ML20045F812

Notice of Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking from Univ of Utah

ML20045F812
Person / Time
Issue date:	01/25/1984
From:	Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY)
To:
References
RULE-PRM-20-14 NUDOCS 9307090040
Download: ML20045F812 (6)

Text

_

Wi 7590m 1

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION J J-5 I

10 CFR Part 20 00CKETED (Docket No. PRM-20-14) i Unive

.:y of Utah; Filing of Petition for Rulemaking*84 JAN 25 P3:19 r

E.,UEE CF SEU.t ;,

v.a m wG/,s ;y-AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

BRANCV i

ACTION:

Notice of receipt of petition for rulemaking from the University of r

Utah.

i i

SUMMARY

The Commission is publishing for public comment this notice of receipt of a oetition for rulemaking dated November 29, 1983, which was filed I

with the Commission oy the University of Utah.

The petition was docketed by l

the Commission on December 1, 1983, and has been assigned Docket No.

PRM-20-14.

The petitioner requests that the Commission amend its regulations I

to provide additional options for the disposal of very low concentrations of short-lived radionuclides.

I P

DATE:

Comment period expires

?%R 3 ? 139 Comments received af ter this date will be considered if it is' practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given except as to comments received on or before k

this date, i

ADDRESSES:

A copy of the petition for rulemaking is available for public inspection and copying at the Commission's Public Document Room,1717 H

[

t Street, NW., Washington, DC 20555.

l m

J,'

?

s s

l

{L7 i

9307090040 930125 ik h

PDR PRM 20-14 PDR

,/

9 r-

l

^

i -l j

i.:

All persons who desire to submit written. comments concerning the petition for rulemaking should send their comments to the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.

.l Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, Attention: Docketing and I

l Service Branch.

I i

i FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

John Philips, Chief, Rules and Procedures

-I Branch, Division of Rules and Records, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear j

i Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, Telephone:

301-492-7086 or Toll.

Free:

800-368-5642.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 20.306 of 10 CFR,-published on March.ll, i

l 1981 (46 FR 16230), was designed to grant licensees greater leeway in i

disposing of liquid scintillation media and animal carcasses containing. tracer.

l f

levels of hydrogen-3 (tritium) and carbon-14.

According to'the petitioner, j

i the rule provided substantial relief from some of the financial and

[

cperational burdens of low-level radioactive waste disposal.

However, the l

petitioner seeks further relief through additional options in order to i

alleviate a numoer of problems associated with the disposal of experimental l

animal waste material and certain radionuclide components, discussed below, j

t that many licensees apparently are experiencing under the current regulations.

At present, 520.306 addresses the disposal of hydrogen-3 and carbon-14 only.

j The petitioner points out that other radionuclides (i.e., phosphorus-32, l

l sulfur-35, iron-59, iodine-125, and iodine-131) are often used in comoination l

f with hydrogen-3 and carbon-14 in medical and biological research.

Further, l

l I

i

l _\\

i these radionuclides have half-lives of between 8 and_87-days.

Because these j

i other radionuclides are not mentioned specifically in.the regulations, some licensees currently preserve, freeze and store all animal' carcasses containing l

radionuclides other than hydrogen-3 or carbon-14 Those licensees with' i

autnorized incinerators retain the~ carcasses for a short perico of time prior

[

i to batch incineration. However, licensees who do not have approcriate' 1

i incinerators must store wastes for a long period of time to allow the i

radioactivity to decay before disposing of the wastes as nonradioactive.

The i

petitioner states that this practice of storing radionuclides prior to decay

{

i could result in risks from flammability, toxicity and infection.

I i

t Licensees must dispose of another type of radioactive waste, scintillation

'I vials.

In the cast, these licensees have been accustomed to snipping intact

.j scintillation vials in approved containers to the radioactive waste disposal site in the State of Washington, the only site accepting liquid waste.

However, i

as the. petitioner indicated, after December 31., 1983, the Washington disposal l

site will no longer accept unsolidified liquid scintillation meoia.

i In order to overcome the problems that the petitioner has itemized, he has f

?

recommended the following revision and addition to the regulations:

i Procosed Revision:

I 5 20.306 Disposal of specific wastes.

l i

4 I

f 1

[

I l

t i

e

. (b) 0.05 microcuries of hydrogen-3 or carbon-14, per gram of biodeoracable animal bedding material, animal excreta c>r animal tissue, averaged over the weignt of the entire animal; provided, however, tissue may not be disposed of under. this section in a I

manner that would permit its use either as food for humans or as animal feed.

Prooosed Addition:

i 520.307 Di.sposal of short-lived radionuclides by burial.

l Any licensee may dispose of licensed material consistmg of any mixture of hydrogen-3, carbon-14 and radionuclides with half-lives of less than 100 days, in the types of wasM media, at the concentration limits and to the types of burial facilities specified below:

(a) 0.05 microcuries per gram of biodegradable animal bedding j

material, animal excreta or animal tissue, averaged over the mass of sucn materials generated per animal, may be disposed of in a sanitary landfill; l

(b) 0.05 microcuries per gram of medium used.for liquid scintillation counting may be disposed of in an approved hazardous waste landfill without regard to the radioactivity contained in medium; (c) Wastes that are disposed of under.the provisions of this section are not to be labeled as radioactive and, for purposes'of collection and transport, may be treated as nonradioactive; (d) Nothing in this section, however, relieves the licensee of naintaining records showing the receipt, transfer ~and disposal of such licensed material as specified in section 30.51 of this chapter; and (e) Nothing in this section relieves the licensee from complying with other applicable Federal, State and local regulations ' governing any other toxic or hazardous propert./ of these materie.ls.

O i

l,

According to the petitioner, these changes would substantially reduce.

non-radiological risks related to the collection, storage, packaging, and t

shipping of certain biological and chemical wastes-without compromising or reducing radiation protection.

It is also stated that these' changes would l'

also allow significant reductions in costs for waste disposal by NRC licensees i

involved in extensive biomedical research.

Tnese reductions in risk would l

be achieved, under these proposed amendments, in the following manner:

1.

Because these wastes would be disposed of on a site that has Federal-and State requirements for the control of chemical and biological hazards and that will contain waste materials for many years, the burial of radionuclides 1

with half-lives of less than 100 days would not result in any migration into the human environment prior to decaying into innocuous levels.

i I

2.

By limiting the wastes that can be buried under this proposal to t

materials that have no attraction for human contact, the risk of potential j

salvage of contaminated articles is eliminated.

i 3.

The biological and chemical characteristics of the specified wastes rule out inputs to human food chains.

I i

l 4.

The low concentrations permitted for the proposed methods of t

disposal would preclude significant exposures to personnel involved in the collection and transportation of the wastes.

Because of this, there would be no restrictions on handling of the waste and there would be no need for i

soecial containers or labels.

l i

. l The petitioner concludes by stating that handling and disposal of the i

specified wastes in the manner proposed in the petition would reduce overall risk from flanmable and toxic ' chemicals and from pathogenic organisms without significantly changing the risk from radiation exposure' f

In order to help evaluate the merits of this petition, the NRC staff requests l

biomedical research institutions and other users of the short-lived radionuclides, in addition to their comments on the petition itself, to provide information on:

(1)

Their usual inventory of these short-lived radionuclides; r

(2)

The amounts used and the activity, volume, ~and types of materials L

disposed of annually or monthly; l

(3)

Estimates of the cost of packaging, storage, transportation, and disposal of this material; and (4)

The costs of any alternative methods of disposal which.have been examined.

In particular, the amount of any cost savings resulting from methods of disposal which would become available if.the petition were granted would be extremely helpful.

JC i

Dated at Washington, DC this 7?1 ' day of hidLKi>

1984 For he Nuclear' egulatory Commission.

i

\\

l v Samuel J. ChilP,

)

Secretary of the Commission.

t

}

t

-n

-