihood of severe accidents, 
emergency planning) to minimize risk of public exposure following an 
accident. Research studies (e.g., NUREG-1935, ``State-of-the-Art 
Reactor Consequence Analysis (SOARCA) Report;'' NUREG-1150, ``Severe 
Accident Risks: An Assessment of Five U.S. Nuclear Power Plants;'' and 
the ongoing Level 3 probabilistic risk assessment project) and 
licensing experience demonstrate that these defense-in-depth measures 
maintain an appropriately low risk of radiation exposure to the public.
    Regarding the petitioner's observation concerning the footnotes to 
10 CFR parts 50, 52, and 100, the NRC agrees with the petitioner that 
the references to the NBS Handbook 69 are dated, but they do reflect 
the position of the Commission at the time the rule was initiated. This 
issue was addressed in Information Notice 84-40, ``Emergency Worker 
Doses,'' which states, in part, that ``[n]o endorsement of the NBS 
(National Bureau of Standards) Handbook 69 emergency dose guidelines/
recommendations nor application to 10 CFR [part] 20 was ever 
intended.'' References to the NBS Handbook 69 in the regulations were 
also addressed in the final rule on reactor site criteria for nuclear 
power plants (61 FR 65157; December 11, 1996), where the NRC determined 
that the ``footnote also clearly states that the Commission's use of 
this value does not imply that it considers it to be an acceptable 
limit for an emergency dose to the public under accident conditions, 
but only that it represents a reference value to be used for evaluating 
plant features and site characteristics.'' The footnotes in 10 CFR 
parts 50, 52, and 100 only provide explanatory information, do not 
provide regulatory requirements, and have not caused regulatory issues 
with licensing actions due to the inconsistent language from these 
parts (e.g., design certifications and combined license approvals). 
Thus, while updating these footnotes may be appropriate to reflect the 
current basis for the siting and control room design criteria, the NRC 
finds that their clarification does not, on their own, justify 
rulemaking.
    The petitioner also noted a grammatical error in the footnote to 
Sec.  52.17(a)(1)(ix)(A) and recommended that it be revised from ``in 
the event of an accidents'' to ``in the event of an accident.'' The NRC 
corrected the error in an administrative correction rule published on 
November 14, 2022 (87 FR 68028).
    The NRC concludes that the concerns presented in the petition do 
not reflect immediate safety concerns. In addition, defense-in-depth 
features make severe accidents and radiological releases that challenge 
the reference dose siting and control room design criteria unlikely. 
Further, recent research studies have demonstrated that a significant 
margin exists to the NRC's safety goals. Lastly, because the NRC 
determined that a new Sec.  50.67a is not needed, conforming changes to 
GDC-19 control room design criteria to allow for 10 rem TEDE, and 
revisions to RG 1.183 are not necessary. The NRC concludes that the 
existing regulations in 10 CFR part 100 and Sec.  50.67(b)(2) continue 
to provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health 
and safety and that rulemaking is not warranted.

V. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as 
indicated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        ADAMS accession No./ Federal
             Document                         Register Citation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRM-50-121--Voluntary Adoption of   ML20050M894.
 Revised Design Basis Accident
 Dose Criteria, dated November 23,
 2019.
PRM-50-121: Petition for            85 FR 31709.
 rulemaking; notice of docketing,
 and request for public comment,
 dated May 27, 2020.
Comment from Sandeep Sharma on PRM- ML20154K569.
 50-121--Voluntary Adoption of
 Revised Design Basis Accident
 Dose Criteria; dated June 1, 2020.
Comment from Jerry Kurtz on PRM-50- ML20209A559.
 121--Voluntary Adoption of
 Revised Design Basis Accident
 Dose Criteria; dated July 27,
 2020.
Comment from Hilary Lane on behalf  ML20233A589.
 of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
 on PRM-50-121--Voluntary Adoption
 of Revised Design Basis Accident
 Dose Criteria; August 10, 2020.
``Reactor Site Criteria Including   61 FR 65157.
 Seismic and Earthquake
 Engineering Criteria for Nuclear
 Power Plants,'' Final Rule, dated
 December 11, 1996.
``Safety Goals for the Operation    51 FR 30028.
 of Nuclear Power Plants,'' Policy
 Statement, dated August 21, 1986.
``Reactor Site Criteria Including   59 FR 52255.
 Seismic and Earthquake
 Engineering Criteria for Nuclear
 Power Plants and Proposed Denial
 of Petition from Free
 Environment, Inc. et al.,''
 Proposed Rule, dated October 17,
 1994.
``Standards for Protection Against  56 FR 23360.
 Radiation.'' Final Rule, dated
 May 21, 1991.
Information Notice No. 84-40:       ML103420380.
 Emergency Worker Doses, dated May
 30, 1984.
``Rulemaking Activities Being       81 FR 95410.
 Discontinued by the NRC,''
 Rulemaking activities;
 discontinuation, dated December
 28, 2016.
SECY-12-0064--Recommendation for    ML121020108 (Package).
 Policy and Technical Direction to
 Revise Radiation Protection
 Regulations and Guidance, dated
 April 25, 2012.
National Bureau of Standards        ML20206L091.
 Handbook 69 ``Maximum Permissible
 Body Burdens and Maximum
 Permissible Concentrations of
 Radionuclides in Air and in Water
 for Occupation Exposure,'' dated
 August 1963.
``Use of Alternative Source Terms   64 FR 71990.
 at Operating Reactors''; Final
 Rule, dated December 23, 1999.
``Radiation Protection'', Advance   79 FR 43284.
 notice of proposed rulemaking;
 request for comments, dated July
 25, 2014.
``Miscellaneous Corrections'';      87 FR 68028.
 Final Rule, dated November 14,
 2022.
NUREG-1150 Vol. 1, ``Severe         ML120960691.
 Accident Risks: An assessment for
 Five U.S. Nuclear Power Plants,''
 dated December 1990.
NUREG-1935, ``State-of-the-Art      ML12332A057.
 Reactor Consequence Analyses
 (SOARCA) Report,'' dated November
 2012.

[[Page 35445]]

 
Regulatory Guide 1.183,             ML003716792.
 ``Alternative Radiological Source
 Terms for Evaluating Design Basis
 Accidents at Nuclear Power
 Plants,'' dated July 2000.
SECY-11-0089--Options for           ML11090A039 (Package).
 Proceeding with Future Level 3
 Probabilistic Risk Assessment
 Activities, dated July 7, 2011.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

V. Conclusion

    For the reasons cited in this document, the NRC is denying PRM-50-
121. The current requirements continue to provide reasonable assurance 
of adequate protection of public health and safety and should not be 
revised as proposed in the PRM.

    Dated: July 24, 2025.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Carrie Safford,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2025-14146 Filed 7-25-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P