[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57370-57372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28152]



      
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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 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.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 220 / Wednesday, November 15, 1995 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 57370]]


NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50


RuleNet Communication Program; Fire Protection Regulations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: RuleNet program: notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is announcing the 
availability of a new pilot computer based program called ``RuleNet'' 
to maximize communication between the NRC and the public on rulemaking 
issues. The RuleNet pilot will be used initially to gather information 
on the safety issue of fire protection at nuclear power plants. RuleNet 
will allow participants in an NRC rulemaking proceeding to communicate 
both with the NRC and among themselves, with a view toward defining 
issues, eliminating misunderstanding, and finding areas of common 
ground. In addition to providing the NRC and the public with valuable 
information, RuleNet will test the usefulness of computer-based 
communications as a tool in the rulemaking process.

DATES: The public can access the RuleNet world wide site beginning 
November 20, 1995. Participant registration will be conducted from 
November 20, 1995 through January 2, 1996. RuleNet pilot will run from 
January 2, 1996 through February 9, 1996.

ADDRESSES: The world wide web site will be linked to NRC's home page: 
http://www.nrc.gov or it may be accessed directly by loading the 
following URL:http:/nssc.llnl.gov/RuleNet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Francis Cameron, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-
1642.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is undertaking a project of an 
entirely novel kind, designed to use state-of-the-art computer 
technology to maximize communication between the NRC and the public on 
an important nuclear power plant safety issue, fire protection. This 
project, called RuleNet, is intended to serve not only to provide the 
NRC and the public with valuable information, but also to test the 
usefulness of computer-based communications as a tool in the rulemaking 
process.
    The concept underlying RuleNet is that computer-based 
communications technology makes it possible for participants in an NRC 
proceeding to communicate both with the NRC and among themselves, with 
a view toward defining issues, eliminating misunderstanding, and 
finding areas of common ground.
    The issue on which RuleNet will be gathering information is one 
that has been of concern to the Commission for some time. The 
Commission's overall approach to safety issues in recent years has been 
to move in the direction of performance-based regulations and away from 
prescriptive regulations. The Commission has already determined that 
fire protection is one area in which a shift to performance-based 
regulation is appropriate.1 Thus, although a petition was filed in 
February 1995, by the Nuclear Energy Institute, asking the Commission 
to add a performance-based alternative to the existing prescriptive 
regulations, the Commission would be examining the issue of 
performance-based fire protection rules even in the absence of such a 
petition.2

    \1\  On February 4, 1992, the Commission published notice in the 
Federal Register, at 57 FR 4166, that it regarded the NRC's fire 
protection rules, set forth in appendix R to 10 CFR part 50, as a 
candidate for being made less prescriptive, with some requirements 
relaxed or eliminated on the basis of cost-benefit considerations. 
Later in the same year, the Commission announced its intention to 
begin rulemaking to develop a performance-based fire protection 
regulation, that would rely in part on risk analyses. 57 FR 55156 
(November 24, 1992). Subsequently, the NRC staff published a general 
framework for developing performance-based, ``risk-informed'' 
regulations. 58 FR 6196 (January 27, 1993). At a public workshop 
held in April, 1993, the NRC staff invited discussions on this 
general regulatory framework and on specific proposals for changing 
the appendix R fire protection rules. (The proceedings of the 
workshop, including comments from members of the public and the 
regulated industry, were documented in NUREG/CP-0129, issued in 
September, 1993.) At the workshop, industry representatives 
presented their plans for submitting a rulemaking petition to the 
NRC. (Such a petition was in fact filed on February 2, 1995.) On May 
18, 1994, the Commission approved the policies and framework 
proposed by the NRC staff in SECY-94-090 for revising its fire 
protection regulations, including the initiation of a staff study to 
support the effort. The NRC staff published the petition on June 6, 
1994, at 60 FR 29784, received public comment on it, and is 
currently reviewing it within the context of the policies and 
framework approved by the Commission.
    \2\  The RuleNet initiative does not supersede the NEI petition, 
which will continue to be considered on its own merits.
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    The NRC has already innovated in the area of rulemaking in two 
significant ways: Through the concept of ``enhanced participatory 
rulemaking,'' designed to promote Early public comment and interaction 
on rulemaking issues before a proposed rule is developed; and through 
electronic bulletin boards, which allow comments on a proposed rule to 
be submitted electronically. RuleNet represents a step toward melding 
these two approaches: early public comment and interaction, as in the 
enhanced participatory rulemaking, together with communications 
technology, developed specially for this purpose, to permit 
participants to deal with one another and with the NRC by computer. 
(Participants will not be restricted to communication by computer, 
however; written comments may be submitted in place of or in addition 
to electronic communications.3)

    \3\  Written comments will be scanned and placed on the 
electronic network for all participants to read. Clearly, therefore, 
those who choose to take part through the electronic network will be 
in a better position to respond to the views of other participants.
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    A comparison with traditional rulemaking, as conceived in the 
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), may help make clear why this fresh 
approach to the rulemaking process has the potential to make the 
participation of all interested parties--governmental units, industry, 
and members of the public--significantly more effective and 
influential.
    In the classic model of APA rulemaking, the agency publishes either 
an advance notice of proposed rulemaking or, eliminating that step, 
issues a proposed rule. In the former case, the process is generally 
extremely time-consuming; in the latter, there is a 

[[Page 57371]]
risk that the agency may be too wedded to the proposed approach to be 
able to rethink the issue from the ground up if a wholly new proposal 
is submitted by a commenter. In either case, the hub-and-spoke 
structure of the process, in which all communication is directed to the 
agency, does not tend to encourage interested parties to work among 
themselves toward common ground.
    The NRC has already made strides to improve on the traditional 
rulemaking with innovative procedures, such as workshops in which 
different participants interact with agency staff and with each other. 
RuleNet represents a further development along those lines. Because 
participants can take part from home, workplace, or public library, 
this step opens up the process to persons who might otherwise have been 
unable to take part. The NRC Headquarters Public Document Room will 
also have a computer terminal from which access to RuleNet will be 
available.
    The capacity of computer technology to improve the current 
rulemaking process can be readily illustrated. In a traditional 
rulemaking, if a particular matter raises questions in the minds of 
participants, they have no recourse other than to point out the issue 
in their written comments. If the rulemaking is on a proposed rule, the 
commenter may not learn the answer to the question until the final rule 
is issued. The computer, however, allows the agency staff to analyze 
the comments and questions received, ascertain which questions arise 
most often, and then post electronically a list of ``Frequently Asked 
Questions'' and their answers. In this way, doubtful points can be 
clarified before, not after, comments are filed.
    The dialogue through the RuleNet computer network is not intended 
to supplant formal comments (submitted in writing or electronically). 
Rather, RuleNet is intended to provide additional opportunities for 
commenters to provide input to agency personnel before the agency has 
developed text on which formal written comments are required to be 
filed. This can mean better informed, focused, and influential 
comments. Likewise, the ability of commenters to interact among 
themselves before comments are filed means that misunderstandings and 
miscommunications can be corrected in a timely way. However, because 
the electronic communications will contribute to the information base 
used by the agency in the rulemaking process, a copy of these 
communications will be placed in the rulemaking record.
    For facilitating exchanges of views, a central element in the 
rulemaking is the ``caucus,'' designed to allow discussions among 
subgroups of participants. These caucuses may be of two kinds. First, 
participants of similar viewpoints can join together on an issue or 
issues to maximize their effectiveness. Second, caucuses can be used to 
allow a specific issue to be placed before all participants for highly 
focused consideration. In this way, a particular topic can be 
considered in detail, the strengths and weaknesses of conflicting 
positions can be analyzed, and the possibilities of a compromise 
resolution can be explored. Caucusing may take place either separate 
from the rulemaking, by the private interaction of participants, or 
through the rulemaking's electronic communications, and either with or 
without facilitation provided by a contractor.
    Such assistance will come from facilitators and/or moderators 
supplied through the NRC contract with Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory for technical support on the development of RuleNet. Such 
facilitators can serve a variety of functions: Helping to categorize 
comments on fire protection issues; helping to maximize the usefulness 
of the electronic communications process; and providing assistance to 
facilitate on-line and off-line caucuses, including helping 
participants to articulate and refine their positions on issues. The 
facilitators/moderators themselves will have no stake in the outcome, 
however; independent of any of the parties, their role will simply be 
to contribute to the smooth and productive functioning of the process.
    Computer-based technology can not hope to substitute altogether for 
the actual reading of comments submitted by participants (except where 
the computer identifies a comment as identical to one previously filed 
and analyzed). Computer technology can, however, facilitate greatly the 
process of analyzing and tabulating comments. For example, persons 
participating electronically may be asked to indicate by clicking 
screen icons whether they agree, disagree, agree with qualifications, 
etc., with the proposition on which they are commenting. In this way, 
rather than the agency characterizing the positions of the 
participants, the participants can do so themselves. In addition, 
computer technology, searching for specific words and phrases, can make 
it easier to find where if at all a participant is addressing a 
particular issue in his or her comment.
    The electronic forum outlined here points to a potential greater 
democratization of the rulemaking process. The individual person with 
expertise and good ideas to offer has as much access to the forum as 
any governmental unit, corporation, or law firm, and if his or her 
thinking is sound, may be just as influential or more so. With 
discussions held via computer, rather than in a meeting room in the 
Washington, D.C. area, and with access to the forum already available 
in millions of homes nationwide (and at terminals in public libraries, 
for those who do not already have access elsewhere), there is the 
potential to level the playing field to an unprecedented degree.

Phases of the RuleNet Process

    As a preliminary step, necessary to allow meaningful participation 
in the RuleNet process, the NRC is making relevant information on fire 
protection available to all who can use it: that is, both potential 
participants and those who want only to observe the process. Toward 
this end, the agency has loaded some basic fire protection documents 
onto the network in searchable full text form. Specific discussion 
topics will be loaded at a later point.
    The first phase of the process itself will begin with a ``virtual 
kickoff'' in which all participants will be able to communicate in a 
simultaneous discussion via computer. This will be followed by a period 
of 5 days for any caucuses; for the posting of questions and requests 
for clarification, directed either to the NRC or to other participants, 
and for the posting of answers to those questions; and for the 
identification of any further issues to be addressed, or challenges to 
be met, in the rulemaking.
    In the second phase of the process, which will comprise 
approximately 10 days, the NRC will solicit proposed solutions to the 
challenges and issues identified in the first phase. This will also be 
the opportunity for participants to respond to comments and suggestions 
made during the first phase.
    After the second phase, the NRC technical staff, acting with the 
assistance of staff supplied by the contractor, will consolidate and 
synthesize the challenges and the proposed solutions, using them to 
develop more concrete proposals, which will be posted electronically. 
The participants will then respond to the proposals just identified. As 
before, there will be the opportunity for participants to caucus either 
within the electronic rulemaking or outside of it. 

[[Page 57372]]

    We do not need to decide at this time exactly how many rounds of 
comment there will be. One of the advantages of RuleNet's interactive 
approach is that the participants can offer their views as to 
procedures as well as substance. Accordingly, the agency plans to take 
a flexible approach, shaping its procedures as needed to meet the goals 
of the process.

Terms of Participation

    The electronic network will be available both to those who want to 
participate directly in RuleNet and to those who want only to observe 
the process. Participants must identify themselves (just as 
participants in a written comment process identify themselves). The NRC 
fully expects that all participants will recognize that certain norms 
of civility will be observed. (In the event that a participant's 
conduct was such as to warrant his or her severance from the electronic 
dialogue, the option of submitting paper comments would remain, but it 
seems unlikely that this issue would ever arise.)

Conclusion

    The RuleNet project is one of a number of high performance 
computing initiatives advanced by the NRC. It has no costs over and 
above those already budgeted for these initiatives generally. Before 
the type of electronic exchange being demonstrated in the RuleNet 
project became a part of the agency's usual process for the development 
of rules, it would have to be shown to be cost-effective.
    It is worth emphasizing that in proceeding in this new direction, 
using procedures that have not previously been tried by this or any 
other federal agency, the NRC is focusing on potential benefits. 
Whether those benefits will in fact be realized depends in large part 
on the willingness of the affected public--which includes governmental 
units, industry, organizations, and individuals--to take part in the 
process and attempt to make it work. RuleNet can help establish whether 
computer communications technology can make a significant contribution 
to the interaction of citizens and a government agency regulating in a 
technical field.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of November, 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John C. Hoyle,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 95-28152 Filed 11-14-95; 8:45 am]
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