[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5786-5787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-02482]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2022-0119]
Regulatory Issue Summary: Personnel Access Authorization
Requirements for Non-Immigrant Foreign Nationals Working at Nuclear
Power Plants
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing
Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2026-01, ``Personnel Access
Authorization Requirements For Non-Immigrant Foreign Nationals Working
At Nuclear Power Plants,'' to remind licensees of the NRC requirement
that prior to granting or reinstating unescorted access (UA) or
certifying unescorted access authorization (UAA) to non-immigrant
foreign nationals for the purpose of performing work, licensees shall
validate that the foreign national's claimed non immigration status is
correct.
DATES: The RIS is available as of February 9, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0119 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0119. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the For Further
Information Contact section of this document.
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 ADAMS Public 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 ADAMS accession number for each document
referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time
that it is mentioned in this document.
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.
This RIS is also available on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/reg-issues/ (select
``2026'' and then select ``2026-01'').
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Baxter, Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-287-3615; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC published notices of opportunity for
public comment on this RIS in the Federal Register (85 FR 17770 and 87
FR 35798) on March 31, 2020 and June 13, 2022, respectively. The agency
received comments from seven commenters. The staff considered all
comments, which resulted in the publication of the updated draft RIS on
April 18, 2025 (ADAMS under Accession No. ML25083A260). Since the
publication of the updated draft RIS on April 18, 2025, and a public
meeting on April 28, 2025, staff received additional feedback from
licensees regarding the need to address circumstances where results
from the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien
Verification for
[[Page 5787]]
Entitlements program may indicate that an individual is not employment
eligible, but where they are still authorized to conduct business. To
address these concerns, the staff added an additional footnote to the
RIS (Footnote 2 in the final draft) as well as provided a clarifying
paragraph for instances where a licensee may identify other methods for
validation by ``evaluating an accumulation of information.'' This
includes situations where licensees need to manage exigent
circumstances, permitting access through other means available in
accordance with NRC regulations.
The evaluation of these comments and the resulting changes to the
RIS are discussed in a publicly available document found in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML25155A903.
RIS 2026-01, ``Personnel Access Authorization Requirements for Non-
Immigrant Foreign Nationals Working at Nuclear Power Plants,'' is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML25155B213.
Executive Order 12866
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determined that
this RIS is not a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866.
(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)
Dated: February 4, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian Benney,
Acting Chief, Generic Communications and Operating Experience Branch,
Division of Reactor Oversight, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2026-02482 Filed 2-6-26; 8:45 am]
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