10810 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 39 / Monday, February 28, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

Determination of Petition 

For reasons discussed above, the NRC 

denies PRM–51–13. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day 

of February 2011. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Michael F. Weber, 

Acting Executive Director for Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4347 Filed 2–25–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 61 

[NRC–2011–0043] 

Public Workshop to Discuss Low-Level 

Radioactive Waste Management 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Public Workshop and Request 

for Comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC), in coordination 

with the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE), plans to conduct a workshop to 

discuss possible approaches to revising 

the regulatory framework for the 

management of commercial low-level 

radioactive waste (LLW). The purpose of 

this workshop is to gather information 

from a broad spectrum of stakeholders 

concerning the NRC’s proposed options 

for a comprehensive revision to NRC’s 

and DOE’s waste regulations and to 

discuss possible options. 

DATES: The workshop will be on March 

4, 2011, in Phoenix, Arizona. To 

participate online, see Section II of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this notice. Comments on the issues and 

questions presented in Section III of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this notice are due March 30, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: The public workshop will 

be held on March 4, 2011, from 8:30 

a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency 

Phoenix Hotel, 122 North Second Street, 

Phoenix, AZ 85004. The NRC will 

accept public comments at the public 

workshop. You may also submit 

comments by any one of the following 

methods. Please include Docket ID 

NRC–2011–0043 in the subject line of 

your comments. Comments submitted in 

writing or in electronic form will be 

posted on the NRC Web site and on the 

Federal rulemaking Web site, http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Because your 

comments will not be edited to remove 

any identifying or contact information, 

the NRC cautions you against including 

any information in your submission that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed. 

The NRC requests that any party 

soliciting or aggregating comments 

received from other persons for 

submission to the NRC inform those 

persons that the NRC will not edit their 

comments to remove any identifying or 

contact information, and therefore, they 

should not include any information in 

their comments that they do not want 

publicly disclosed. 

Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for documents filed under Docket ID 

NRC–2011–0043. Address questions 

about NRC dockets to Ms. Carol 

Gallagher, telephone: 301–492–3668, 

e-mail: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. 

Mail comments to: Ms. Cindy Bladey, 

Chief, Rules, Announcements and 

Directives Branch (RADB), Division of 

Administrative Services, Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05– 

B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC. 20555– 

0001, or by fax to RADB at 301–492– 

3446. 

You can access publicly available 

documents related to this notice using 

the following methods: 

NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR): 

The public may examine and have 

copied for a fee, publicly available 

documents at the NRC’s PDR, Room O1– 

F21, One White Flint North, 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 

20852–2738. 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS): 

Publicly available documents created or 

received at the NRC are available 

electronically at the NRC’s Electronic 

Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, 

the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 

which provides text and image files of 

NRC’s public documents. If you do not 

have access to ADAMS or if there are 

problems in accessing the documents 

located in ADAMS, contact the NRC’s 

PDR reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 

301–415–4737, or by e-mail to 

pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 

Federal rulemaking Web site: Public 

comments and supporting materials 

related to this notice can be found at 

http://www.regulations.gov by searching 

on Docket ID: NRC–2011–0043. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael P. Lee, Ph.D., Office of Federal 

and State Materials and Environmental 

Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 

6887; e-mail: Mike.Lee@nrc.gov; Donald 

B. Lowman, Office of Federal and State 

Materials and Environmental 

Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 

5452; e-mail: Donald.Lowman@nrc.gov; 

or Antoinette Walker-Smith, Office of 

Federal and State Materials and 

Environmental Management Programs, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–6390; e-mail: 

Antoinette.Walker-Smith@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Commission’s licensing 

requirements for the disposal of LLW in 

near-surface [approximately the 

uppermost 30 meters (100 feet)] 

facilities reside in part 61. These 

regulations were published in the 

Federal Register on December 27, 1982 

(47 FR 57446). The rule applies to any 

near-surface LLW disposal technology, 

including shallow-land burial, 

engineered land disposal methods such 

as below-ground vaults, earth-mounded 

concrete bunkers, and augered holes. 

The regulations emphasize an integrated 

systems approach to the disposal of 

commercial LLW, including site 

selection, disposal facility design and 

operation, minimum waste form 

requirements, and disposal facility 

closure. To lessen the burden on society 

over the long periods of time 

contemplated for the control of the 

radioactive material, and thus lessen 

reliance on institutional controls, part 

61 emphasizes passive rather than 

active systems to limit and retard 

releases to the environment. 

Development of the part 61 regulation 

in the early 1980s was based on several 

assumptions as to the types of wastes 

likely to go into a commercial LLW 

disposal facility. To better understand 

what the likely inventory of wastes 

available for disposal might be, the NRC 

conducted a survey of existing LLW 

generators. The survey, documented in 

Chapter 3 of NUREG–0782—the Draft 

part 61 Environmental Impact Statement 

(DEIS)—revealed that there were about 

36 distinct commercial waste streams 

consisting of about 24 radionuclides of 

potential regulatory interest. The 

specific waste streams in question were 

representative of the types of 

commercial LLW being generated at the 

time. Waste streams associated with 

DOE’s nuclear defense complex were 

not considered as part of the survey, 

since disposal of those wastes, at that 

time, was to be conducted at the DOEoperated sites. Over the last several 

years there have been a number of 

developments that have called into 

question some of the key assumptions 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 39 / Monday, February 28, 2011 / Proposed Rules 10811 

made in connection with the earlier part 

61 DEIS, including: 

• The emergence of potential LLW 

streams that were not considered in the 

original part 61 rulemaking, including 

large quantities of depleted uranium, 

and possibly incidental wastes 

associated with the commercial 

reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel; and 

• DOE’s increasing use of commercial 

facilities for the disposal of defenserelated LLW streams; and 

• Extensive international operational 

experience in the management of LLW 

and intermediate-level radioactive 

wastes that did not exist at the time part 

61 was promulgated. 

The developments described above 

will need to be considered if the staff 

undertakes a revision of part 61. Waste 

from the Nation’s defense programs has 

been managed by DOE and is not subject 

to part 61. Instead, DOE has used DOE 

Order 435.1 to specify the disposal 

requirements for this waste. The current 

version of this Order has been in place 

for about 11 years and applies to 

management of radioactive waste within 

the DOE complex. Like part 61, Order 

435.1 places a heavy emphasis on 

performance assessment as part of its 

radioactive waste management decisionmaking. DOE recently started a 

comprehensive revision of Order 435.1, 

which it plans to complete sometime in 

2011. The staff plans to consider any 

modifications to Order 435.1 as part of 

a comprehensive revision to part 61. 

In SRM–M100617B (ADAMS 

ML1018203015), the Commission 

directed the staff to outline its approach 

to initiate activities in connection with 

a possible revision to part 61 that is riskinformed, performance-based. However, 

before the start of any rulemaking 

process, the staff recommended that it 

engage stakeholders and solicit their 

views on whether there should be 

amendments to the current part 61 and 

if so, what the nature of those 

amendments should be. This approach 

is consistent with NRC’s openness 

policy and with the type of public 

outreach used by the staff to develop 

part 61. 

II. NRC/DOE Joint Public Workshop 

The purpose of this workshop is to 

gather information from a broad 

spectrum of stakeholders concerning the 

NRC’s proposed options for a 

comprehensive revision to NRC’s and 

DOE’s waste regulations. They include: 

(1) Risk-inform the current part 61 waste 

classification framework, (2) 

comprehensive revision to part 61, (3) 

site-specific waste acceptance criteria, 

(4) international alignment, and (5) 

supersede direction given in Staff 

Requirements Memorandum (SRM)–08– 

0147. This workshop will be conducted 

jointly with DOE who is also 

considering revisions to its Management 

Directive DOE Order 435.1 (Radioactive 

Waste Management). 

The joint public workshop will be 

organized in two sessions (one for each 

agency), followed by a joint ‘‘Panel 

Discussion’’ Session. Session I will 

address DOE Order 435.1. Session I will 

also include an opportunity for 

stakeholder feedback and comments. 

Session II will address the NRC staff’s 

proposed options for any potential 

rulemaking actions with respect to 

revision of 10 CFR part 61 (Licensing 

Requirements for Land Disposal of 

Radioactive Waste) as discussed in the 

NRC Commission Paper SECY–10–0165. 

This SECY paper is available on the 

NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/

reading-rm/doc-collections/

commission/secys/2010/. Session II will 

also include background presentations 

on SECY–10–0165 by NRC staff. 

Following Session II, there will be a 

joint DOE/NRC Panel Discussion to 

explain the agencies’ respective 

positions, future plans, and specific 

views regarding the LLW management 

framework. The panel will also address 

public and stakeholder suggestions and 

comments. 

The public workshop will be held on 

March 4, 2011, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 

p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix 

Hotel, 122 North Second Street, 

Phoenix, Arizona 85004. Pre-registration 

for this meeting is not necessary. 

Members of the public choosing to 

participate in this meeting remotely can 

do so in one of two ways—online, via 

Webex, or via a telephone (audio) 

connection. Instructions for remote 

participation in this meeting are 

described below. 

To join the online meeting (including 

mobile devices) 

1. Go to https://pec.webex.com/pec/

j.php?ED=7975058&UID=32785548&

PW=NNzA2ZGNlOGYx&RT=MiM1. 

2. If requested, enter your name and 

e-mail address. 

3. If a password is required, enter the 

meeting password: Energy 

4. Click ‘‘Join’’. 

To view in other time zones or 

languages, please click the link: https:// 

pec.webex.com/pec/

j.php?ED=7975058&UID=32785548&

PW=NNzA2ZGNlOGYx&ORT=MiM1. 

To join the audio conference only 

To receive a call back, provide your 

phone number when you join the 

meeting, or call the number below and 

enter the access code. 

Call-in toll-free number (U.S./ 

Canada): 1–877–669–3239 . 

Call-in toll number (U.S./Canada): 

+1–408–600–3600 Toll-free dialing 

restrictions: http://www.webex.com/pdf/ 

tollfree_restrictions.pdf; Access code: 

858 991 753 

The agenda for the public meeting 

will be noticed no fewer than ten (10) 

days prior to the meeting on the NRC’s 

electronic public workshop schedule at 

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/

public-meetings/index.cfm. 

III. Questions Related to 10 CFR Part 

61, ‘‘Low-Level Radioactive Waste 

Management’’ 

NRC staff is seeking stakeholder input 

to the following three questions that 

will be discussed at the public 

workshop: 

(1) Should the staff revise the existing 

10 CFR part 61? 

(2) What recommendations do you 

have for specific changes to the current 

rule? 

(3) What are your suggestions for 

possible new approaches to commercial 

LLW management? 

NRC plans to consider stakeholder 

views in the development of a revised 

draft of part 61. The staff expects to 

issue a Commission Paper summarizing 

stakeholder views along with a 

recommendation for any future part 61 

rulemaking in calendar year 2012. 

Written comments may be sent to the 

address listed in the ADDRESSES section. 

Questions about participation in the 

public workshops should be directed to 

the points of contact listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd 

day of February 2011. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Andrew Persinko, 

Deputy Director, Environmental Protection 

and Performance Assessment Directorate, 

Division of Waste Management and 

Environmental Protection, Office of Federal 

and State Materials and Environmental 

Management Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4404 Filed 2–25–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

18 CFR Chapter I 

[Docket No. RM11–6–000] 

Annual Charges for Use of 

Government Lands 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, DOE. 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS