Nuclear Materials Transportation Regulations, Guidance, and Communications
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Regulations
NRC's regulations are found in Chapter I of Title 10, "Energy," of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Chapter I is divided into Parts 1 through 199. The following are the principal parts governing nuclear materials transportation:
- Part 37 - Subpart D — Physical Protection in Transit
- Part 71 - Packaging and transportation of radioactive material
- Part 73 - Physical protection of plants and materials
See also, information on all NRC Rules and Petitions.
The NRC welcomes Public Involvement in Rulemaking, and invites the public to comment on proposed rules and policies, licensing actions, and draft technical documents. We announce public comment opportunities in the Federal Register and on our Documents for Comment page.
Guidance
Regulatory guides are issued in 10 divisions and are intended to aid licensees in implementing regulations. The guides most applicable to spent fuel transportation are issued in Division 7, Transportation.
Web (HTML) versions of some regulatory guides are available for viewing or downloading. Those available are highlighted in the index to our Document Collections/Regulatory Guides. All active final and draft guides are also available in NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).
Interim staff guidance (ISG) documents are used by the Division of Spent Fuel and Transportation (DSFST) to provide guidance to the staff concerning issues not currently addressed in a standard review plan (SRP) or issues where clarification of SRP text is necessary. This guidance is intended to ensure consistent reviews by the DSFST staff and will be incorporated into the next periodic update of the applicable SRP.
Other guidance documents that may be useful to licensees and other stakeholders are
- Standard Review Plan for Transportation Packages for Radioactive Material NUREG-1609)
- Standard Review Plan for Transportation Packages for Spent Nuclear Fuel (NUREG-1617)
- Classification of Transportation Packaging and Dry Spent Fuel Storage System Components According to Importance to Safety (NUREG/CR-6407)
- NUREG - 2125 Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment – Final Report (NUREG-2125)
- NUREG/BR - 0292 Safety of Spent Fuel Transportation (NUREG/BR-0292, Revision 2)
- NUREG – 0561 Rev 2 Physical Protection of Shipments of Irradiated Reactor Fuel: Final Report (NUREG-0561, Revision 2)
- NUREG – 2155 Implementation Guidance for 10 CFR Part 37, "Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Material" (NUREG-2155) Subpart D
Web (HTML) versions of some NUREG-series guidance documents are available in our NRC Formal Publication Collection. Some are also are available in ADAMS (see our table listing their availability).
Communications
Generic communications are NRC's primary method of sending information to specific classes of licensees. There are several types:
Newsletters are another way of sending information to NRC licensees. The NMSS Quarterly Newsletter (NUREG/BR-0117) is published quarterly and contains information about spent fuel transportation.