2017-09921. Fiscal Year 2016 Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

NUREG; issuance.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing NUREG-0090, Volume 39, “Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences: Fiscal Year 2016.” The report describes those events that the NRC or an Agreement State identified as abnormal occurrences (AOs) during fiscal year (FY) 2016, based on the criteria defined in the report. The report describes eight events at Agreement State-licensed facilities and three events at an NRC-licensed facilities.

DATES:

NUREG-0090, Volume 39, is available May 17, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0115 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document using any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0115. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this document.
• 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Vered Shaffer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion

Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended (Public Law 93-438), defines an “abnormal occurrence” as an unscheduled incident or event that the NRC determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety. The AO report (ADAMS Accession No. ML17125A084) describes those events that the NRC identified as AOs during FY 2016, based on the criteria defined in Appendix A of the report.

The report describes eight events at Agreement State-licensed facilities and three events at an NRC-licensed facilities. One Agreement State licensee event involved radiation exposure to an embryo/fetus, and one involved radiography operations. One event reported by an NRC licensee occurred at a fuel cycle facility. The remaining two reported NRC-licensee events and the six reported Agreement State licensee events occurred at medical facilities and are “medical events” as defined in part 35 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Agreement States are the 37 States that currently have entered into formal agreements with the NRC pursuant to Section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) (Pub. L. 83-703), to regulate certain quantities of AEA-licensed material at facilities located within their borders.

The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-68) requires that the NRC report AOs to Congress annually. The full report, NUREG-0090, Volume 39, “Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences: Fiscal Year 2016,” is also available electronically on the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​nuregs/​staff/​.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of May, 2017.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Annette L. Vietti-Cook,

Secretary of the Commission.