Department of Energy April 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collection, FERC-539 (Gas Pipeline Certificates: Import & Export Related Applications).

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including direct heating equipment (DHE). EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to periodically determine whether more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. In this document, DOE has tentatively determined that more stringent DHE standards would not be economically justified, and, thus, proposes not to amend its energy conservation standards for DHE.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is informing the public of its collection of shipment data and creation of spreadsheet models to provide comparisons between actual and benchmark estimate unit sales of five lamp types (i.e., rough service lamps, vibration service lamps, 3- way incandescent lamps, 2,601-3,300 lumen general service incandescent lamps, and shatter-resistant lamps) that are currently not subject to energy conservation standards. As the actual sales are not greater than 200 percent of the forecasted estimate for 2015 (i.e., the threshold triggering a rulemaking for an energy conservation standard) for rough service lamps, 3-way incandescent lamps, 2,601-3,300 lumen general service incandescent lamps, and shatter-resistant lamps, DOE has determined that no regulatory action pertaining to such lamps is necessary at this time. However, DOE will continue to track sales data for these exempted lamps. As discussed in the results under section IV of this document, the actual unit sales for vibration service lamps are 272.5 percent of the benchmark unit sales estimate. Therefore, an accelerated energy conservation standard rulemaking for vibration service lamps must be completed by December 31, 2016. Relating to this activity, DOE has prepared, and is making available on its Web site, a spreadsheet showing the comparisons of anticipated versus actual sales, as well as the model used to generate the original sales estimates.

The Wind and Water Power Technologies Office within the U.S. DOE intends to hold a Stakeholder Meeting on the request for information (RFI) to receive input for the U.S. DOE Outyear Marine and Hydrokinetic Program Strategy in Washington, DC on April 27, 2016. The RFI is posted on the EERE Exchange Web site: https://goo.gl/Ei6ppc. Due to space constraints, there is limited seating, therefore the public meeting will be open to a limited number of parties. If you are interested in attending the meeting, please express interest in attending by emailing MHKRFI1570@ee.doe.gov. Please include with the subject line ``Meeting Interest,'' your name, organization, and contact information. The deadline to send notice of your interest, or interested parties, is Friday, April 8 at 11:59 p.m. ET. You will be notified via email on April 11 if you were confirmed as an attendee. All individuals, including those not able to attend will have the opportunity to submit comments to the RFI until 5:00 p.m. ET April 29, 2016.

The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is implementing a consent- based siting process to establish an integrated waste management system to transport, store, and dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. In a consent-based siting approach, DOE will work with communities, tribal governments and states across the country that express interest in hosting any of the facilities identified as part of an integrated waste management system. As part of this process, the Department is hosting a series of public meetings to engage communities and individuals and discuss the development of a consent-based approach to managing our nation's nuclear waste. A public meeting will be held in Boise ID on July 14, 2016.

On May 8, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Federal Register notice (80 FR 26559) announcing the availability of the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE/NNSA's) Final Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SPD Supplemental EIS) (DOE/EIS-0283-S2, April 2015). Among the proposed actions considered in the Final SPD Supplemental EIS, DOE/NNSA analyzed the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for the disposition of 13.1 metric tons (MT) (14.4 tons) of surplus plutonium for which a disposition path is not assigned, including 7.1 MT (7.8 tons) of surplus pit plutonium and 6 MT (6.6 tons) of surplus non-pit plutonium. At the time the Final SPD Supplemental EIS was issued, DOE/NNSA did not have a Preferred Alternative for any of the proposed actions considered in the Final SPD Supplemental EIS. Subsequently, on December 24, 2015, DOE/NNSA issued a Federal Register notice (80 FR 80348) identifying the Preferred Alternative for disposition of the 6 MT of surplus non-pit plutonium analyzed in the Final SPD Supplemental EIS. In its Federal Register notice, DOE/NNSA announced that its Preferred Alternative is to prepare 6 MT of surplus non-pit plutonium for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, a geologic repository for disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste generated by atomic energy defense activities. DOE/NNSA is announcing a decision to implement its Preferred Alternative for the disposition of 6 MT of surplus non-pit plutonium, as described in DOE/NNSA's Preferred Alternative for Certain Quantities of Plutonium Evaluated in the Final Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS. Shipments of this surplus non-pit plutonium to WIPP, after it is operational,\1\ will be placed in the queue of waste to be shipped to WIPP. This plutonium will be prepared and packaged to meet the WIPP waste acceptance criteria for contact-handled TRU waste and other applicable regulatory requirements.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Idaho National Laboratory. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.