[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 161 (Friday, August 21, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54406-54407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-17093]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2026-3334]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Assessing Public Health Risk Associated
With Chemical Hazards of Licensed Material
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-1444, proposed
Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.264, ``Assessing Public Health Risk Associated
with Chemical Hazards of Licensed Material.'' This DG describes a
methodology that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to meet
regulatory requirements assessing public health risk associated with
chemical hazards of licensed material.
DATES: Submit comments by September 21, 2026. 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.
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-2026-3334. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.govto Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the ``For Further
Information Contact'' section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, Mail Stop: TWFN-5-A85, U.S. Nuclear
[[Page 54407]]
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Guidance and
Publications Branch.
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: Anders Gilbertson, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-1541; email:
[email protected] and Stanley Gardocki, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-1067; 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-2026-3334 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-2026-3334.
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 ADAMS Public 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]. DG-1444, proposed RG 1.264, titled,
``Assessing Public Health Risk Associated with Chemical Hazards of
Licensed Material Under 10 CFR part 53,'' is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML25043A094.
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-2026-3334 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. 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 agency'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.
Proposed RG 1.264 entitled ``Assessing Public Health Risk
Associated with Chemical Hazards of Licensed Material Under 10 CFR part
53,'' is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1444.
This DG is being issued to provide guidance on an acceptable
approach for meeting the regulation under paragraph 53.440(k) of title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which requires defining
design features and related functional design criteria such that
analyses demonstrate a low risk of permanent injury to public health
due to the health effects of chemical hazards of licensed material.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML26091A264). The staff developed a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising an RG as
well as alternative courses of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of DG-1444, 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''; affect issue
finality of any approval issued under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certificates, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants''; or constitute
forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4, because, as explained in this DG,
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth
in this DG.
IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides
A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the
NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs.
Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html.
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
V. Executive Order (E.O.) 12866
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that
this DG is not a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.
Dated: August 19, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Nicholee Valentine,
Chief, Guidance and Publication Branch, Division of Guidance,
Rulemaking, Economic Analysis, and Technical Editing, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2026-17093 Filed 8-20-26; 8:45 am]
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