[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72006-72007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29987]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0266]


Draft Interim Staff Guidance: Evaluations of Uranium Recovery 
Facility Surveys of Radon and Radon Progeny in Air and Demonstrations 
of Compliance

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft staff interim guidance for 
public comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft Interim Staff Guidance, ``Evaluations of Uranium 
Recovery Facility Surveys of Radon and Radon Progeny in Air and 
Demonstrations of Compliance with 10 CFR 20.1301.'' This Interim Staff 
Guidance provides guidance to the NRC staff for evaluating uranium 
recovery licensee demonstrations of compliance with the public dose 
limits of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 20.1301.

DATES: Submit comments by January 20, 2012. 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: Please include Docket ID NRC-2011-0266 in the subject line 
of your comments. For additional instructions on submitting comments 
and instructions on accessing documents related to this action, see 
``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-
2011-0266. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 
telephone: (301) 492-3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
     Fax comments to: RADB at (301) 492-3446.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Duane Schmidt, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, Division of 
Waste Management and Environmental Protection, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: (301) 415-6919, 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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. 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 using the following methods:
     NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine 
and

[[Page 72007]]

have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, 
O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available online in the NRC Library 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 the 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, (301) 415-4737, or by email to 
[email protected]. The draft Staff Interim Guidance is available 
electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML112720481.
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and 
supporting materials related to this notice can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2011-0266.

Discussion

    Uranium recovery facility licensees, including in-situ recovery 
facilities and conventional uranium mills, are required to perform 
surveys of radiation levels in unrestricted and controlled areas, and 
to perform surveys of radioactive materials in effluents released to 
unrestricted and controlled areas to demonstrate compliance with the 
dose limits for individual members of the public provided in 10 CFR 
20.1301. NRC regulations in 10 CFR 20.1302 permit alternative 
approaches in surveys and assessments used to demonstrate compliance 
with the public dose limits.
    The NRC has recognized that existing guidance does not sufficiently 
detail how the NRC staff reviews surveys of radon and demonstrations of 
dose to members of the public due to releases of radon from operations 
of licensed uranium recovery facilities. This draft guidance is 
intended to document the criteria to be used by NRC staff to review 
radon surveys and demonstrations of dose to members of the public 
submitted by licensees under 10 CFR 20.1302 to demonstrate compliance 
with the public dose limits of 10 CFR 20.1301. Specifically, this 
document provides guidance to the NRC staff for reviewing licensee 
determinations of doses to members of the public from radon-222 and 
radon-222 progeny from UR facilities including: (1) Surveys of 
environmental and effluent radon and radon progeny in air; and (2) 
radon-related aspects of demonstrations of compliance with the NRC's 
public dose limits of 10 CFR 20.1301. This guidance may also be used by 
NRC staff in evaluating portions of license applications, renewals, or 
amendments dealing with radon and radon progeny surveys and compliance.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of November, 2011.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-29987 Filed 11-18-11; 8:45 am]
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