{"abstract":"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a petition for rulemaking (PRM), dated February 15, 2012, which was filed with the NRC by Michael Mariotte on behalf of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS or the petitioner) and 37 co-petitioners. The petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations that govern domestic licensing of production and utilization facilities to expand existing emergency planning zones (EPZ) around nuclear power plants, create a new EPZ, and require the incorporation of concurrent natural disasters in the required periodic emergency plan drills. The NRC is denying the petition because the NRC concludes that the current size of the emergency planning zones is appropriate for existing reactors and that emergency plans will provide an adequate level of protection of the public health and safety in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant. The current EPZs provide for a comprehensive emergency planning framework that would allow expansion of the response efforts beyond the designated distances should events warrant such an expansion.","action":"Petition for rulemaking; denial.","agencies":[{"raw_name":"NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION","name":"Nuclear Regulatory Commission","id":383,"url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/nuclear-regulatory-commission","json_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/agencies/383","parent_id":null,"slug":"nuclear-regulatory-commission"}],"body_html_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/html/2014/04/09/2014-07981.html","cfr_references":[{"chapter":null,"citation_url":null,"part":50,"title":10}],"citation":"79 FR 19501","comment_url":null,"comments_close_on":null,"correction_of":null,"corrections":[],"dates":"The docket for the petition for rulemaking, PRM-50-104, is closed on April 9, 2014.","disposition_notes":null,"docket_ids":["Docket Nos. PRM-50-104","NRC-2012-0046"],"dockets":[{"supporting_documents":[],"agency_name":null,"documents":[{"comment_count":null,"comment_start_date":null,"updated_at":"2025-05-21T01:58:00.474-04:00","comment_url":"https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/NRC-2012-0046-0300","allow_late_comments":false,"id":"NRC-2012-0046-0300","comment_end_date":null,"regulations_dot_gov_open_for_comment":false}],"supporting_documents_count":0,"id":"NRC-2012-0046","title":"Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Multiple Co-Petitioners - Expansion of Emergency Planning Zone"}],"document_number":"2014-07981","effective_on":null,"end_page":19521,"executive_order_notes":null,"executive_order_number":null,"full_text_xml_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/xml/2014/04/09/2014-07981.xml","html_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/04/09/2014-07981/emergency-planning-zones","images":{},"images_metadata":{},"json_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents/2014-07981?publication_date=2014-04-09","mods_url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/metadata/granule/FR-2014-04-09/2014-07981/mods.xml","not_received_for_publication":null,"page_length":21,"page_views":{"count":1447,"last_updated":"2026-09-22 08:15:09 -0400"},"pdf_url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2014-04-09/pdf/2014-07981.pdf","presidential_document_number":null,"proclamation_number":null,"public_inspection_pdf_url":"https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-07981.pdf?1396961459","publication_date":"2014-04-09","raw_text_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/text/2014/04/09/2014-07981.txt","regulation_id_number_info":{},"regulation_id_numbers":[],"regulations_dot_gov_info":{"supporting_documents":[],"comments_count":0,"agency_id":"NRC","comments_url":"https://www.regulations.gov/docketBrowser?rpp=50&so=DESC&sb=postedDate&po=0&dct=PS&D=NRC-2012-0046","supporting_documents_count":0,"docket_id":"NRC-2012-0046","document_id":"NRC-2012-0046-0300","regulation_id_number":null,"title":"Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Multiple Co-Petitioners - Expansion of Emergency Planning Zone","checked_regulationsdotgov_at":"2025-05-22T06:55:06Z"},"regulations_dot_gov_url":null,"significant":null,"signing_date":null,"start_page":19501,"subtype":null,"title":"Emergency Planning Zones","toc_doc":"Emergency Planning Zones","toc_subject":null,"topics":[],"type":"Proposed Rule","volume":79}