[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 86 (Friday, May 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22463-22469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-11023]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Solicitation of Public Comments on Agency Guidelines for Ensuring 
Information Quality

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The NRC is requesting comments from members of the public, 
licensees, and interest groups on its draft Information Quality (IQ) 
Guidelines. Focus questions have been provided to increase public 
feedback. The IQ Guidelines contain the Commission's policy and 
procedures for ensuring the quality of information before it is 
disseminated to the public. It also contains the procedures by which an 
affected person may obtain correction of information that does not 
comply with the IQ Guidelines. The Commission will consider comments 
received in response to this notice in developing its final IQ 
Guidelines.

DATES: Comments are due by May 30, 2002. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
able to only ensure consideration only for comments received on or 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Information Quality, c/o Vicki 
Yanez, Web, Publishing, and Distribution Services Division, Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, Mail Stop: T6-E7, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, e-mailed to 
[email protected], or faxed to 301-415-5272. Comments may also be 
submitted at the NRC Web site information quality comment form that is 
accessible from NRC's ``Contact Us'' Web page (http://www.nrc.gov/contact-us). Comments may be delivered to Vicki Yanez, Two White Flint 
North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and 
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vicki Yanez, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6844 or by Internet electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB and Agency Responsibilities

    Section 515(a) of the Treasury and General Government 
Appropriations Act, FY 2001 (Pub. L. 106-554), directed the Director, 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to issue guidelines that provide 
policy and procedural guidance to Federal agencies for ensuring and 
maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of 
information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal 
agencies in fulfillment of the purposes and provisions of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. OMB issued its final guidelines on September 28, 2001. 
Subsequent guidance was issued by OMB on February 22, 2002 (67 FR 
8452). These guidelines require agencies subject to the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, including the NRC, to:
    1. Issue their own information quality guidelines ensuring and 
maximizing the quality, utility, integrity, and objectivity of 
information disseminated by the agency;
    2. Establish an administrative mechanism allowing affected persons 
to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and 
disseminated by the agency that does not comply with these guidelines; 
and
    3. Report annually to the Director of OMB the number and nature of 
complaints received by the agency regarding compliance with these 
guidelines concerning the quality, utility, integrity, and objectivity 
of information and how such complaints were resolved.
    The OMB guidelines further establish the following schedule:

May 1, 2002.
     Submit a draft report to OMB providing NRC's information 
quality guidelines and explaining how these guidelines will ensure and 
maximize the quality, utility, integrity, and objectivity of 
information disseminated by the NRC.
     Publish the draft report in the Federal Register; post the 
draft report on the NRC public Web site; ask for public comments on the 
report.

July 1, 2002.
     Submit to OMB for review the agency's revised quality 
guidelines that reflect public comments.
    October 1, 2002.
     Publish in the Federal Register a notice of availability 
of the final NRC guidelines and post the guidelines on the NRC public 
Web Site.
     Ensure that information covered by these guidelines and 
disseminated for the first time by NRC on or after this date has 
undergone reviews for quality.

January 1, 2004 and each January 1 thereafter.

[[Page 22464]]

     Submit to the Director of OMB a report on the number and 
nature of complaints received by NRC regarding NRC's compliance with 
these OMB guidelines and the resolution of complaints received.

Draft Report to the Office of Management and Budget Information 
Quality Guidelines of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NRC's Commitment to Information Quality

    NRC's mission is to regulate nuclear facilities and nuclear 
materials to protect the public health and safety, the environment, and 
the common defense and security. NRC recognizes that its decisions must 
be objective and clear to the public. Decisions must be based on sound 
scientific information and accurate data. Because of the importance of 
openness and transparency, NRC routinely makes available to the public 
the majority of its regulatory documents, information about its 
decision-making processes, and the standards used to analyze 
information submitted to NRC by the regulated community.
    Much of the information NRC makes publicly available does not fall 
within the scope of the OMB guidelines. However, NRC is committed to 
quality for all of the information it disseminates, even if it is not 
specifically covered by these guidelines. NRC policies and processes 
are designed to ensure that NRC information reflects a level of quality 
commensurate with the nature of the information. This includes 
information ranging from explanatory information designed to enhance 
the general public's understanding of NRC's mission to complex 
scientific and engineering analyses that forms the technical basis for 
our rules and regulatory decisions.

General Approach

    NRC's proposed Information Quality (IQ) Guidelines rely on existing 
agency policies and procedures to meet the standards for information 
quality. In accordance with OMB's guidelines, NRC uses a graduated 
approach to ensuring information quality--the more influential the 
information, the more rigorous the quality standards used--with the 
most influential scientific, financial, and statistical (SFS) data 
being subject to the most rigorous IQ standards and procedures.
    OMB defines influential SFS information to encompass information 
that ``the agency can reasonably determine that dissemination of the 
information will have or does have a clear and substantial impact on 
important public policies or important private sector decisions.'' OMB 
authorized each agency to define influential SFS in ways appropriate 
for it, given the nature of the issues for which the agency is 
responsible.
    NRC has defined influential SFS as information that forms the 
technical basis for a substantive rulemaking that has substantial 
impact on an industry. There may also be other types of information 
that the NRC deems ``influential'' under its guidelines on a case-by-
case basis.
    NRC's definition of influential information principally applies to 
SFS information that forms the basis for rulemaking because rules are 
legally binding, whereas other agency issuances, such as Regulatory 
Guides, Generic Communications, and others do not mandate industry-wide 
compliance. Substantive rules are those technical regulations that have 
a substantial impact on an entire industry. These rules, for example, 
could include revisions to 10 CFR part 50 regulations for power 
reactors, or revisions to 10 CFR part 70 regulations for major fuel 
cycle facilities that would have an additional substantial impact on an 
industry.

Components of Information Quality

    OMB's guidelines define three components of information quality: 
utility, integrity, and objectivity. The following sections describe 
how NRC's proposed guidelines ensure that agency information meets the 
OMB standards for these three components.

How NRC's Draft Guidelines Meet the Standard for Information 
Utility

    Utility refers to the usefulness of information to its intended 
user. The NRC's proposed Information Quality Guidelines are built on 
existing policies and procedures to meet the standard for information 
utility.
    NRC ensures information utility (1) through existing agency 
policies that determine what information is disseminated and how 
quickly it is made available; (2) by on-going processes such as 
feedback forms and user groups to solicit input on the public's 
interests pertaining to what and how information is disseminated, (3) 
by existing processes that routinely request public comments on 
individual documents, and (4) by existing tools and assistance to help 
the public find the information they are seeking.
    NRC's internal policy on the public release of information directs 
the staff to make public all information associated with the agency's 
regulatory processes and decisions unless release is restricted 
because, for example, it contains classified national security 
information, safeguards information, proprietary information, is 
protected by the Privacy Act, or contains other information 
withholdable under the Freedom of Information Act. This policy includes 
specific timeliness requirements. NRC information is available through 
the agency's Web site at www.nrc.gov and through the Agencywide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which is accessible from 
the Electronic Reading Room at NRC's Web site. ADAMS provides the 
public with access to the full text of the record copy for virtually 
all of NRC's publicly available records. A few records, too large for 
convenient access in ADAMS, are available on CD-ROM from the NRC Public 
Document Room.
    NRC notes that since September 11, 2001, the information made 
available on the agency Web site is under review to ensure that 
homeland security is not compromised. This reassessment balances 
restrictions related to homeland security with the need for the public 
to have information about NRC's regulatory activities and the industry 
NRC regulates. As information is cleared, it is being restored to the 
site.
    NRC actively seeks public input on its major approaches to 
information dissemination--the Web and ADAMS. During the process of 
redesigning NRC's public Web site, NRC conducted two usability surveys, 
held focus group meetings with several stakeholder groups, and made a 
prototype site publicly available for comment. Information obtained 
through these activities has been incorporated into the redesign of the 
NRC public Web site. An example of a suggestion from the public that 
was adopted during the redesign is the Documents for Comment page, 
which provides access to all agency documents available for comment 
from a single page. OMB recently approved a Web site feedback form 
through which NRC intends to continue the process of collecting public 
comments and measuring public satisfaction with its Web site. In 
addition, the NRC has formed a public user group to obtain public input 
on ADAMS, the document management system described above. The user 
group serves as a forum for two-way communications with the agency 
about making ADAMS more accessible and easier to use.
    NRC frequently seeks public comment on particular information 
products through public meetings, comment forms at its Web site, in 
Federal Register Notices, and at its online rulemaking forum and 
technical

[[Page 22465]]

conference Web pages. These opportunities for comment and interaction 
are described at the NRC's Web site under Public Involvement (http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve.html), specifically at the Documents for 
Comment page (http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment.html), and 
also at Contact Us (http://www.nrc.gov/who-we-are/contactus.html).
    Another important component of utility is the ability of the user 
to find the information he or she is seeking. In the recent redesign of 
NRC's Web site, the agency made a special effort to enhance the 
public's ability to find information. This included organizing 
information in response to public interests, highlighting key topics 
important to the public, improving and standardizing Web site 
navigation, improving the site's finding aids (site search, index, and 
site map), and making all contact information available from a single 
page (Contact Us). In addition, NRC has a full-time staff of technical 
reference librarians in the agency's Public Document Room (PDR) whose 
sole mission is to help the public find and obtain the information they 
seek. The PDR staff may be reached by visiting the PDR, or by phone, 
fax, mail, e-mail, or a query form available at the Web site.

How NRC's Draft Guidelines Meet the Standard for Information 
Integrity

    Integrity refers to the security of information--its protection 
from unauthorized access or revision to ensure that the information is 
not compromised. NRC's proposed Information Quality Guidelines are 
built on extensive existing policies and procedures to meet the 
standard for information integrity.
    The agency ensures information integrity by issuing security 
clearances to employees, contractors, and others commensurate with 
their access to NRC, physical and electronic access controls to 
information and the equipment used to process it; by the security 
practices required for agency computer systems; by the agency's records 
management processes; and by management controls and concurrences that 
are required before information is finalized and made publicly 
available.
    In addition to requiring clearances for all employees, NRC requires 
contractors with access to computer systems and associated information 
to undergo a clearance process. Levels of clearance depend on the 
sensitivity of the information to which the individual requires access.
    Only certain authorized staff or contractors have physical access 
to the computer facilities used to store and process NRC's information 
and records. Electronic access is password protected and levels of 
access are graduated, with only a few authorized staff and contractors 
having the more powerful systems administration privileges.
    The NRC's policies concerning system development and maintenance 
ensure that computer systems implemented by the NRC are reliable and do 
not inadvertently alter data. These policies require that systems, 
prior to acceptance, be tested to ensure proper performance of the 
software and the supporting network and telecommunications systems. 
Computer security controls determine appropriate levels of access to 
computers, network equipment, and to files in computer systems, as 
specified in policies on computer and telecommunications security.
    NRC's records management program ensures that the agency's official 
records are properly maintained and protected. The Agencywide Documents 
Access and Management System (ADAMS) stores official records in an 
image format to ensure the fidelity of the records. Once a document is 
declared as an official record in ADAMS it cannot be deleted or changed 
except by authorized records officials with explicit approval by senior 
management. A completely independent document repository contains 
copies of the official records, which the public may view through the 
NRC Web site. Incoming information which supports agency regulatory 
decisions is scanned as an image, stored in the same manner, and is 
thus protected from tampering.
    NRC's correspondence policy specifies the agency's management 
review and approval process needed to finalize an internally generated 
document before it becomes an official record. It is NRC's policy that 
no copy of a document is made publicly available unless it is an 
official record. In addition, NRC's Web policies specify the approvals 
required for the contextual information pages at our Web site (all 
information at the Web site other than copies of official record 
documents).

How NRC's Draft Guidelines Meet the Standard for Information 
Objectivity

    Objectivity, as defined in the OMB guidelines, addresses both 
presentation and substance. The presentation and substance of the 
information must be accurate, clear, complete, reliable, and unbiased. 
NRC's proposed Information Quality Guidelines are built on numerous 
existing policies and procedures to meet the standard for information 
objectivity.
    NRC's existing policies and standards ensure that NRC information 
meets the standards for objectivity, in both presentation and 
substance. These policies address correspondence, NRC reports, 
contractor and grantee reports, and public Web site standards. The 
agency's Regulations Handbook and Regulatory Analysis Guidelines also 
address objectivity.
    The NRC recognizes the special requirements for ensuring 
objectivity for SFS information. It is important that this information 
be unbiased and transparent. Transparency refers to the practices of 
describing the data and methods used in developing an information 
product in a way that it would be possible for an independent, 
qualified individual or organization in some cases to reproduce the 
results.
    To ensure that such information is unbiased, the NRC has several 
existing external Advisory Committees to provide peer review of agency 
technical information. These Advisory bodies are:
     The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS)
     The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW)
     The Advisory Committee on Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI)
    The Charters of the ACRS, ACNW, and ACMUI are available at the 
agency Public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/advisory.html.
    For activities related to the nuclear materials program, the NRC 
coordinates regulatory responsibilities with the Agreement States. It 
is NRC's policy to provide an opportunity to these Agreement States for 
early and substantive involvement in the formulation of rules, 
policies, directives or guidance. For some of the more significant 
materials regulatory changes, NRC and Agreement States form work teams 
to develop new regulatory products. For example, the revision to NRC's 
regulations for the medical community (10 CFR part 35) involved 
extensive interaction with the Agreement States. NRC also provides 
opportunity for active State involvement through the Governor appointed 
State Liaison Officers Program.
    NRC has also established an internal advisory group--the Committee 
for Review of Generic Requirements (CRGR)--that reviews proposed 
changes to regulatory requirements, generic correspondence, and 
regulatory guidance. The CRGR reviews the implications of backfitting 
the proposed regulatory changes on NRC licensees to ensure they are 
justified. The CRGR also reviews the use of risk-informed

[[Page 22466]]

approaches in NRC's regulatory requirements.
    Also, consistent with the traditional means by which scientific and 
engineering communities ensure the quality of research, the NRC 
requires that the results of the research it sponsors be subjected to 
independent peer review to ensure that it is unbiased.
    The NRC produces transparent analytic results by requiring that the 
data and methods used are explained. Results are intended to be 
reproducible by a qualified third party. NRC's existing policy and 
procedures concerning the preparation of staff, contractor, and grantee 
reports and in the Regulatory Analysis Guidelines ensure transparency 
and reproducibility. Transparency is promoted by including a 
methodology section in research and investigative reports that 
describes the methods used and data sources, including any computer 
codes, for the results reached. Some of these analytical methods are 
described in NRC's Regulatory Guides, Standard Review Plans, the NRC 
Inspection Manual, the NRC Enforcement Manual, and other agency 
technical reports. In addition, much of the data from license 
applications or other incoming industry documents are also made 
publicly available.
    In situations where public access to data and methods will not 
occur due to other compelling interests (e.g., classified national 
security information, safeguards information, proprietary information, 
or information protected by the Privacy Act), the NRC applies rigorous 
checks of analytic results and documents the checks undertaken.
    The NRC believes that public involvement is a key element of the 
information quality process and an important element of ensuring 
unbiased, transparent analyses. This belief is reflected in NRC's use 
of participatory rulemaking practices and its encouragement of public 
comment on draft rulemakings and draft guidance documents. These 
opportunities for comment and interaction are described at the NRC's 
Web site under Public Involvement (http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve.html) and also at Contact Us (http://www.nrc.gov/who-we-are/contactus.html). Public meetings are announced on our agency's Web site 
at the Public Meeting Schedule page. The agency's public meeting 
practices include live Webcasts of Commission meetings and the use of 
facilitators in meetings designed for public interaction to maximize 
meeting effectiveness.

Administrative Processes for the Public To Seek Correction of 
Information

    As illustrated in the discussion above, the processes that the NRC 
uses to generate and disseminate information provide a variety of ways 
in which the public can seek corrections of information throughout the 
development process of a final information product. As described in the 
draft guidelines that follow, the NRC will provide a new process by 
which the public can seek corrections of information as described in 
Section 515(a) of Public Law 106-554.

Conclusion

    The NRC's existing policy and procedures meet OMB's information 
quality standards for information quality. As described above, quality 
is achieved through numerous existing agency review processes, 
commensurate with the nature of the information, that occur prior to 
public dissemination. Additionally, the NRC's five-member Commission 
reviews and approves all important policies.

Focus Questions

    To increase public feedback, the NRC has provided these questions 
to focus comments, but all comments will be considered.

NRC Information Quality Guidelines

    Do the NRC's Information Quality Guidelines achieve the goals set 
out by the OMB's guidance?
    Does the NRC clearly describe how quality is addressed in all 
information products disseminated?
    Does the NRC clearly describe what information products are subject 
to these guidelines and the administrative mechanism for correction?

Procedures for the Public To Seek Correction of Information Under 
Section 515(a)

    Is the NRC process described sufficient to allow the public to 
submit a request seeking correction to an information product?
    Does the NRC process provide adequate avenues for submitting a 
request?
    Do the NRC procedures clearly communicate that an appeal can be 
requested if the first request for seeking correction has been denied?

NRC's Draft Information Quality Guidelines

Scope

Information Subject to These Guidelines

    The agency's information quality reviews will apply to agency 
documents publicly disseminated for the first time on or after October 
1, 2002. Documents that had already been placed on NRC's Web site or in 
the Public Document Room prior to October 1 need not go through a 
information quality review because they have already been disseminated, 
but these documents would be subject to the public seeking correction 
and appeal if the information is subject to these guidelines.
    NRC information covered by the guidelines includes, but is not 
limited to, information pertaining to:
     Rulemakings.
     Inspection Reports.
     Findings of the reactor oversight process.
     Regulatory Guides and other guidance to licensees.
     Generic Communications to licensees, including information 
notices, generic letters, bulletins and others.
     Technical Reports.
    These guidelines apply to print and electronic versions of agency 
information products.
    Because of the importance of openness and transparency, the NRC 
routinely makes available to the public the majority of its regulatory 
documents, information about its decision-making processes, and the 
standards used to analyze information submitted by the regulated 
community. OMB's guidelines require NRC to apply information quality 
standards only to a subset of this information; however, NRC is 
committed to quality for all of the information it disseminates whether 
or not it is specifically covered by these guidelines. In addition, the 
NRC has many existing processes by which the public may comment on 
agency information. The agency will continue to use these processes to 
respond to comments and requests regardless of whether they are 
specifically covered by these guidelines.

Information Not Subject to These Guidelines

    Based on the OMB guidelines, the following kinds of agency 
information are not subject to the guidelines developed by the NRC:
     Information products associated with adjudicative 
processes, public filings, or subpoenas.
     Non-scientific/non-statistical general, procedural, or 
organizational information.
     Information that is not initiated or sponsored by the NRC.
     Information that expresses opinions rather than formal 
agency views.
     Information intended for intra-agency use.

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     Information intended for inter-agency use or shared 
government information.
     Information disseminated to agency employees, contractors, 
or grantees.
     Agency correspondence with individuals or persons.
     Agency press releases.
     Agency speeches.
     Archival records.
     Trade secrets, intellectual property, classified, 
restricted, unclassified safeguards, proprietary, sensitive homeland 
security, privacy and other information withholdable under the Freedom 
of Information Act.
     Responses to requests made under the Freedom of 
Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 
or similar laws.
    NRC information quality standards may be waived temporarily for 
information disseminated under urgent situations. The NRC will consider 
the following as urgent situations: emergency conditions at licensed 
facilities and imminent or credible threats to the public health and 
safety, the environment, and the common defense and security, including 
homeland security.

Information Quality Standards

    Information products disseminated by the NRC will meet NRC's 
existing standards in order to ensure and maximize information quality. 
These guidelines describe key elements of NRC's existing standards and 
how they address the key components of information quality.
    Existing agency policies and procedures ensure that standards and 
review processes for information quality are commensurate with the 
influence of the information on agency policies and decision-making. 
The processes to ensure quality are most rigorous for influential 
scientific, financial, or statistical information.
    Influential scientific, financial, or statistical information as 
defined by OMB means that ``the agency can reasonably determine that 
dissemination of the information will have or does have a clear and 
substantial impact on developing important public policies or important 
private sector decisions.''
    For NRC influential scientific, financial, or statistical 
information is defined as information that forms the technical basis 
for a substantive rulemaking that has substantial impact on an 
industry. There may also be other types of information that the NRC 
deems ``influential'' under Section 515(a) on a case-by-case basis.
    Information quality is defined as comprising three elements: 
utility, integrity, and objectivity. NRC's standards for these three 
elements are explained in the following three sections.

NRC Guidelines for Achieving Information Utility

    Utility refers to the usefulness of the information to its intended 
users. The NRC will adhere to existing policies to ensure information 
utility.
    NRC will continue to follow its existing policy on the 
dissemination of information to the public, which clearly specifies 
what is to be made public as well as the timeliness standard for public 
release. To achieve an open regulatory environment, the NRC will 
continue to make public information associated with agency regulatory 
processes and decisions unless release is restricted because, for 
example, it contains classified national security information, 
safeguards information, proprietary information, sensitive homeland 
security information, or other information withholdable under the 
Freedom of Information Act.
    In addition, the NRC will continue to solicit public input on what 
and how information is disseminated through feedback mechanisms at 
NRC's Web site and for NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS). Further, NRC will continue to request comments on 
individual documents and hold public meetings as appropriate to solicit 
public comment.
    The NRC's Public Document Room will continue to provide assistance 
to help the public locate the information they are seeking quickly and 
conveniently.

NRC Guidelines for Achieving Information Integrity

    Integrity refers to the security of information from unauthorized 
access or revision to ensure that the information is not compromised 
through corruption or falsification. The NRC will comply with the 
integrity standard by adhering to existing NRC policies for personnel 
security, computer security, information security, and records 
management.
    Key components include
     Policies for systems development and life cycle management 
requiring that computer systems are designed and tested to ensure that 
data cannot be inadvertently altered and that appropriate access 
controls are included in systems designs.
     Computer and personnel security policies ensuring that 
employees and contractors who have access to electronic information and 
associated computer systems are screened for trustworthiness and are 
assigned the appropriate level of access.
     Records Management policies requiring that official agency 
records are properly maintained and protected. In particular, these 
policies require that documents disseminated to the public are declared 
as official agency records in NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS), which protects them from alteration or 
falsification.

NRC Guidelines for Achieving Information Objectivity

    Objectivity involves two distinct elements: presentation and 
substance. Information must be presented in a manner that is accurate, 
clear, complete and unbiased. In addition, the substance of the 
information presented must be accurate, reliable, and unbiased. To meet 
the quality standard of objectivity, the NRC will use existing agency 
guidelines, as described below.

Accuracy and Completeness

    The NRC will continue to ensure that the accuracy standard is met 
through NRC's formal review and concurrence processes that apply to all 
official records. Official records include rulemaking documents, 
inspection reports, technical reports, generic communications, and all 
other agency documents covered by these guidelines. NRC will also 
continue to use existing quality management controls prior to 
disseminating information for the accuracy of all relevant content at 
the NRC public Web site.

Reliable, Unbiased

    The NRC will continue to ensure that the standard for reliable, 
unbiased information is met through the means listed below. The types 
and rigor of review processes applicable to specific information 
products are commensurate with the significance of the information, 
with influential information receiving the most rigorous review.
     Sound statistical and research methods to generate data 
and analytic results for scientific and statistical information
     Peer reviews of agency-sponsored research
     Reviews of agency information by independent advisory 
committees: the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), the 
Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW), and the Advisory Committee 
on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI).
     Reviews by the Committee to Review Generic Requirements 
for

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information and related analyses with generic implications.
     Reviews of matters pertaining to the regulations of 
nuclear materials by the Agreement States
     Opportunities for the public and States to comment on 
rulemakings, Commission policy statements, Regulatory Guides, and other 
information dissemination products as appropriate.
     Use of public meetings to seek public views and 
solicitation of comments through the NRC Web site and Federal Register 
Notices as appropriate.
     Compliance with internal policy to ensure unbiased 
Incident Investigation Team investigations.
     Reviews of proposed policy decisions by the five-member 
Commission.

Transparency

    Influential scientific, financial, or statistical information must 
have a high degree of transparency. Transparency refers to the 
practices of describing the data and methods used in developing an 
information product in a way that it would be possible for an 
independent, qualified individual or organization in some cases to 
reproduce the results. To the extent that this standard is applicable, 
the NRC will continue to ensure that the transparency standard is met 
by including methodology sections or appendixes that describe how the 
information is gathered and evaluated in relevant agency information 
products.

Clarity

    The NRC will continue to ensure that the clarity standard is met by 
adhering to the agency's Plain Language Program in agency written and 
electronic products; by ensuring that other covered information, 
particularly the analyses of technical information, receives editorial 
review; and that the agency responds to stakeholder comments on the 
clarity of proposed rules.

Procedures for the Public To Seek Correction of Information

1. What You Must Do

    To seek correction of information under Section 515(a) of Public 
Law 106-554, follow the procedure described below:
     State that your request for correction of information is 
submitted in accordance with NRC's Information Quality Guidelines.
     Include your name, mailing address, fax number, or e-mail 
address, and telephone number and organizational affiliation, if any. 
The NRC needs this information to respond to your request and contact 
you if necessary.
     Clearly describe the information you believe is in error 
and want corrected. Include the source of the information (for example, 
the name and date of the report or data product), the exact location of 
the error (for example, the page, figure, table number, or the Web page 
address), and a detailed description of the information to be 
corrected.
     State specifically why the information should be 
corrected, and if possible, recommend specifically how it should be 
corrected. Provide supporting documentary evidence, such as comparable 
data or research results on the same topic, or a specific authoritative 
source to help in the review of your request. If the documentary 
evidence is supplied by means of a reference, the reference must be 
specific enough that NRC can easily locate the information serving as 
the basis for the correction request.

2. What We Will Do

    Based on a review of the information provided, the NRC will
     Determine whether a correction is warranted, and if so, 
what action to take. The decision on appropriate corrective action(s) 
will be based upon the nature and timeliness of the information product 
involved and such factors as the significance of the correction on the 
use of the information product and the magnitude of the correction.
     Respond to your request for correction of information 
within 90 business days of receipt by letter, e-mail, or fax. Our 
response will explain the findings of the review and actions NRC will 
take. If the request requires more than 90 business days to resolve, 
the NRC will tell you that more time is required, state the reason why, 
and include an estimated decision date.

3. How To Submit Your Request

    You must submit your request for correction of information under 
these guidelines in writing by mail, fax, e-mail, or on-line as 
follows:
    Mail: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Information Quality, 
Washington, DC 20555.
    E-mail: [email protected].
    Fax: TBD.
    On-Line: http://www.nrc.gov/ [exact web url to be determined].

4. Your Right To Appeal Our Decision

    If you wish to appeal NRC's denial of your request for correction 
or you wish to appeal the decision on the corrective action, follow the 
procedure described below:
     Submit your appeal within 90 business days of receipt of 
NRC's notification of denial or of NRC's notification of the corrective 
action. (Only the original requestor may appeal the decision.)
     Include a dated copy of the original request for 
correction, and a description of how the response failed to resolve the 
request for correction.
     Submit your appeal in accordance with the directions in 
the agency's response.
    An agency appellate official, who is independent of the initial 
response to the request for correction, will evaluate the appeal and 
will notify you of the final results of the appeal within 45 business 
days. The agency appellate official may consult with other Federal 
agencies in responding to an appeal, as appropriate.

5. NRC's Right To Reject Certain Requests

    The correction process is designed to address the genuine and valid 
needs of affected persons without disrupting agency operations. The 
NRC, in making a determination of whether to correct information, may 
reject claims made in bad faith or without justification and is 
required to undertake only the degree of correction that it concludes 
is appropriate for the nature and timeliness of the information 
involved. The NRC will explain decisions to deny or limit corrective 
actions in its annual fiscal year reports to the Office of Management 
and Budget.

Disclaimer

    These guidelines on submitting comments are not intended to and do 
not confer or imply any rights of individuals or organizations beyond 
those permitted in specific laws.

Privacy Act Statement for Information Correction Request Form

    We are authorized to collect the information requested on the NRC 
Information Request Form under section 515(a) of the Treasury and 
General Government Appropriations Acts for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 
106-554, codified at 44 USC 3516, note). This information is needed to 
reply to your comment. You do not have to furnish the information, but 
failure to do so will prevent the NRC from notifying you of the 
resolution of your request and will eliminate any opportunity for 
appeal. We may disclose information to a congressional office in 
response to an inquiry made on your behalf; to the Department of 
Justice, a court, or other

[[Page 22469]]

tribunal when the information is relevant and necessary to litigation; 
or to a contractor or another Federal agency to help accomplish a 
function related to this process.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of April 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jacqueline Silber,
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 02-11023 Filed 5-2-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P