83 FR 24513 - Instructions for Recording and Reporting Occupational Radiation Dose Data

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 103 (May 29, 2018)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 8.7, ``Instructions for Recording and Reporting Occupational Radiation Dose Data.'' Revision 4 addresses issues that were identified after Revision 3 was issued in December 2016. Revision 4 reinstates the long-standing staff position concerning a licensee's consideration of prior occupational dose when making prospective occupational dose monitoring determinations. Revision 4 retains the guidance from Revision 3 on completing NRC Form 4, ``Cumulative Occupational Dose History,'' and NRC Form 5, ``Occupational Dose Record for a Monitoring Period.''

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24513-24514]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11374]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2017-0205]


Instructions for Recording and Reporting Occupational Radiation 
Dose Data

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 8.7, ``Instructions for Recording 
and Reporting Occupational Radiation Dose Data.'' Revision 4 addresses 
issues that were identified after Revision 3 was issued in December 
2016. Revision 4 reinstates the long-standing staff position concerning 
a licensee's consideration of prior occupational dose when making 
prospective occupational dose monitoring determinations. Revision 4 
retains the guidance from Revision 3 on completing NRC Form 4, 
``Cumulative Occupational Dose History,'' and NRC Form 5, 
``Occupational Dose Record for a Monitoring Period.''

DATES: Revision 4 to RG 8.7 is available on May 29, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0205 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0205. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Document 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 
it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is 
mentioned in this document. Revision 4 to RG 8.7 and the regulatory 
analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML17221A245 and 
ML17152A299, respectively.
     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.
    RGs are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not required to 
reproduce them.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harriet Karagiannis, telephone: 301-
415-2493, email: [email protected] or Minh-Thuy Nguyen, 
telephone: 301-415-5163; email: [email protected]. Both are 
staff of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is issuing a revision to an existing guide 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 NRC staff uses in evaluating 
specific issues or postulated events, and data that the NRC staff needs 
in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    Revision 4 of RG 8.7 was issued with a temporary identification of 
Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-8056, to address issues identified by the 
NRC staff and other stakeholders subsequent to the issuance of RG 8.7, 
Revision 3, on December 8, 2016 (81 FR 88710). Revision 3 modified a 
staff position regarding the consideration of prior occupational dose 
and whether that should be a factor in licensee occupational monitoring 
determinations in accordance with section 20.1502 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
    After issuing Revision 3, the Nuclear Energy Institute submitted a 
letter to the NRC under ADAMS Package Accession No. ML18138A166 stating 
that Revision 3 requires licensees to consider exposures received by 
employees during prior employment at a different facility when 
determining whether monitoring is required pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1502, 
which was a change in agency position from: (1) The staff position that 
was in both Revisions 1 and 2 of RG 8.7, (2) the staff position that is 
in RG 8.34, ``Monitoring Criteria and Methods to Calculate Occupational 
Radiation Doses,'' and (3) over two decades of industry practice 
developed in accordance with these staff positions.
    The NRC staff decided to issue Revision 4 to RG 8.7 to address the 
monitoring issues that were identified after Revision 3 was issued. The 
staff, however, is not rescinding Revision 3 because it allows a more 
conservative option for those licensees who want to consider prior 
occupational dose when making 10 CFR 20.1502 determinations. Revision 4 
also retains the guidance from Revision 3 on completing NRC Form 4 and 
NRC Form 5.

II. Additional Information

    DG-8056 was published in the Federal Register on October 16, 2017 
(82 FR 48125) for a 60-day public comment period. The public comment 
period closed on December 15, 2017. Responses to comments received on 
DG-8056 are available under ADAMS Accession No. ML17221A246.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG 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

    This RG addresses compliance with the NRC's requirements in 10 CFR 
part 20 to record and report an individual's cumulative occupational 
dose history and the occupational dose received by an individual for a 
specific monitoring period. The NRC regards these requirements as 
constituting information collection and reporting requirements. The NRC 
has long taken the position that information collection

[[Page 24514]]

and reporting requirements are not subject to the NRC's backfitting and 
issue finality regulations in 10 CFR 50.109, 10 CFR 70.76, 10 CFR 
72.62, 10 CFR 76.76, and 10 CFR part 52 (e.g., ``Material Control and 
Accounting Methods,'' December 23, 2002 (67 FR 78130), and ``Regulatory 
Improvements to the Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards 
System,'' June 9, 2008 (73 FR 32453)). Therefore, the NRC has 
determined that its backfitting and issue finality regulations would 
not apply to this RG because they do not include any provisions within 
the scope of matters covered by the backfitting provisions in 10 CFR 
parts 50, 70, 72, or 76, or the issue finality provisions of 10 CFR 
part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of May, 2018.

    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. 2018-11374 Filed 5-25-18; 8:45 am]
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