[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81560-81561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32836]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2015-0136]


Information Collection: NRC Generic Letter 2016-XX, Monitoring of 
Neutron-Absorbing Materials in Spent Fuel Pools

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of submission to the Office of Management and Budget; 
request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently 
submitted a proposed collection of information to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is 
entitled, ``NRC Generic Letter 2016-XX, Monitoring of Neutron-Absorbing 
Materials in Spent Fuel Pools.''

DATES: Submit comments by January 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments directly to the OMB reviewer at: Vlad 
Dorjets, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs 
(3150-XXXX), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, 
DC 20503; telephone: 202-395-7315, email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tremaine Donnell, NRC Clearance 
Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-6258; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0136 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID: NRC-2015-0136.
     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 
proposed information collection and the supporting statement are 
available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML15224A005 and ML15268A549, 
respectively.
     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.
     NRC's Clearance Officer: A copy of the collection of 
information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by 
contacting the NRC's Clearance Officer, Tremaine Donnell, Office of 
Information Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6258; email: 
[email protected].

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly 
disclosed in your comment submission. All comment submissions are 
posted at http://www.regulations.gov and entered into ADAMS. Comment 
submissions are not routinely edited to remove identifying or contact 
information.

[[Page 81561]]

    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the OMB, 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 comment submissions are not routinely edited to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Background

    Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35), the NRC recently submitted a proposed collection of 
information to OMB for review entitled, ``NRC Generic Letter 2016-XX, 
Monitoring of Neutron-Absorbing Materials in Spent Fuel Pools.'' The 
NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct 
or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information, unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.
    The draft generic letter was published for public comment on March 
11, 2014 (79 FR 13685), but without an express request for public 
comment on the proposed information collection as required by the 
Office of Management and Budget. Therefore, the NRC published a Federal 
Register notice with a 60-day comment period on these proposed 
information collection in the draft generic letter on June 4, 2015 (80 
FR 31930).
    1. The title of the information collection: NRC Generic Letter 
2016-XX, Monitoring of Neutron-Absorbing Materials in Spent Fuel Pools.
    2. OMB approval number: An OMB control number has not yet been 
assigned to this proposed information collection.
    3. Type of submission: New.
    4. The form number if applicable: Not applicable.
    5. How often the collection is required or requested: One-time.
    6. Who will be required or asked to respond: All nuclear power 
reactors with a license issued under Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR) part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and 
Utilization Facilities,'' except those that have permanently ceased 
operations with all reactor fuel removed from on-site spent fuel pool 
storage; all holders of an operating license for a non-power reactor 
(research reactor, test reactor, or critical assembly) under 10 CFR 
part 50 who have a reactor pool, fuel storage pool, or other wet 
locations designed for the purpose of fuel storage, except those who 
have permanently ceased operations with all reactor fuel removed from 
on-site wet storage.
    7. The estimated number of annual responses: 112.
    8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 112.
    9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to 
comply with the information collection requirement or request: 12,900 
hours.
    10. Abstract: Neutron-absorbing materials installed in the spent 
fuel pool that are credited for maintaining subcriticality must be able 
to perform their neutron-absorbing safety function during both normal 
operating conditions and design basis events. Monitoring of neutron-
absorbing materials is intended to identify when degradation may affect 
the ability to perform the neutron-absorbing safety function, so that 
appropriate corrective action can be taken. The NRC is requesting 
information to determine if (1) addressees have adequate neutron-
absorbing material monitoring programs in place to ensure compliance 
with the regulations, and (2) the agency should take additional 
regulatory action. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) 
requires that licensees provide reasonable assurance of adequate 
protection to public health and safety. NRC verification of compliance 
with the NRC's regulations and license conditions with respect to spent 
fuel pool neutron absorbers provides reasonable assurance of such 
adequate protection with respect to those neutron absorbers. The NRC 
has authority to collect this type of information pursuant to Sections 
161 and 182 of the AEA, and 10 CFR 50.54(f), to enable the NRC to 
determine if the license to operate a nuclear facility needs to be 
modified, revoked, or suspended. The NRC uses the information collected 
to verify that licensees meet the NRC regulations and requirements of 
their license.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of December, 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tremaine Donnell,
NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services.
[FR Doc. 2015-32836 Filed 12-29-15; 8:45 am]
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