Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/03/18/2020-05296/individual-monitoring-devices
Timestamp: 2020-04-09 18:28:40
Document Index: 172333126

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 34', 'art 36', 'art 39', '§\u200934', 'arts 34', '§\u200920']

A Proposed Rule by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 03/18/2020
This document has a comment period that ends in 8 days. (04/17/2020) Submit a formal comment
Submit comments by April 17, 2020. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-05296 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-05296
Because the NRC considers this action to be non-controversial, the NRC is publishing this proposed rule concurrently with a direct final rule in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register. The direct final rule will become effective on June 16, 2020. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by April 17, 2020, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws the direct final rule and the associated supplemental guidance. If the direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC will address the comments if there is a subsequent final rule. Absent significant modifications to the proposed revisions requiring republication, the NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action in the event the direct final rule is withdrawn.
A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter explains why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to the rule's underlying premise or Start Printed Page 15396approach, or would be ineffective or unacceptable without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
The regulations in part 34 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), “Licenses for Industrial Radiography and Radiation Safety Requirements for Industrial Radiographic Operations”; 10 CFR part 36, “Licenses and Radiation Safety Requirements for Irradiators”; and 10 CFR part 39, “Licenses and Radiation Safety Requirements for Well Logging,” require the use of personnel dosimetry that is processed and evaluated by an accredited National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) processor. These regulations restrict the types of personnel dosimeters that can be used and prohibit the use of newer dosimetry technologies that do not require processing by an accredited NVLAP facility.
On July 14, 2016, the NRC received a petition for rulemaking (PRM) from the American Society for Nondestructive Testing and the Nondestructive Testing Management Association (the petitioners) (ADAMS Accession No. ML16228A045). The petition was docketed by the NRC on August 12, 2016, and assigned Docket No. PRM-34-7. The NRC published a notice of docketing of PRM-34-7 in the Federal Register (81 FR 78732) on November 9, 2016. The petitioners requested that the NRC amend its regulations and associated guidance to authorize the use of improved individual monitoring devices for industrial radiographic personnel. Specifically, the petitioners requested that the NRC amend its regulations to authorize the use of digital output personnel dosimeters to satisfy the personnel dosimetry requirements in § 34.47(a). The petitioners interchangeably used the terms “improved individual monitoring devices,” “electronic personnel monitoring dosimeters,” “electronic dosimeters,” and “digital personnel dosimeters” to describe digital output personnel dosimetry. In this proposed rule, the NRC uses the term “digital output personnel dosimetry” in place of these terms. A digital output personnel dosimeter is a specific type of personnel dosimetry that currently cannot be used to meet the requirements in 10 CFR parts 34, 36, and 39 to demonstrate compliance with the occupational dose limits in § 20.1201. The NRC published a notice of docketing of PRM-34-7 in the Federal Register (81 FR 78732) on November 9, 2016.
On February 11, 2019, the NRC published a document in the Federal Register (84 FR 3116) informing the public that it would consider PRM-34-7 in the rulemaking process. In the Federal Register notice, the NRC accepted the petitioners' request that the NRC amend its regulations to authorize the use of digital output personnel dosimeters for industrial radiographic personnel and expanded the scope of the rulemaking to include the use of digital output personnel dosimeters in irradiator and well logging operations.
This proposed rule does not contain any new or amended collections of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing collections of information were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, approval numbers 3150-0007, 3150-0130, and 3150-0158.
[FR Doc. 2020-05296 Filed 3-17-20; 8:45 am]