[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 25 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5916-5917]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2709]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Workshop Concerning the Revision of the Oversight Program for 
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities

AGENCY:  Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION:  Notice of Public Workshop.

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SUMMARY:  NRC will host a public workshop in Rockville, Maryland to 
provide the public, those regulated by the NRC, and other stakeholders, 
with information about and an opportunity to provide views on how NRC 
plans to revise its oversight program for nuclear fuel cycle 
facilities. This workshop follows the recent public stakeholder 
workshop held in Rockville, Maryland on December 15, 1999. 
Presentations and other documents provided at each workshop, together 
with a transcript of each workshop, are placed on the NRC INTERNET web 
page (http://www.nrc.gov).
    Similar to the revision of the oversight program for commercial 
nuclear power plants, NRC initiated an effort to improve its oversight 
program for nuclear fuel cycle facilities. This is described in SECY-
99-188 titled, ``EVALUATION AND PROPOSED REVISION OF THE NUCLEAR FUEL 
CYCLE FACILITY SAFETY INSPECTION PROGRAM.'' SECY-99-188 is available in 
the Public Document Room and on the NRC Web Page at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/COMMISSION/SECYS/index.html.

Purpose of Workshop

    To obtain stakeholder views for improving the NRC oversight program 
for ensuring licensee and certificate holders maintain protection of 
worker and public health and safety, protection of the environment, and 
safeguards for nuclear material in the interest of national security. 
The oversight program applies to nuclear fuel cycle facilities 
regulated under 10 CFR Parts 40, 70, and 76. The facilities currently 
include gaseous diffusion plants, highly enriched uranium fuel 
fabrication facilities, low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication 
facilities, and a uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production 
facility. These facilities possess large quantities of materials that 
are potentially hazardous (i.e., radioactive, toxic, and/or flammable) 
to the workers, public, and environment. In revising the oversight 
program, the goal is to have an oversight program that: (1) provides 
earlier and more objective indications of acceptable and changing 
safety and safeguards performance, (2) increases

[[Page 5917]]

stakeholder confidence in the NRC, and (3) increases regulatory 
effectiveness and efficiency. In this regard, the NRC desires the 
revised oversight program to be more risk-informed and performance-
based and more focused on significant risks and poorer performers.
    The workshop will focus on:
     Industry initiatives for identification, resolution, and 
correction of problems
     Objective and scope of safety and safeguards oversight 
program cornerstones
     Key safety and safeguards risk attributes for each 
cornerstone
     Safety and safeguards performance attributes the NRC needs 
to monitor and assess to ensure cornerstone objectives are met
     Performance monitoring attributes and means

DATES: The workshop, which is open for public participation, is 
scheduled for 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, and 
Wednesday, February 23, 2000.

ADDRESSES: NRC's Two White Flint North Auditorium, 11545 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Visitor parking around the NRC is limited; 
however, the meeting site is located adjacent to the White Flint 
Station on the Metro Red Line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Walter Schwink, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301) 415-7253, e-mail [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 1st day of February 2000.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Walter Schwink,
Assistant Chief, Operations Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 00-2709 Filed 2-4-00; 8:45 am]
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