[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 117 (Thursday, June 18, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35170-35173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14377]



[[Page 35169]]

Vol. 80

Thursday,

No. 117

June 18, 2015

Part XXIII





Nuclear Regulatory Commission





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Unified Agenda

  Federal Register / Vol. 80 , No. 117 / Thursday, June 18, 2015 / 
Unified Agenda  

[[Page 35170]]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2015-0071]


Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Semiannual regulatory agenda.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing its 
semiannual regulatory agenda (the Agenda) in accordance with Public Law 
96-354, ``The Regulatory Flexibility Act,'' and Executive Order 12866, 
``Regulatory Planning and Review.'' The Agenda is a compilation of all 
rulemaking activities on which the NRC has recently completed action or 
has proposed or is considering action. The NRC has completed 8 
rulemaking activities since publication of its last Agenda on December 
22, 2014 (79 FR 76855). This issuance of the NRC's Agenda contains 35 
active and 23 long-term rulemaking activities: 2 are Economically 
Significant; 10 represent Other Significant agency priorities; 53 are 
Substantive, Nonsignificant rulemaking activities; and 1 is an 
Administrative rulemaking activity. In addition, 3 rulemaking 
activities impact small entities. The NRC is requesting comment on its 
rulemaking activities as identified in this Agenda.

DATES: Submit comments on rulemaking activities as identified in this 
Agenda by July 20, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments on any rulemaking activity in the Agenda by 
the date and methods specified in any Federal Register notice on the 
rulemaking activity. Comments received on rulemaking activities for 
which the comment period has closed will be considered if it is 
practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given 
except as to comments received on or before the closure dates specified 
in the Federal Register notice. You may submit comments on this Agenda 
through the Federal Rulemaking Web site by going to http://www.regulations.gov and searching for Docket ID NRC-2015-0071. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions on any 
rulemaking activity listed in the Agenda, contact the individual listed 
under the heading ``Agency Contact'' for that rulemaking activity.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Bladey, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-3280; email: [email protected]. 
Persons outside the Washington, DC, metropolitan area may call, toll-
free: 1-800-368-5642. For further information on the substantive 
content of any rulemaking activity listed in the Agenda, contact the 
individual listed under the heading ``Agency Contact'' for that 
rulemaking activity.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0071 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this document. You may obtain 
publically-available information related to this document by any of the 
following methods:
     Reginfo.gov:
    [cir] For completed rulemaking activities, go to http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaHistory?showStage=completed and select 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission from drop down menu.
    [cir] For active rulemaking activities, go to http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain and select Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission from drop down menu.
    [cir] For long-term rulemaking activities go to http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaHistory?operation=OPERATION_GET_PUBLICATION&showStage=longterm&currentPubId=201410 and select Nuclear Regulatory Commission from drop 
down menu.
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0071.
     NRC's Public Web site: Go to http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/rulemaking-ruleforum/unified-agenda.html and select 
spring 2015.
     NRC's Public Document Room: 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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0071 in your comment submission. 
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information 
that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment 
submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission 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 comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

Introduction

    The Agenda is a compilation of all rulemaking activities on which 
an agency has recently completed action or has proposed or is 
considering action. The Agenda reports rulemaking activities in three 
major categories: Completed, active, and long-term. Completed 
rulemaking activities are those that were completed since publication 
of an agency's last Agenda; active rulemaking activities are those that 
an agency currently plans to have an Advance Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, a Proposed Rule, or a Final Rule issued within the next 12 
months; and long-term rulemaking activities are rulemaking activities 
under development but for which an agency does not expect to have a 
regulatory action within the 12 months after publication of the current 
edition of the Agenda.
    A ``Regulation Identifier Number'' or RIN is given to each 
rulemaking activity that the NRC has published or plans on publishing a 
Federal Register notice and the Office of Management and Budget uses 
this number to track all relevant documents throughout the entire 
``lifecycle'' of a particular rulemaking activity. The NRC reports all 
rulemaking activities in the Agenda that have been assigned a RIN and 
meets the definition for a completed, an active, or a long-term 
rulemaking activity.
    The information contained in this Agenda is updated to reflect any 
action that has occurred on rulemaking activities since publication of 
the last NRC Agenda on December 22, 2014 (79 FR 76855). Specifically, 
the information in this Agenda has been updated through March 23, 2015.
    The date for the next scheduled action under the heading 
``Timetable'' is the

[[Page 35171]]

date the next regulatory action for the rulemaking activity is 
scheduled to be published in the Federal Register. The date is 
considered tentative and is not binding on the Commission or its staff. 
The Agenda is intended to provide the public early notice and 
opportunity to participate in the NRC rulemaking process. However, the 
NRC may consider or act on any rulemaking activity even though it is 
not included in the Agenda.

Common Prioritization of Rulemaking

    A key part of the NRC's regulatory program is an annual review of 
all ongoing and potential rulemaking activities. In conjunction with 
its budget and long-term planning process, the NRC compiles a Common 
Prioritization of Rulemaking (CPR) listing to develop program budget 
estimates and to determine the relative priority of NRC rulemaking 
activities. The CPR process considers four factors and assigns a score 
to each factor. Factor A includes activities that support the NRC's 
Strategic Plan goals of ensuring the safe and secure use of radioactive 
materials. Factor B includes activities that support the Strategic Plan 
cross-cutting strategies of Regulatory Effectiveness and Openness. 
Specifically, this factor considers whether the rulemaking activity 
enhances regulatory effectiveness and/or openness in the way that the 
NRC conducts regulatory activities. Factor C is a governmental factor 
representing interest to the NRC, Congress, or other governmental 
bodies. Factor D is an external factor representing interest to members 
of the public, non-governmental organizations, the nuclear industry, 
vendors, and suppliers. The overall priority is determined by adding 
the factor scores together for each rulemaking activity.

Section 610 Periodic Reviews Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires 
agencies to conduct a review within 10 years of promulgation of those 
regulations that have or will have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. The NRC undertakes these reviews 
to decide whether the rules should be unchanged, amended, or withdrawn. 
At this time, the NRC does not have any rules that have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; therefore, 
the NRC has not included any RFA Section 610 periodic reviews in this 
edition of the Agenda. A complete listing of NRC regulations that 
impact small entities and related Small Entity Compliance Guides will 
be available from the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/flexibility-act/small-ntities.html.

Public Comments Received on NRC Unified Agendas

    The NRC recently requested public comment on its rulemaking 
activities as identified in its Agenda and has received comments from 
the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). The NEI commented on the detail 
provided in the abstract for each rulemaking activity. Specifically, 
NEI suggested that the NRC: (1) Communicate the rational for 
determining what rulemaking activities are reported in the Agenda; (2) 
provide clear and complete target dates for completing a rulemaking 
activity; (3) provide a status for rulemaking activities that have 
become dormant; (4) remove rulemaking activities that are no longer 
being pursued; and (5) include the category of NRC licensee impacted by 
a particular rulemaking activity.
    In addition, NEI commented on the process the NRC uses to 
prioritize its rulemaking activities. The NEI suggested that the NRC: 
(1) Use a risk-informed prioritization methodology; (2) consider 
eliminating CPR Factor B from its methodology; (3) report the scores 
from its prioritization process in the Agenda for each rulemaking 
activity; (4) revise its methodology to incorporate review criteria 
that enables greater discrimination among rulemaking activities; and 
(5) include cumulative impact in rulemaking plans for Commission 
approval and in NRC's prioritization methodology.
    The NRC actively seeks to improve its rulemaking process and 
reporting, and is currently engaged in a process improvement initiative 
that would implement most of NEI's suggestions related to rulemaking 
reporting. Each year the NRC reviews its methodology for prioritizing 
rulemaking activities to determine if changes are necessary. The 
methodology was recently updated to reflect the NRC's Fiscal Year 
2014--2018 Strategic Plan (79 FR 55833; September 17, 2014); the NRC 
will consider NEI's suggestions upon its next review of the 
prioritization methodology.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of March 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cindy Bladey,
Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of 
Administrative Services, Office of Administration.

           Nuclear Regulatory Commission--Proposed Rule Stage
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                                                           Regulation
       Sequence No.                    Title             Identifier No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
389.......................  Variable Annual Fee                3150-AI54
                             Structure for Small
                             Modular Power Reactors
                             [NRC-2008-0664].
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             Nuclear Regulatory Commission--Final Rule Stage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Regulation
       Sequence No.                    Title             Identifier No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
390.......................  Revision of Fee Schedules:         3150-AJ44
                             Fee Recovery for FY 2015
                             [NRC-2014-0200].
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            Nuclear Regulatory Commission--Long-Term Actions
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                                                           Regulation
       Sequence No.                    Title             Identifier No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
391.......................  Controlling the                    3150-AH18
                             Disposition of Solid
                             Materials [NRC-1999-0002].
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[[Page 35172]]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

Proposed Rule Stage

389. Variable Annual Fee Structure for Small Modular Power Reactors 
[NRC-2008-0664]

    Legal Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2201; 42 U.S.C. 5841
    Abstract: The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) was 
published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2009 (74 FR 12735), 
seeking comments from the public on a possible variable fee structure 
for part 171 annual fees for power reactors based on licensed power 
limits. The comment period ended on June 8, 2009, and the NRC received 
16 public comments. The Commission approved the staff's recommendation 
to establish an NRC workgroup to analyze suggested methodologies for a 
variable annual fee structure for power reactors in SECY-09-0137 dated 
October 13, 2009. On February 7, 2011, the Office of the Chief 
Financial Officer (OCFO) sent a memorandum to the Commission (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML110380251) responding to SECY-09-0137.
    Timetable:

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               Action                    Date            FR Cite
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ANPRM...............................   03/25/09  74 FR 12735
ANPRM Comment Period End............   06/08/09
NPRM................................   10/00/15
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    Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes.
    Agency Contact: Arlette P. Howard, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
Phone: 301 415-1481, Email: [email protected].
    RIN: 3150-AI54

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

Final Rule Stage

390. Revision of Fee Schedules: Fee Recovery for FY 2015 [NRC-2014-
0200]

    Legal Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2201; 42 U.S.C. 5841
    Abstract: This proposed rulemaking would amend the licensing, 
inspection, and annual fees that the Commission charges its applicants 
and licensees. These amendments would implement the Omnibus Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90) as amended, which requires that 
the NRC recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority in 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, less the amounts appropriated from the Waste 
Incidental to Reprocessing, and generic homeland security activities.
    Timetable:

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               Action                    Date            FR Cite
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NPRM................................   03/23/15  80 FR 15476
NPRM Comment Period End.............   04/22/15
Final Rule..........................   06/00/15
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes.
    Agency Contact: Arlette P. Howard, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
Phone: 301 415-1481, Email: [email protected].
    RIN: 3150-AJ44

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

Long-Term Actions

391. Controlling the Disposition of Solid Materials [NRC-1999-0002]

    Legal Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2201; 42 U.S.C. 5841
    Abstract: The NRC staff provided a draft proposed rule package on 
Controlling the Disposition of Solid Materials to the Commission on 
March 31, 2005, which the Commission disapproved (ADAMS Accession 
Number: ML051520285). The rulemaking package included a summary of 
stakeholder comments (NUREG/CR-6682), Supplement 1 (ADAMS Accession 
Number: ML003754410). The Commission's decision was based on the fact 
that the Agency is currently faced with several high priority and 
complex tasks, that the current approach to review specific cases on an 
individual basis is fully protective of public health and safety, and 
that the immediate need for this rule has changed due to the shift in 
timing for reactor decommissioning. The Commission has deferred action 
on this rulemaking.
    Timetable:

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               Action                    Date            FR Cite
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANPRM...............................           To Be Determined
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    Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes.
    Agency Contact: Solomon Sahle, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, Phone: 301 415-3781, Email: [email protected].
    RIN: 3150-AH18

[FR Doc. 2015-14377 Filed 6-17-15; 8:45 am]
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