ML20202G034

Provides Initial Summary of Public Meetings Held by NRC Staff to Present Below Regulatory Concern Policy Statement & Obtain Statements from Members of Public

ML20202G034
Person / Time
Issue date:	10/03/1990
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:
References
SECY-90-339, SECY-90-339-01, SECY-90-339-1, SECY-90-339-R, NUDOCS 9902040246
Download: ML20202G034 (3)

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POLICY ISSUE October 3, 1990 SECY-90-339 l

The Commissio(tersInformat. ion) l For:

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1 From:

James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations

SUMMARY

OF PUBLIC MEETINGS ON BELOW REGULATORY CONCERN POLICY

Purpose:

This paper provides an initial summary of the public meetings held by the NRC staff to present the Below Psjulatory Concern Policy Statement and obtain statements from members of the l

public.

Background:

Following publication of the Below Regulatory Concern Policy j

Statement in the Federal Register (55 FR 27522), the NRC published a notice of public meetings to be held in the vicinity of each of the five NRC Regional Offices.

The meetings were to enable NRC staff members to discuss the policy l

with attendees, hear statements from the public, and answer questions about the policy.

NRC licensees, Agreement State l

licensees, government officials, and interested members of the public were encouraged to attend.

Discussion:

The five public meetings were held in the following locations and l

times:

Chicago, Illinois, August 28, 1990, Holiday Inn - 0' Hare Airport.

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1990, Sheraton i

Valley Forge Convention Center.

Atlanta, Georgia, September 20, 1990, Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.

Arlington, Texas, September 25, 1990, Arlington Convention Center.

NOTE:

TO BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

Contact:

IN 10 WORKING DAYS PROM THE nald

, RES DATE OF THIS PAPER 4

9902040246 901003 PDR SECY 90-339 R PDR i

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The Commissioners 2

i Oakland, California, September 27, 1990, Holiday Inn - Oakland l

Airport.

s.

Each meeting was transcribed by court reporters, and video tapes of the meetings in King of Prussia, Atlanta, and Arlington were made. Transcripts of the meetings will be l

placed in the Public Document Room.

In general, the meetings lasted between 5 and 7 hours8.101852e-5 days <br />0.00194 hours <br />1.157407e-5 weeks <br />2.6635e-6 months <br />, with approximately 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> devoted to the NRC presentations, I hour devoted to answering written questions received from the audience ~, and the remainder of the time taken by statements by members of the public.

An estimated 940 persons attended the public meetings.

Attendance ranged from a high of 350 in Region III to a low of 75 in Region II. Oral statements were presented by a total of 215 persons. The makeup of the audiences differed somewhat from meeting to meeting, but were largely composed of representatives of public. interest or environmental groups, concerned citizens and Federal, State, or local elected representatives. NRC or Agreement State licensees were generally small in number and non-vocal.

The prevailing sentiment expressed at all of the meetings was opposition to the BRC policy and to its implementation.

In addition, several common themes became apparent in each of the meetings.

First, extreme concern was expressed regarding the possibility of deregulation of nuclear power reactor wastes. This can be differentiated from the potential for release of some types of hospital and research wastes, which were apparently perceived by at least some members of the public as having significantly lower hazards. These views would argue against any immediate actions, beyond responding to petitions, to pursue a generic BRC waste exemption, particularly given the apparent absence of expressed need for such a rulemaking at this time.

Second, the public is concerned with the potential for recycle of any radioactive materials into products that could be used by consumers, and particularly with the potential that items could contain "BRC" materials without any labeling or other mechanism to alert consumers of the contents.

Third, the public generally perceives the policy as allowing a large number of deaths per year per practice, despite the presence of the collective dose criterion. Although apparently based upon incorrect factual data, these opinions were very widely and strongly held and resulted in repeated calls for either the resignation or th! indictment of the Commission on criminal charges.

9 The Commissioners 3

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The staff plans to prepare a summary report of the public meetings in the form of a NUREG report which will include a summary of the NRC presentations, the public issues l

raised, the questions that were submitted during the meeting, and responses to misconceptions of the participants. The report will also include copies of the various Federal Register notices and agendas for the meetings. The staff plans to have this report completed and transmitted to the Commission by the end of December.

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a es M. Ta r

E ecutive D rector for Operations DISTRIBUTION:

Commissioners OGC OIG LSS GPA REGIONAL OFFICES EDO ACRS l

ACNW ASLBP ASLAP SECY I

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