Assessment of the U.S. Regulations for Fissile Exemptions and Fissile Material General Licenses
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Physics and Engineering Division
- US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), Washington, DC (United States)
The paragraphs for general licenses for fissile material and exemptions (often termed exceptions in the international community) for fissile material have long been a part of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 10 CFR Part 71, Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material. More recently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a final rule on Part 71 via emergency rule-making procedures in order to address an identified deficiency related to one of the fissile exemptions. To address the specified deficiency in a general fashion, the emergency rule adopted the approach of the 1996 Edition of the IAEA: Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (IAEA 1996), which places restrictions on certain moderating materials and limits the quantity of fissile material in a consignment. The public comments received by the NRC indicated general agreement with the need for restrictions on certain moderators (beryllium, deuterium, and graphite). The comments indicated concern relative to both the degree of restriction imposed (not more than 0.1% of fissile material mass) and the need to limit the fissile material mass of the consignment, particularly in light of the subsequent NRC staff position that the true intent was to provide control for limiting the fissile mass of the conveyance. The purpose of the review is to identify potential deficiencies that might be averse to maintaining adequate subcriticality under normal conditions of transport and hypothetical accident conditions. In addition, ORNL has been asked to identify changes that would address any identified safety issues, enable inherently safe packages to continue to be unencumbered in transport, and seek to minimize the impact on current safe practices.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Physics and Engineering Division; US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), Washington, DC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 650148
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/CP--96994; CONF-980507--; ON: DE98003373; BR: 41W0009B2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
NUREG/CR-7239, “Review of Fissile Material Exemptions and General Licenses in 10 CFR Part 71,” and Proposed Revisions to Harmonize with IAEA SSR-6 Fissile Material Requirements
Review of Fissile Material Exemptions and General Licenses in 10 CFR Part 71 - 14578
Related Subjects
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
CRITICALITY
EVALUATION
Exemptions
FISSILE MATERIALS
Fissile Material
Fissile Nuclides
Fully Enriched Uranium
General Licenses for Fissile Material
Hypothetical Accident Conditions (HAC)
LICENSING REGULATIONS
MODERATORS
Normal Conditions of Transport (NCT)
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PACKAGING RULES
SAFETY STANDARDS
TRANSPORT REGULATIONS
US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 10 CFR Part 71
Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material