Federal Register, Volume 73 Issue 26 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 26 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 7328]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2243]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Status of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation's Electronic 
Distribution Initiative

    The Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) staff at the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is implementing an electronic 
distribution initiative (EDI) that will modify the method of 
distributing selected categories (e.g., operating reactor license 
amendments) of operating reactor licensing correspondence. 
Specifically, this initiative involves replacing distribution of paper 
copies with electronic distribution to the plant mailing list for 
documents generated by NRR's Division of Operating Reactor Licensing. 
This initiative does not affect the availability of official agency 
records in NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS), which are publicly available on the NRC's Web page http://www.nrc.gov.
    When this initiative is implemented, addressees will continue to 
receive the original correspondence, while those on the plant mailing 
list will receive electronic mail (e-mail). The distribution of 
safeguards information, proprietary or security-related information, or 
other information that is withheld from public disclosure will not be 
affected by this initiative. The NRC staff will protect the e-mail 
address from disclosure to others for privacy concerns.
    In order to evaluate the feasibility of electronic distribution, 
the staff engaged in a pilot program with Exelon Generation Company, 
LLC (West). The pilot program began July 1, 2007, and ended September 
30, 2007. A Federal Register Notice announcing the pilot program was 
issued on June 28, 2007 (72 FR 35520).
    During the pilot program, the method used for distribution was e-
mail. The e-mail contained an electronic link to ADAMS providing direct 
access to the correspondence. In addition, addressees received an Adobe 
Acrobat^TM (pdf) version of the correspondence. Several 
lessons were learned from the pilot program. For example, the use of e-
mails with a direct link into ADAMS provides an effective communication 
of correspondence. However, it generally takes 5 business days for a 
document to become publicly available in ADAMS. Unless action is taken 
to make the document publicly available sooner or action taken to delay 
sending the e-mail until the document becomes publicly available, the 
direct link resulted in the document not being available when the e-
mail was received. As another example, some licensees and organizations 
that have multiple recipients on the plant mailing list have determined 
that it is beneficial to provide one email address for the plant 
mailing list. This allows these entities to perform additional 
distribution of the documents through automatic forwarding features of 
their e-mail systems. Furthermore, this allows easy and rapid updating 
of changes to these additional distribution addresses without incurring 
the additional cost of developing and approving communications to the 
NRC to make changes to the plant mailing list.
    To obtain information to enhance the EDI, steps were taken to 
engage stakeholders. In the initial Federal Register notice (72 FR 
35520) announcing the pilot program and in our letter dated October 11, 
2007, (ADAMS Accession No. ML072820307) the NRC staff requested 
comments on the EDI. The NRC staff also sent an e-mail on October 24, 
2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML080160089) to all who participated in the 
pilot program to get their feedback. The comments (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML080170254) were overwhelmingly supportive of electronic distribution, 
generally because of the reduced need for copies and reduced handling 
costs. A few responders were concerned with e-mail box overloads and 
size limits. Such concerns can be eventually eliminated as individuals 
and organizations upgrade their electronic mail systems and will be 
addressed on a case-by-case basis.
    Because the pilot program demonstrated feasibility and the feedback 
received was overwhelmingly favorable, the NRC is taking additional 
steps to pursue implementation of electronic distribution of 
correspondence. Recognizing the potential to provide a more effective 
and efficient method of distributing correspondence, the NRC intends to 
implement this initiative in 2008.
    If you have specific comments regarding this initiative, please 
contact Mr. Russell Gibbs at 301-415-7198, or [email protected]. Comments 
received within 30 days of this notice will be considered for 
implementation in the EDI.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of February 2008.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Russell Gibbs,
Chief, Plant Licensing Branch III-2, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 [FR Doc. E8-2243 Filed 2-6-08; 8:45 am]
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