2023-12589. Draft Regulatory Guide: Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Draft guide; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

On April 21, 2023, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) solicited comments on draft regulatory guide (DG), DG–8061, “Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material.” The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on June 20, 2023. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES:

The due date for comments requested in the document published on April 21, 2023 (88 FR 24495) is extended. Comments should be submitted no later than August 20, 2023. Comments received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 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; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website:

• Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2023–0086. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individuals listed in the For Further Information Contact section of this document.

• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7–A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.

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:

Katherine Tapp, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail], or Brian Allen, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail], or Rigel Flora, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail], or Harriet Karagiannis, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail]. All are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

I. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2023–0086 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–2023–0086.

• 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 [e-mail].

• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to [e-mail] or call 1–800–397–4209 or 301–415–4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC–2023–0086 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 April 21, 2023, the NRC published a document in the Federal Register (88 FR 24495) requesting comments on DG–8061, “Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material.” This DG is proposed Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 8.39 of the same title. This proposed revision provides licensees with methods that are acceptable to the NRC for the release of patients after a medical procedure involving the administration of unsealed byproduct material, such as radiopharmaceuticals, or implants that contain radioactive material. The comment period was originally scheduled to close on June 20, 2023. Upon the request of the medical community, the NRC has decided to extend the public comment period on this document until August 20, 2023, to allow more time for members of the public to submit their comments.

III. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs. Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​doc-collections/​reg-guides/​contactus.html. Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to the “Regulatory Guide” series.

Dated: June 7, 2023.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Meraj Rahimi,

Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.