[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61847-61848]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-5948]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a revision
to an existing guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This
series has been developed to describe and make available to the public
such information as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for
implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques that
the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents,
and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits
and licenses.
Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 3.71, entitled ``Nuclear Criticality
Safety Standards for Fuels and Material Facilities,'' describes methods
that the NRC staff finds acceptable for complying with the NRC's
regulations in Title 10, Parts 70 and 76, of the Code of Federal
Regulations. In 10 CFR Part 70, ``Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear
Material,'' Section 70.20, ``General License To Own Special Nuclear
Material,'' states that a specific license is required to acquire,
deliver, receive, possess, use, transfer, import, or export special
nuclear material. According to 10 CFR 70.22, ``Contents of
Applications,'' each application for such a license must contain
proposed procedures to avoid nuclear criticality accidents. In 10 CFR
Part 76, ``Certification of Gaseous Diffusion Plants,'' Section 76.87,
``Technical Safety Requirements,'' states that the technical safety
requirements should reference procedures and equipment that are
applicable to criticality prevention.
The NRC initially issued Regulatory Guide 3.71 in 1998 to provide
guidance concerning procedures that the staff considered acceptable for
complying with these portions of the NRC's regulations. Toward that
end, the original guide endorsed specific nuclear criticality safety
standards developed by the American Nuclear Society's Standards
Subcommittee 8 (ANS-8), ``Operations with Fissionable Materials Outside
Reactors.'' Those national standards provide guidance, criteria, and
best practices for use in preventing and mitigating criticality
accidents during operations that involve handling, processing, storing,
and/or transporting special nuclear material at fuel and material
facilities. The original guide also took exceptions to certain portions
of individual ANS-8 standards. In addition, the original guide
consolidated and replaced a number of earlier NRC regulatory guides,
thereby providing all of the relevant guidance in a single document.
Since that time, several ANS-8 nuclear criticality safety standards
have been added, reaffirmed, revised, or withdrawn. Consequently, the
NRC staff decided to update this guide to clarify which standards the
agency endorses and to clearly state exceptions to individual
standards. Toward that end, the staff issued this revised regulatory
guide as Draft Regulatory Guide DG-3023, with a Federal Register notice
(70 FR 25128), dated May 12, 2005, to solicit stakeholder comments. The
public comment period closed on June 20, 2005, without the submission
of any stakeholder comments; however, the NRC staff further revised RG
3.71 based on review of additional changes to the consensus standards
in the guide.
This revision does not change any of the guidance provided in the
initial issuance of Regulatory Guide 3.71; rather, it provides guidance
concerning changes that have occurred since the NRC published the
original guide in 1998. For completeness, this guide restates the
endorsements and exceptions stated in Regulatory Guide 3.71, as
applicable, while identifying endorsements of or exceptions to new or
modified standards.
Since the ANSI/ANS-8 standards are constantly being issued,
revised, reaffirmed, or withdrawn, the NRC staff plans to revise this
guide on a regular basis. The NRC staff encourages and welcomes
comments and suggestions in connection with improvements to published
regulatory guides, as well as items for inclusion in regulatory guides
that are currently being developed. Comments may be accompanied by
relevant information or supporting data. Please mention the guide
number in the subject line of your submission. Comments submitted in
writing or in electronic form will be made available to the public in
their entirety on the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System (ADAMS). Personal information will not be removed from your
comments. You may
[[Page 61848]]
submit comments by any of the following methods.
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on
Federal workdays.
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-5144.
Requests for technical information about RG 3.71 may be directed to
H.D. Felsher, at (301) 415-5521 or via e-mail to [email protected].
Electronic copies of RG 3.71 are available through the NRC's public
Web site under the Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's
Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic copies are also available in the NRC's
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession No. ML051940351.
In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at
(301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by
email to [email protected]. Requests for single copies of draft or final
guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic
distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in specific
divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and
Distribution Services Section; by e-mail to [email protected]; or by
fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated.
Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is
not required to reproduce them. (5 U.S.C. 552(a))
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of October, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Carl J. Paperiello,
Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E5-5948 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am]
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