[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 224 (Monday, November 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 69798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-29636]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Summary and Categorization of Public Comments on the Control of
Solid Materials: Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the
completion and availability of NUREG/CR-6682, Final Report, entitled
``Summary and Categorization of Public Comments on the Control of Solid
Materials.''
ADDRESSES: Copies of NUREG/CR-6682, Final Report, may be obtained by
writing to the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328. Copies are also
available from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port
Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161. A copy of the document is
available for inspection and/or copying for a fee in the NRC Public
Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1F21, Rockville, Maryland.
A copy is also posted on the NRC's internet web site at URL = ``http://
www.nrc.gov/NMSS/IMNS/controlsolids.html.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Giorgio Gnugnoli, Division of Waste
Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone:
(301) 415-7135.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At this time, the NRC is in the preliminary
stages of examining its approach for control of solid materials and has
sought public input to its decision-making process through various
forums. To aid in this process, the NRC prepared an Issues Paper that
described issues and alternatives related to release of solid
materials. This Issues Paper was published in the Federal Register on
June 30, 1999, (64 FR 35090). That Federal Register Notice (FRN)
provided for an opportunity to submit public comments on the Issues
Paper, in general, and specifically on the NRC examination of its
approach for control of solid material. The closing period for public
comments was originally November 15, 1999, but was extended until
December 22, 1999. The FRN invited public comment on the paper and, to
provide further opportunity for public input, the NRC held a series of
public meetings during Fall 1999 at the following four locations: (1)
San Francisco, CA on September 15-16, 1999; (2) Atlanta, GA on October
5-6, 1999; (3) Rockville, MD on November 1-2, 1999; (4) Chicago, IL on
December 7-8, 1999.
The Issues Paper described the following 2 process alternatives:
(1) Continue current NRC practice of case-by-case consideration of
licensee requests for release of solid material or consider updating
existing guidance; and (2) conduct a rulemaking to establish criteria
for control of solid materials.
Over 800 comments have been received on the Issues Paper. The
majority of the comments focused on the specific technical approaches.
With the assistance of contractors, the public meeting transcripts and
the public comments received by the NRC staff were collected and
organized into a database to facilitate NRC staff review of the public
comment. The NUREG/CR-6682 provides a summary and characterization of
the public comments and meetings, as well as major trends in the
comments.
Various sections of the NUREG/CR-6682 summarize comments received
on the process alternatives for establishing criteria for control of
solid material. These alternatives include continuing the current case-
by-case approach or whether to conduct a rulemaking. Moreover, the
NUREG/CR-6682 summarizes comments on the technical approaches as to
what the criteria should be. Finally, comments on development of NRC's
technical information base, other procedural issues, international
issues, and materials that should be considered are also addressed.
The public comments received were discussed in SECY-00-0070, dated
March 23, 2000, which provided the Commission with a summary of results
of the public meetings. They were also part of the information
available to the Commission in making a decision, on August 18, 2000,
to defer a final decision on whether to proceed with rulemaking and in
providing direction to the NRC staff to proceed with a National Academy
of Sciences study on alternatives and to continue with development of a
technical information base. The comments will be used by the NRC in its
continuing evaluation of this issue.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of November 2000.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Patricia Holahan,
Chief, Rulemaking and Guidance Branch, Division of Industrial and
Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS.
[FR Doc. 00-29636 Filed 11-17-00; 8:45 am]
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