[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2998-2999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-975]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CP08-6-002]


Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Assessment of Materials and 
Equipment Manual

AGENCY: Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental 
Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) are announcing the availability of the 
final ``Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Assessment of Materials and 
Equipment manual'' (MARSAME). MARSAME provides information on planning, 
conducting, evaluating, and documenting radiological surveys for 
demonstrating compliance with measurable action levels. The MARSAME 
manual is a multi-agency consensus document. The agencies previously 
have sought public comment in order to receive feedback from the widest 
range of interested parties and to ensure that all information relevant 
to developing the document was received. The agencies reviewed public 
comments received on the draft MARSAME as well as comments from a 
concurrent, independent, technical peer review. Suggested changes were 
incorporated, where appropriate, in response to those comments.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft MARSAME and all comments received may be 
examined or copied for a fee electronically in http://www.regulations.gov, or in hard copy at the HQ EPA Docket Public 
Reading Room, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Room 3334, Docket 
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0957, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, 
DC 20460, and the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852-2747. The HQ EPA Docket Public Reading Room 
is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
legal holidays. The telephone number for the EPA HQ Docket Public 
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744. DOE, EPA, and NRC each have a 
publication number for MARSAME. They are: For DOE, DOE/HS-0004; for 
EPA, EPA 402-R-09-001; for NRC, NUREG-1575, Supp. 1. Copies of the 
final MARSAME may be purchased by requests in writing to: The 
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 
37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328. The document will be available 
through the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/marssim.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any of the following points of contact 
for each agency for technical information (see ADDRESSES section above 
for directions on obtaining a copy of the draft MARSAME): DoD: Steven 
Doremus, Phone: (757) 887-7745, U.S. Navy, NAVSEADET RASO, NWS, P.O. 
Drawer 260, Yorktown, VA 23691-0260; DOE: W. Alexander Williams, Phone: 
(301) 903-8149, U.S. Department of Energy (EM-23), 1000 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; EPA: Kathryn Snead, Phone: (202) 
343-9228, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Stop 6608J, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-1000; NRC: Robert A. 
Meck, Phone: (301) 251-7548, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail 
Stop C3 C07M, Washington, DC 20555. Questions concerning the multi-
agency document development project should be addressed to Kathryn 
Snead, Phone: (202) 343-9228, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mail Stop 6608J, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-
1000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MARSAME provides information on planning, 
conducting, evaluating, and documenting environmental radiological 
surveys for demonstrating compliance with measurable action levels 
applied to materials and equipment. MARSAME is a multi-agency consensus 
document and a supplement to the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site 
Investigation Manual (MARSSIM).
    MARSAME was developed collaboratively over the past six years by 
the technical staffs of the four Federal agencies having authority for 
control of radioactive materials: DoD, DOE, EPA, and NRC. For a time, 
staff from the Department of Homeland Security participated in the 
development of MARSAME. Contractors to the DOE, EPA, and NRC, and 
members of the public have been present during the open meetings of the 
MARSAME workgroup. MARSAME's objective is to describe standardized and 
consistent approaches for surveys, which provide a high degree of 
assurance that established action levels can be measured and an 
appropriate disposition of materials or equipment can be technically 
defended. The techniques, methodologies, and philosophies that form the 
bases of this manual were developed to be consistent with current 
Federal limits, guidelines, and procedures.
    MARSAME benefited from extensive internal, public, and technical 
peer reviews. In addition to written comments, the work group provided 
the public with the opportunity to comment during the open meetings. 
The document also received formal technical peer review under the 
auspices of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). The results of the 
peer review and the responses to comments by the EPA are publicly 
available for examination and may be copied for a fee (see ADDRESSES 
section above for directions). In its findings, the SAB stated that, 
``The MARSAME manual impresses the Panel as an excellent technical 
document for guiding a materials and equipment survey.'' The responses 
to the technical review comments by the SAB may be viewed at the 
following World-Wide-Web site: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
sabproduct.nsf/5520FF23A405DCEB8525749E00737EEF/$File/EPA-SAB-08-
010+Response+09-22-2008.pdf.
    The author agencies solicit comments arising from review and use of 
the final MARSAME. Comments will be reviewed periodically by the author 
agencies, resolved as appropriate, and incorporated into future 
revisions of the MARSAME. Members of the public are invited to submit 
written comments to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of 
Administrative Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Copies of all comments received by one 
agency will be periodically copied and sent to the others. Revised 
pages resulting from the resolution of comments will be

[[Page 2999]]

available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/marssim. 
This EPA Web site is also accessible by links from the NRC home page 
at: http://www.nrc.gov; and the DOE home page at: http://www.doe.gov.

    For the Department of Defense, dated this 16th day of December 
2008.
Alex Beehler,
Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, (Environment, Safety and 
Occupational Health).

    For the U.S. Department of Energy, dated this 18th day of 
December 2008.
Andrew C. Lawrence,
Director, Office of Nuclear Safety, Quality Assurance and Environment, 
Office of Health, Safety and Security.

    For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dated this 15th 
day of December 2008.
Elizabeth Cotsworth,
Director, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, dated this 9th day 
of January 2009.
James E. Lyons,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E9-975 Filed 1-15-09; 8:45 am]
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