Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/31/2014
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received a petition for rulemaking from the Nuclear Energy Institute concerning the physical protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Material, according to a notice in the Federal Register this week. NEI said the rulemaking is needed to “remove unnecessary and burdensome requirements on licensees with established physical security programs” put in during the Commission’s Part 37 rulemaking. The changes would enable licensees, especially nuclear plants, to take credit for robust security measures already in place, as needed in 10 CFR Part 72, and avoid unnecessary requirements providing little or no commensurate safety or security benefits, NEI said.
For NEI, the petition is about recognizing already established security measures at plant reactors. “The industry is not seeking to lessen the protection of radioactive materials, it is seeking recognition of already established security programs applicable at certain sites,” NEI Senior Project Manager for Security Raymond Landis said. “NEI offers this petition as a means to provide a long-term fix to the deficiencies in the current rule [10 CFR Part 37] while still ensuring licensees adequately protect byproduct materials.” NRC is currently seeking public comment on the petition for rulemaking, and responses are due by Jan. 12.
One of the areas within Part 37 that NEI focused its petition is adding a security exemption for some of the larger components like a retired steam generator, which can weigh several tons. “Large Components and Robust Structures as defined within the rulemaking petition are structures or components where their physical size or constructions makes theft or diversion impractical,” Landis said. “One common example of Large Component as defined within both the NRC issued Enforcement Guidance Memorandum and the rulemaking petition is retired steam generators. These pieces weigh hundreds if not thousands of tons. The susceptibility of a steam generator to undetected theft or diversion is insignificant.”
