80 FR 15930 - Guidance for Conducting Technical Analyses for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 58 (March 26, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2175, ``Guidance for Conducting Technical Analyses for 10 CFR part 61.'' The NRC is proposing to amend its regulations that govern low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facilities to require new and revised site-specific technical analyses, to permit the development of site-specific criteria for LLRW acceptance based on the results of these analyses, and to facilitate implementation and better align the requirements with current health and safety standards. The NRC has prepared draft guidance to address the implementation of the proposed regulations. This notice is announcing the availability of the draft guidance for public comment.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 58 (Thursday, March 26, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15930-15931]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06536]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 61

[NRC-2015-0003; NRC-2011-0012]
RIN-3150-AI92


Guidance for Conducting Technical Analyses for Low-Level 
Radioactive Waste Disposal

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft NUREG, NUREG-2175, ``Guidance for Conducting 
Technical Analyses for 10 CFR part 61.'' The NRC is proposing to amend 
its regulations that govern low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal 
facilities to require new and revised site-specific technical analyses, 
to permit the development of site-specific criteria for LLRW acceptance 
based on the results of these analyses, and to facilitate 
implementation and better align the requirements with current health 
and safety standards. The NRC has prepared draft guidance to address 
the implementation of the proposed regulations. This notice is 
announcing the availability of the draft guidance for public comment.

DATES: Submit comments by July 24, 2015. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 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):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0003. The 
proposed amendments to the NRC LLRW regulations are issued in a 
separate notice, under Docket ID NRC-2011-0012. Address questions about 
NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-3422; email: 
[email protected]. For technical questions, contact the 
individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-A44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    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: Priya Yadav, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-6667, email: 
[email protected]; or Stephen Dembek, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-2342, email: 
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 15931]]

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0003 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 Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0003.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://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]. The 
guidance for conducting technical analyses for 10 CFR part 61, Draft 
NUREG-2175, is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML15056A516.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0003 in the subject line of 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 http://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. Discussion

    The guidance for conducting technical analyses for part 61 of Title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), NUREG-2175, provides 
guidance on conducting technical analyses (i.e., performance 
assessment, inadvertent intruder assessment, assessment of the 
stability of a LLRW disposal site, defense-in-depth analyses, 
protective assurance period analyses, and performance period analyses) 
to demonstrate compliance with the performance objectives in the 
proposed 10 CFR part 61, ``Licensing Requirements for Land Disposal of 
Radioactive Waste.'' This guidance should facilitate licensees' 
implementation of the proposed amendments as well as assist regulatory 
authorities in reviewing the technical analyses. This guidance applies 
to all waste streams disposed of at a 10 CFR part 61 LLRW disposal 
facility, including large quantities of depleted uranium and blended 
waste.
    NUREG-2175 provides detailed guidance in new areas, such as the 
inadvertent intruder analysis, defense-in-depth analyses, and analyses 
for the three phases of the analysis timeframe (compliance period, 
protective assurance period, and performance period). This guidance 
discusses the use of a graded level of effort needed to risk-inform the 
analyses for the compliance period (1,000 years), the protective 
assurance period (from 1,000 years to 10,000 years after disposal site 
closure), and also covers the performance period analyses that should 
be performed for analysis of long-lived waste beyond 10,000 years. 
Additional topics covered in this document include: (1) Demonstration 
that radiation doses are minimized to the extent reasonably achievable; 
(2) identification and screening of the features, events, and processes 
to develop scenarios for technical analyses; (3) use of the waste 
classification tables or the results of the technical analyses to 
develop site-specific waste acceptance criteria; and (4) use of 
performance confirmation to evaluate and verify the accuracy of 
information used to demonstrate compliance prior to site closure.

III. Proposed Rulemaking

    On May 3, 2011, the NRC published preliminary proposed rule 
language (76 FR 24831), ``Part 61: Site Specific Analyses for 
Demonstrating Compliance with Subpart C Performance Objectives'' (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML111150205). As a result of additional direction from 
the Commission in staff requirement memoranda (SRM)-COMWDM-11-0002/
COMGEA-11-0002, ``Revisions to Part 61,'' dated January 19, 2012 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML120190360), the NRC staff published a second version of 
the preliminary proposed rule language (77 FR 72997; December 7, 2012), 
``November 2012 Preliminary Rule Language for Proposed Revisions to 
Low-Level Waste Disposal Requirements (10 CFR part 61)''
    (ADAMS Accession No. ML12311A444). Based on comments received, the 
NRC published in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the 
Federal Register a third version of the proposed rule language. 
Documents related to the proposed rule, including public comments, are 
available on the Federal rulemaking Web site at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2011-0012.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of February 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew Persinko,
Deputy Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and 
Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2015-06536 Filed 3-25-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P