Department of Energy January 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Through this Request for Information (RFI), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating the rulemaking and data collection process to develop a uniform efficiency descriptor and accompanying test method for residential water heaters and commercial water heaters. This test procedure rulemaking is intended to fulfill DOE's statutory obligation to develop a uniform efficiency descriptor for residential and commercial water heaters pursuant to the amendments to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) brought about by the American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (AEMTCA; H.R. 6582), which was signed into law on December 18, 2012 (Pub. L. 112- 210). To inform interested parties and to facilitate this process, DOE has identified several issues in this RFI on which DOE is particularly interested in receiving comment from interested parties. In overview, the issues outlined in this document are mainly associated with: Currently available efficiency metrics and test procedures for rating the efficiency of residential and commercial water heaters; the requirements for a uniform metric set forth in the AEMTCA; and available options for DOE to address those statutory requirements. DOE welcomes written comments from the public on any subject within the scope of this rulemaking (including relevant topics not specifically raised in this RFI).

This notice announces a meeting of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. 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) issued the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Accomplishing Expanded Civilian Nuclear Energy Research and Development and Isotope Production Missions in the United States, Including the Role of the Fast Flux Test Facility (Nuclear Infrastructure or NI PEIS) in December 2000 to evaluate alternatives for enhancement of DOE's nuclear infrastructure. After considering the analysis in the NI PEIS and other relevant factors, DOE decided to reestablish domestic production of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) for radioisotope power systems (RPSs) to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and national security missions. Although a Record of Decision (ROD) for the NI PEIS was published in January 2001, DOE has not implemented the decision to date. That decision included using the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee to irradiate neptunium-237 (Np-237) targets; using the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center at ORNL to fabricate Np-237 targets and isolate Pu- 238; utilizing TA-55 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to purify and encapsulate Pu-238; and, using existing facilities at INL to assemble and test the RPSs. Subsequent to the decision, DOE issued the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Consolidation of Nuclear Operations Related to Production of Radioisotope Power Systems (Draft Consolidation EIS) in 2005 to consolidate the nuclear operations related to RPSs at a single site. DOE is now proposing to implement that earlier decision based on the NI PEIS and cancel the Consolidation EIS. Prior to proceeding with implementation of that earlier decision, DOE will prepare a Supplement Analysis (SA) in accordance with DOE's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Procedures to determine whether a supplement to the NI PEIS or a new EIS should be prepared, or that no additional NEPA review is warranted.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared and is making available its portion of the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda), including its Regulatory Plan (Plan), pursuant to Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.