[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 188 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60149-60151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-24392]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2010-0209]
Notice of Public Meeting To Solicit Comments on the Draft Policy
Statement on the Protection of Cesium-137 Chloride Sources
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
ACTION: Notice of public meeting to solicit public comments.
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SUMMARY: The NRC is conducting a public meeting to solicit public input
on the draft policy statement on the protection of cesium-137 chloride
(CsCl) sources that was published in the Federal Register on June 29,
2010 (75 FR 37483). During the public meeting, the NRC will request
public comments on the issues discussed in this document. Additionally,
the NRC is requesting names of individuals to participate at the public
meeting in a round table discussion of the issues discussed in Section
III of this document.
The purpose of this document is to announce the date and location
of the public meeting which were not finalized in the June 29, 2010,
document, as well as to publish an Issues Paper which will serve as a
framework for the discussion of the major issues in the draft policy
statement in the public meeting.
DATES: 1. The public meeting will be held on November 8-9, 2010.
2. Nominations for participation in the roundtable discussions of
the public meeting should be submitted by October 8, 2010.
3. Written comments on the draft policy statement, outside the
scope of the public meeting, are also accepted and should be submitted
by December 17, 2010. Comments received after this date will be
considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to assure
consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
4. To ensure efficient and complete comment resolution, comments
should include reference to the section and page numbers of the Draft
Policy Statement (75 FR 37483) to which the comment applies. When
commenting on the CsCl issues presented, please exercise caution with
regard to site-specific security-related information. Comments will be
made available to the public in their entirety; personal information,
such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. will
not be removed from your submission.
ADDRESSES: Please include Docket ID NRC-2010-0209 in the subject line
of your comments. For instructions on submitting comments and accessing
documents related to this action, see Section I, ``Submitting Comments
and Accessing Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of
this document. You may submit comments by any one of the following
methods.
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2010-0209. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone (301) 492-
3668; e-mail [email protected].
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and
Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, MS: TWB-5 B1M, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by fax to
RADB at (301) 492-3446.
The public meeting will be held at The Universities at Shady Grove
Conference Center, 9630 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850-5822.
Nominations for participation in the roundtable discussions of the
public meeting should be submitted by October 8, 2010. For expeditious
handling of the nominations, the NRC established a dedicated e-mail
address. The nominations should be sent to the following NRC e-mail
address: [email protected].
Other participants, who wish to attend the public meeting, may also
pre-register at the dedicated e-mail address:
[email protected]. The NRC will appreciate pre-registration in
order to properly plan for the conference facilities; however, pre-
registration is not required and registration will be available on the
opening day of the public meeting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. John P. Jankovich, Office of
Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs,
telephone (301) 415-7904, e-mail [email protected], or Dr. Cynthia
G. Jones, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, telephone
(301) 415-0298, e-mail [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Submitting Comments and Accessing Information
Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site http://www.regulations.gov. To ensure efficient and complete comment
resolution, comments should include reference to the section and page
numbers of the Draft Policy Statement (75 FR 37483) and/or Issues Paper
to which the comment applies. When commenting on the CsCl issues
[[Page 60150]]
presented, please exercise caution with regard to site-specific
security-related information. Because your comments will not be edited
to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you
against including any information in your submission that you do not
want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that any party
soliciting or aggregating comments received from other persons for
submission to the NRC inform those persons that the NRC will not edit
their comments to remove any identifying or contact information, and
therefore, they should not include any information in their comments
that they do not want publicly disclosed.
You can access publicly available documents related to this
document, including the following documents, using the following
methods:
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have
copied for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Room
O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain
entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public
documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and supporting
materials related to this document can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2010-0209.
The NRC will also use a public Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/materials/miau/licensing.html#cc to make documents, relevant to the
draft policy statement and to the public meeting, accessible. This
public Web site will be continually updated as new information becomes
available.
II. Background
The NRC is seeking public input on the major issues associated with
its proposed policy and expectations on the secure uses of CsCl
sources. As a first step, the NRC has prepared a draft policy
statement, published June 29, 2010 (75 FR 37483), to address issues
related to the safety and security of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Category 1 and 2 CsCl sources.\1\ The intent of this
document is to foster discussion about the draft policy issues in the
public meeting and to solicit comments on the draft policy statement.
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\1\ An IAEA Category 1 cesium-137 source contains a minimum of
3,000 Ci (100 TBq) and a Category 2 source contains a minimum of 30
Ci (1 TBq). See http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Code-2004_web.pdf.
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Following the publication of the draft policy statement, additional
information became available on security of radioactive sources. The
Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L.109-58) named 12 Federal agencies and
2 State organizations to the interagency Radiation Source Protection
and Security Task Force (Task Force) and named the NRC Chairman (or a
designee) as its chairperson. The Task Force was charged with
evaluating and providing recommendations to the President and Congress
relating to the security of radiation sources in the United States from
potential terrorist threats, including acts of sabotage, theft, or use
of a radiological source in a radiological dispersal device. The first
Task Force report was submitted in August 2006 (see http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/congress-docs/correspondence/2006/president-08-15-2006.pdf). On August 11, 2010, the NRC transmitted to the
President and Congress with the second report documenting the efforts
of the interagency Task Force. The second report included 11
recommendations to improve source security in the U.S. (see http://www.nrc.gov/security/byproduct/2010-task-force-report.pdf).
III. Issues Paper on the Draft Policy Statement on the Protection of
Cesium-137 Chloride Sources
The objective of the public meeting is to solicit stakeholder
comments on the policy issues that are presented in the draft policy
statement. The following format is used in the presentation of the
issues. Each issue is assigned a number, a description of the policy
issue, a list of panel presentations with subjects for volunteers to
address in short overview-type presentations, and a list of questions
for discussion by the general public. These issues, questions and
factors are not meant to be a complete or final list, but are intended
to initiate discussion. Interested stakeholders are welcome to
recommend additions, deletions, or modifications to the key issues. The
Commission will consider all public feedback when issuing the final
policy statement. Meeting participants and commenters are encouraged to
read the proceedings of the previous public meeting held in 2008 and
the written comments that the NRC received. The documents are available
at http://www.nrc.gov/materials/miau/licensing.html#cesium.
Issues for Discussion
Issue 1: The safety and security of risk significant sources is an
essential part of the NRC's mission. Licensees have the primary
responsibility to securely manage and to protect sources in their
possession from misuse, theft, and radiological sabotage.
Panel presentations:
Outline of current security and control requirements.
Overview of security inspection findings by the NRC
Regional offices.
Agreement State perspectives.
Participant deliberations:
What is the status and history of the current security
requirements and programs to reduce the potential vulnerability of IAEA
Category 1 and 2 sources?
What issues have licensees experienced when implementing
the requirements?
What is the status of the NRC and Agreement State
inspections designed to verify implementation of the requirements?
Issue 2: Adequate protection of public health and safety is
maintained if CsCl sources are managed in accordance with the security
requirements of the NRC and the Agreement States. The NRC monitors the
threat environment and maintains awareness of international and
domestic security efforts. In the event that changes in the threat
environment necessitate regulatory action, the NRC is ready to issue
additional security requirements to apply appropriate limitations for
the use of CsCl in its current form.
Panel presentations:
Status of proposed 10 CFR Part 37 rulemaking, Federal
Register Notice, June 15, 2010. (75 FR 33902)
Licensees perspective of security requirements for CsCl
sources.
An overview of NRC's threat assessment process.
Overview of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
outreach efforts.
Participant deliberations:
Is security of CsCl sources adequately addressed by the
current requirements?
Should CsCl sources receive special consideration?
How would the proposed Part 37 change the licensees'
current/existing security measures for CsCl?
How do the FBI outreach efforts affect the protection
measures in place for CsCl sources?
If needed, what additional cooperative efforts could be
undertaken
[[Page 60151]]
to enhance security or minimize the risk?
Issue 3: Could hardware improvements be made that would further
mitigate or minimize the radiological consequences?
Panel presentations:
Irradiator manufacturers' presentation on safety features.
Overview of the Department of Energy (DOE)/National
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) voluntary security enhancement
program.
Licensee perspective of design changes.
Participant deliberations:
What is the status of current CsCl designs regarding
security enhancements?
What are the benefits of the DOE/NNSA voluntary security
enhancements and table-top exercises?
Are other isotopes being considered for the future
production of existing designs?
Are new concepts being considered for new designs?
Issue 4: The development and use of alternative forms of cesium-
137, while not required for adequate protection, is prudent and the NRC
intends to monitor these developments closely.
Panel presentations:
Overview of feasible alternatives from the irradiator
manufacturers' perspective and from the users' perspective.
Source manufacturers' presentation on new initiatives.
Dispersibility considerations.
Participant deliberations:
Are manufacturers currently considering the use of other
forms of cesium (other than CsCl)? If yes, what alternatives are
viable?
What is the status of new developments?
How can the effectiveness of new alternatives regarding
solubility and dispersibility be measured?
[cir] What are the physical/chemical parameters?
[cir] How can risk reduction be quantified?
How to formalize solubility and dispersibility parameters?
Issue 5: CsCl enables three specific classes of applications that
benefit society:
(a) Blood irradiation;
(b) Bio-medical and industrial research; and
(c) Calibration of instrumentation and dosimetry.
Panel presentations:
Equipment needs of the blood irradiation industry.
Conduct of bio-medical research in view of cesium-137
irradiation.
Issues in calibration technology in view of cesium-137
sources.
Status of alternative technologies.
Participant deliberations:
What impact does the Draft Policy Statement pose for each
of these applications?
What is the licensees' experience in complying with the
current security requirements in view of the three fields of
applications?
What technological changes are anticipated in these
applications regarding the use of cesium-137 sources?
Issue 6: The NRC recognizes that currently there is no disposal
capability for commercial CsCl sources. The NRC considers it imperative
to develop a pathway for the long-term storage and disposal of these
sources whether or not there are alternatives developed.
Panel presentations:
Update from DOE on development of Environmental Impact
Statement for a disposal facility.
Licensees' perspective on storage and disposal of CsCl
sources.
Disposal of CsCl sources through DOE's Off-Site Recovery
Program or Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors.
Participant deliberations:
What are the major issues for licensees (users of CsCl
sources) regarding disposal of their sources?
What options are available?
What are the (security and cost) impacts of the current
regulatory environment on licensees?
IV. Solicitation for Stakeholder Input
To solicit stakeholder input during the public meeting, NRC will
conduct a roundtable panel discussion, with opportunity for audience
participation, for each issue contained in Section III of this
document. The NRC is seeking the names of individuals interested in
participating on these panels. Nominations by interested individuals or
organizations should include the name of the proposed panel member, the
issues they are interested in discussing, viewpoint(s) on the issue(s),
and affiliation (if any). Roundtable panel participants will be
selected with the goal of providing balanced viewpoints on each of the
various issues. Please see the ADDRESSES section of this document to
submit nominations by October 8, 2010. Nominations received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so.
We encourage previous participants who attended, either as panel
members or attendees, the prior public workshop held on September 29-
30, 2008, to also participate in this meeting. Information on the
previous public meeting is accessible at http://www.nrc.gov/materials/miau/licensing.html#cesium.
Based on the comments received in both written and electronic form,
and at the public meeting, the Commission will then be in a better
position to proceed with the issuance of a final policy statement. The
final policy statement, when issued by the Commission, will be
published in the Federal Register.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of September 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John P. Jankovich,
Team Leader, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2010-24392 Filed 9-28-10; 8:45 am]
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