[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]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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