[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 102 (Thursday, May 26, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33556-33557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12546]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2016-0088]


Foreign Ownership, Control, or Domination of Nuclear Power, and 
Non-Power Production or Utilization Facility

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment draft regulatory guide on Foreign Ownership, Control, or 
Domination of Nuclear Power, and Non-Power Production or Utilization 
Facility. The NRC is issuing this guidance to provide NRC staff's 
regulatory position to applicants for, and licensees of, nuclear power 
reactors and non-power production or utilization facilities (NPUFs), 
regarding methods acceptable to the staff of the NRC for complying with 
foreign ownership, control, or domination (FOCD) requirements, 
including guidance on the subject of foreign financing.
    This draft regulatory guide may be used in connection with license 
applications for new facilities, renewal of existing licenses, or 
applications for approval of direct or indirect transfers of facility 
licenses.

DATES: Submit comments by July 25, 2016. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this 
date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0088. 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.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    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: Shawn W. Harwell, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1309, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0088 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-2016-0088.
     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 
draft regulatory guide is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML16137A520.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0088 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 posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering 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

[[Page 33557]]

entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing this draft regulatory guide on FOCD, to provide 
NRC staff's regulatory position regarding methods acceptable to the 
staff for determining whether an applicant for a nuclear facility 
license issued under sections 103.d., ``Commercial Licenses,'' or 
104.d., ``Medical Therapy and Research and Development,'' of the Atomic 
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA or Act), is owned, controlled, or 
dominated by an alien, a foreign corporation, or a foreign government 
(individually or collectively, a foreign entity). Pursuant to 
Commission direction in SRM-SECY-14-0089, this draft guidance is 
complementary to the staff's draft revision of the standard review plan 
(SRP) on FOCD. Specifically, the revision of the SRP establishes 
guidance on graded negation action plan (NAP) criteria; provides for 
the consideration of site-specific criteria, as necessary; allows for 
the use of license conditions to incorporate NAPs and the staff's 
``totality of facts'' review approach; and, incorporates provisions for 
analyzing foreign financing. This draft regulatory guide and the SRP 
may be used by applicants or licensees for complying with FOCD 
requirements, including guidance on the subject of foreign financing. 
This draft regulatory guide may be used for license applications for 
new facilities, to be licensed under parts 50 and 52 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), applications for the renewal of 
facility licenses; or, applications for approval of direct or indirect 
transfers of facility licenses.
    The provisions in the AEA for FOCD and inimicality, and the staff's 
reviews of these areas under NRC regulations, are derived from the same 
national security concerns, but appear in separate and distinct 
language in the AEA. As such, the FOCD determination is to be made with 
an orientation toward the common defense and security. The FOCD 
provisions in the AEA and NRC's regulations are country-neutral, 
whereas the staff's inimicality review and its findings directly 
account for a license applicant's country of origin and any ties or 
interests that could result in a determination of inimicality. While 
FOCD and inimicality are complementary, this draft regulatory guide 
does not address the means for determining whether issuance of a 
license would be inimical to the common defense and security or to the 
health and safety of the public.
    While this draft regulatory guide is complementary to the draft 
FOCD SRP, which is currently issued for public comment, there are 
differences between the two. This draft guidance was completed after 
the FOCD SRP was issued for public comment, therefore guidance on some 
topics have been further refined. Specifically, this draft regulatory 
guide includes the consideration of NPUF applicants and licensees, as 
applicable, and also interagency comments on provisions for FOCD 
analysis and negation action plan development. These topics will be 
addressed, as applicable, in the draft FOCD SRP prior to finalizing for 
Commission approval.

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This draft regulatory guide describes acceptable methods for 
determining whether an applicant for (or holder of) a nuclear facility 
license issued under sections 103.d., ``Commercial Licenses,'' or 
104.d., ``Medical Therapy and Research and Development,'' of the Atomic 
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA or Act), is owned, controlled, or 
dominated by an alien, a foreign corporation, or a foreign government 
(individually or collectively, a foreign entity). This determination, 
and any applicant or licensee actions needed to demonstrate that the 
applicant or licensee is not owned, controlled or dominated by an 
alien, a foreign corporation, or a foreign government, is not within 
the purview of the Backfit Rule, 10 CFR 50.109 or the issue finality 
provisions in 10 CFR part 52. Accordingly, the issuance of this 
regulatory guide does not represent backfitting or a violation of any 
issue finality provisions in part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of May 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
William M. Dean,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-12546 Filed 5-25-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P