[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 127 (Friday, June 30, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40548-40549]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16649]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 50, 61, 70, 72, 
and 76

[Docket No. PRM-30-63]


Natural Resources Defense Council; Receipt of Petition for 
Rulemaking

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; Notice of receipt.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received and 
requests public comment on a petition for rulemaking filed by the 
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The petition has been 
docketed by the Commission and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-30-63. 
The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its regulations to require 
that an individual report illegal payments to regulators if the 
individual has knowledge or evidence of the illegal payments. The 
petitioner requests that an individual who fails to make such a report 
not be issued a license or allowed to retain a license.

DATES: Submit comments by September 13, 2000. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance 
of consideration cannot be given except as to comments received on or 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications staff.
    Deliver comments to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 
between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm on Federal workdays.
    For a copy of the petition, write to David L. Meyer, Chief, Rules 
and

[[Page 40549]]

Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    You may also provide comments via the NRC's interactive rulemaking 
website at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. This site provides the capability 
to upload comments as files (any format), if your web browser supports 
that function. For information about the interactive rulemaking 
website, contact Ms. Carol Gallagher, (301) 415-5905 (e-mail: 
[email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David L. Meyer, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555. Telephone: 301-415-7162 or Toll-free: 1-800-368-5642 or E-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  

Background

    On May 3, 2000, the NRC docketed an April 20, 2000, letter from 
Thomas B. Cochran, Ph.D., Director, Nuclear Program, Wade Green Chair 
for Nuclear Policy, NRDC, to the Honorable Richard A. Meserve, 
Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as a petition for 
rulemaking under 10 CFR 2.802. In this letter, Dr. Cochran requested 
that the NRC issue regulations under the provisions of 10 CFR 2.206 
that would require an individual to report illegal payments to 
regulators if the individual has knowledge or evidence of the illegal 
payments. The petitioner requests that an individual who fails to make 
such a report not be issued a license or allowed to retain a license. 
The Sec. 2.206 process is applicable to actions that would suspend, 
modify, or revoke a license. Requests to add, amend, or remove a 
regulation are processed under 10 CFR 2.802. Therefore, Dr. Cochran's 
request was docketed under the procedures applicable to petitions for 
rulemaking contained in Sec. 2.802.

The Petition

    The petitioner references a letter from the NRC to an individual 
indicating that the NRC will take no further action on its Demand for 
Information dated July 12, 1999 (EA 99-180). The Demand for Information 
sought information that would allow the NRC to determine whether it 
needed to take any action concerning the individual or the licensee for 
which the individual was president. The matter in question concerned 
payments made by the individual to an official of an Agreement State 
regulatory body that was responsible for issuing licensees and 
overseeing activities related to the individual's license.
    The petitioner characterizes this letter as indicating the 
Commission's apparent satisfaction with mere assurances from the 
individual that the individual will act with the candor and integrity 
that is required of NRC licensees despite what the petitioner states 
are the individual's unlawful actions and failure to notify Federal or 
State officials of the potentially criminal activities of a regulator.
    The petitioner states that the NRC's action does little to quell 
his concerns about safeguarding the nuclear regulatory process to 
prevent a recurrence of this type of action. The petitioner asserts 
that the only reasonable response to the admitted participation of the 
individual in a blatantly corrupt scheme with a top nuclear official in 
an Agreement State would have been to bar the individual from any 
further involvement in NRC-licensed activities for life. The petitioner 
also states that the least the NRC could have done following what the 
petitioner characterized as a protracted process would be to provide a 
fully reasoned justification for its decision to allow the individual 
to return to his position in running a licensed company.

The Requested Action

    The petitioner is concerned that the reinstatement of the 
individual establishes an extremely dangerous precedent from a 
regulatory perspective. Therefore, the petitioner requests that the NRC 
promulgate the following as an NRC regulation:

    No licensee (sic) shall be issued to, or retained by, any person 
who, or any organization whose principal owner, officer, or senior 
manager, has engaged in, or has knowledge or evidence pertaining to, 
but fails to promptly report that knowledge or evidence to the NRC, 
bribery of, or extortion by, any Federal, State or other regulatory 
official involved in the review or approval of, or continuing 
oversight over, the license activities, or license applications; or 
any person who, or any organization whose principal owner, officer, 
or senior manager, has acted in any manner that flagrantly 
undermines the integrity of the regulatory process of the NRC or 
that of an Agreement State.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of June, 2000.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 00-16649 Filed 6-29-00; 8:45 am]
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