Information Collection: Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities, 1825-1827 [2020-00284]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 8 / Monday, January 13, 2020 / Notices
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Henry Friedman,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental
Enforcement Section, Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2020–00265 Filed 1–10–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410–15–P
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
Request for Comments on a Draft
Memorandum to the Heads of
Executive Departments and Agencies,
‘‘Guidance for Regulation of Artificial
Intelligence Applications’’
Executive Office of the
President, Office of Management and
Budget.
ACTION: Notice of availability and
request for comments.
AGENCY:
The Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) requests comments
on a draft Memorandum that provides
guidance to all Federal agencies to
inform the development of regulatory
and non-regulatory approaches
regarding technologies and industrial
sectors that are empowered or enabled
by artificial intelligence (AI) and
consider ways to reduce barriers to the
development and adoption of AI
technologies. OMB guidance on these
matters seeks to support the U.S.
approach to free-market capitalism,
federalism, and good regulatory
practices (GRPs). The draft
Memorandum calls on agencies, when
considering regulations or policies
related to AI applications, to promote
advancements in technology and
innovation, while protecting American
technology, economic and national
security, privacy, civil liberties, and
other American values, including the
principles of freedom, human rights, the
rule of law, and respect for intellectual
property. The draft Memorandum is
available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2020/01/Draft-OMB-Memo-onRegulation-of-AI-1-7-19.pdf.
DATES: Comments are requested on the
draft Memorandum no later than March
13, 2020.
ADDRESSES: All comments should be
submitted via https://
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:32 Jan 10, 2020
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www.regulations.gov. Please submit
comments only and include your name,
company name (if any), and cite
‘‘Guidance for Regulation of Artificial
Intelligence Applications’’ in all
correspondence. All comments received
will be posted, without change or
redaction, to www.regulations.gov, so
commenters should not include
information they do not wish to be
posted (e.g., personal or confidential
business information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alexander Hunt, Office of Management
and Budget, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, at ahunt@
omb.eop.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive
Order 13859, ‘‘Maintaining American
Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,’’
which was issued on February 11, 2019,
requires the Director of OMB, in
coordination with the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology
Policy, the Director of the Domestic
Policy Council, and the Director of the
National Economic Council, to issue a
memorandum that provides guidance to
all Federal agencies to inform the
development of regulatory and nonregulatory approaches regarding
technologies and industrial sectors that
are empowered or enabled by AI and
consider ways to reduce barriers to the
development and adoption of AI
technologies.
Dominic J. Mancini,
Acting Administrator, Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2020–00261 Filed 1–10–20; 8:45 am]
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
RIN 3145–AA58
National Science Foundation.
Notice announcing updated
penalty inflation adjustments for civil
monetary penalties for 2020.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The National Science
Foundation (NSF or Foundation) is
providing notice of its adjusted
maximum civil monetary penalties,
effective January 15, 2020. These
adjustments are required by the Federal
Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act
Improvements Act of 2015 (the 2015
Act).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bijan Gilanshah, Assistant General
Counsel, Office of the General Counsel,
SUMMARY:
Fmt 4703
Dated: January 6, 2020.
Suzanne Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2020–00149 Filed 1–10–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
Information Collection: Domestic
Licensing of Production and Utilization
Facilities
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Revision of existing information
collection; request for comment.
AGENCY:
Notice on Penalty Inflation
Adjustments for Civil Monetary
Penalties
Frm 00026
National Science Foundation, 2415
Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA
22314. Telephone: 703–292–5055.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June
27, 2016 (81 FR 41451), NSF published
an interim final rule amending its
regulations to adjust, for inflation, the
maximum civil monetary penalties that
may be imposed for violations of the
Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978
(ACA), as amended, 16 U.S.C. 2401 et
seq., and the Program Fraud Civil
Remedies Act of 1986 (PFCRA), 31
U.S.C. 3801, et seq. These adjustments
are required by the 2015 Act. The 2015
Act also requires agencies to make
subsequent annual adjustments for
inflation. Pursuant to OMB guidance
dated December 16, 2019, the cost-ofliving adjustment multiplier for 2020 is
1.01764. Accordingly, the 2020 annual
inflation adjustments for the maximum
penalties under the ACA are $17,583
($17,278 × 1.01764) for violations and
$29,755 ($29,239 × 1.01764) for
knowing violations of the ACA. Finally,
the 2020 annual inflation adjustment for
the maximum penalty for violations
under PFCRA is $11,665 ($11,463 ×
1.01764).
[NRC–2017–0151]
BILLING CODE 3110–01–P
PO 00000
1825
Sfmt 4703
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) invites public
comment on the revision of an existing
collection of information. The
information collection is entitled,
Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities
DATES: Submit comments by March 13,
2020. 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:
• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
1826
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 8 / Monday, January 13, 2020 / Notices
for Docket ID NRC–2018–0215. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in
Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301–287–9127; email:
Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical
questions, contact the individuals listed
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
• Mail comments to: David Cullison,
Office of the Chief Information Officer,
Mail Stop: T6–A10M, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001.
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:
David Cullison, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–
2084; email: INFOCOLLECTS.Resource@
NRC.GOV.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
I. Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2017–
0151 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 Website: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2018–0215.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly
available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Document collection at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select
‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For
problems with ADAMS, 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 supporting statement is
available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML19184A634.
• 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.
• NRC’s Clearance Officer: A copy of
the collection of information and related
instructions may be obtained without
charge by contacting NRC’s Clearance
Officer, David Cullison, Office of the
Chief Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–
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16:32 Jan 10, 2020
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2084; email: INFOCOLLECTS.Resource@ information collection remains
unchanged.
NRC.GOV.
9. The estimated number of hours
B. Submitting Comments
needed annually to comply with the
Please include Docket ID NRC–2017–
information collection requirement or
0151 in the subject line of your
request: A reduction of 78 hours of
comment submission, in order to ensure reporting burden. The total burden for
that the NRC is able to make your
the part 50 information collection will
comment submission available to the
be reduced from 3,731,355 to 3,731,277
public in this docket.
hours.
The NRC cautions you not to include
10. Abstract: The NRC intends to
identifying or contact information in
publish a Direct Final Rule amending
comment submissions that you do not
the information collection requirements
want to be publicly disclosed in your
in appendix H to 10 CFR part 50 related
comment submission. The NRC will
to the reactor vessel material
post all comment submissions at https:// surveillance program reporting
www.regulations.gov as well as enter the requirements. The requirements for a
comment submissions into ADAMS,
reactor vessel material surveillance
and the NRC does not routinely edit
program are specified in appendix H to
comment submissions to remove
10 CFR part 50. Appendix H to 10 CFR
identifying or contact information.
part 50 requires light-water nuclear
If you are requesting or aggregating
power reactor licensees to implement a
comments from other persons for
reactor vessel material surveillance
submission to the NRC, then you should program when it cannot be shown that
inform those persons not to include
the end of design life neutron fluence
identifying or contact information that
for the reactor vessel is below certain
they do not want to be publicly
criteria. This program monitors changes
disclosed in their comment submission. in the fracture toughness properties of
Your request should state that the NRC
the reactor vessel materials adjacent to
does not routinely edit comment
the reactor core. This is done by testing
submissions to remove such information of irradiated material specimens that are
before making the comment
in surveillance capsules in the reactor
submissions available to the public or
vessel for changes in material fracture
entering the comment into ADAMS.
toughness. The test results are used to
assesses the integrity of the reactor
II. Background
vessel.
In accordance with the Paperwork
Licensees are required to submit a
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
summary technical report to the NRC
chapter 35), the NRC is requesting
within one year of the date of the
public comment on its intention to
surveillance capsule was withdrawn
request the OMB’s approval for the
from the reactor vessel unless an
information collection summarized
extension is granted by the Director,
below.
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
1. The title of the information
The report will contain the data
collection: Appendix H to part 50 of title required by ASTM E 185, and the
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
results of all fracture toughness tests
(10 CFR), ‘‘Domestic Licensing of
conducted on the beltline materials in
Production And Utilization Facilities.’’
the irradiated and unirradiated
2. OMB approval number: 3150–0011. conditions. At that time this
3. Type of submission: Revision.
requirement was adopted (48 FR 24008;
4. The form number, if applicable:
July 26, 1983), there was still a limited
Not applicable.
amount of data from irradiated materials
5. How often the collection is required from which to estimate embrittlement
or requested: On occasion.
trends of reactor vessels at nuclear
6. Who will be required or asked to
power plants; thus, making it crucial for
respond: Holders of an operating license timely reporting of test results.
for commercial light-water power
Some licensees have found it
reactors.
challenging to meet this one-year
7. The estimated number of annual
requirement due to the time needed for
responses: A reduction of 1 response.
coordination among the multiple
The total number of responses for the
licensees participating in the program.
part 50 information collection will be
Because a significant number of test
reduced from 43,678 to 43,677.
specimens have been analyzed since
1983, resulting in an extensive
8. The estimated number of annual
understanding of embrittlement
respondents: There will be a reduction
of 1 respondent submitting an extension mechanisms, there is no longer a need
for submitting a report within one year.
request; however, the total number of
As a result, the NRC determined that the
respondents to the 10 CFR part 50
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 8 / Monday, January 13, 2020 / Notices
reporting requirement in appendix H to
10 CFR part 50 could be revised.
This Direct Final Rule will extend the
reporting period from 1 year to 18
months and reduce the need for
licensees to prepare and submit
extension requests and the NRC
resources to review the requests.
III. Specific Requests for Comments
The NRC is seeking comments that
address the following questions:
1. Is the proposed collection of
information necessary for the NRC to
properly perform its functions? Does the
information have practical utility?
2. Is the estimate of the burden of the
information collection accurate?
3. Is there a way to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected?
4. How can the burden of the
information collection on respondents
be minimized, including the use of
automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology?
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day
of January 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David C. Cullison,
NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020–00284 Filed 1–10–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50–293; NRC–2019–0245]
Holtec Pilgrim, LLC; Holtec
Decommissioning International, LLC;
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Exemption; issuance.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has issued an
exemption in response to a request from
the licensee that would permit Holtec
Pilgrim, LLC and Holtec
Decommissioning International, LLC to
reduce the required level of primary
offsite liability insurance from $450
million to $100 million and to eliminate
the requirement to carry secondary
financial protection for Pilgrim Nuclear
Power Station.
DATES: The exemption was issued on
January 6, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC–2019–0245 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:
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:32 Jan 10, 2020
Jkt 250001
• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2019–0245. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in
Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301–287–9127; email:
Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
• 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
‘‘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 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: 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Scott Wall, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington DC 20555–
0001; telephone: 301–415–2855, email:
Scott.Wall@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of
the exemption is attached.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day
of January 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott P. Wall,
Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing
Branch III, Division of Operating Reactor
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
Attachment—Exemption
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
Docket No. 50–293
Holtec Pilgrim, LLC
Holtec Decommissioning International,
LLC
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
Exemption
I. Background
By letter dated November 10, 2015
(Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML15328A053), Entergy
Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENOI)
certified to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
PO 00000
Frm 00028
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
1827
Commission (NRC) that it planned to
permanently cease power operations at
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim)
no later than June 1, 2019. On May 31,
2019, ENOI permanently ceased power
operations at Pilgrim. By letter dated
June 10, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19161A033), ENOI certified to the
NRC that the fuel was permanently
removed from the Pilgrim reactor vessel
and placed in the spent fuel pool (SFP)
on June 9, 2019. Accordingly, pursuant
to Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) Section
50.82(a)(2), the Pilgrim renewed facility
operating license no longer authorizes
operation of the reactor or emplacement
or retention of fuel in the reactor vessel.
The facility is still authorized to possess
and store irradiated (i.e., spent) nuclear
fuel. Spent fuel is currently stored
onsite at the Pilgrim facility in the SFP
and in a dry cask independent spent
fuel storage installation (ISFSI).
II. Request/Action
By letter dated March 25, 2019
(ADAMS Accession No. ML19088A127),
as supplemented by letter dated July 30,
2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19211B509), ENOI requested an
exemption from 10 CFR 140.11(a)(4)
concerning offsite primary and
secondary liability insurance. The
exemption from 10 CFR 140.11(a)(4)
would permit the licensee to reduce the
required level of primary offsite liability
insurance from $450 million to $100
million and to eliminate the
requirement to carry secondary financial
protection for Pilgrim.
By letter dated November 16, 2018
(ADAMS Accession No. ML18320A031),
ENOI, on behalf of itself and Entergy
Nuclear Generation Company (ENGC)
(to be known as Holtec Pilgrim, LLC),
Holtec International (Holtec), and
Holtec Decommissioning International,
LLC (HDI, the licensee) (together,
Applicants), requested that the NRC
consent to: (1) The indirect transfer of
control of Renewed Facility Operating
License No. DPR–35 for Pilgrim, as well
as the general license for the Pilgrim
ISFSI (together, the Licenses), to Holtec;
and (2) the direct transfer of ENOI’s
operating authority (i.e., its authority to
conduct licensed activities at Pilgrim) to
HDI. In addition, the Applicants
requested that the NRC approve a
conforming administrative amendment
to the Licenses to reflect the proposed
direct transfer of the Licenses from
ENOI to HDI; a planned name change
for ENGC from ENGC to Holtec Pilgrim,
LLC; and deletion of certain license
conditions to reflect satisfaction and
termination of all ENGC obligations
after the license transfer and equity sale.
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 8 (Monday, January 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1825-1827]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00284]
=======================================================================
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2017-0151]
Information Collection: Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Revision of existing information collection; request for
comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) invites public
comment on the revision of an existing collection of information. The
information collection is entitled, Domestic Licensing of Production
and Utilization Facilities
DATES: Submit comments by March 13, 2020. 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:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search
[[Page 1826]]
for Docket ID NRC-2018-0215. Address questions about NRC docket IDs in
Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-9127; email:
[email protected]. For technical questions, contact the
individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Mail comments to: David Cullison, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, Mail Stop: T6-A10M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
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: David Cullison, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2084; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0151 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-2018-0215.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Document collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public Document
Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email
to [email protected]. The supporting statement is available in ADAMS
under Accession No. ML19184A634.
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.
NRC's Clearance Officer: A copy of the collection of
information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by
contacting NRC's Clearance Officer, David Cullison, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2084; email:
[email protected].
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2017-0151 in the subject line of your
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information in comment submissions 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, and 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
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35), the NRC is requesting public comment on its intention to
request the OMB's approval for the information collection summarized
below.
1. The title of the information collection: Appendix H to part 50
of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic
Licensing of Production And Utilization Facilities.''
2. OMB approval number: 3150-0011.
3. Type of submission: Revision.
4. The form number, if applicable: Not applicable.
5. How often the collection is required or requested: On occasion.
6. Who will be required or asked to respond: Holders of an
operating license for commercial light-water power reactors.
7. The estimated number of annual responses: A reduction of 1
response. The total number of responses for the part 50 information
collection will be reduced from 43,678 to 43,677.
8. The estimated number of annual respondents: There will be a
reduction of 1 respondent submitting an extension request; however, the
total number of respondents to the 10 CFR part 50 information
collection remains unchanged.
9. The estimated number of hours needed annually to comply with the
information collection requirement or request: A reduction of 78 hours
of reporting burden. The total burden for the part 50 information
collection will be reduced from 3,731,355 to 3,731,277 hours.
10. Abstract: The NRC intends to publish a Direct Final Rule
amending the information collection requirements in appendix H to 10
CFR part 50 related to the reactor vessel material surveillance program
reporting requirements. The requirements for a reactor vessel material
surveillance program are specified in appendix H to 10 CFR part 50.
Appendix H to 10 CFR part 50 requires light-water nuclear power reactor
licensees to implement a reactor vessel material surveillance program
when it cannot be shown that the end of design life neutron fluence for
the reactor vessel is below certain criteria. This program monitors
changes in the fracture toughness properties of the reactor vessel
materials adjacent to the reactor core. This is done by testing of
irradiated material specimens that are in surveillance capsules in the
reactor vessel for changes in material fracture toughness. The test
results are used to assesses the integrity of the reactor vessel.
Licensees are required to submit a summary technical report to the
NRC within one year of the date of the surveillance capsule was
withdrawn from the reactor vessel unless an extension is granted by the
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. The report will contain
the data required by ASTM E 185, and the results of all fracture
toughness tests conducted on the beltline materials in the irradiated
and unirradiated conditions. At that time this requirement was adopted
(48 FR 24008; July 26, 1983), there was still a limited amount of data
from irradiated materials from which to estimate embrittlement trends
of reactor vessels at nuclear power plants; thus, making it crucial for
timely reporting of test results.
Some licensees have found it challenging to meet this one-year
requirement due to the time needed for coordination among the multiple
licensees participating in the program. Because a significant number of
test specimens have been analyzed since 1983, resulting in an extensive
understanding of embrittlement mechanisms, there is no longer a need
for submitting a report within one year. As a result, the NRC
determined that the
[[Page 1827]]
reporting requirement in appendix H to 10 CFR part 50 could be revised.
This Direct Final Rule will extend the reporting period from 1 year
to 18 months and reduce the need for licensees to prepare and submit
extension requests and the NRC resources to review the requests.
III. Specific Requests for Comments
The NRC is seeking comments that address the following questions:
1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC
to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical
utility?
2. Is the estimate of the burden of the information collection
accurate?
3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected?
4. How can the burden of the information collection on respondents
be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology?
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of January 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David C. Cullison,
NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-00284 Filed 1-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P