AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Draft regulatory basis; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

On July 22, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) solicited comments on a draft regulatory basis to support the development of a rulemaking for the disposal of certain types of greater-than-Class-C waste in a low-level radioactive waste land disposal facility. The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on September 20, 2019. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period by an additional 60 days to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES:

The due date of comments requested in the document published on July 22, 2019 (84 FR 35037), is extended. Comments should be filed no later than November 19, 2019. 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.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0081. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• Email comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301-415-1677.
• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101.
• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
• Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.

For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments” in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cardelia Maupin, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-4127; email: Cardelia.Maupin@nrc.gov; or Gary Comfort, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-8106; email: Gary.Comfort@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0081 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this action by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0081.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, 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 draft regulatory basis, “Regulatory Basis for the Disposal of Greater-than-Class C (GTCC) Waste,” is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML19059A403.
• 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.

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2017-0081 in your comment submission.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

On July 22, 2019, the NRC solicited comments on a draft regulatory basis “Regulatory Basis for the Disposal of Greater-than-Class C (GTCC) Waste,” to support the development of a rulemaking for the disposal of certain types of greater-than-Class-C waste in a low-level radioactive waste land disposal facility. The draft regulatory basis evaluates which GTCC waste streams could be safely disposed in a near-surface disposal facility and what type of regulatory changes would need to be considered to permit such action. In addition, the draft regulatory basis evaluates whether disposal of GTCC waste presents a hazard such that the NRC should retain authority over its disposal and not allow any Agreement State licensing over such a disposal.

The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on September 20, 2019. In response to multiple requests, the NRC is extending the public comment period on this document until November 19, 2019, to allow more time for members of the public to submit their comments.