Department of Energy June 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on its Request for Information (RFI) number DE-FOA-0002358 regarding the BATTERY CRITICAL MATERIALS SUPPLY CHAIN R&D. This RFI pertains to a Research & Development (R&D) Battery Critical Materials Supply Chain Workshop planned to be hosted by the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE), Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) and Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO). The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to challenges and opportunities in the upstream and midstream critical materials battery supply chains. Such input will inform the agenda of the R&D Battery Critical Materials Supply Chain Workshop planned for the fall of 2020 to determine opportunities, gaps, and bottlenecks in the battery cathode materials supply and the value chain.

The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) to the International Energy Agency (IEA) will meet on June 23-25, 2020, through a webinar, in connection with a joint meeting of the IEA's Standing Group on Emergency Questions (SEQ) and the IEA's Standing Group on the Oil Market (SOM) which is scheduled at the same time.

This notice announces a meeting of the DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of a Report on the Secretary of Energy's Final Decision and Supporting Reasoning Regarding Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 2019-2, Safety of the Savannah River Site Tritium Facilities. The Board issued Recommendation 2019-2 on June 11, 2019. The Recommendation focused on the Department of Energy (DOE) actions to improve the safety of the Tritium Facilities, upgrades to safety management programs, and the implementation of robust controls to prevent very high radiation doses, creating the potential for acute radiation sickness or fatality in a significant number of individuals. The Recommendation identified three specific sub-recommendations.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to amend the test procedure for room air conditioners (``room ACs'') to address updates to the industry standards that are incorporated by reference, provide for the testing of variable-speed room ACs to better reflect their relative efficiency gains at lower outdoor temperatures as compared to single-speed room ACs, and to provide specifications and minor corrections that would improve repeatability, reproducibility, and overall readability of the test procedure. Because there are no testing modifications proposed for single-speed room ACs, DOE expects that the proposed changes will not affect the measured energy use for these models. For variable-speed room ACs, the proposed changes will improve the representativeness of the measured energy use of these models. As part of this proposal, DOE is announcing a public meeting to collect comments and data on its proposal.

The U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') is initiating an early assessment review to determine whether any new or amended standards would satisfy the relevant requirements of EPCA for a new or amended energy conservation standard for commercial prerinse spray valves (``CPSVs''). Specifically, through this request for information (``RFI''), DOE seeks data and information that could enable the agency to determine whether DOE should propose a ``no new standard'' determination because a more stringent standard: Would not result in a significant savings of energy; is not technologically feasible; is not economically justified; or any combination of foregoing. DOE also welcomes written comments from the public on any subject within the scope of this document (including those topics not specifically raised), as well as the submission of data and other relevant information concerning this early assessment review.

On April 16, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a request for information (RFI) pertaining to the test procedures for consumer water heaters and residential-duty commercial water heaters. The RFI provided an opportunity for submission of written comments, data, and information to the Department by June 1, 2020. Prior to the end of the comment period for the RFI, DOE received requests from the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), as well as from the American Public Gas Association (APGA), seeking additional time to consider the issues raised in the RFI and possibly to conduct further testing, in order to establish the applicability and impact of a different test procedure on water heating equipment. In light of these request, DOE is announcing its decision to reopen the comment period on the subject RFI for an additional 14 days.