[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 193 (Friday, October 6, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 69555-69556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22287]


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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 193 / Friday, October 6, 2023 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 69555]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2023-0058]


Required Assessment of U.S. Department of Energy Laboratories by 
Licensees, Applicants, and Suppliers To Verify the Effective 
Implementation of Their Quality Assurance Programs

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on a draft regulatory issue summary (RIS) that clarifies the 
agency's regulatory position regarding the required assessment of U.S. 
Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories by licensees, 
applicants, and vendors to verify the effective implementation of the 
laboratories' quality assurance (QA) programs. This draft RIS requires 
no action or written response on the part of an addressee.

DATES: Submit comments by December 5, 2023. 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 
on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; 
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0058. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individual listed in the For Further Information 
Contact section of this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
    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: Phyllis Clark, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-6447, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2023-0058 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0058.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to [email protected]. The draft RIS ``Required 
Assessment of U.S. Department of Energy Laboratories by Licensees, 
Applicants, and Suppliers to Verify the Effective Implementation of 
Their Quality Assurance Programs,'' is available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML22080A051.
     NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an 
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2023-0058 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 
https://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.

II. Background

    The NRC staff has received several inquiries from nuclear industry 
stakeholders on what type of assessment is required for U.S. Department 
of Energy (DOE) national laboratories that provide basic components to 
the U.S. nuclear power industry. The NRC is issuing this draft 
regulatory issue summary (RIS) to clarify the agency's regulatory 
position regarding the required assessment of U.S. DOE national 
laboratories by licensees, applicants, and vendors to verify the 
effective implementation of the laboratories' quality assurance 
programs.
    The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad 
range of matters. It provides guidance to applicants and licensees on 
the scope and detail of information that should be provided in 
licensing applications to facilitate NRC review.
    As noted in the Federal Register on May 8, 2018 (83 FR 20858), this 
document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of the 
Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 CFR 
chapter I.

[[Page 69556]]

III. Proposed Action

    The NRC is requesting public comments on the draft RIS. All 
comments that are to receive consideration in the final RIS must still 
be submitted electronically or in writing as indicated in the ADDRESSES 
section of this document. The NRC staff will make a final determination 
regarding issuance of the RIS after it considers any public comments 
received in response to this request.

    Dated: October 3, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lisa M. Regner,
Chief, Generic Communication and Operating Experience Branch, Division 
of Reactor Oversight, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2023-22287 Filed 10-5-23; 8:45 am]
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