10 CFR 20 - STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG) DG-4014, “Decommissioning Planning During Operations.” This guide describes a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable for use in complying with the NRC's Decommissioning Planning Rule.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending its regulations to make miscellaneous administrative changes, including updating the street address for its Region IV office and correcting an authority citation and typographical and spelling errors, and other edits and conforming changes. This document is necessary to inform the public of these changes to the NRC's regulations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Commission or NRC) is seeking input from the public, licensees, Agreement States, non-Agreement States, and other stakeholders on a potential rulemaking to address prompt remediation of residual radioactivity during the operational phase of licensed material sites and nuclear reactors. The NRC has not initiated a rulemaking, but is in the process of gathering information and seeking stakeholder input on this subject for developing a technical basis document. To aid in this process, the NRC is requesting comments on the issues discussed in Section III, “Specific Questions,” in the Supplementary Information Section of this document. Additionally, the NRC will hold a public Webinar to facilitate the public's and other stakeholders' understanding of these issues and the submission of comments.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending its regulations to improve decommissioning planning and thereby reduce the likelihood that any current operating facility will become a legacy site. The amended regulations require licensees to conduct their operations to minimize the introduction of residual radioactivity into the site, which includes the site's subsurface soil and groundwater. Licensees also may be required to perform site surveys to determine whether residual radioactivity is present in subsurface areas and to keep records of these surveys with records important for decommissioning. The amended regulations require licensees to report additional details in their decommissioning cost estimate (DCE), eliminate the escrow account and line of credit as approved financial assurance mechanisms, and modify other financial assurance requirements. The amended regulations require decommissioning power reactor licensees to report additional information on the costs of decommissioning and spent fuel management.