Environmental Monitoring For Direct Radiation (Generic Letter 79-70)

GL79070 

                               UNITED STATES 
                       NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
                          WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 

                             December 21, 1979 

TO ALL OPERATING LICENSE APPLICANTS 

SUBJECT: ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING FOR DIRECT RADIATION 

By letter dated July 20, 1978 you were provided with the Radiological 
Assessment Branch Position on the radiological portion of the environmental 
monitoring program. The Branch Technical Position (BTP) was formulated by an
NRC working group which considered the comments received on Regulatory Guide
4.8, "Environmental Technical Specifications for Nuclear Power Plants". 

In letters dated July 26, 1978 and November 16, 1978 you were provided 
guidance and a submittal schedule which requested that effluent Technical 
Specifications be proposed to implement the requirements of the provisions 
of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix I. 

The NRC staff has recently completed a review of Radiological Environmental 
Monitoring Program Requirements and has revised the portion of the BTP 
concerning direct radiation measurements. A copy of the BTP (Revision 1, 
November 1979) is attached for your use and infomation. These revised 
requirements will be implemented in the licensing review of OL applicants 
and in the Radiological Effluent Technical Specification (RETS) update. 

For near-term operating license applicants which have submitted RETS as re-
quested above, it is not necessary to supplement those submittals at this 
time, since the necessary changes will be made as the staff completes its 
review of your application. For other than near-term operating license 
applicants, this guidance will be incorporated by revision to the generic 
Standard Technical Specifications which will be applicable to your facility.

If you have dny questions, please contact us. 

                                   Sincerely, 


                                Steven A. Varga, Acting Assistant Director 
                                  for Light Water Reactors 
                                Division of Project Management 

Enclosure: 
Branch Technical Position, Revision 1 

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