Financial Qualifications for Reactor Licensing, 34559-34560 [2015-14907]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 116 / Wednesday, June 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules duty under 5 U.S.C. 5550 (as required by 5 U.S.C. 5550(d)). * * * * * 19. In § 551.216, revise paragraph (c)(2) to read as follows: ■ Subpart B—Exemptions and Exclusions * * * * [FR Doc. 2015–14809 Filed 6–16–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325–39–P * § 551.216 Law enforcement activities and 7(k) coverage for FLSA pay and exemption determinations. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION * 10 CFR Part 50 * * * * (c) * * * (2) Employees whose primary duties involve patrol and control functions performed for the purpose of detecting and apprehending persons suspected of violating criminal laws; * * * * * ■ 20. Add § 551.217 to subpart B to read as follows: § 551.217 agents. Exemption of Border Patrol PART 870—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ GROUP LIFE INSURANCE PROGRAM 21. The authority citation for part 870 is revised to read as follows: ■ Authority: 5 U.S.C. 8704(c), 8716; Subpart J also issued under section 599C of Pub. L. 101–513, 104 Stat. 2064, as amended; Sec. 870.302(a)(3)(ii) also issued under section 153 of Pub. L. 104–134, 110 Stat. 1321; Sec. 870.302(a)(3) also issued under sections 11202(f), 11232(e), and 11246(b) and (c) of Pub. L. 105–33, 111 Stat. 251, and section 7(e) of Pub. L. 105–274, 112 Stat. 2419; Sec. 870.302(a)(3) also issued under section 145 of Pub. L. 106–522, 114 Stat. 2472; Secs. 870.302(b)(8), 870.601(a), and 870.602(b) also issued under Pub. L. 110–279, 122 Stat. 2604; Subpart E also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8702(c); Sec. 870.601(d)(3) also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8706(d); Sec. 870.703(e)(1) also issued under section 502 of Pub. L. 110–177, 121 Stat. 2542; Sec. 870.705 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8714b(c) and 8714c(c); Pub. L. 104–106, 110 Stat. 521. Subpart B—Types and Amount of Insurance 22. In § 870.204, amend paragraph (a)(2) by removing the word ‘‘and’’ from the end of paragraph (x), removing the period at the end of paragraph (xi) and adding in its place ‘‘; and’’, and adding a new paragraph (xii) to read as follows: ■ srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS RIN 3150–AJ43 Financial Qualifications for Reactor Licensing Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Draft regulatory basis; public meeting and request for comment. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on a draft regulatory basis for a proposed rulemaking to amend the current financial qualification requirements of ‘‘reasonable assurance’’ to the review standard of ‘‘appears to be financially qualified.’’ The NRC plans to hold a public meeting to promote full understanding of this regulatory basis and facilitate public comment. DATES: Submit comments by August 3, 2015. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is only able to ensure consideration of comments received on or before this date. In addition to providing this opportunity to submit written (and electronic) comments, the NRC plans to hold a public meeting to discuss the draft regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking on July 8, 2015. See Section V, ‘‘Public Meeting,’’ of this document for additional information regarding the public meeting. 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2014–0161. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. • Email comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301–415–1677. SUMMARY: A Border Patrol agent (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5550(a)(2) and 5 CFR 550.1603) is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Act. § 870.204 [NRC–2014–0161] Annual rates of pay. * * * * * (a) * * * (2) * * * (xii) An overtime supplement for regularly scheduled overtime within a Border Patrol agent’s regular tour of VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:32 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 235001 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 34559 • Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 415–1101. • Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. • Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal workdays; telephone: 301–415–1677. 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: Yanely Malave, telephone: 301–415– 1519, email: Yanely.Malave@nrc.gov; or Carolyn Lauron, telephone: 301–415– 2736, email: Carolyn.Lauron@nrc.gov; both of the Office of New Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2014– 0161 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this action by any of the following methods: • Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2014–0161. • NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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 pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The draft regulatory basis is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14324A706. • 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–2014– 0161 in the subject line of your comment submission. The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that E:\FR\FM\17JNP1.SGM 17JNP1 34560 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 116 / Wednesday, June 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules 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. srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS II. Discussion The NRC is requesting comments on a draft regulatory basis to support a proposed rulemaking on financial qualifications for reactor licensing. The regulatory basis explains, in part, why the existing regulations should be updated. It also discusses cost and other impacts of the potential changes. The specific objective of this proposed rulemaking would be to amend the current financial qualification requirements of ‘‘reasonable assurance’’ under 10 CFR part 50 to conform to the 10 CFR part 70 review standard of ‘‘appears to be financially qualified.’’ Specifically, the proposed rulemaking will remove the detailed requirements found in Appendix C of 10 CFR Part 50 and amend 10 CFR 50.33(f) to remove the requirement for a power reactor applicant to demonstrate that it possesses or can provide reasonable assurance of obtaining the funds necessary for construction and operation. In this proposed rulemaking, the applicant would be required to submit a plan describing how it will proceed to finance the construction and operation of the facility. The plan would ensure that the applicant has both a well-articulated understanding of the size of the project it is undertaking and the financial capacity to obtain the necessary financing before beginning reactor construction. The proposed rulemaking would permit the NRC to issue licenses with conditions to applicants that may have insufficient (or no) funding at the outset of the license application review. The license conditions would be sufficient and specific to permit a simple, ministerial kind of review to ensure that VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:32 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 235001 III. Specific Requests for Comments The NRC requests that stakeholders consider the questions in Enclosure 2 of the draft regulatory basis. The questions, identified during development of the draft regulatory basis, cover the scope, objectives, implementation, and cost of a proposed rulemaking based on this regulatory basis. consequences and how should they be addressed? (5) Please provide information on the costs and benefits of the potential proposed action. This information will be used to support any regulatory analysis by the NRC. V. Public Meeting the applicant’s plan is executed before beginning reactor construction. IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation The Cumulative Effects of Regulation (CER) describes the challenges that licensees, or other impacted entities (such as State agency partners) may face while implementing new regulatory positions, programs, and requirements (e.g., rules, generic letters, backfits, inspections). The CER is an organizational effectiveness challenge that results from a licensee or impacted entity implementing a number of complex positions, programs or requirements within a limited implementation period and with available resources (which may include limited available expertise to address a specific issue). The NRC has implemented CER enhancements to the rulemaking process to facilitate public involvement throughout the rulemaking process. Therefore, the NRC is specifically requesting comment on the cumulative effects that may result from this proposed rulemaking. In developing comments on the draft regulatory basis, consider the following questions: (1) In light of any current or projected CER challenges, what should be a reasonable effective date, compliance date, or submittal date(s) from the time the final rule is published to the actual implementation of any new proposed requirements including changes to programs, procedures, or the facility? (2) If current or projected CER challenges exist, what should be done to address this situation (e.g., if more time is required to implement the new requirements, what period of time would be sufficient, and why such a time frame is necessary)? (3) Do other regulatory actions (e.g., orders, generic communications, license amendment requests, and inspection findings of a generic nature) by NRC or other agencies influence the implementation of the potential proposed requirements? (4) Are there unintended consequences? Does the potential proposed action create conditions that would be contrary to the potential proposed action’s purpose and objectives? If so, what are the PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 A public meeting will be held on July 8, 2015, from 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. at the NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, Room O–4B6. The purpose of the public meeting is to promote full understanding of this regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking and to facilitate public comment. The NRC will not be accepting verbal or written comments at the public meeting. All comments must be submitted as indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this document. Stakeholders should monitor the NRC’s public meeting Web site for information about the public meeting at https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/ public-meetings/index.cfm. VI. Plain Writing The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111–274) requires Federal agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, 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 31883). The NRC requests comment on this document with respect to the clarity and effectiveness of the language used. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of June, 2015. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Mark Tonacci, Acting Director, Division of Advanced Reactors and Rulemaking, Office of New Reactors. [FR Doc. 2015–14907 Filed 6–16–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 39 [Docket No. FAA–2015–1658; Directorate Identifier 2015–NE–18–AD] RIN 2120–AA64 Airworthiness Directives; General Electric Company Turbofan Engines Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. AGENCY: E:\FR\FM\17JNP1.SGM 17JNP1

Agencies

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34559-34560]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14907]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[NRC-2014-0161]
RIN 3150-AJ43


Financial Qualifications for Reactor Licensing

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory basis; public meeting and request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on a draft regulatory basis for a proposed rulemaking to 
amend the current financial qualification requirements of ``reasonable 
assurance'' to the review standard of ``appears to be financially 
qualified.'' The NRC plans to hold a public meeting to promote full 
understanding of this regulatory basis and facilitate public comment.

DATES: Submit comments by August 3, 2015. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is 
only able to ensure consideration of comments received on or before 
this date.
    In addition to providing this opportunity to submit written (and 
electronic) comments, the NRC plans to hold a public meeting to discuss 
the draft regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking on July 8, 2015. 
See Section V, ``Public Meeting,'' of this document for additional 
information regarding the public meeting.

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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0161. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Email comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do 
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact 
us at 301-415-1677.
     Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission at 301-415-1101.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
     Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal 
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
    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: Yanely Malave, telephone: 301-415-
1519, email: Yanely.Malave@nrc.gov; or Carolyn Lauron, telephone: 301-
415-2736, email: Carolyn.Lauron@nrc.gov; both of the Office of New 
Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0161 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0161.
     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 ``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 pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 
draft regulatory basis is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML14324A706.
     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-2014-0161 in the subject line of your 
comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that

[[Page 34560]]

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. Discussion

    The NRC is requesting comments on a draft regulatory basis to 
support a proposed rulemaking on financial qualifications for reactor 
licensing. The regulatory basis explains, in part, why the existing 
regulations should be updated. It also discusses cost and other impacts 
of the potential changes.
    The specific objective of this proposed rulemaking would be to 
amend the current financial qualification requirements of ``reasonable 
assurance'' under 10 CFR part 50 to conform to the 10 CFR part 70 
review standard of ``appears to be financially qualified.'' 
Specifically, the proposed rulemaking will remove the detailed 
requirements found in Appendix C of 10 CFR Part 50 and amend 10 CFR 
50.33(f) to remove the requirement for a power reactor applicant to 
demonstrate that it possesses or can provide reasonable assurance of 
obtaining the funds necessary for construction and operation. In this 
proposed rulemaking, the applicant would be required to submit a plan 
describing how it will proceed to finance the construction and 
operation of the facility. The plan would ensure that the applicant has 
both a well-articulated understanding of the size of the project it is 
undertaking and the financial capacity to obtain the necessary 
financing before beginning reactor construction.
    The proposed rulemaking would permit the NRC to issue licenses with 
conditions to applicants that may have insufficient (or no) funding at 
the outset of the license application review. The license conditions 
would be sufficient and specific to permit a simple, ministerial kind 
of review to ensure that the applicant's plan is executed before 
beginning reactor construction.

III. Specific Requests for Comments

    The NRC requests that stakeholders consider the questions in 
Enclosure 2 of the draft regulatory basis. The questions, identified 
during development of the draft regulatory basis, cover the scope, 
objectives, implementation, and cost of a proposed rulemaking based on 
this regulatory basis.

IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation

    The Cumulative Effects of Regulation (CER) describes the challenges 
that licensees, or other impacted entities (such as State agency 
partners) may face while implementing new regulatory positions, 
programs, and requirements (e.g., rules, generic letters, backfits, 
inspections). The CER is an organizational effectiveness challenge that 
results from a licensee or impacted entity implementing a number of 
complex positions, programs or requirements within a limited 
implementation period and with available resources (which may include 
limited available expertise to address a specific issue). The NRC has 
implemented CER enhancements to the rulemaking process to facilitate 
public involvement throughout the rulemaking process. Therefore, the 
NRC is specifically requesting comment on the cumulative effects that 
may result from this proposed rulemaking. In developing comments on the 
draft regulatory basis, consider the following questions:
    (1) In light of any current or projected CER challenges, what 
should be a reasonable effective date, compliance date, or submittal 
date(s) from the time the final rule is published to the actual 
implementation of any new proposed requirements including changes to 
programs, procedures, or the facility?
    (2) If current or projected CER challenges exist, what should be 
done to address this situation (e.g., if more time is required to 
implement the new requirements, what period of time would be 
sufficient, and why such a time frame is necessary)?
    (3) Do other regulatory actions (e.g., orders, generic 
communications, license amendment requests, and inspection findings of 
a generic nature) by NRC or other agencies influence the implementation 
of the potential proposed requirements?
    (4) Are there unintended consequences? Does the potential proposed 
action create conditions that would be contrary to the potential 
proposed action's purpose and objectives? If so, what are the 
consequences and how should they be addressed?
    (5) Please provide information on the costs and benefits of the 
potential proposed action. This information will be used to support any 
regulatory analysis by the NRC.

V. Public Meeting

    A public meeting will be held on July 8, 2015, from 1:00 p.m.-4:00 
p.m. at the NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, Maryland, Room O-4B6.
    The purpose of the public meeting is to promote full understanding 
of this regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking and to facilitate 
public comment. The NRC will not be accepting verbal or written 
comments at the public meeting. All comments must be submitted as 
indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this document.
    Stakeholders should monitor the NRC's public meeting Web site for 
information about the public meeting at https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm.

VI. Plain Writing

    The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal 
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, 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 31883). The NRC 
requests comment on this document with respect to the clarity and 
effectiveness of the language used.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of June, 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark Tonacci,
Acting Director, Division of Advanced Reactors and Rulemaking, Office 
of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-14907 Filed 6-16-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

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