Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Notices 45907 

simulator training since 2012 and has 

high regard on the software. The NRC 

welcomes more licensees to partner 

with the NRC to use the software. The 

licensees’ participation in the 

information collection is voluntary. In 

the partnership, the NRC provides the 

SACADA software license, training, and 

technical support to the participating 

licensees, and the participating 

licensees grant NRC access to analyze 

the data to improve the NRC’s HRA 

techniques. An agreement will be 

developed to specify the details. 

To participate in the information 

collection, the licensee will notify the 

NRC contact that it is interested in 

evaluating the software. Then the NRC 

will provide additional information 

including an onsite briefing. If the 

licensee thinks the SACADA software 

could be beneficial, the NRC will 

provide a training session, the software 

license, and technical support for the 

licensee to pilot the use of the software 

in its simulator training. After the pilot 

study, the licensee will decide on 

whether or not to partner with the NRC 

on the information collection. Either 

party can terminate the agreement at 

any time. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day 

of September 2017. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

David Cullison, 

NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–20999 Filed 9–29–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2017–0001] 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

DATE: Weeks of October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 

November 6, 2017. 

PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference 

Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

STATUS: Public and Closed. 

Week of October 2, 2017 

Friday, October 6, 2017 

10:00 a.m. Meeting with Advisory 

Committee on Reactor Safeguards 

(Public) (Contact: Mark Banks: 301– 

415–3718) 

This meeting will be webcast live at 

the Web address—http://www.nrc.gov/. 

Week of October 9, 2017—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of October 9, 2017. 

Week of October 16, 2017—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of October 16, 2017. 

Week of October 23, 2017—Tentative 

Tuesday, October 24, 2017 

10:00 a.m. Strategic Programmatic 

Overview of the Operating Reactors 

Business Line (Public (Contact: 

Trent Wertz: 301–415–1568) 

This meeting will be webcast live at 

the Web address—http://www.nrc.gov/. 

Week of October 30, 2017—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of October 30, 2017. 

Week of November 6, 2017—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of November 6, 2017. 

* * * * * 

The schedule for Commission 

meetings is subject to change on short 

notice. For more information or to verify 

the status of meetings, contact Denise 

McGovern at 301–415–0681 or via email 

at Denise.McGovern@nrc.gov. 

* * * * * 

The NRC Commission Meeting 

Schedule can be found on the Internet 

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

public-meetings/schedule.html. 

* * * * * 

The NRC provides reasonable 

accommodation to individuals with 

disabilities where appropriate. If you 

need a reasonable accommodation to 

participate in these public meetings, or 

need this meeting notice or the 

transcript or other information from the 

public meetings in another format (e.g., 

braille, large print), please notify 

Kimberly Meyer, NRC Disability 

Program Manager, at 301–287–0739, by 

videophone at 240–428–3217, or by 

email at Kimberly.Meyer-Chambers@

nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for 

reasonable accommodation will be 

made on a case-by-case basis. 

* * * * * 

Members of the public may request to 

receive this information electronically. 

If you would like to be added to the 

distribution, please contact the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Office of the 

Secretary, Washington DC 20555 (301– 

415–1969), or email 

Brenda.Akstulewicz@nrc.gov or 

Patricia.Jimenez@nrc.gov. 

Dated: September 27, 2017. 

Denise L. McGovern, 

Executive Assistant, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–21151 Filed 9–28–17; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2015–0176] 

Abnormal Occurrence Reports 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Policy revision; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing a revision 

to its policy statement on reporting 

abnormal occurrences (AOs) to 

Congress. The revised policy statement 

adds more specific criteria for 

determining those incidents and events 

that the Commission considers 

significant from the standpoint of public 

health or safety for reporting to Congress 

and the public, and makes the policy 

consistent with recent changes to NRC 

regulations. The revised AO criteria 

contain more discrete reporting 

thresholds, making them easier to 

implement and ensuring more 

consistent reporting. 

DATES: This revision to the policy 

statement is effective on October 2, 

2017. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC-2015-0176 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this action. You 

may obtain publicly-available 

information related to this action using 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC-2015-0176. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

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 pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced in this document 

(if that document is available in 

ADAMS) is provided the first time that 

a document is referenced. For the 

convenience of the reader, the ADAMS 

Accession numbers are provided in a 


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45908 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Notices 

table in Section VIII, ‘‘Availability of 

Documents,’’ of this document. 

• The NRC’s PDR: You may examine 

and purchase copies of public 

documents at the NRC’s PDR, Room O1– 

F21, One White Flint North, 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 

20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tanya Palmateer Oxenberg, Office of 

Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–2437; email: Tanya.Oxenberg@

nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Background 

II. Opportunity for Public Participation 

III. Coordination With NRC Agreement States 

IV. Coordination With the Advisory 

Committee on the Medical Uses of 

Isotopes 

V. Congressional Review Act 

VI. Availability of Documents 

I. Background 

Section 208, ‘‘Abnormal Occurrence 

Reports,’’ of the Energy Reorganization 

Act of 1974, as amended (Pub. L. 

93-438) (the Act), defines an AO as an 

unscheduled incident or event that the 

NRC determines to be significant from 

the standpoint of public health or safety. 

The Federal Reports Elimination and 

Sunset Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-66) 

requires that AOs be reported to 

Congress annually. As required by 

Section 208, the discussion for each 

reported event includes the date and 

place, the nature and probable 

consequences, the cause or causes, and 

the action taken to prevent recurrence. 

The Commission must also widely 

disseminate the AO report to the public 

within 15 days of publishing the AO 

report to Congress. 

Abnormal Occurrence Reporting 

The Commission has developed the 

AO policy statement to comply with 

Section 208 of the Energy 

Reorganization Act. The intent of the 

Act is to keep Congress and the public 

informed of unscheduled incidents or 

events that the Commission considers 

significant from the standpoint of public 

health or safety. The policy reflects a 

range of health and safety concerns and 

applies both to incidents and events 

involving a single individual and to 

those having an overall impact on the 

general public. The AO criteria use a 

high reporting threshold so that only 

those events considered significant from 

the standpoint of public health or safety 

are reported to Congress. 

Licensee Reports 

The changes to the policy statement 

do not change the reporting 

requirements for NRC licensees in 

Commission regulations, license 

conditions, or technical specifications. 

The NRC licensees will continue to 

submit required reports on a wide range 

of events, including instrument 

malfunctions and deviations from 

normal operating procedures that may 

not be significant from the standpoint of 

public health or safety but that provide 

data useful to the Commission in 

monitoring the operating trends of 

licensed facilities and in comparing the 

actual performance of these facilities 

with their design and/or licensing basis. 

II. Opportunity for Public Participation 

To develop the revised AO criteria, 

the NRC staff evaluated several AO 

approaches and consulted with experts 

in the reactor and nuclear material 

areas, including the Advisory 

Committee on the Medical Uses of 

Isotopes (ACMUI), and coordinated with 

Agreement States. The NRC staff 

undertook this effort to ensure that it 

was properly identifying those events 

that have the potential for significant 

health or safety consequences are 

reported to Congress. 

After an evaluation, the NRC staff 

incorporated several comments 

provided by the States and ACMUI into 

the draft revision in SECY–15–0040, 

‘‘Proposed Revisions to Policy 

Statement on Reporting Abnormal 

Occurrence Criteria,’’ dated March 19, 

2015 (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML12166A091). The proposed AO 

policy statement that was published for 

comment included the Commission’s 

subsequent direction in the staff 

requirements memorandum (SRM) for 

SECY–15–0040, dated June 30, 2015 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML15181A030). 

The proposed AO criteria was published 

in the Federal Register (FR) on August 

17, 2015 (80 FR 49177), for a 90-day 

public comment period. 

The NRC received three comment 

letters on the proposed AO criteria 

published in the FR from the 

Organization of Agreement States (OAS) 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML16209A194), 

Washington State Department of Health 

(WDH) (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML16209A199), and the Commonwealth 

of Virginia Department of Health (VDH) 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML16209A196). 

Each letter contained multiple 

comments. In summary, the comments 

asked the NRC to (1) revise and/or 

remove the dose threshold for reporting 

AO events to Congress on unintended 

exposures to an adult and a minor or an 

embryo/fetus, (2) add ‘‘medical 

physicist’’ or revise ‘‘independent 

physician’’ in the requirement to obtain 

the determination of an independent 

physician, (3) remove the requirements 

for ‘‘irretrievable well logging sources,’’ 

(4) clarify the applicability of the 

‘‘substantial breakdown’’ provision in 

Criterion I.C.4 to materials licensees, 

and (5) remove or modify Criterion III.C 

medical events. 

III. Coordination With NRC Agreement 

States 

The NRC coordinated with the 

Agreement States throughout the 

development of this final policy 

statement. In October 2013, the NRC 

provided a preliminary proposed policy 

statement to the Agreement States for 

their review and comment. The 

Agreement States provided comments 

on the preliminary proposed policy 

statement. Several comments resulted in 

revisions to the proposed AO criteria. A 

summary of the Agreement State 

comments and the NRC staff responses 

to those comments are available at 

ADAMS Accession No. ML14346A274. 

The NRC received comment letters on 

the proposed AO criteria, which was 

published in the FR on August 17, 2015 

(80 FR 49177). The NRC received 

comments from OAS, WDH, and VDH. 

Each letter contained multiple 

comments. The NRC staff analyzed and 

categorized these comments according 

to the AO criterion to which they apply. 

A summary of the Agreement States’ 

comments and the NRC staff responses 

to the comments are available in 

ADAMS under Accession No. 

ML16209A049. The staff did not make 

any changes in response to the 

comments. 

The AO criteria are designed to 

identify those events that could signal a 

potential public health or safety issue 

and evaluate events in a broad 

industrywide perspective. In response 

to comments regarding the requirement 

that an independent physician 

determine whether permanent 

functional damage occurred, the NRC 

staff did not agree to add ‘‘authorized 

medical physicist’’ because medical 

physicists are neither qualified nor 

credentialed to make a medical 

determination that unintended 

permanent functional damage to an 

organ or a physiological system has 

occurred. The criterion requires a 

determination by an independent 

physician ‘‘deemed qualified by the 

NRC or Agreement State,’’ which takes 

into account all pertinent credentialing 

aspects of the individual, including 

specialty in the relevant field. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Notices 45909 

The staff disagreed with removing or 

modifying requirements for 

‘‘irretrievable well logging sources’’ and 

Criterion III.C medical events. The staff 

disagreed with modifying the criterion 

regarding ‘‘irretrievable well logging 

sources’’ as NRC and Agreement State 

regulations require the licensee to 

evaluate the potential threat to public 

health or safety from an abandoned 

irretrievable source. This evaluation and 

dose assessment would be used as a 

basis to evaluate these events as 

potential AOs for irretrievable well 

logging sources. The NRC previously 

added Criterion III.C for medical AO 

because the Commission considered 

misadministrations to be a concern. The 

current criteria are based on doses that 

would likely have a significant potential 

for resulting in permanent deterministic 

effects. 

In response to a comment that 

requested clarification of the 

applicability of the ‘‘substantial 

breakdown’’ provision in criterion l.C.4 

to materials licensees, the staff 

explained that this criterion is 

principally for licensees that possess 

special nuclear material and whose 

activities are included in a security plan 

required by part 73 of title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). 

Criterion I.C.1 is the principal criterion 

for security incidents involving 

materials subject to 10 CFR part 37 for 

NRC or Agreement State radioactive 

materials licensee events to determine if 

an AO has occurred. 

IV. Coordination With the Advisory 

Committee on the Medical Uses of 

Isotopes 

The ACMUI submitted comments on 

the proposed AO policy statement in a 

letter dated November 6, 2015 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML15356A087). These 

comments concerned the reporting of 

incidents and events related to medical 

use that the ACMUI found may not be 

significant for public health or safety. 

The NRC prepared a response to the 

ACMUI recommendations (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML16209A061). Most of 

ACMUI’s comments indicated 

agreement with the proposed revisions 

to the policy statement. However, 

ACMUI had three comments 

recommending changes to the AO 

criteria. The staff disagreed with two 

comments and partially agreed with one 

comment. The staff agreed to add ‘‘and 

human research subjects’’ to footnote 2 

to Criterion 1, but it disagreed with 

excluding events reported under 

§ 35.3047 from Criterion I.A.2. The staff 

also disagreed with adding § 35.3047 to 

the footnote text because this would 

establish two different thresholds for 

reporting an AO involving exposure to 

an embryo/fetus: one for an embryo/ 

fetus unintentionally exposed due to a 

medical administration to a pregnant 

individual and one for an embryo/fetus 

exposed from all other sources of 

licensed material. 

V. Congressional Review Act 

This policy statement is not a rule as 

defined in the Congressional Review 

Act (5 U.S.C. 801–808). 

VI. Availability of Documents 

The documents identified in the 

following table are available as 

indicated. 

Date Document 

ADAMS 

Accession No./ 

FR 

citation 

03/19/2015 ........ SECY–15–0040, Proposed Revisions to Policy Statement on Reporting Abnormal Occurrence Criteria ...... ML12166A091 

06/30/2015 ........ Staff Requirements—SECY–15–0040—Proposed Revisions to Policy Statement on Reporting Abnormal 

Occurrence Criteria.

ML15181A030 

08/17/2015 ........ Proposed revision to policy statement issued for a 90 day public comment period. ....................................... 80 FR 49177 

11/16/2015 ........ OAS letter to NRC, RE: Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Revision to Abnormal Occurrence Policy 

Statement.

ML16209A194 

11/17/2015 ........ State of Washington Comment for Docket ID NRC-2015–0176 Abnormal Occurrence Criteria Revision ...... ML16209A199 

11/12/2015 ........ Virginia Comments on Abnormal Occurrence (AO) Reporting Revision .......................................................... ML16209A196 

03/19/2015 ........ Summary of Major Agreement State Comments ..............................................................................................

and Staff Response ..........................................................................................................................................

ML14346A274 

07/08/2016 ........ Summary of Organization of Agreement State (OAS), State of Washington, and Commonwealth of Virginia 

Comments and Staff Response.

ML16209A049 

11/06/2015 ........ Final ACMUI Comments on Proposed Revision of the NRC Policy Statement on Reporting Abnormal Occurrences to Congress.ML15356A087 

10/09/2015 ........ Meeting Summary, ACMUI Meeting, ................................................................................................................

October 8–9, 2015 ............................................................................................................................................

ML15294A461 

08/08/2016 ........ Staff’s Response to the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes’ November 6, 2015, Recommendations to Final Comments on Proposed Revision of the NRC Policy Statement on Reporting 

Abnormal Occurrences to Congress.

ML16209A061 

06/24/2014 ........ Management Directive 8.3, ‘‘NRC Incident Investigation Program’’ ................................................................. ML13175A294 

04/11/2014 ........ Management Directive 8.9, ‘‘Accident Investigation’’ ....................................................................................... ML13319A133 

10/03/2010 ........ Management Directive 8.13, ‘‘Reactor Oversight Process,’’ DT–10–14 .......................................................... ML101400045 

12/23/2015 ........ Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0305, ‘‘Operating Reactor Assessment Program’’ ..................................... ML15317A147 

12/15/2006 ........ IMC 350, ‘‘Oversight of Reactor Facilities in a Shutdown Condition Due to Significant Performance and/or 

Operational Concerns’’.

ML063400076 

06/30/2015 ........ NUREG–1520 Rev. 2, ‘‘Standard Review Plan for Fuel Cycle Facilities License Applications,’’ Final Report ML15176A258 


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45910 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Notices 

1Events reported to the NRC by Agreement States 

that reach the threshold for reporting as AOs will 

be reported as such by the Commission. 

2Medical patients and human research subjects 

are excluded from consideration under these 

criteria, and these criteria do not apply to medical 

events defined in § 35.3045 of title 10 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Report and 

notification of a medical event,’’ which are 

considered in AO Criteria III.C. 

3 ‘‘Independent physician’’ is defined as a 

physician not on the licensee’s staff and who was 

not involved in the care of the patient involved. 

4 Information pertaining to certain incidents may 

either be classified or under consideration for 

The final policy statement is attached. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day 

of September 2017. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Annette L. Vietti-Cook, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

Statement of Policy 

General Statement of Policy on the 

Implementation of Section 208 of the 

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as 

Amended 

Applicability 

Implementation of Section 208, 

‘‘Abnormal Occurrence Reports,’’ of the 

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as 

amended, involves the conduct of 

Commission business and does not 

impose requirements on licensees or 

certified facilities. The reports cover 

certain unscheduled incidents or events 

related to the manufacture, 

construction, or operation of a facility or 

the conduct of an activity subject to the 

requirements of parts 20, 30 through 37, 

39, 40, 50, 61, 70, 71, 72, or 76 of title 

10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(10 CFR). 

Agreement States provide information 

to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) on incidents and 

events involving nuclear materials in 

those States. Agreement States are those 

States that have entered into formal 

agreements with the NRC, pursuant to 

Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 

1954, as amended (AEA) (Pub. L. 83– 

703), to regulate certain quantities of 

AEA material at facilities located within 

their borders. Events reported by 

Agreement States that reach the 

threshold for reporting as abnormal 

occurrences (AOs) are also published in 

the ‘‘Report to Congress on Abnormal 

Occurrences.’’ 

Abnormal Occurrence General 

Statement of Policy 

The Commission will apply the 

following policy in determining 

whether an incident or event at a facility 

or involving an activity that is licensed 

or otherwise regulated by the 

Commission or an Agreement State is an 

AO.1

An incident or event is considered an 

AO if it involves a major reduction in 

the protection of public health or safety. 

The incident or event has a moderate or 

severe impact on public health or safety 

and could include, but need not be 

limited to, the following: 

(1) Moderate exposure to, or release 

of, radioactive material licensed by or 

otherwise regulated by the Commission 

or Agreement States; 

(2) Major degradation of essential 

safety-related equipment; 

(3) Major deficiencies in design, 

construction, or use of, or management 

controls for, facilities or radioactive 

material licensed by or otherwise 

regulated by the Commission or 

Agreement States; or 

(4) Substantiated case of actual loss, 

theft, or diversion of risk-significant 

radioactive material licensed by or 

otherwise regulated by the Commission 

or Agreement States. 

Appendix A to this policy statement 

sets forth the criteria for determining 

whether an incident or event is as an 

AO. 

Commission Dissemination of Abnormal 

Occurrence Information 

The Commission widely disseminates 

AO reports to the public. The 

Commission submits an annual report to 

Congress on AOs at or associated with 

any facility or activity that is licensed or 

otherwise regulated by the NRC. This 

report provides the date, place, nature, 

and probable consequences of each AO; 

the cause or causes of each AO; and any 

action taken by the licensee to prevent 

recurrence. 

Appendix A: Abnormal Occurrence 

Criteria 

An incident or event is considered an 

abnormal occurrence (AO) if it involves a 

major reduction in the degree of protection 

of public health or safety. This type of 

incident or event has a moderate or severe 

impact on public health or safety and could 

include, but need not be limited to, the 

following: 

(1) Moderate exposure to, or release of, 

radioactive material licensed by or otherwise 

regulated by the Commission or Agreement 

States; 

(2) Major degradation of essential safetyrelated equipment; 

(3) Major deficiencies in design, 

construction, or use of, or management 

controls for facilities or radioactive material 

licensed by or otherwise regulated by the 

Commission or Agreement States; or 

(4) Substantiated case of actual loss, theft, 

or diversion of risk-significant radioactive 

material licensed by or otherwise regulated 

by the Commission or Agreement States. 

Abnormal Occurrence Criteria 

The following presents the criteria, by 

types of events, used to determine which 

events will be considered for reporting as 

AOs. 

I. All Licensees.2

A. Human Exposure to Radiation from 

Licensed Material. 

1. Any unintended radiation exposure to 

an adult (any individual 18 years of age or 

older) resulting in: 

(a) An annual total effective dose 

equivalent (TEDE) of 250 millisieverts (mSv) 

(25 rem) or more; 

(b) An annual sum of the deep dose 

equivalent (external dose) and committed 

dose equivalent (intake of radioactive 

material) to any individual organ other than 

the lens of the eye, the bone marrow, and the 

gonads of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more; 

(c) An annual dose equivalent to the lens 

of the eye of 1 sievert (Sv) (100 rem) or more; 

(d) An annual sum of the deep dose 

equivalent and committed dose equivalent to 

the bone marrow of 1 Sv (100 rem) or more; 

(e) A committed dose equivalent to the 

gonads of 2,500 mSv (250 rem) or more; or 

(f) An annual shallow dose equivalent to 

the skin or extremities of 2,500 mSv (250 

rem) or more. 

2. Any unintended radiation exposure to 

any minor (an individual less than 18 years 

of age) resulting in an annual TEDE of 50 

mSv (5 rem) or more, or to an embryo/fetus 

resulting in a dose equivalent of 50 mSv (5 

rem) or more. 

3. Any radiation exposure that has resulted 

in unintended permanent functional damage 

to an organ or a physiological system as 

determined by an independent physician 3

deemed qualified by the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC) or Agreement 

State. 

B. Discharge or Dispersal of Radioactive 

Material from Its Intended Place of 

Confinement. 

The release of radioactive material to an 

unrestricted area in concentrations that, if 

averaged over a period of 24 hours, exceed 

5,000 times the values specified in Table 2 

of Appendix B, ‘‘Annual Limits on Intake 

(ALIs) and Derived Air Concentrations 

(DACs) of Radionuclides for Occupational 

Exposure; Effluent Concentrations; 

Concentrations for Release to Sewerage,’’ to 

10 CFR part 20, ‘‘Standards for protection 

against radiation,’’ unless the licensee has 

demonstrated compliance with § 20.1301, 

‘‘Dose limits for individual members of the 

public,’’ using § 20.1302(b)(1) or 

§ 20.1302(b)(2)(ii). This criterion does not 

apply to transportation events. 

C. Theft, Diversion, or Loss of Licensed 

Material; Sabotage; or Security Breach.456

1. Any stolen, diverted, abandoned, or 

unrecovered lost radioactive material that 


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classification because of national security 

implications. Classified information will be 

withheld when formally reporting these incidents 

in accordance with Executive Order 13526, 

‘‘Classified National Security Information,’’ as 

amended (75 FR 707; January 5, 2010), or any 

predecessor or successor order to require protection 

against unauthorized disclosures. Any classified 

details about these incidents would be available to 

Congress upon request, under appropriate security 

arrangements. 

5 Information pertaining to certain incidents may 

be Safeguards Information as defined in § 73.2 

because of safety and security implications. The AO 

report would withhold specific Safeguards 

Information in accordance with Section 147 of the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Any 

safeguards details regarding these incidents would 

be available to Congress upon request, under 

appropriate security arrangements. 

6Reporting lost or stolen material is based on the 

activity of the source at the time the radioactive 

material was known to be lost or stolen. If, by the 

time the AO report is due to Congress, the 

radioactive material has decayed below the 

thresholds listed in Appendix A to 10 CFR part 37, 

the report will clarify that the radioactive material 

has decayed below the thresholds. 

7 ‘‘Substantiated’’ means a situation in which 

there is an indication of loss, theft, or unlawful 

diversion, such as an allegation of diversion, report 

of lost or stolen material, or other indication of loss 

of material control or accountability that cannot be 

refuted following an investigation, and requires 

further action on the part of the agency or other 

proper authorities. 

8 ‘‘Formula quantity of special nuclear material’’ 

is defined in § 70.4, ‘‘Definitions.’’ 

9A substantial breakdown is defined as a red 

finding under the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) 

in the physical security inspection program or any 

plant or facility determined to have overall 

unacceptable performance. 

10This item addresses the initiation of any 

incident investigation teams, as described in NRC 

Management Directive (MD) 8.3, ‘‘NRC Incident 

Investigation Program’’ (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML13175A294), or initiation of any accident review 

groups, as described in MD 8.9, ‘‘Accident 

Investigation’’ (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML13319A133). 

11The NRC ROP uses four colors to describe the 

safety significance of licensee performance. As 

defined in NRC MD 8.13, ‘‘Reactor Oversight 

Process’’ (ADAMS Accession No. ML101400045), 

green is used for very low safety significance, white 

is used for low to moderate safety significance, 

yellow is used for substantial safety significance, 

and red is used for high safety significance. Reactor 

conditions or performance indicators evaluated to 

be red are considered AOs. 

12Results from the NRC ASP program are used to 

monitor agency performance against the agency’s 

strategic safety goal (e.g., ensure the safe use of 

radioactive materials) and objectives (e.g., prevent 

and mitigate accidents and ensure radiation safety). 

A precursor event with a CCDP or DCDP of greater 

than or equal to 1 × 10¥3 is used as a performance 

indicator for the strategic safety goal by determining 

that there have been no significant precursors of a 

nuclear reactor accident and that there have been 

no more than one significant adverse trend in 

industry safety performance. 

13Any plants assessed by the ROP to be in the 

unacceptable performance column, as described in 

NRC Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0305, 

‘‘Operating Reactor Assessment Program’’ (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML15317A147), or under NRC IMC 

0350, ‘‘Oversight of Reactor Facilities in a 

Shutdown Condition Due to Significant 

Performance and/or Operational Concerns’’ 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML063400076). This 

assessment of safety performance is based on the 

number and significance of NRC inspection 

findings and licensee performance indicators. 

14Criterion III.A also applies to fuel cycle 

facilities. 

meets or exceeds the thresholds listed in 

Appendix A, ‘‘Category 1 and Category 2 

Radioactive Materials,’’ to 10 CFR part 37, 

‘‘Physical protection of category 1 and 

category 2 quantities of radioactive material.’’ 

Excluded from reporting under this criterion 

are those events involving sources that are 

lost or abandoned under the following 

conditions: sources that have been lost and 

for which a reasonable attempt at recovery 

has been made without success, or 

irretrievable well logging sources as defined 

in § 39.2, ‘‘Definitions.’’ These sources are 

only excluded if there is reasonable 

assurance that the doses from these sources 

have not exceeded, and will not exceed, the 

reporting thresholds specified in AO Criteria 

I.A.1 and I.A.2 and the agency has 

determined that the risk of theft or diversion 

is acceptably low. 

2. An act that results in radiological 

sabotage as defined in § 73.2. 

3. Any substantiated 7 case of actual theft, 

diversion, or loss of a formula quantity of 

special nuclear material,8 or an inventory 

discrepancy of a formula quantity of special 

nuclear material8 that is judged to be caused 

by theft or diversion. 

4. Any substantial breakdown 9 of physical 

security, cyber security, or material control 

and accountability programs that 

significantly weakens the protection against 

loss, theft, diversion, or sabotage. 

5. Any significant unauthorized 

disclosures (loss, theft, and/or deliberate 

disclosure) of classified information that 

harms national security or of Safeguards 

Information that threatens public health or 

safety. 

D. Initiation of High-Level NRC Team 

Inspection.10

II. Commercial Nuclear Power Plant 

Licensees. 

A. Malfunction of Facility, Structures, or 

Equipment. 

1. Exceeding a safety limit of a license 

technical specification (TS) (§ § 50.36(c)). 

2. Serious degradation of fuel integrity, 

primary coolant pressure boundary, or 

primary containment boundary. 

3. Loss of plant capability to perform 

essential safety functions so that a release of 

radioactive materials that could result in 

exceeding the dose limits of 10 CFR part 100, 

‘‘Reactor site criteria,’’ or five times the dose 

limits of General Design Criteria (GDC) 19, 

‘‘Control Room,’’ in Appendix A, ‘‘General 

Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,’’ to 

10 CFR part 50, ‘‘Domestic licensing of 

production and utilization facilities,’’ could 

occur from a postulated transient or accident 

(e.g., loss of emergency core cooling system, 

loss of control rod system). 

B. Design or Safety Analysis Deficiency, 

Personnel Error, or Procedural or 

Administrative Inadequacy. 

1. Discovery of a major condition not 

specifically considered in the safety analysis 

report or TS that requires immediate 

remedial action. 

2. Personnel error or procedural 

deficiencies that result in the loss of plant 

capability to perform essential safety 

functions such that a release of radioactive 

materials exceeding the dose limits of 10 CFR 

part 100 or five times the dose limits of GDC 

19 in Appendix A to 10 CFR part 50, could 

occur from a postulated transient or accident 

(e.g., loss of emergency core cooling system, 

loss of control rod drive mechanism). 

C. Any operating reactor events or conditions 

evaluated by the NRC ROP to be the result 

of or associated with licensee performance 

issues of high safety significance.11

D. Any operating reactor events or conditions 

evaluated by the NRC Accident Sequence 

Precursor (ASP) program to have a 

conditional core damage probability (CCDP) 

or change in core damage probability (DCDP) 

of greater than or equal to 1 × 10¥3.12

E. Any operating reactor plants that are 

determined to have overall unacceptable 

performance or are in a shutdown condition 

as a result of significant performance 

problems and/or operational event(s).13

III. Events at Facilities Other Than Nuclear 

Power Plants and All Transportation Events. 

A. Events Involving Design, Analysis, 

Construction, Testing, Operation, Transport, 

Use, or Disposal. 

1. An accidental criticality. 

2. A major deficiency in design, 

construction, control, or operation having 

significant safety implications that require 

immediate remedial action. 

3. A serious safety-significant deficiency in 

management or procedural controls. 

4. A series of events (in which the 

individual events are not of major 

importance), recurring incidents, or incidents 

with implications for similar facilities 

(generic incidents) that raise a major safety 

concern. 

B. Fuel Cycle Facilities.14

1. Absence or failure of all safety controls 

(engineered and human) such that conditions 

were present for the occurrence of a highconsequence event involving an 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
45912 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Notices 

15High-consequence events for facilities licensed 

under 10 CFR part 70, ‘‘Domestic licensing of 

special nuclear material,’’ are those that could 

seriously harm the worker or a member of the 

public in accordance with § 70.61, ‘‘Performance 

requirements.’’ The integrated safety analysis 

conducted and maintained by the licensee or 

applicant of 10 CFR part 70 fuel cycle facilities 

identifies such hazards and the safety controls 

(§ 70.62(c)) applied to meet the performance 

requirements in accordance with § 70.61(b) through 

(d). 

Fuel cycle facilities licensed under 10 CFR part 

40, ‘‘Domestic licensing of source material,’’ or 

certified under 10 CFR part 76, ‘‘Certification of 

gaseous diffusion plants,’’ have licensing basis 

documents that describe facility specific hazards, 

consequences, and those controls used to prevent 

or mitigate the consequences of such accidents. For 

these facilities, a high-consequence event would be 

a release that has the potential to cause acute 

radiological or chemical exposures to a worker or 

a member of the public similar to that defined in 

Appendix A to Chapter 3, Section A.2, of NUREG 

1520, Revision 2, ‘‘Standard Review Plan for Fuel 

Cycle Facilities License Applications—Final 

Report,’’ issued June 2015, under ‘‘Consequence 

Category 3 (High Consequences)’’ (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML15176A258). 

16Criteria III.A.2, III.A.3, and III.A.4 also apply to 

medical licensees. 

NRC-regulated hazard (radiological or 

chemical).15

2. An NRC-ordered safety-related or 

security-related immediate remedial action. 

C. Events Involving the Medical Use of 

Radioactive Materials in Patients or Human 

Research Subjects.16

1. A medical event, as defined in § 35.3045, 

which results in a dose that: 

(a) Is equal to or greater than 1 gray (Gy) 

(100 rad) to a major portion of the bone 

marrow or to the lens of the eye; or equal to 

or greater than 2.5 Gy (250 rad) to the gonads; 

or 

(b) Exceeds, by 10 Gy (1,000 rad), the 

expected dose to any other organ or tissue 

from the administration defined in the 

written directive; and 

2. A medical event, as defined in § 35.3045, 

which involves: 

(a) A dose or dosage that is at least 50 

percent greater than that prescribed, or 

(b) A prescribed dose or dosage that: 

(i) Uses the wrong radiopharmaceutical or 

unsealed byproduct material; or 

(ii) Is delivered by the wrong route of 

administration; or 

(iii) Is delivered to the wrong treatment 

site; or 

(iv) Is delivered by the wrong treatment 

mode; or 

(v) Is from a leaking source or sources; or 

(vi) Is delivered to the wrong individual or 

human research subject. 

Appendix B: Other Events of Interest 

This appendix discusses other events of 

interest that do not meet the criteria for 

abnormal occurrences (AOs) in Appendix A 

to this policy statement. The Commission 

may determine that events other than AOs 

may be of interest to Congress and the public 

and should be included in an appendix to the 

AO report as ‘‘Other Events of Interest.’’ Such 

events may include, but are not necessarily 

limited to, events that do not meet the AO 

criteria but that have been perceived by 

Congress or the public to be of high health 

or safety significance, have received 

significant media coverage, or have caused 

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to 

increase its attention to or oversight of a 

program area, or a group of similar events 

that have resulted in licensed materials 

entering the public domain in an 

uncontrolled manner. 

[FR Doc. 2017–21043 Filed 9–29–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY 

CORPORATION 

Proposed Submission of Information 

Collection for OMB Review; Comment 

Request; Termination of SingleEmployer Plans, Missing Participants 

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to request 

extension of OMB approval. 

SUMMARY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation (‘‘PBGC’’) intends to 

request that the Office of Management 

and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) extend approval 

(with modifications), under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, of a 

collection of information in its 

regulations on Termination of SingleEmployer Plans and Missing 

Participants, and implementing forms 

and instructions. This notice informs 

the public of PBGC’s intent and solicits 

public comment on the collection of 

information. 

DATES: Comments should be submitted 

by December 1, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the Web 

site instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Email: paperwork.comments@

pbgc.gov. 

• Mail or Hand Delivery: Office of 

General Counsel, Pension Benefit 

Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street 

NW., Washington, DC 20005–4026. 

PBGC will make all comments 

available on its Web site at 

www.pbgc.gov. 

Copies of the collection of 

information may be obtained without 

charge by writing to the Disclosure 

Division of the Office of the General 

Counsel of PBGC at the above address 

or by visiting that office or calling 202– 

326–4040 during normal business 

hours. (TTY and TDD users may call the 

Federal relay service toll-free at 1–800– 

877–8339 and ask to be connected to 

202–326–4040.) The regulations and 

forms and instructions relating to this 

collection of information are available 

on PBGC’s Web site at www.pbgc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo 

Amato Burns (burns.jo.amato@

pbgc.gov), Regulatory Affairs Division, 

Office of the General Counsel, Pension 

Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K 

Street NW., Washington, DC 20005– 

4026, 202 326–4400, ext. 3072, or Daniel 

S. Liebman (daniel.liebman@pbgc.gov), 

Acting Assistant General Counsel, same 

address and phone number, ext. 6510. 

TTY and TDD users may call the 

Federal relay service toll-free at 800– 

877–8339 and ask to be connected to 

202–326–4400. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 

section 4041 of the Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 

as amended, a single-employer pension 

plan may terminate voluntarily only if 

it satisfies the requirements for either a 

standard or a distress termination. 

Pursuant to ERISA section 4041(b), for 

standard terminations, and section 

4041(c), for distress terminations, and 

PBGC’s termination regulation (29 CFR 

part 4041), a plan administrator wishing 

to terminate a plan is required to submit 

specified information to PBGC in 

support of the proposed termination and 

to provide specified information 

regarding the proposed termination to 

third parties (participants, beneficiaries, 

alternate payees, and employee 

organizations). In the case of a plan with 

participants or beneficiaries who cannot 

be located when their benefits are to be 

distributed, the plan administrator is 

subject to the requirements of ERISA 

section 4050 and PBGC’s regulation on 

missing participants (29 CFR part 4050). 

These regulations may be found on 

PBGC’s Web site at http://

www.pbgc.gov/res/laws-andregulations/code-of-federalregulations.html. 

The collection of information under 

these regulations and the implementing 

forms and instructions has been 

approved by OMB under control 

number 1212–0036 (expires November 

30, 2017). PBGC is requesting that OMB 

extend its approval for three years, with 

modifications. An agency may not 

conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 

required to respond to, a collection of 

information unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

PBGC is proposing to provide that the 

plan administrator of a plan terminating 

in a standard termination, or a distress 

termination that closes out in the 

private sector, may submit termination 

forms electronically (scanned and 

emailed or faxed), rather than by mail or 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES