[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11691-11692]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04479]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2015-0045]
Reviewing and Assessing the Financial Condition of Operating
Power Reactor Licensees, Including Requests for Additional Information
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing
Interim Staff Guidance (ISG), OL/FR-ISG-2014-01, ``Reviewing and
Assessing the Financial Condition of Operating Power Reactor Licensees,
Including Requests for Additional Information,'' dated February 17,
2015. The ISG provides clarifying guidance to the NRC staff when
reviewing licensee financial information, and when requesting
additional information regarding licensee financial conditions, as
authorized under the NRC's regulations. Such review and inquiry are
performed by NRC staff for currently operating power reactor licensees,
absent a licensing action such as a license transfer.
DATES: The ISG is available March 4, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0045 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0045. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this notice (if
that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a
document is referenced. The ISG is available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML14218A625.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Turtil, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2308; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
The purpose of this ISG is to clarify the process by which the NRC
will review financial conditions of, and financial concerns about,
currently operating power reactor licensees. This guidance is intended
to provide consistency and transparency with regard to the NRC's
financial review process for licensees (in the absence of a license
transfer or other similar licensing action). It addresses the NRC's
basis for financial Requests for Additional Information from licensees
during operations, the NRC staff's evaluation of Requests for
Additional Information responses, and the closure of such inquiries.
This ISG is intended to enhance the NRC's financial review guidance
presented in Section III(1)(d)--Post-OL Non-transfer Reviews, of NUREG-
1577, Revision 1, ``Standard Review Plan on Power Reactor Licensee
Financial Qualifications and Decommissioning Funding Assurance,'' dated
December 2001, (ADAMS Accession No. ML013330264). The guidance in this
ISG will be included in the next update to NUREG-1577.
II. Backfitting and Issue Finality
The NRC is issuing interim guidance for the NRC staff regarding its
review of operating power reactor licensees' financial information.
Issuance of the ISG does not constitute backfitting as defined in Sec.
50.109 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) (the
Backfit Rule) and is not otherwise inconsistent with the issue finality
provisions in 10 CFR part 52. The NRC's position is based upon the
following considerations.
1. The ISG positions do not constitute backfitting, inasmuch as the
ISG is internal guidance to NRC staff.
The ISG provides interim guidance to the NRC staff on how to review
licensees' financial information and request additional financial
information. Changes in internal staff guidance are not matters for
which applicants or licensees are protected under 10 CFR 50.109 or
issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.
2. The NRC has no intention to impose the ISG on existing nuclear
power plant licenses either now or in the future (absent a voluntary
request for change from the licensee).
The NRC staff does not intend to impose or apply the positions
described in the ISG to existing (already issued) licenses (e.g.,
operating licenses and combined licenses). Hence, the ISG--even if
considered guidance which is within the purview of the issue finality
provisions in 10 CFR part 52--need not be evaluated as if it were a
backfit or as being inconsistent with issue finality provisions.
Even if, in the future, the NRC staff seeks to impose a position in
the ISG on holders of already issued licenses, such imposition would
not provide any basis for the Backfit Rule or issue finality provisions
to apply. The ISG concerns, in part, the NRC's request for operating
power reactor licensees' financial information. Information collection
and reporting requirements such as these are not subject to the Backfit
Rule and issue finality provisions.
[[Page 11692]]
III. Congressional Review Act
This action is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has not
found it to be a major rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of February 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott A. Morris,
Director, Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2015-04479 Filed 3-3-15; 8:45 am]
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