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Proposed Rules
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 156
Tuesday, August 17, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 20
Docket No. PRM2028, PRM2029, and PRM2030; NRC20150057

Linear No-Threshold Model and Standards for Protection Against Radiation Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; denial.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC is denying three petitions for rulemaking PRMs, submitted by Dr. Carol S. Marcus, Mr.
Mark L. Miller, Certified Health Physicist, and Dr. Mohan Doss, et al.
collectively, the petitioners in correspondence dated February 9, 2015, February 13, 2015, and February 24, 2015, respectively. The petitioners request that the NRC amend its regulations based on what they assert is new science and evidence that contradicts the linear no-threshold LNT dose-effect model that serves as the basis for the NRCs radiation protection regulations. The NRC
docketed these petitions on February 20, 2015, February 27, 2015, and March 16, 2015, and assigned them Docket Numbers PRM2028, PRM2029, and PRM2030, respectively. The NRC is denying the three petitions because they fail to present an adequate basis supporting the request to discontinue use of the LNT model. The NRC has determined that the LNT model continues to provide a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers. Therefore, the NRC will maintain the current dose limit requirements contained in its regulations.

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SUMMARY:

The dockets for PRM2028, PRM2029, and PRM2030 are closed on August 17, 2021.

DATES:

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Please refer to Docket ID
NRC20150057 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: NRC20150057. Address questions about NRC dockets to Dawn Forder, telephone: 3014153407, email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System ADAMS: You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https 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 NRCs Public Document Room PDR reference staff at 18003974209, 3014154737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. For the convenience of the reader, a list of materials referenced in this document are provided in Section V, Availability of Documents.
Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of public documents, is currently closed. You may submit your request to the PDR via email at pdr.resource@nrc.gov or call 1
8003974209 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Vanessa Cox, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301
4158342; email: Vanessa.Cox@nrc.gov;
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 205550001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:

I. The Petitions Section 2.802 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 10 CFR, Petition for rulemakingrequirements for filing, provides an opportunity for any interested person to petition the Commission to issue, amend, or rescind any regulation in 10 CFR chapter I. By correspondence dated February 9, 2015, February 13, 2015, and February 24, 2015, respectively, the NRC received three similar petitions from Dr. Carol S.

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Marcus, Mark L. Miller, CHP, and Mohan Doss, Ph.D., et al.1 The NRC
published a notice of docketing for the three petitions in the Federal Register on June 23, 2015 80 FR 35870, and requested public comment. The public comment period was initially set to close on September 8, 2015, but was extended to November 19, 2015.2
The petitioners request that the NRC
amend 10 CFR part 20, Standards for Protection against Radiation, to discontinue use of the LNT model as the primary scientific basis for the agencys radiation protection standards. The petitioners assertion is that the use of the LNT model is no longer valid based on various scientific studies. In particular, the petitioners advance the concept of radiation hormesis, which posits that low doses of ionizing radiation protect against the deleterious effects of high doses of radiation and result in beneficial effects to humans.
Therefore, the petitioners request that the NRC amend its dose limits for occupational workers 3 and members of the public as follows:
Maintain worker doses at present levels, with allowance of up to 100 mSv 10 rem effective dose per year if the doses are chronic;
Remove the As Low As Is Reasonably Achievable ALARA
principle entirely from the regulations, because they claim that it makes no sense to decrease radiation doses that are not only harmless but may be hormetic;
Raise the public dose limits to be the same as the worker doses, because they claim that these low doses may be hormetic; and End differential doses to pregnant women, embryos and fetuses, and children under 18 years of age.
II. Background In 1991, the NRC issued the 10 CFR
part 20 final rule, which established the current regulatory framework for the NRCs radiation protection regulations.
1 Dr. Doss was the first of several signatories on the February 24, 2015, correspondence. The correspondence identified the signatories as members or associate members of Scientists for Accurate Radiation Information SARI. There is no indication in the February 24, 2015, correspondence that SARI, as an organization, formally endorsed the petition from Dr. Doss, et al.
2 80 FR 5080405; August 21, 2015.
3 .The terms occupational worker, radiation worker, nuclear worker, and worker are used interchangeably in this document.

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