(a) To keep releases of radioactive materials to unrestricted areas during normal conditions, including expected occurrences, as low as is reasonably achievable, each licensee of a nuclear power reactor and each applicant for a design certification or a manufacturing license will include technical specifications that, in addition to requiring compliance with applicable provisions of §20.1301 of this chapter, require that:

(1) Operating procedures developed pursuant to §50.34a(c) for the control of effluents be established and followed and that the radioactive waste system, pursuant to §50.34a, be maintained and used. The licensee shall retain the operating procedures in effect as a record until the Commission terminates the license and shall retain each superseded revision of the procedures for 3 years from the date it was superseded.

(2) Each holder of an operating license, and each holder of a combined license after the Commission has made the finding under §52.103(g) of this chapter, shall submit a report to the Commission annually that specifies the quantity of each of the principal radionuclides released to unrestricted areas in liquid and in gaseous effluents during the previous 12 months, including any other information as may be required by the Commission to estimate maximum potential annual radiation doses to the public resulting from effluent releases. The report must be submitted as specified in §50.4, and the time between submission of the reports must be no longer than 12 months. If quantities of radioactive materials released during the reporting period are significantly above design objectives, the report must cover this specifically. On the basis of these reports and any additional information the Commission may obtain from the licensee or others, the Commission may require the licensee to take action as the Commission deems appropriate.

(b) In establishing and implementing the operating procedures described in paragraph (a) of this section, the licensee shall be guided by the following considerations: Experience with the design, construction, and operation of nuclear power reactors indicates that compliance with the technical specifications described in this section will keep average annual releases of radioactive material in effluents and their resultant committed effective dose equivalents at small percentages of the dose limits specified in §20.1301 and in the license. At the same time, the licensee is permitted the flexibility of operation, compatible with considerations of health and safety, to assure that the public is provided a dependable source of power even under unusual conditions which may temporarily result in releases higher than such small percentages, but still within the limits specified in §20.1301 of this chapter and in the license. It is expected that in using this flexibility under unusual conditions, the licensee will exert its best efforts to keep levels of radioactive material in effluents as low as is reasonably achievable. The guides set out in appendix I, provide numerical guidance on limiting conditions for operation for light-water cooled nuclear power reactors to meet the requirement that radioactive materials in effluents released to unrestricted areas be kept as low as is reasonably achievable.

[61 FR 39299, July 29, 1996, as amended at 72 FR 49493, Aug. 28, 2007]