[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 75 (Friday, April 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21476-21477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08158]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0057]
Standard Format and Content of Safeguards Contingency Plans for
Transportation
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Regulatory guide; withdrawal.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing
Regulatory Guide (RG) 5.56, ``Standard Format and Content of Safeguards
Contingency Plans for Transportation.'' RG 5.56 is being withdrawn
because it contains regulatory guidance that is out of date and not
currently necessary.
DATES: The withdrawal of RG 5.56 takes effect on April 17, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0057 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0057. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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 Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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 basis for withdrawal of RG 5.56
is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML20030A085.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Albert N. Tardiff, telephone: 301-287-
3613, email: [email protected], or Mekonen Bayssie, telephone: 301-
415-1699, email: [email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
RG 5.56 was published for comment in March 1978 to provide guidance
on the development of safeguards contingency plans for transportation.
This guide supports meeting NRC physical protection requirements for
transportation of special nuclear material (SNM). In addition, it
supports meeting the NRC licensing requirements to transport formula
quantities of strategic SNM (also referred to as Category I quantities
of strategic SNM).
The NRC is withdrawing RG 5.56, ``Standard Format and Content of
Safeguards Contingency Plans for Transportation,'' because the guide no
[[Page 21477]]
longer provides methods that the NRC staff finds acceptable to meet the
NRC's regulatory requirements.
As a matter of agreement, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
currently transports Category I quantities of strategic SNM using its
own guidance. This is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.
The NRC's regulatory requirements for transportation security of this
material are still in place. However, these requirements have not been
updated for the current threat environment. Moreover, given the lack of
any private transport of these materials, no post-9/11 security orders
were developed to address contingency plans for transportation.
Therefore, the NRC staff considers RG 5.56 to be outdated and is not
satisfactory for developing contingency plans for the transportation of
Category I strategic SNM in the future.
It may be possible for the staff to update the guidance to make it
useful for potential future use; however, the staff concludes that the
expenditure of resources to revise the guide is neither necessary nor
warranted. If an NRC licensee or applicant proposed to transport
Category I quantities of strategic SNM today without DOE, the staff
would evaluate the need for additional physical protection, given the
current threat environment, and provide approval to the licensee or
applicant, as appropriate, on a case-by-case basis. The likelihood of
such a proposal is expected to be remote. Other general NRC guidance on
the development of contingency plans can be found in NUREG/CR-6667,
``Standard Review Plan for Safeguards Contingency Response Plans for
Category I Fuel Facilities,'' and such guidance could be useful in
developing a contingency plan for transportation of Category I
quantities of SNM.
II. Further Information
The withdrawal of RG 5.56 does not alter any prior or existing NRC
licensing approval, or the acceptability of licensee commitments made
regarding the withdrawn guidance. Although RG 5.56 is withdrawn,
current licensees referencing this RG may continue to do so, and
withdrawal does not affect any existing licenses or agreements.
However, by withdrawing RG 5.56, the NRC no longer approves use of the
guidance in future requests or applications for NRC licensing actions.
Dated: April 14, 2020.
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. 2020-08158 Filed 4-16-20; 8:45 am]
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