Department of Energy 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Consistent with the determination by the President in March 2015 and pursuant to its authorities under the Atomic Energy Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proceeding to evaluate the development of a repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) resulting from DOE's atomic energy defense activities. This defense waste repository (DWR) could be used to dispose of some or all of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and HLW resulting from DOE's atomic energy defense activities and/or research and development activities. The DOE intends to use a consent-based process for siting the DWR, and is beginning that process by sharing the Draft Plan for a DWR for public comment.

On August 22, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the test procedure for conventional cooking products. That proposed rulemaking serves as the basis for this final rule. Specifically, this final rule amends DOE's test procedure for conventional electric cooking tops to incorporate by reference the relevant sections from European standard EN 60350-2:2013 ``Household electric cooking appliances Part 2: Hobs Methods for measuring performance'' (EN 60350-2:2013). This final rule also includes methods for testing non-circular electric surface units, electric surface units with flexible concentric cooking zones, and full-surface induction cooking tops based on EN 60350-2:2013. In addition, DOE extends the test methods in EN 60350-2:2013 to measure the energy consumption of gas cooking tops by correlating test equipment diameter to burner input rate, including input rates that exceed 14,000 British thermal units per hour. This final rule also includes methods to calculate annual energy consumption and integrated annual energy consumption for conventional cooking tops based on the water-heating test method and provides updates to the sampling plan requirements. The final rule includes minor technical clarifications to the gas heating value correction and other grammatical changes to the regulatory text in the cooking products test procedure that do not alter the substance of the existing test methods. This final rule also repeals the regulatory provisions establishing the test procedure for conventional ovens under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. DOE has determined that the conventional oven test procedure does not accurately represent consumer use as it favors conventional ovens with low thermal mass and does not capture cooking performance-related benefits due to increased thermal mass of the oven cavity.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA or the Act), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including residential dishwashers. 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 final rule, DOE has determined that more stringent residential dishwasher standards would not be economically justified, and, thus, does not amend its energy conservation standards for residential dishwashers. DOE also eliminates an obsolete dishwasher test procedure that is no longer used to demonstrate compliance with the existing energy conservation standards.

This notice sets forth the schedule and summary agenda for a partially-closed meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and describes the functions of the Council. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.