NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

 Web Site: www.nrc.gov

No. 02-046 April 5, 2002

NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON PROPOSED RULE FOR 

PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requesting public comment on proposed regulations

regarding the packaging and transportation of radioactive material. 

The agency’s current transportation regulations are based, in part, on those developed by the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a worldwide standard-setting organization. The IAEA

periodically revises its transportation standards to reflect scientific and technical advances, and the NRC

accordingly updates its own regulations to be compatible with those of IAEA. This revision is being

coordinated with the Department of Transportation, which is the lead federal agency for transportation

regulations in the United States and the U.S. competent authority for interaction with the IAEA. 

Issues to be addressed in this rulemaking were published in the Federal Register for comment in

July, and public meetings were held in Rockville, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; and Oakland, California. 

Representatives from the general public, environmental and public interest groups, various industries, as

well as government officials, discussed their comments.

There are 19 issues discussed in the proposed rule, 11 of which are designed for consistency

with IAEA standards and the remainder were NRC-initiated. 

Four issues in the proposed rule attracted a high level of public interest during discussions at the

meetings and through comments on the internet web site. The issues concern (1) radionuclide

exemption values, namely, whether to adopt IAEA’s uniform dose-based standard versus using the

current concentration-based standard; (2) special package approvals, namely, whether NRC should

propose a standard for review of large-object packages, such as the Trojan reactor vessel, rather than

review each request on a case-by-case basis through exemptions; (3) change authority for Part 71

certificate holders, namely, whether such certificate holders can safely make limited changes to the

design of a transportation package, as permitted for reactor and spent fuel storage facility licensees; and

(4) single versus double containment requirements for plutonium packages.

 One issue recently added to the proposed rule involves event reporting requirements.
The staff is particularly interested in public and industry comments related to costs and benefits

resulting from the proposed requirements, as well as operational data on exposures that might result.

The proposed rule will be discussed in detail at a series of upcoming public meetings, the dates

and locations of which will be announced separately. 

Interested persons may submit comments within 90 days of publication in the Federal Register,

expected shortly. The proposed rule is available on the NRC web site, at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov

 Comments may be submitted directly on the web site, or by mail to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, 20555-0001, Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudications staff. 

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