Rulemaking Activities for Emergency Preparedness and Response
For more information on our rulemaking process, see our Public Involvement in Rulemaking page.
Background
After 9/11, the NRC staff identified ways emergency preparedness around nuclear power plants could be enhanced. The Commission agreed with the proposed enhancements and directed the staff to develop a proposed rule. The rule changes would strengthen nuclear power plant emergency preparedness by enhancing response to hostile action events and by updating certain requirements, including those related to public alert and notification systems and evacuation planning.
Emergency Preparedness Rulemaking Status
The proposed rule and associated draft guidance were published to the Federal Register in May 2009 for public comment. Several public meetings were held in June and September 2009. NRC and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staffs prepared responses to stakeholder comments and revised the rule language and guidance documents accordingly. The draft final rule language and NRC guidance documents were made publicly available in October 2010 in advance of the review of these documents by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Plant Operations and Fire Protection Subcommittee on November 1, 2010 and Full Committee on January 14, 2011. The draft final rule was submitted to the Commission in April 2011 and approved on August 30, 2011. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on November 23, 2011, with an effective date of December 23, 2011. The NRC and FEMA guidance documents were issued in conjunction with the final rule publication.
- To view the documents associated with the Emergency Preparedness Rulemaking, including background documents, go to www.regulations.gov
and search for Docket ID NRC-2008-0122. - FEMA guidance documents and related information can be found under Docket ID FEMA-2008-0022 and Docket ID FEMA-2010-0032.
Remaining Milestones
A series of five implementation forums are being held in Rockville, MD and each NRC region from November 2011 through February 2012..
