[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 10 (Friday, January 15, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3874-3876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28202]



[[Page 3874]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

10 CFR Part 600


Development of Nuclear Energy Technologies and Collaboration With 
States on Nuclear Development, Notice of Petition for Rulemaking

AGENCY: Office of Nuclear Energy, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notification of petition for rulemaking; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On October 23, 2019, the Department of Energy (DOE) received a 
petition from Mr. Ken Kay asking DOE to promulgate rules and establish 
programs that will allow States and their agents to collaboratively 
develop new nuclear technologies with DOE, and under the authority of 
DOE, including but not limited to the development of small nuclear 
reactors. The petition further requests that DOE promulgate rules and 
establish programs that would allow States to develop collaborative 
nuclear and non-nuclear laboratories with DOE on currently licensed or 
formerly licensed nuclear facility grounds, within their respective 
States, and allow for the construction of collaborative nuclear 
experimentation containment facility testing platforms. Through this 
document, DOE seeks comment on the petition, as well as any data or 
information that could be used in DOE's determination on whether to 
proceed with the petitions.

DATES: Written comments and information are requested on or before 
April 15, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments, 
identified by ``Nuclear Petition,'' by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Email: [email protected] Include ``Nuclear Petition'' in 
the subject line of the message.
    Postal Mail: Mark Yale, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department 
of Energy, Mailstop 5A-148, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20585. If possible, please submit all items on a compact disc (CD), in 
which case it is not necessary to include printed copies.
    Hand Delivery/Courier: Mark Yale, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Mailstop 5A-148, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 
Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: (202) 586-7856. If possible, please 
submit all items on a CD, in which case it is not necessary to include 
printed copies.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents, or 
comments received, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Mark Yale, Office of Nuclear 
Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Mailstop 5A-148, 1000 Independence 
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: (202) 586-7856. Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 
U.S.C. 551 et seq., provides among other things, that ``[e]ach agency 
shall give an interested person the right to petition for the issuance, 
amendment, or repeal of a rule.'' (5 U.S.C. 553(e)) DOE received a 
petition from Mr. Ken Kay, as described in this document and set forth 
verbatim below, requesting that DOE promulgate rules and establish 
programs to (1) allow States and their agents to collaboratively 
develop new nuclear technologies with DOE, and under the authority of 
DOE, to include, but not be limited to, the development of small 
nuclear reactors designed to produce ten megawatts or less of thermal 
energy, and (2) establish programs that would allow States to develop 
collaborative nuclear and non-nuclear laboratories with DOE on 
currently licensed or formerly licensed nuclear facility grounds, and 
allow for the construction of collaborative nuclear experimentation 
containment facility testing platforms. Among the cited grounds for 
petitioner's petition are: the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, Public Law 
83-703, as amended; 42 U.S.C. 2013; and 42 U.S.C. 2021. In publishing 
this petition for public comment, DOE is seeking views on whether it 
should grant the petition and undertake a proposed rulemaking or other 
appropriate action. By seeking comment on whether to grant this 
petition, DOE takes no position at this time regarding the merits of 
the suggested rulemaking or the assertions made by the Petitioner.
    DOE welcomes comments and views of interested parties on any aspect 
of the petition.
    Submission of Comments. DOE invites all interested parties to 
submit in writing by April 15, 2021 comments and information regarding 
these petitions.
    Submitting comments via http://www.regulations.gov. The http://www.regulations.gov web page will require you to provide your name and 
contact information prior to submitting comments. Your contact 
information will be viewable to DOE Office of Nuclear Energy staff 
only. Your contact information will not be publicly viewable except for 
your first and last names, organization name (if any), and submitter 
representative name (if any). If your comment is not processed properly 
because of technical difficulties, DOE will use this information to 
contact you. If DOE cannot read your comment due to technical 
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, DOE may not be 
able to consider your comment.
    However, your contact information will be publicly viewable if you 
include it in the comment or in any documents attached to your comment. 
Any information that you do not want to be publicly viewable should not 
be included in your comment, nor in any document attached to your 
comment. Persons viewing comments will see only first and last names, 
organization names, correspondence containing comments, and any 
documents submitted with the comments.
    Do not submit to http://www.regulations.gov information for which 
disclosure is restricted by statute, such as trade secrets and 
commercial or financial information (hereinafter referred to as 
Confidential Business Information (CBI)). Comments submitted through 
http://www.regulations.gov cannot be claimed as CBI. Comments received 
through the website will waive any CBI claims for the information 
submitted. For information on submitting CBI, see the Confidential 
Business Information section.
    DOE processes submissions made through http://www.regulations.gov 
before posting. Normally, comments will be posted within a few days of 
being submitted. However, if large volumes of comments are being 
processed simultaneously, your comment may not be viewable for up to 
several weeks. Please keep the comment tracking number that http://www.regulations.gov provides after you have successfully uploaded your 
comment.
    Submitting comments via email, hand delivery, or postal mail. 
Comments and documents via email, hand delivery, or postal mail will 
also be posted to http://www.regulations.gov. If you do not want your 
personal contact information to be publicly viewable, do not include it 
in your comment or any accompanying documents. Instead, provide your 
contact information on a cover letter. Include your first and last 
names, email address, telephone number, and optional mailing address. 
The cover letter will not be publicly viewable as long as it does not 
include any comments.

[[Page 3875]]

    Include contact information in your cover letter each time you 
submit comments, data, documents, and other information to DOE. If you 
submit via postal mail or hand delivery, please provide all items on a 
CD, if feasible, in which case it is not necessary to submit printed 
copies. No telefacsimiles (faxes) will be accepted.
    Comments, data, and other information submitted electronically 
should be provided in PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or Excel, 
WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file format. Provide documents that are 
not secured, written in English, and free of any defects or viruses. 
Documents should not include any special characters or any form of 
encryption, and, if possible, they should carry the electronic 
signature of the author.
    Campaign form letters. Please submit campaign form letters by the 
originating organization in batches of between 50 to 500 form letters 
per PDF or as one form letter with a list of supporters' names compiled 
into one or more PDFs. This reduces comment processing and posting 
time.
    Confidential Business Information. Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any 
person submitting information that he or she believes to be 
confidential and exempt by law from public disclosure should submit via 
email, postal mail, or hand delivery two well-marked copies: One copy 
of the document marked ``Confidential'' including all the information 
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``Non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential 
deleted. Submit these documents via email or on a CD, if feasible. DOE 
will make its own determination about the confidential status of the 
information and treat it according to its determination.
    Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat 
submitted information as confidential include: (1) A description of the 
items; (2) whether and why such items are customarily treated as 
confidential within the industry; (3) whether the information is 
generally known by or available from other sources; (4) whether the 
information has previously been made available to others without 
obligation concerning its confidentiality; (5) an explanation of the 
competitive injury to the submitting person which would result from 
public disclosure; (6) when such information might lose its 
confidential character due to the passage of time, and (7) why 
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest.
    It is DOE's policy that all comments may be included in the public 
docket, without change and as received, including any personal 
information provided in the comments (except information deemed to be 
exempt from public disclosure).
    DOE considers public participation to be a very important part of 
its process for considering rulemaking petitions. DOE actively 
encourages the participation and interaction of the public during the 
comment period. Interactions with and between members of the public 
provide a balanced discussion of the issues and assist DOE in 
determining how to proceed with a petition. Anyone who wishes to be 
added to DOE's mailing list to receive future notices and information 
about this petition should contact Office of Nuclear Energy program 
staff at (202) 586-2240 or via email at [email protected].

Approval of the Office of the Secretary

    The Secretary of Energy has approved publication of this petition 
for rulemaking.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on December 
17, 2020, by Dr. Rita Baranwal, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, 
pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That 
document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For 
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of 
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the 
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document 
of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way 
alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the 
Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on December 17, 2020.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
Attn: John T. Lucas General Counsel, GC-1
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW.
Washington, DC 20585.

Cc:
Eric J. Fygi, Deputy General Counsel, at [email protected]
Mary Therese Keokuk, Executive Assistant to the Deputy General 
Counsel, at [email protected]
Daniel Cohen, Assistant General Counsel for Legislation, Regulation, 
and Energy Efficiency, at [email protected]
Elizabeth Kohl, Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and 
Regulation, at [email protected].

United States Department of Energy

In the Matter of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding the Creation of New 
Rules

Petition for Rulemaking
    This Petition for Rulemaking is submitted pursuant to The 
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551, and 553, requires each 
federal agency to ``give an interested person the right to petition for 
the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule'' and defines a ``person'' 
to include an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or 
public or private organization other than an agency.
Statement of Petitioner's Interest
    I, Ken Kay am From the State of Ohio, have a sincere interest and 
support the Creation of new rules, to enable further research and 
development into safe modular nuclear reactors as a true means of 
sustainable low-cost abundant ultra-clean energy, remove unused nuclear 
fuel known as waste and many of beneficial factors that will come with 
unleashing safe nuclear technology.
Background
    Federal agencies have failed to provide a domestic program of 
research and development for nuclear technologies to encourage maximum 
scientific and industrial progress allowing other nations to become the 
world leaders in nuclear and energy diplomacy. This failure has 
compromised America's safety and security and put states at a 
competitive disadvantage to foreign countries in producing new nuclear 
technologies. Federal policies with states are not consistent with 
international arrangements and agreements of cooperation.
    Providing a regulatory pathway that removes much of the potential 
for litigation during the research and development phase of a 
technology allows private industry to better prove technologies and 
reduce investor risks. Such a pathway would allow America to bring many 
more nuclear technologies at an accelerated pace.
    Countries around the world -- particularly China, Russia, India, 
and developing nations -- see the benefits of developing new nuclear 
technology and are poised to increase their nuclear production.
    Unfortunately, projections by the Energy Information Agency show a 
diminishing U.S. nuclear presence as closures of reactors mount. To 
improve

[[Page 3876]]

the human condition -- ensuring clean air, clean water, and a robust 
economy -- nuclear energy should be a part of America's diverse energy 
mix. The failure to innovate within the nuclear industry and produce 
newer more cost effective technologies and allow current nuclear power 
plants to produce income streams other than those from electricity 
generation; have prevented the nuclear industry from competing against 
other technologies such as natural gas.
    Nuclear energy is simply more reliable than all other sources of 
energy except geothermal. It has the ability to operate at full 
capacity 90 percent of the time. By contrast, solar energy can only 
sustain maximum output less than one-third of the time and wind 
generation just about half of the time because the sun isn't always 
shining and the wind isn't always blowing. Another source of energy 
must always be ready to back up unreliable renewables, which is often 
coal and natural gas.
    Nuclear power has even proved its reliability in the face of 
devastating conditions. A two-reactor nuclear power plant located near 
Houston, known as the South Texas Project, took a direct hit from the 
Category 4 Hurricane Harvey. While Texas' wind farms quickly cut off 
generation due to high winds, the nuclear power plant continued 
providing power at capacity for struggling communities during the 
disaster.
    In other words, nuclear provided electricity when Texans needed it 
most.
    While states have their own development programs for other energy 
technologies (coal, oil, gas, wind, and solar); the federal government 
has a near monopoly in the development of new nuclear technologies. The 
federal government has failed to recognize substantively the interest 
of the states to develop new nuclear technologies for peaceful uses.
    The federal government should remove barriers to the research and 
development of nuclear technologies so that states can provide 
scientific diversity and aid in accelerating the development of new 
nuclear technologies. This will help provide Americans with a program 
of maximum development and an energy future that is not only clean, 
affordable, and reliable, but also powers their lives and their 
potential for flourishing.
Grounds for Proposed Action
    The United States has fallen behind or is falling behind the rest 
of the world in building nuclear reactors and developing new nuclear 
technologies. The United States has not come close to the rate of 
building and planning of nuclear power plants under the Atomic Energy 
Commission (AEC) which was formed in 1946 and dissolved in 1974. In 
1974 the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) legally split the duties of the 
AEC. The ERDA was to take on the research and development activities of 
the AEC and the NRC was to take on the safety and regulatory aspects of 
the defunct AEC. In 1977, Congress saw fit to dissolve the ERDA and 
consolidate the Federal Energy Administration, the ERDA, the Federal 
Power Commission, and programs of various other agencies into the 
Department of Energy (DOE).
    What was lost in the dissolution of the AEC were a number of key 
issues that remain unresolved to this day. The 1954 Atomic Energy Act 
(AEA) amended the 1946 Atomic Energy Act and is still the core piece of 
legislation that drives the regulation of the nuclear industry. 
Included within the language of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act:
     Required the AEC to ``recognize the interests of the 
States in the peaceful uses of atomic energy'' U.S. Code 42 Section 
2021.
     Required the AEC to ``promote an orderly regulatory 
pattern between the Commission and State governments with respect to 
nuclear development'' U.S. Code 42 Section 2021.
     Required the AEC to create ``a program of conducting, 
assisting, and fostering research and development in order to encourage 
maximum scientific and industrial progress'' U.S. Code 42 Section 2013.
     Required the AEC to ``create a program of administration 
which will be consistent with the foregoing policies and programs, with 
international arrangements, and with agreements for cooperation'' U.S. 
Code 42 Section 2013.
    Many of these legal requirements, as laid out by Congress in 1954 
are not being met since the AEC was dissolved.
Statement in Support of Proposed Action
    While the NRC has developed rules that allow states to regulate 
source material and byproducts, it has failed to recognize the 
interests of states to develop new nuclear technologies and to 
encourage maximum scientific and industrial progress. The NRC however, 
has correctly identified that its mission is only concerned with safety 
and regulation; not development. Providing a program that encourages 
maximum scientific and industrial progress most correctly falls under 
the umbrella of the DOE. We believe a proper interpretation of the law 
is that the authority of the DOE can be extended to states in 
collaborative research and development agreements per the 1954 AEA 
mandate to recognize the states interest in developing nuclear 
technologies for peaceful uses and the provision for providing a 
program of maximum development. We do not believe DOE authority can 
extend to commercial activity unless the NRC has previously authorized 
such activity such as in the production of medical isotopes from 
research reactors -or- the DOE developed reactor is a demonstration 
reactor that aids in determining real world feasibility.
Proposed Action
    I, Ken Kay, hereby petitions the United States Department of 
Energy, under its authority, to promulgate rules and establish programs 
that will allow states and their agents to collaboratively develop new 
nuclear technologies with the United States Department of Energy, and 
under the authority of the United States Department of Energy, 
including, but not limited to, the development of small nuclear 
reactors that are designed to produce ten megawatts or less of thermal 
energy, thus providing for a program of maximum development that 
recognizes the interests of states.
    I, Ken Kay, hereby petitions the USDOE to promulgate rules and 
programs that will allow states to develop collaborative nuclear and 
non-nuclear laboratories with the United States Department of Energy on 
currently licensed or formerly licensed nuclear facility grounds, 
within their respective states, and allow for the construction of 
collaborative nuclear experimentation containment facility testing 
platforms.

Ken Kay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ken Kay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

October 23rd 2019.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[FR Doc. 2020-28202 Filed 1-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P