Department of Energy January 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces a teleconference call of the State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463; 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

This notice announces a change in the fee policy by the Department of Energy (DOE) for receipt and management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from foreign research reactors (FRR) containing uranium enriched in the U.S. in countries with high-income economies, as identified in the World Bank Development Report. The fee will increase in three phases (See Table 1) for all future SNF shipments (including Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics (TRIGA) from high-income economy countries. The first phase will take effect immediately and the fee will increase from no higher than $3,750 per kg total mass (not heavy metal mass) to $5,625 per kg total mass for SNF containing low enriched uranium (LEU). The second phase will be implemented automatically on January 1, 2014, and the fees will increase from $5,625 per kg total mass to $7,500 per kg total mass for shipments of SNF containing LEU and from no higher than $4,500 per kg total mass to $6,750 per kg total mass for SNF containing highly enriched uranium (HEU). The third phase will be implemented automatically on January 1, 2016, and the fee will increase from $6,750 per kg total mass to $9,000 per kg total mass for shipments of SNF containing HEU. DOE is also implementing a new minimum fee of $200,000 per shipment of any type and amount of eligible SNF to reflect a minimum cost of providing acceptance services. This minimum fee will take effect immediately. In the case where a reactor operator already has a signed and executed contract with DOE, DOE intends to negotiate an equitable adjustment to the fee in accordance with this revised fee policy. Under this revised fee policy, the fee for return of TRIGA fuel will be the same as that of aluminum based fuel. All other aspects of the fee policy are unaffected by this Notice. This is the first fee increase since the fee policy was established in 1996, and will help DOE offset a portion of the increase in operation costs of managing SNF. DOE will continue to pay the costs for shipping, receipt and management of SNF from other than high-income economy countries. All other conditions and policies as previously established for acceptance of FRR SNF will continue to apply. DOE reserves the right to revise the fee policy at any time to respond to changed circumstances. DOE also reserves the right to adjust the fee set in an acceptance contract if there are unique and compelling circumstances that make it in DOE's best interest to do so.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance, a proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed collection, titled the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Commercialization Survey will satisfy the program requirements of the Small Business Act, including requirements established in the SBIR program reauthorization legislation, Public Law 106-554 and Public Law 107-50. DOE will collect the survey data via web-enabled software and provide it to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to maintain information about the DOE SBIR/STTR awards issued through the two programs. This data will be provided by DOE based on information collected from SBIR/STTR awardees. This data will be used by DOE, SBA, and Congress to assess the commercial impact of these two programs. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, please advise the DOE Desk Officer at OMB of your intention to make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk Officer may be telephoned at (202) 395-4560.

In this Final Rule, the Commission eliminates the semi-annual storage reporting requirements for Interstate and Intrastate Natural Gas Companies. The Commission finds that these particular reporting requirements are largely duplicative with other reporting requirements.

This notice announces a meeting of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

This notice announces a meeting of the DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance, a proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed collection will supersede the existing Form OE-781R, ``Monthly Electricity Imports and Exports Report''. The Form OE-781R is currently suspended and would be terminated with the implementation of the proposed Form EIA-111.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a nationwide limited waiver of the Buy American requirements of section 1605 of the Recovery Act under the authority of section 1605(b)(1) (amended public interest waiver), with respect to donated manufactured goods.

In compliance with the requirements of section 3507(a)(1) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. In compliance with section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Commission previously issued a Notice in the Federal Register (76 FR 65504, 10/21/2011) requesting public comments. FERC received no comments on FERC-725A and has made this notation in its submission to OMB.