[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 78 (Thursday, April 23, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21732-21734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07918]
========================================================================
Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 91, No. 78 / Thursday, April 23, 2026 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 21732]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Parts 50 and 54
[NRC-2024-0218]
RIN 3150-AL32
Exceptions From Foreign Ownership, Control or Domination
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to
amend its regulations on foreign ownership, control, or domination
(FOCD) of utilization facilities to comply with section 301 of the
Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy
Act of 2024. The statute has designated certain exceptions from the
FOCD provision set forth in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
The proposed rule would affect applicants and licensees of utilization
facilities that are owned, controlled, or dominated by a foreign
entity.
DATES: Comments must be submitted electronically using https://www.regulations.gov no later than midnight Eastern Time on May 26,
2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID NRC-2024-0218,
at https://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitted
using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the individuals listed
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for
alternate instructions.
Do not include any personally identifiable information (such as
name, address, or other contact information) or confidential business
information that you do not want publicly disclosed. All comments are
public records; they are publicly displayed exactly as received, and
will not be deleted, modified, or redacted. Comments may be submitted
anonymously.
Follow the search instructions on https://www.regulations.gov to
view public comments.
You can read a plain language description of this proposed rule at
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NRC-2024-0218. 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: Irene Wu, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-1951, email: [email protected]
and Shawn Harwell, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards,
telephone: 301-415-1309, email: [email protected]. Both are staff
of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rulemaking is separate from NRC's
comprehensive review and reform of its regulations in accordance with
Executive Order (E.O.) 14300, ``Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission'' (90 FR 22587; May 29, 2025). The rulemakings
associated with that effort will comprehensively reexamine NRC
requirements. While there could be additional revisions as a result of
these future rulemakings, the NRC is moving forward with publication of
this proposed rule at this time because it is a deregulatory action of
high interest for stakeholders that was mandated by statute and in
progress before the issuance of E.O. 14300.
Table of Contents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
B. Submitting Comments
II. Rulemaking Procedure
III. Background
IV. Plain Writing
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
VI. Executive Orders
VII. Availability of Documents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0218 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-2024-0218.
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 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]. For the convenience of the reader, instructions
about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided in
the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
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, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
Comments must be submitted electronically using https://www.regulations.gov no later than midnight Eastern Time on May 26,
2026. Please include Docket ID NRC-2024-0218 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.
[[Page 21733]]
II. Rulemaking Procedure
Because the NRC considers this action to be non-controversial, the
NRC is publishing this proposed rule concurrently with a direct final
rule in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal
Register. The direct final rule will become effective on July 7, 2026.
However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by May 26,
2026, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws the direct
final rule. If the direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC will address
the comments in a subsequent final rule or as otherwise appropriate.
Absent significant modifications to the proposed revisions requiring
republication, the NRC will not initiate a second comment period on
this action in the event the direct final rule is withdrawn.
A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter
explains why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to
the rule's underlying premise or approach, or would be ineffective or
unacceptable without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
(1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient
to require a substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For
example, a substantive response is required when:
(a) The comment causes the NRC to reevaluate (or reconsider) its
position or conduct additional analysis;
(b) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a
substantive response to clarify or complete the record; or
(c) The comment raises a relevant issue that was not previously
addressed or considered by the NRC.
(2) The comment proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and
it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable
without incorporation of the change or addition.
(3) The comment causes the NRC to make a change (other than
editorial) to the rule.
For procedural information and the regulatory analysis, see the
direct final rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of
this issue of the Federal Register.
III. Background
In July 2024, the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced
Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024 (ADVANCE Act) was signed into law.
It requires the NRC to take a number of actions, particularly regarding
licensing new reactors and fuels, while maintaining the NRC's core
safety and security mission.
Section 301 of the ADVANCE Act designated certain exceptions from
the foreign ownership, control, or domination (FOCD) provision set
forth in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). Sections 103
and 104 of the AEA prohibit the issuance of a license for utilization
or production facilities (e.g., a commercial nuclear power reactor) to
an applicant that the Commission knows or has reason to believe is
owned, controlled, or dominated by a foreign entity. Specifically,
section 301 of the ADVANCE Act states that if the Commission determines
that the issuance of the applicable license to that entity is not
inimical to the common defense and security or public health and
safety, then the FOCD restriction for utilization facility licenses
shall not apply to an entity that is owned, controlled, or dominated by
(1) the government of a country that is a member of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the Republic of
India on the date of issuance of the ADVANCE Act, (2) a corporation
that is incorporated in one of those countries, or (3) a citizen or
national of one of those countries, subject to some additional
exclusions in section 301(b)(2).
The additional exclusions in section 301(b)(2) are based on whether
any government bodies or persons of the excepted countries were subject
to certain sanctions under section 231 of the Countering America's
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017 (22 U.S.C. 9525) or
included on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked
Persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
Department of Treasury pursuant to section 231 of the CAATSA of 2017
(22 U.S.C. 9525) on the ADVANCE Act's date of enactment of July 9,
2024. The NRC has reviewed those lists and determined that Turkey falls
within the exclusion in section 301(b)(2) because, as of that date, the
Republic of Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries was subject to
sanctions under section 231 of CAATSA. The NRC's implementing
regulation for the FOCD restrictions is section 50.38 of title 10 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Ineligibility of certain
applicants.'' The NRC will continue to review sanctions lists as part
of the agency's inimicality determination, which determines whether a
proposed ownership structure would be inimical to the common defense
and security of the United States. That determination remains a
precondition for the new FOCD exception.
IV. Plain Writing
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, and well-organized
manner. The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the
Plain Writing Act as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain
Language in Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR
31885).
V. Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule does not contain any new or amended collections
of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing collections of information were approved
by the Office of Management and Budget, approval numbers 3150-0011 and
3150-0155.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to a collection of information unless the document requesting
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
VI. Executive Orders
The following are Executive orders that are related to this
proposed rule:
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review (as Amended by
Executive Order 14215, Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies)
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has
determined that this proposed rule is a significant regulatory action.
Accordingly, the NRC submitted this proposed rule to OIRA for review.
The NRC is required to conduct an economic analysis in accordance with
section 6(a)(3)(B) of E.O. 12866. However, NRC expects the costs of
this rule to be minimal.
B. Executive Order 14154: Unleashing American Energy
The NRC has examined this proposed rule and has determined that it
is consistent with the policies and directives outlined in E.O. 14154.
C. Executive Order 14192: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation
This action is a deregulatory action as defined by E.O. 14192.
D. Executive Order 14270: Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash
American Energy
E.O. 14270, ``Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American
[[Page 21734]]
Energy,'' requires the NRC to insert a conditional sunset date into all
new or amended NRC regulations provided the regulations are (1)
promulgated under the AEA, the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as
amended (ERA), or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended
(NWPA); (2) not statutorily required; and (3) not part of the NRC's
permitting regime. The NRC determined that the regulatory changes
proposed in this rule are required for statutory compliance. Therefore,
the NRC views this rulemaking to be outside the scope of E.O. 14270 and
did not insert conditional sunset dates for the regulatory changes in
this proposed rule.
VII. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADAMS accession No./web
Document link/Federal Register
citation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
``Draft Standard Review Plan on Foreign ML16048A025
Ownership, Control, or Domination,''
Revision 1, April 2016.
``Regulatory Guide X.XX: Foreign Ownership, ML16137A520
Control, or Domination of Nuclear Power,
and Non-Power Production or Utilization
Facility, Draft,'' May 2016.
Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory 58 FR 51735
Planning and Review,'' October 4, 1993.
Executive Order 14154, ``Unleashing 90 FR 8353
American Energy,'' January 29, 2025.
Executive Order 14192, ``Unleashing 90 FR 9065
Prosperity Through Deregulation,''
February 6, 2025.
Executive Order 14215, ``Ensuring 90 FR 10447
Accountability for All Agencies,''
February 24, 2025.
Executive Order 14267, ``Reducing Anti- 90 FR 15629
Competitive Regulatory Barriers,'' April
15, 2025.
Executive Order 14270, ``Zero-Based 90 FR 15643
Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American
Energy,'' April 15, 2025.
Executive Order 14300, ``Ordering the 90 FR 22587
Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission,'' May 29, 2025.
Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain Language 63 FR 31885
in Government Writing,'' June 10, 1998.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dated: April 6, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael King,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2026-07918 Filed 4-22-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P