2012-10313. Draft Emergency Preparedness Frequently Asked Questions

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of availability and opportunity for public comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is making available for comment Emergency Preparedness (EP) frequently asked questions (EPFAQs). These EPFAQs will be used to provide clarification of guidance documents related to the development and maintenance of EP program elements. The NRC staff developed these EPFAQs from feedback obtained through numerous public meetings. The NRC is publishing these preliminary results to inform the public and solicit comments.

DATES:

Submit comments by May 30, 2012. Comments submitted after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given except for comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES:

You may access information and comment submissions related to this document by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2012-0098.

You may submit comments by the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0098. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
• Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James R. Anderson, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone] or by email at: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0098 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access information related to this document by the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0098.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “ADAMS Public Documents” and then 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 [e-mail]. The draft Emergency Preparedness Frequently Asked Questions is available electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML12108A151, and it is also available on the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​about-nrc/​emerg-preparedness/​faq/​faq-contactus.html.
• 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-2012-0098 in the subject line of your comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your comment submission available to the public in this docket.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into ADAMS, and the NRC does not 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 in their comment submissions that they do not want to be publicly disclosed. Your request should state that the NRC will not edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Background

The NRC has developed the EPFAQ program for the staff to provide clarification of guidance [ADAMS Accession Number for the EPFAQ process is ML112650253]. This process is intended to describe the manner in which the NRC may provide interested outside parties an opportunity to share their individual views with NRC staff regarding the appropriate response to questions raised on the interpretation or applicability of EP guidance issued or endorsed by the NRC, before the NRC issues an official response to such questions.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of April 2012.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Mark Thaggard,

Deputy Director for Emergency Preparedness, Division of Preparedness and Response, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response.