This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

29357

Vol. 63, No. 103

Friday, May 29, 1998

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 70

Criticality Accident Requirements;

Public Meeting

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) has initiated a

rulemaking to provide light-water

nuclear power reactor licensees with

greater flexibility in meeting the

requirement that licensees authorized to

possess more than a small amount of

special nuclear material (SNM),

maintain a criticality monitoring system

in each area where the material is

handled, used, or stored. This action is

taken as a result of the experience

gained in processing and evaluating a

number of exemption requests from

power reactor licensees and NRC’s

safety assessments in response to these

requests that concluded that the

likelihood of criticality was negligible.

On December 3, 1997 (62 FR 63825),

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

published in the Federal Register a

direct final rule amending its

regulations that would have provided

persons licensed to construct or operate

light-water nuclear power reactors with

the option of either meeting the

criticality accident requirements of

paragraph (a) of 10 CFR 70.24 in

handling and storage areas for SNM, or

electing to comply with requirements

that would be incorporated into 10 CFR

part 50 at § 50.68. The direct final rule

would have become effective on

February 17, 1998. Significant adverse

comments were received from the

public, resulting in the staff

withdrawing the rule. In an attempt to

better understand the focus of the public

comments, the staff is conducting a

public meeting.

DATES: The meeting will be held on

Monday, June 8, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the NRC Headquarters, 11555 Rockville

Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, in room O–

10B–11, starting at 1:00 pm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

is proposing to amend its regulations to

provide persons licensed to construct or

operate light-water nuclear power

reactors with the option of either

meeting the criticality accident

requirements of paragraph (a) of 10 CFR

70.24 in handling and storage areas for

SNM, or electing to comply with certain

requirements that would be

incorporated into 10 CFR part 50. These

are generally the requirements that the

NRC has used to grant specific

exemptions to the requirements of 10

CFR 70.24. In addition, the NRC is

proposing to revise the current text of

the section relating to seeking specific

exemptions from regulations in 10 CFR

70.24(d) which provided that a licensee

could seek an exemption to all or part

of 10 CFR 70.24 for good cause because

it is redundant to 10 CFR 70.14(a). A

new section, 10 CFR 70.24 (d) may be

added to clarify that the requirements in

paragraph (a) through (c) of 10 CFR

70.24 do not apply to holders of a

construction permit or operating license

for a nuclear power reactor issued

pursuant to 10 CFR part 50, or

combined licenses issued under 10 CFR

part 52, if the holders comply with the

requirements of 10 CFR 50.68 (b). It is

proposed that exemptions acquired

under 10 CFR 70.24 after the issuance

of the operating license will still be

valid if the option selected is 10 CFR

70.24 or if the 10 CFR 70.24 exemptions

were explicitly renewed when the 10

CFR part 50 operating license was

issued.

The meeting will be open to the

public, on a space available basis. The

agenda for the workshop will focus on

a discussion of the public comments

received and the above regulatory

issues. Members of the public who are

unable to attend the workshop can

obtain copies of the papers developed

by the staff through NRC’s Public

Document Room (U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Attention: NRC

Public Document Room, Washington,

DC 20555–0001) or on the Internet via

NRC’s Technical Conference Forum

(http://techconf.llnl.gov/noframe.html).

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day

of May, 1998.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Thomas H. Essig,

Acting Chief, Generic Issues and

Environmental Projects Branch, Division of

Reactor Program Management, Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

[FR Doc. 98–14099 Filed 5–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy

10 CFR Part 430

[Docket No. EE–RM/STD–98–440]

RIN 1904–AA77

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products: Notice of Public

Workshop on Central Air Conditioner

Energy Efficiency Standards

Rulemaking

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy, Department of

Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Public Workshop.

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy

(the Department or DOE) today gives

notice that it will convene a public

workshop to discuss the proposed

analytical framework and tools for

evaluating possible revisions to the

central air conditioner and heat pump

energy efficiency standards.

DATES: The public workshop will be

held on Tuesday, June 30, 1998, from 9

a.m. to 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held

at the U.S. Department of Energy, Office

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy, EE–43, Room 1E–245, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20585–0121.

Written comments are welcome,

especially following the workshop.

Please submit 10 copies (no faxes) and

a computer diskette (WordPerfect 6.1)

to: Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones, U.S.

Department of Energy, Office of Energy

Efficiency and Renewable Energy,

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products: Notice of Public

Workshop on Central Air Conditioner

Energy Efficiency Standards

Rulemaking, Docket No. EE–RM/STD–

98–440, EE–43, 1000 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585–

0121. Telephone: (202) 586–2945.