80 FR 55880 - Independent Assessment of Nuclear Material Control and Accounting Systems

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 180 (September 17, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-5049, ``Independent Assessment of Nuclear Material Control and Accounting Systems.'' This DG provides guidance from experience gained since the regulatory guide was initially published in June 1975. In particular, the guidance for performing independent assessments has been expanded to include process monitoring and item monitoring for Category I fuel cycle facilities, and to include guidance for uranium enrichment facilities. In addition, this revision addresses changes in Material Control & Accounting (MC&A) terminology; for example, the term ``management review'' has been replaced by ``independent assessment,'' and ``material unaccounted for'' by ``inventory difference.''

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 180 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55880-55881]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23290]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2015-0214]


Independent Assessment of Nuclear Material Control and Accounting 
Systems

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-5049, ``Independent 
Assessment of Nuclear Material Control and Accounting Systems.'' This 
DG provides guidance from experience gained since the regulatory guide 
was initially published in June 1975. In particular, the guidance for 
performing independent assessments has been expanded to include process 
monitoring and item monitoring for Category I fuel cycle facilities, 
and to include guidance for uranium enrichment facilities. In addition, 
this revision addresses changes in Material Control & Accounting (MC&A) 
terminology; for

[[Page 55881]]

example, the term ``management review'' has been replaced by 
``independent assessment,'' and ``material unaccounted for'' by 
``inventory difference.''

DATES: Submit comments by November 16, 2015. 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. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specified subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0214. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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: OWFN-12H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glenn Tuttle, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7230, email: 
[email protected], or Mekonen Bayssie, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, telephone: 301-415-1699, email: [email protected]; U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0214 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding 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-2015-0214.
     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 
DG is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML14310A339.
     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-2015-0214 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    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 posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enters 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 submissions into ADAMS.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public information regarding methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the staff needs in 
its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    The DG entitled ``Independent Assessment of Nuclear Material 
Control and Accounting Systems'' is a proposed revision temporarily 
identified by its task number, DG-5049. This DG is proposed Revision 1 
of Regulatory Guide (RG) 5.51, ``Management Review of Nuclear Material 
Control and Accounting Systems.''
    This DG provides guidance that conforms with revisions to 10 CFR 
part 74, ``Material Control and Accounting of Special Nuclear 
Material,'' as well as incorporates experience gained since the RG was 
initially published in June 1975. In particular, the guidance for 
performing independent assessments has been expanded to include process 
monitoring and item monitoring for Category I fuel cycle facilities, 
and to include guidance for uranium enrichment facilities. In addition, 
this revision addresses changes in MC&A terminology since the RG was 
published in 1975; for example, the term ``management review'' has been 
replaced by ``independent assessment,'' and ``material unaccounted 
for'' by ``inventory difference.''

III. Backfitting

    This DG provides guidance on recordkeeping and reporting 
requirements with respect to material control and accounting, as set 
forth in 10 CFR part 74. The regulatory position held in this guidance 
demonstrates the method that the NRC staff finds acceptable for an 
applicant or licensee to meet the requirements of the underlying NRC 
regulations. The issuance of the guidance in this DG is not 
backfitting, as that term is defined in 10 CFR 70.76, 72.62, or 76.76, 
because information collection and reporting requirements with respect 
to material control and accounting are not included within the scope of 
the NRC's backfitting protections.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of September, 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. 2015-23290 Filed 9-16-15; 8:45 am]
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