ML20045A338
| ML20045A338 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/27/1993 |
| From: | Hoyle J NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| FRN-57FR58727, RULE-PR-20 NUDOCS 9306100130 | |
| Download: ML20045A338 (14) | |
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'93 APR 28 A9 :G7 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION nr 10 CFR Part 20 i
Radiological Criteria for Decommissioning of NRC-licensed Facilities; Workshop AGENCY:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION:
Notice of Workshop.
SUMMARY
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is preparing to initiate an enhanced participatory rulemaking on establishing the radiological criteria for the decommissioning of NRC '.icensed facilities.
The Commission intends to enhance the pu: ;icipation of affected interests in the rulemaking by soliciting commentary from these interests on the rulemaking issues before the staff develops the draft proposed rule.
The Commission plans to i
conduct a series of workshops to solicit commentary from affected interests on the fundamental approaches and issues that must be addressed in establishing the radiological criteria for decommissioning.
The seventh workshop will be held in Washington D.C.
on May 6 and 7, 1993 and will be open to the public.
i DATES:
May 6, 1993 from 9:00 am to 5:45 pm; May 7, 1993, from 6
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8:30 am to 4:00 pm.
The workshop agenda provides for scheduled opportunities throughout the workshop for the public to comment on the rulemaking issues and the workshop discussions.
The scheduled public comment periods include: 12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m.;
3:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.; and 5:15 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 6; and 10:00 a.m.
- 10:15 a.m.; 12:00 p.m.
- 12:30 p.m.; and 2:45 p.m.
- 3:15 p.m.
on Friday, May 7.
All sessions will be held at the Doubletree Hotel, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, Virginia, Phone: 703-892-4100.
As discussed later in this notice, the workshop:
discussions will focus on the issues and approaches identified'in a Rulemaking Issues Paper prepared by the NRC staff.
The Commission will accept written comments on the Rulemaking Issues Paper from the public, as well as from workshop participants.
Written comments should be submitted by May 28, 1993.
I i
ADDRESSES:
Send written comments on the Rulemaking Issues Paper to:
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555.
ATTH:
Docketing and Service Branch.
Hand deliver comments to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, i
i Maryland between 7:45 a.m.
and 4:15 p.m.
on Federal workdays.
The Rulemaking Issues Paper is available from Francis X.
Cameron (See "FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT").
l
i 1
i FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Francis X. Cameron, 5pecial i
Counsel for Public Liaison and Waste Management, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington D.C. 20555, Telephone: 301-504-1642.
i SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
l
Background
i 1
The NRC has the statutory responsibility for protection of health
)
and safety related to the use of source, byproduct, and special
'i nuclear material under the Atomic Energy Act.
The NRC believes that one portion of this responsibility is to ensure the safe and timely decommissioning of nuclear facilities which it licenses and to provide guidance to licensees on how to plan 'for and i
prepare their sites for decommissioning.
Once licensed activities have ceased, licensees are required to decommission their facilities so that their licenses may be terminated.
This requires that the radioactivity in land, groundwater, buildings, i
and equipment resulting from the licensed operation be reduced to i
{
1evels that allow the property to be released for unrestricted Licensees must then demonstrate that all facilities have use.
been properly decontaminated and that radioactive material has been transferred to authorized recipients.
Confirmator. surveys
4 4
are conducted by NRC, where appropriate, to verify that sites meet NRC radiological criterla for decommissioning.
The types of nuclear fuel cycle facilities that will require decommissioning include nuclear power plants; non power (research and test) reactors; fuel fabrication plants, uranium hexafluoride production plants, and independent spent fuel storage installations.
In addition there are currently about 24,000 materials licensees.
About one third of these are NRC licensees, while the remainder are licensed by Agreement States acting under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act, Section 274.
These licensees include universities, medical institutions, j
radioactive source manufacturers, and companies that use
'i radioisotopes for industrial purposes.
About 50% of NRC's 7,500 materials licensees use either sealed radioactive sources or small amounts of short-lived radioactive materials.
I Decommissioning of these facilities should be relatively simple because there is usually little or no residual radioactive contamination.
Of the remaining 50%, a small number (e.g.
radioactive source manufacturers, radiopharmaceutical producers, and radioactive ore processors) conduct operations that could produce substantial radioactive contamination in portions of the facility.
These facilities, like the fuel cycle facilities identified above, must be decontaminated before they can be safely released for unrestricted use.
S Several hundred NRC and Agreement State licenses are terminated each year.
The majority of these licenses involve limited operations, produce little or no radioactive contamination, and do not present complex decommissioning problems or potential risks to public health or the environment from residual contamination.
However, as the nuclear industry matures, it is expected that more and more of the larger nuclear facilities that have been operating for a number of years will reach the end of their useful lives and be decommissioned.
Therefore, both the-number and complexity of facilities that will require i
decommissioning is expected to increase.
I The Commission believes that there is a need to incorporate into its regulations radiological criteria for termination of licenses and release of land and structures for unrestricted use.
The intent of this action would be to provide a clear and consistent regulatory basis for determining the extent to which lands and structures must be decontaminated before a site can be decommissioned.
The Commission believes that inclusion of criteria in the regulations would result in more efficient and consistent licensing actions related to the numerous and frequently complex site decontamination and decommissioning activities anticipated in the future.
A rulemaking effort would also provide an opportunity to reassess the basis for the residual contamination levels contained in existing guidance in
6 light of changes in basic radiation protection standards and decommissioning experience obtained during the past 15 years.
The new criteria would apply to the decommissioning of power reactors, non power reactors, fuel reprocessing plants, fuel fabrication plants, uranium hexafluoride production plants, t
independent spent fuel storage installations, and materials licenses.
The criteria would apply to nuclear facilities that i
operate through their normal lifetime, as well as to those that may be shut down prematurely.
The proposed criteria would not apply to uranium (other than source material) mines and mill tailings, high-level waste repositories, or low-level waste i
disposal facilities.
~
Until the new criteria are in place, the Commission intends to proceed with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities on a site-specific basis as the need arises considering existing criteria.
Case and activity-specific risk decisions will continue to be I
made as necessary during the pendency of this process.
The Enhanced Participatory Rulemaking The Commission believes it is desirable to provide for early and comprehensive input from affected interests on important public health and safety issues, such as the development of radiological criteria for decommissioning.
Accordingly, the Commission is
~ -
7 initiating an enhanced participatory rulemaking to establish these criteria.
The objective of the rulemaking is to enhance the participation of affected interests in the rulemaking by soliciting commentary from these interests on the rulemaking issues before the NRC staff develops the draft proposed rule.
The NRC staff will consider this commentary in the development of the draft proposed rule, as well as document how these comments were considered in arriving at a regulatory approach.
The Commission believes that this will be 'n effective method for illuminating the decision making process on complex and i
controversial public health and safety issues.
This approach will ensure that the important issues have been identified; will assist in identifying potential information gaps or implementation problems; and will facilitate the development of potential solutions to address the concerns that affected f
interests may have in regard to the rulemaking.
The early involvement of affected interests in the development of the draft proposed rule will be accomplished through a series of workshops.
A workshop format was selected because it will provide representatives of the affected interests with an opportunity to discuss the rulemaking issues with one another and to question one another about their respective positions and Although the workshops are intended to foster a concerns.
clearer understanding of the positions and concerns of the affected interests, as well as to identify areas of agreement and 9
4 8
disagreement, it is not the intent of the workshop process to attempt to develop a consensus agreement on the rulemaking issues.
In addition to the commentary from the workshop participants, the workshops will be open to the public and the public will be provided with the opportunity to comment on the rulemaking issues and the workshop discussions at discrete intervals during the workshops.
The workshops were initially announced in the Federal Reaister on December 11, 1992 (57 FR 58727).
The complete schedule for the workshops is:
January 27 and 28, 1993 Chicago, Illinois February 23 and 24, 1993 San Francisco, California March 12 and 13, 1993 Boston, Massachusetts March 23 and 24, 1993 Dallas, Texas April 13 and 14, 1993 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania i
April 29 and 30, 1993 Atlanta, Georgia May 6 and 7, 1993 Washington, D.C.
The normal process for conducting Commission rulemakings is NRC i
staff development of a draft proposed rule for Commission review and approval, publication of the proposed rule for public comment, consideration of the comments by the NRC staff, and preparation of a draft final rule for Commission approval.
In the enhanced participatory rulemaking, not only will comments be solicited before the NRC staff prepares a draft proposed rule, but the mechanism for soliciting these early comments will also provide an opportunity for the affected interests and the NRC staff to discuss the issues with each other, rather than relying on the traditional one-to-one written correspondence with the NRC
9 staff.
After Commission review and approval of the draft proposed rule that is developed using the workshop commentary, the general process of issuing the proposed rule for public comment, NRC staff evaluation of comments, and preparation of a draft final rule for Commission approval, will occur.
Participants.
In order to have a manageable discussion among the workshop participants, the number of participants in each_ workshop must be limited.
Based on discussions with experts on workshop facilitation, the NRC staff believes that the optimum size of the workshop group is fifteen to twenty participants.
Due to differing levels of interest in each region, the actual number of participants in any one workshop, as well as the number of participants that represent a particular interest in any one workshop, may vary. Invitations to attend the workshops will be extended by the NRC staff using several selection criteria.
- First, to ensure that the Commission has the benefit of the spectrum of viewpoints on the issues, the NRC staff is attempting to achieve the participation of the full range of interests that may be affected by the rulemaking.
The NRC staff has identified t
several general interests that will be used to select specific vorkshop participants -- state governments, local governments, tribal governments, Federal agencies, citizens groups, nuclear utilities, fuel cycle facilities, and non-fuel cycle facilities.
In addition to these interests, the staff also plans to invite
10 representatives from the contracting industry that performs decommissioning work and representatives from professional societies, such as the Health Physics Society and the American Nuclear Society.
The NRC anticipates that most of the participants will be representatives of organizations.
- However, it is also possible that there may be a few participants who, because of their expertise and influence, will participate without any organizational affiliation.
The second selection criterion is the ability of the participant to knowledgeably discuss the full range of rulemaking issues.
The NRC staff Vishes to ensure that the workshops will elicit informed discussions of options and approaches, and the rationale for those options and approaches, rather than simple statements of opinion.
The NRC staff's identification of potential participants has been based on an evaluation of such factors as the extent of a potential participant's experience with a broad range of radiation protection issues and types of nuclear facilities, specific experience with the decommissioning issue, and the extent of a potential participant's substantive comment and participation on previous Commission regulatory or licensing actions.
The third criterion emphasizes participation from organizations within the region encompassed by the workshop.
As much as practicable, those organizations that primarily operate within
,e+n>
11 the region, as opposed to regional units of national organizations, will have priority in terms of participating in the corresponding regional workshops.
Organizations i h a national standing will be part of the " national" workshop to be held in Washington, D.C.
Workshop Format.
To assure that each workshop addresses the issues in a consistent manner, the workshops will have a common pre-defined scope and agenda focused on the Rulemaking Issues Paper discussed below.
However, the workshop format will be sufficiently flexible to allow for the introduction of any additional issues that the participants may want to raise.
At each workshop, the NRC staff will begin each discussion period with a brief overview of the rulemaking issues to be discussed and the remainder of the workshop will be devoted to a discussion of the issues by the participants.
The workshop commentary will be transcribed and made available to participants and to the public.
Personnel from The Keystone Center, a nonprofit organization located in Keystone, Colorado, will serve as neutral facilitators for each workshop.
The facilitators will chair the workshop sessions and ensure that participants are given an opportunity to express their viewpoints, assist participants in articulating their interests, ensure that participants are given the
12 opportunity to question each other about their respective viewpoints, and assist in keeping the discussion moving at a pace that will allow all major issue areas to be addressed.
Rulemaking Issues Paper.
The t4RC staff has prepared a Rulemaking Issues Paper to be used as a focal point for the workshop discussions.
This paper, which will be distributed to participants in advance of the workshops, sets forth in neutral terms the issues that must be addressed in the rulemaking, as well as background information on the nature and extent of the problem to be addressed.
In framing the issues and approaches discussed in the Rulemaking Issues Paper, the NRC staff has attempted to anticipate the variety of views that exist on these approaches and issues.
The paper will provide i
i assistance to the participants as they prepare for the workshops, l
suggest the workshop agenda, and establish the level of technical discussion that can be expected at the workshops.
The workshop discussions are intended to be used by the staff in developing the draft proposed rule.
Prior to the workshops no staff positions will be taken on the rulemaking approaches and issues identified in the Rulemaking Issues Paper.
As noted earlier, to-the extent that the Rulemaking Issues Paper fails to identify a pertinent issue, this may be corrected at the workshop sessions.
The discussion of issues is divided into two parts.
First are l
13 two primary issues dealing with:
- 1) the objectives for developing radiological criteria; and
- 2) application of practicality considerations.
The objectives constitute the fundamental approach to the establishment of the radiological criteria, and the NRC staff has identified four distinct possibilities including:
- 1) Risk Limits, which is the establishment of limiting values above which the risks to the public are deemed unacceptable, but allows for criteria to be set below the limit using practicality considerations; 2) Risk Goals, where a goal is selected and practicality considerations are used to establish criteria as close to the goal as practical; 3) Best Effort, where the technology for decontamination considered to be the best available is applied; and 4) Return to Preexisting Background, where the decontamination would continue until the radiological conditions were the same as existed prior to the licensed activities.
Following the primary issues are several secondary issues that are related to the discussions of the primary issues, but which the NRC staff believe warrant separate presentations and discussions.
These secondary issues include the time frame for dose calculation, the individuals or groups to be protected, the use of separate criteria for specific exposure pathways such as groundwater, the treatment of radon, and the treatment of previously buried materials.
Q 14 The Rulemaking Issues Paper will be provided to each potential-workshop participant.
Additional copies will be available to members of the public in attendance at the workshop.
Copies will also be available from the NRC staff contact identified above.
In addition to the comments on the Rulemaking Issues Paper provided at the workshops, the Commission is also receptive to the submittal of written comments on the rulemaking issues, as noted under the heading " DATES".
Dated at Rockville, MD this 27 day of April 1993.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
f/ f,n 4_-
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- 4 John /'C. Hoyle As.si'stant Secretary of the Ccmmission 1
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