NRC Keeps Waste Description Forms Rolling Without Changes
Published Date: 4/3/2026
Notice
Summary
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is renewing its forms used to track low-level radioactive waste, making sure everything stays safe and clear. If you handle this kind of waste, you’ll keep using NRC Forms 541 and 541A with no big changes but can share your thoughts by May 4, 2026. This update won’t cost extra but helps keep the process smooth and reliable.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
You must keep using Forms 541/541A
If you generate, collect, or process low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) and ship it for disposal, you must continue to complete NRC Form 541 and, if needed, Form 541A when the waste is shipped for ultimate disposal at a licensed LLRW land disposal facility, as required by 10 CFR 20.2006 and 10 CFR part 20, appendix G. The forms document container descriptions, physical/chemical and radiological waste descriptions, and waste classification.
Paperwork burden remains (hours and counts)
The NRC reports the existing information-collection burden for Forms 541/541A as 4,616 annual responses from an estimated 712 respondents, requiring 15,233 hours annually. The current extension request does not include any changes to the forms.
Forms may be sent before or with shipment
NRC Forms 541/541A are not required to physically accompany a shipment; with shipper and consignee agreement, the forms may be mailed or electronically transferred to the consignee before the shipment arrives, or delivered with the waste. This offers flexible ways to transmit the manifest data.
Substitute forms allowed if equivalent
Licensees need not use original NRC Form 541/541A originals so long as any substitute forms are equivalent to the originals in content, clarity, size, and location of information. This allows using equivalent state or custom forms that meet the same information requirements.
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