[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32144-32145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10538]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 97 / Friday, May 19, 2023 / Proposed
Rules
[[Page 32144]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Chapter I
[NRC-2023-0075]
Abnormal Occurrence Reporting
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed limited revision to policy statement; request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing
limited revisions to its policy statement on reporting abnormal
occurrences (AO) to Congress. The proposed revisions are to the medical
event criteria for determining events that are significant from the
standpoint of public health or safety.
DATES: Submit comments by August 17, 2023. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject); however, the NRC encourages electronic
comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website:
Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0075. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Dawn Forder; telephone: 301-415-3407;
email: [email protected]. For technical questions contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact
us at 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at 301-415-1101.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Eastern time (ET),
Federal workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Harvey, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3704; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information.
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2023-0075 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0075.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected].
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
B. Submitting Comments.
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2023-0075 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at
https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions
into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Background
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended
(Pub. L. 93-438), defines an AO as an unscheduled incident or event
that the NRC determines to be significant from the standpoint of public
health or safety. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of
1995 (Pub. L. 104-66) requires that AOs be reported to Congress
annually. As required by section 208, the discussion for each event
includes the date and place, the nature and probable consequences, the
cause or causes, and the action taken to prevent recurrence. The
Commission must also widely disseminate the AO report to the public
within 15 days of publishing the AO report to Congress.
Abnormal Occurrence Reporting
The Commission has developed the AO policy statement to comply with
Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended. The
annual AO report is developed based upon the criteria in the AO policy
statement. The AO report keeps Congress and the public informed of
unscheduled incidents or events that
[[Page 32145]]
the Commission considers significant from the standpoint of public
health or safety. This policy addresses a range of health or safety
concerns and applies to incidents and events involving a single
individual, as well as those having an overall impact on the general
public. The AO criteria set out in the policy use a reporting threshold
so that only those events considered significant from the standpoint of
public health or safety are reported to Congress.
Applicability
Implementation of section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of
1974, as amended, ``Abnormal Occurrence Reports,'' involves the conduct
of Commission business and does not establish requirements for
licensees or certified facilities. The reports cover certain
unscheduled incidents or events related to the manufacture,
construction, or operation of a facility or conduct of an activity
subject to the requirements of parts 20, 30 through 37, 39, 40, 50, 61,
70, 71, 72 or 76 of chapter I, title 10, Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR).
Agreement States provide information to the NRC on incidents and
events involving applicable nuclear materials in their States.
Agreement States are those States that have entered into formal
agreements with the NRC, pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954 (AEA) (Pub. L. 83-703), to regulate certain quantities of
radioactive material at facilities located within their borders. Events
reported by Agreement States that reach the threshold for reporting as
AOs are also published in the ``Report to Congress on Abnormal
Occurrences.''
Proposed Revisions
The NRC is proposing revisions to the AO criteria for medical
events. The revisions to the medical event criteria improve conformance
to current regulatory requirements, and reflect new developments in the
new medical radiation treatments.
The NRC is requesting public comments on this policy statement at
this time for medical event criteria. These proposed revisions may be
found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23123A351.
Licensee Reports
The changes to the general policy statement do not change the
reporting requirements for licensees in Commission or Agreement State
regulations, license conditions, or technical specifications. The
licensees will continue to submit required reports on a wide range of
events, including instrument malfunctions and deviations from normal
operating procedures that may not be significant from the standpoint of
the public health or safety but provide data useful to the Commission
in monitoring operating trends of licensed facilities and in comparing
the actual performance of these facilities with their design and/or
licensing basis.
III. Paperwork Reduction Act
This policy statement does not contain a collection of information
as defined in the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.) and, therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information unless the document requesting
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid Office of
Management and Budget control number.
Dated: May 12, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Wesley W. Held,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-10538 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
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