Regulatory Guide 2.6
| ML003740234 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/31/1983 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research |
| To: | |
| References | |
| RG-2.60 | |
| Download: ML003740234 (4) | |
asUVISifl I
March 1983 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGULATORY GUIDE
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH
REGULATORY GUIDE 2.6 (Task HF 2014)
EMERGENCY PLANNING FOR RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
A. INTRODUCTION
Paragraph 50.34(b)(6)(v) of 10 CFR Part 50, "Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities," requires that each application for a license to operate a facility include in a Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR), along with other information, the applicant's plans for coping with emergencies, including the items specified in Appendix E, "Emergency Planning and Preparedness for Production and Utilization Facilities," to 10 CFR Part 50.
Paragraph 50.54(q)
requires licensees to follow and maintain in effect emergency plans that meet the require ments of Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 50.
This regulatory guide provides licensees and applicants with a method acceptable to the NRC staff for complying with the Commission's regulations with regard to the content of emergency plans for research and test reactors.
Any guidance in this document related to informa tion collection activities has been cleared under OMB
Clearance No. 3150-0011.
B. DISCUSSION
Working Group ANS-15.16 of the American Nuclear Society Subcommittee ANS-15 has developed ANSI/
15.16-1982,
"Emergency Planning for Research Reactors,"*
which is generally consistent with current regulatory requirements. This standard was developed to provide specific acceptance criteria for complying with the applicable requirements set forth in § 50.54 and in Appen dix E to 10 CFR Part 50. These criteria provide a basis for research and test reactor licensees and applicants to develop acceptable radiological emergency response plans and improve emergency preparedness at their facilities.
The Commission's interest in emergency planning is focused primarily on situations that may cause or may
- Copies may be obtained from the American Nuclear Society,
555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, Ill 60525.
USNRC REGULATORY GUIDES
Regulatory Guides are Issued to describe and make available to the public methods acceptable to the NRC staff of Implementing specific parts of the Commission's regulations, to delineate tech niques used by the staff in evaluating specific problems or postu lated accidents or to provide guidance to applicants. Regulatory Guides are not substitutes for regulations, and compliance with them is not required. Methods and solutions different from those set out in the guides will be acceptable If they provide a basis for the findings requisite to the issuance or continuance of a permit or license by the Commission.
This guide was Issued after consideration of comments received from the public. Comments and suggestions for improvements in these guides are encouraged at all times, and guides will be revised, as appropriate, to accommodate comments and to reflect new informa tion or experience.
threaten to cause radiological hazards affecting the health and safety of the public. Emergency plans should be directed toward mitigating the consequences of emergencies and should provide reasonable assurance that appropriate measures can and will be taken to protect the health and safety of the public in the event of an emergency. Although it is not practicable to develop a completely detailed plan encompassing every conceivable type of emergency situation, advance planning and provisions for ensuring the availability of necessary equipment, supplies, and services can create a high order of preparedness and ensure an orderly and timely decisionmaking process at the time of an emergency. The plans should be an expression of the overall concept of operation that describes how the elements of advance planning have been considered and the provisions that have been made to cope with emergency situations.
In the judgment of the NRC staff, the potential radio logical hazards to the public associated with the operation of research and test reactors are considerably less than those involved with nuclear power plants. In addition, because there are many different kinds of research and test reactors, the potential for emergency situations arising and the consequences thereof vary from facility to facility.
These differences and variations are expected to be reflected realistically in the emergency plans and procedures developed for each research and test reactor facility.
C. REGULATORY POSITION
The requirements in ANSI/ANS 15.16-1982, "Emergency Planning for Research Reactors," are generally acceptable to the NRC staff as a means for complying with the require ments in § 50.54 and in Appendix E, "Emergency Planning and Preparedness for Production and Utilization Facilities,"
to 10 CFR Part 50 as related to research and test reactors, subject to the following clarifications.
1. Responsibility for planning and implementing all emergency measures within the site boundaries rests with the licensee. In this context, the site boundaries should be Comments should be sent to the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555, Attention: Docketing and Service Branch.
The guides are issued in the following ten broad divisions:
1. Power Reactors
6. Products
2. Research and Test Reactors
7. Transportation
3. Fuels and Materials Facilities
8. Occupational Health
4. Environmental and Siting
9. Antitrust and Financial Review
5. Materials and Plant Protection 10. General Copies of issued guides may be purchased at the current Government Printing Office price. A subscription service for future guides in spe cific divisions is available through the Government Printing Office.
Information on the subscription service and current GPO prices may be obtained by writing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555, Attention: Publications Sales Manager.
clearly defined.
Supporting organizations that would augment the licensee's emergency organization, e.g., fire department, hospitals, and security organizations, should be specified. Planning and implementation of measures to cope with reactor-related emergencies beyond the site boundary should be commensurate with and based on the potential consequences of credible accidents or incidents. The emergency plan should describe this planning basis and the corresponding arrangements and agreements among the licensee and the local, State, or Federal agencies expected to respond.
2. The radiation dose levels of the emergency action levels established for the various emergency classes are slightly different from those specified for power reactors.
However, in the judgment of the NRC staff, the radiation dose levels specified in Table I of the standard are adequate for the credible accidents associated with the operation of research and test reactors, and the specified action levels provide reasonable assurance that protective measures associated with the action levels specified in Table I can and will be taken, provided appropriate emphasis is also given to developing emergency action levels that relate directly to facility parameters (e.g.,
pool water levels and area radiation monitors).
3. Emergency action levels related to facility parameters, effluent release levels, and equipment conditions should be developed to the extent feasible for each emergency class.
4. Details that can reasonably be expected to change from time to time, e.g., names and telephone numbers, specific items of equipment and supplies, inventory lists, and step-by-step procedures or checklists that may be altered as a result of experience or test exercises, should not be incorporated into the plans but should be listed in the emergency implementing procedures.
5. Emergency procedures that implement the emergency plan need not be incorporated into the plan but should be listed by title in an annex to the emergency plan. The emergency implementing procedures should be maintained and available at the facility for inspection and review at any time by a representative of the NRC.
6. The procedural system used by the licensee for the review and approval of emergency implementing procedures should contain instructions governing the writing, revising, and updating of implementing procedures. The instructions should specify the methods to be used to ensure that procedures, revisions, and changes are reviewed for adequacy, approved for use, and distributed to user organizations and individuals having the responsibility for implementing the procedures.
D. IMPLEMENTATION
Except in those cases in which an applicant or licensee proposes acceptable alternative practices or methods for complying with specified portions of the Commission's regulations, the practices or methods described in this guide will be used as a basis for evaluating the adequacy of the emergency plans and preparedness of applicants for a license to operate a research or test reactor as well as the plans and preparedness of current licensees for such reactors.
2.6-2
VALUE/IMPACT STATEMENT
1. THE PROPOSED ACTION
The licensee of a research and test reactor is required by the Commission's regulations to develop plans for coping with emergencies. Specific guidance is needed to provide acceptance criteria for complying with the applicable require ments set forth in § 50.54 and in Appendix E of 10 CFR
Part 50. Regulatory Guide 2.6, "Emergency Planning for Research and Test Reactors," provides basic guidance for complying with the regulations. More definitive guidance, however, has been developed by the American Nuclear Society Subcommittee ANS-15 in ANSI/ANS 15.16-1982,
"Emergency Planning for Research Reactors." The proposed action would endorse this standard with appropriate supple mentary material in a revision to Regulatory Guide 2.6.
1.1 Value/Impact Assessment The proposed action would provide licensees and appli cants definitive guidance for developing emergency plans that meet the appropriate regulation.
Value - The value of the proposed action would be more effective emergency preparedness around research and test reactors. Endorsing a national consensus standard reduces the expenditure of staff resources in developing the guidance.
Impact - Most of the impact on industry has already occurred during development, review, and approval of the consensus standard and in attempting to comply with the upgraded emergency preparedness requirements promul gated in August of 1980. For those members of the research reactor community that have not previously upgraded their emergency plans, it is estimated that it will take approximately 2 man-months to do so.
1.2 Decision on the Action Regulatory Guide 2.6 should be revised to endorse ANSI/ANS 15.16-1982.
2. TECHNICAL ALTERNATIVES
Because the regulatory guide would endorse a consensus standard, no technical alternatives have been considered.
3. PROCEDURAL ALTERNATIVES
Because ANSI/ANS 15.16-1982 is generally consistent with current regulatory requirements, revising Regulatory Guide 2.6 to endorse that standard was selected as the appropriate procedural alternative.
4. STATUTORY CONSIDERATIONS
4.1 NRC Authority Authority for this action is derived from the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, through the Commission's regulations in Title 10, Chapter I, of the Code of Federal Regulations.
4.2 Need for NEPA Assessment Since the guidance in the proposed regulatory guide revision does not represent a major action as defined by paragraph 51.5(a)(10) of 10 CFR Part 51, implementation of the regulatory guide does not require a NEPA assessment.
5. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER EXISTING OR PROPOSED
REGULATIONS OR POLICY
This revision to Regulatory Guide 2.6 relates to the NRC
emergency preparedness regulations, Regulatory Guide 1.101, and NUREG-0654/FEMA-REP-1.
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
A revision to Regulatory Guide 2.6 should be published.
2.6-3
UNITED STATES '
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 F FIST CLASS MAIL
POSTAGE & FEES PAl USNRC
WASH 3 C
PERMIT No J.j7 OFFICIAL BUSINESS
PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300