82 FR 8547 - Program-Specific Guidance About Special Nuclear Material of Less Than Critical Mass Licenses

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 16 (January 26, 2017)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is revising its licensing guidance for a specific license for receipt, possession, use, and transfer of special nuclear material in quantities that are not sufficient to form a ``critical mass.'' The NRC is requesting public comment on draft NUREG-1556, Volume 17, Revision 1, ``Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses: Program-Specific Guidance About Special Nuclear Material of Less Than Critical Mass Licenses.'' The document has been updated from the original version to include information on safety culture, security of radioactive materials, protection of sensitive information, and changes in regulatory policies and practices. This document is intended for use by applicants, licensees, and the NRC staff.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 16 (Thursday, January 26, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 8547]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01808]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0121]


Program-Specific Guidance About Special Nuclear Material of Less 
Than Critical Mass Licenses

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is revising its 
licensing guidance for a specific license for receipt, possession, use, 
and transfer of special nuclear material in quantities that are not 
sufficient to form a ``critical mass.'' The NRC is requesting public 
comment on draft NUREG-1556, Volume 17, Revision 1, ``Consolidated 
Guidance About Materials Licenses: Program-Specific Guidance About 
Special Nuclear Material of Less Than Critical Mass Licenses.'' The 
document has been updated from the original version to include 
information on safety culture, security of radioactive materials, 
protection of sensitive information, and changes in regulatory policies 
and practices. This document is intended for use by applicants, 
licensees, and the NRC staff.

DATES: Submit comments by March 3, 2017. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practicable to do so, but the NRC is 
only able to assure consideration of 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):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0121. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H8, 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: Anthony McMurtray, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2746; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0121 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0121.
     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 
draft NUREG-1556, Volume 17, Revision 1, is available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML17012A346.
     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-2016-0121 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 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, and 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. Further Information

    This NUREG provides guidance to existing licensees that receive, 
possess, use, and transfer special nuclear material of less than 
critical mass, and to applicants preparing license applications to 
receive, possess, use, and transfer such materials. This NUREG also 
provides NRC reviewers criteria for evaluating such a license 
application. The purpose of this notice is to provide the public an 
opportunity to review and comment on draft NUREG-1556, Volume 17, 
Revision 1, ``Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses: Program-
Specific Guidance About Special Nuclear Material of Less Than Critical 
Mass Licenses.'' These comments will be considered in the final version 
or subsequent revisions.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of January, 2017.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Daniel S. Collins,
Director, Division of Material Safety, State, Tribal and Rulemaking 
Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2017-01808 Filed 1-25-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P