[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 204 (Monday, October 22, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64565-64566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25931]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0249]


Solicitation of Feedback and Lessons-Learned from the Pilot of 
the Revised Construction Reactor Oversight Process

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Request for public participation in survey.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is soliciting feedback and lessons-learned from members of the public, 
licensees, and interest groups regarding the effectiveness of the 
revised construction reactor oversight process (cROP) as demonstrated 
during the pilot program currently in progress. This solicitation will 
allow external stakeholder to provide insights to support the staff 
assessment of the pilot results. A summary of the responses to the 
survey will be included in the cROP pilot assessment report to the 
Commission.

DATES: Complete and submit survey forms by December 31, 2012. The NRC 
will consider survey forms received after this date if it is practical 
to do so, but is able to ensure consideration of only survey forms 
received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0249 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access information related to this document, which the NRC 
possesses and are publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0249. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     Email Survey to: [email protected].
     Mail Survey to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, 
and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-
05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
     Fax Survey to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
    The electronic version of the survey questions may be obtained at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/oversight/crop/con-pilot.html. 
For additional instructions on submitting surveys and instructions on 
accessing documents related to this action, see Section I, ``Accessing 
Information and Submitting Surveys''; of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this document. If you cannot access the electronic version 
of the survey, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document to receive a copy of the 
survey.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jose Jimenez, Operation Reactor 
Engineer, Office of New Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-5303; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Surveys

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0249 in the subject line of your 
survey submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your 
submission available to the public in this docket. Surveys submitted in 
writing or in electronic form will be posted on the NRC's Web site and 
on the Federal rulemaking Web site, http://www.regulations.gov/.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
submission. The NRC will post all submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the submissions into ADAMS. The 
NRC does not routinely edit submissions to remove identifying or 
contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating submissions from other persons 
to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include 
identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly 
disclosed in their submission. Your request should state that the NRC 
does not routinely edit to remove such information before making the 
submissions available to the public or entering the submissions into 
ADAMS.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this notice 
using the following methods:
     NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine 
and have copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's 
PDR, Room O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public 
can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are 
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's 
PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to 
[email protected]. The 2012, cROP pilot Survey is available 
electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML12271A391.
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public survey submissions and 
supporting materials related to this action can be found at http://www.regulations.gov/ by searching on Docket ID NRC-2012-0249.
    Information regarding the cROP and licensee performance can be 
found at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-

[[Page 64566]]

reactors/oversight/crop.html. In addition, the Commission paper may be 
accessed at this link when completed.

II. Program Overview

    The mission of the NRC is to license and regulate the Nation's 
civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials to 
ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, promote the 
common defense and security, and protect the environment. Specifically, 
for an application to construct a nuclear plant as specified in part 52 
of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), the NRC's 
mission is accomplished through the following activities:
    1. The NRC issues a combined license (COL) for the construction and 
operation of a nuclear facility following a detailed safety review;
    2. The NRC inspects licensee construction activities to ensure 
compliance with regulatory requirements and the law.
    It is the responsibility of the COL holder to ensure that the 
facility is constructed in accordance with the license and regulations. 
The NRC will inspect and assess licensee construction activities to 
provide reasonable assurance that the plant is constructed in 
accordance with the licensing basis. The NRC has applied lessons-
learned from the prior plants constructed under 10 CFR part 50 in the 
development of the current construction regulatory oversight process. 
The cROP currently being piloted consists of many of the same objective 
elements as those used in the reactor oversight process (ROP), starting 
with a construction regulatory framework and including a construction 
significance determination process, a construction action matrix, and a 
similar enforcement approach to that which is in use in the ROP. The 
NRC engaged Regional and Headquarters staff and external stakeholders 
in the development of all portions of the new cROP, including the 
solicitation and appropriate disposition of all stakeholder comments 
received. Since the development and implementation of the cROP pilot 
program, the NRC has continued to solicit stakeholder input and has 
frequently communicated with the public and industry by various 
initiatives such as: conducting public meetings in the vicinity of each 
licensed commercial nuclear power plant, conducting public meetings and 
workshops, and placing pertinent background information and maintaining 
an NRC Web site containing easily accessible information about the cROP 
and licensee performance.

III. NRC Public Stakeholder Comments

    The NRC is seeking feedback and lessons-learned from members of the 
public, public interest groups, and the nuclear industry on their 
insights regarding the effectiveness of the cROP pilot program which is 
being conducted during Calendar Year (CY) 2012. Responses received will 
provide important information for ongoing program staff, evaluation and 
improvement. A summary of the survey results obtained will be provided 
to the Commission via the staff evaluation, and will be used during the 
decision of whether or not the new cROP should be fully implemented.

IV. Survey

    An electronic version of the survey questions may be obtained at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/oversight/crop/con-pilot.html. 
If you have problems accessing the electronic version of the survey, 
contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this document to receive a copy of this survey. You may 
submit the survey to the NRC by any one of the methods listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this document. The NRC does not plan to provide 
specific responses to the submissions received during this 
solicitation. The survey submissions will provide insights into the 
self-assessment process and a summary of the survey results will be 
included in the annual cROP self-assessment report to the Commission.

V. Paperwork Reduction Act

    This survey contains information collections that are subject to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). These 
information collections were approved by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), Approval Number 3150-0197. The burden to the public for 
these voluntary information collections is estimated to be 45 minutes 
per response. The information gathered will be used in the NRC's self-
assessment of the construction reactor oversight process and to 
determine whether or not the new process should be fully implemented. 
Send comments regarding this burden estimate to the Information 
Services Branch (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by Internet electronic mail to 
[email protected]; and to the Desk Officer, Chad Whiteman, 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, NEOB-10202, (3150-0197), 
Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a request for information or an information collection 
requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid 
OMB control number.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of October, 2012.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James Luehman,
Deputy Director, Division of Construction Inspection & Operational 
Programs, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2012-25931 Filed 10-19-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P