80 FR 47534 - Special Nuclear Material Doorway Monitors

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 152 (August 7, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a revised regulatory guide, (RG) 5.27, Revision 1, ``Special Nuclear Material Doorway Monitors.'' This guidance addresses NRC requirements that individuals must be searched as they leave a material access area (MAA) for facilities that contain special nuclear material (SNM) of a type and quantity that require an MAA.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 152 (Friday, August 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47534-47535]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19445]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0062]


Special Nuclear Material Doorway Monitors

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
revised regulatory guide, (RG) 5.27, Revision 1, ``Special Nuclear 
Material Doorway Monitors.'' This guidance addresses NRC requirements 
that individuals must be searched as they leave a material access area 
(MAA) for facilities that contain special nuclear material (SNM) of a 
type and quantity that require an MAA.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0062 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access information related to this document, which the NRC 
possesses and is publicly available, using the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0062. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access 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 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this notice (if 
that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a 
document is referenced. Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 5.27 is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14290A268. The regulatory 
analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12237A124.
     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.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Al Tardiff, Office of Nuclear Security 
and Incident Response, telephone: 301-415-7015, email: 
[email protected] or, Richard Jervey, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: telephone: 301-251-7404, email: 
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a new guide in the NRC's ``Regulatory Guide'' 
series. This series was developed to describe and make available to the 
public information such as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff 
for implementing specific parts of the agency'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.
    Regulatory Guide 5.27, Revision 1 was issued for comment as Draft 
Regulatory Guide (DG) 5038. The NRC developed this regulatory guide to 
describe a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable to implement 
the search requirement for concealed SNM applied to personnel exiting a 
material access area MAA. For holders of a reactor license under part 
50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) (Ref. 1), 
``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,'' a 
combined license under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and 
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' or a fuel cycle facility license 
under 10 CFR part 76, ``Certification of Gaseous Diffusion Plants,'' 
having the need to possess or use SNM within their facility, the NRC 
typically has included in their license a condition granting a general 
license to use SNM under 10 CFR part 70, ``Domestic Licensing of 
Special Nuclear Material.'' The RG applies to facilities that contain 
SNM of a type and quantity to require an MAA. An MAA is any location 
which contains special nuclear material, within a vault or a building, 
the roof, walls, and floor of which each constitute a physical barrier.
    This RG is being revised because it was out-of-date with current, 
related

[[Page 47535]]

guidance and references in the CFR. Related specifications and 
standards for SNM monitors and metal detectors have been updated or 
developed since the previous revision was issued in 1974. This revision 
has been developed to provide detection practices and criteria that 
licensees may use to meet NRC regulations in 10 CFR part 73 and to 
augment programmatic information within the general reference, NUREG-
1964, ``Access Control Systems: Technical Information for NRC 
Licensees,'' issued in April of 2011. NUREG-1964 may be found in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML1115A078.

II. Additional Information

    DG-5038 was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2014, 
(79 FR 16832) for a 30 day public comment period. The public comment 
period closed on April 25, 2014. Public comments on DG-5038 and the 
staff responses to the public comments are available at ADAMS Accession 
Number ML14288A653.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This regulatory guide is a rule as defined in the Congressional 
Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and 
Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in the 
Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This RG applies to applicants for, and current and future holders 
of special nuclear material licenses under 10 CFR part 70, and 
operating licenses under part 50, combined licenses under part 52, and 
certificates of compliance or approvals of a compliance plan for 
gaseous diffusion plants under part 76 if they are also applicants for, 
or holders of, special nuclear material licenses under part 70. 
Issuance of this RG does not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR parts 
50, 70, or 76, and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue 
finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. As discussed in the 
``Implementation'' section of the RG, the NRC has no current intention 
to impose this RG on holders of part 50 operating licenses, part 52 
combined licenses, part 70 licensees, or part 76 certificates of 
compliance. Moreover, the guidance in the RG addresses security issues, 
which are matters separate from the technical requirements to operate a 
facility covered by backfitting and issue finality provisions.
    The NRC has determined that the backfit provisions in Sec.  50.109 
do not apply to non-power reactor licensees because the rulemaking 
record for Sec.  50.109 indicates that the Commission likely intended 
to apply this provision to only power reactors, and NRC practice has 
been consistent with this rulemaking record. The part 52 issue finality 
provisions do not apply to non-power reactors because part 52 does not 
apply to non-power reactors.
    This RG could be applied to applications for part 50 operating 
licenses, part 52 combined licenses, part 70 licenses, and part 76 
certificates of compliance docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the RG, as well as future such applications submitted after 
the issuance of the RG. Such action would not constitute backfitting as 
defined in 10 CFR 50.109, 70.76, or 76.76, or be otherwise inconsistent 
with the applicable issue finality provision in 10 CFR part 52, 
inasmuch as such applicants or potential applicants are not within the 
scope of entities protected by 10 CFR 50.109, 70.76, and 76.76, or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in part 52. Backfitting restrictions 
were not intended to apply to every NRC action that substantially 
changes settled expectations, and applicants have no reasonable 
expectation that future requirements may change, see 54 FR 15372 (April 
18, 1989), at 15385-86. Although the issue finality provisions in part 
52 are intended to provide regulatory stability and issue finality, the 
matters addressed in this RG (concerning certain security requirements 
in part 73) are not within the scope of issues that may be resolved for 
design certification, design approval or a manufacturing license, and 
therefore are not subject to issue finality protections in part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of July 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2015-19445 Filed 8-6-15; 8:45 am]
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