Department of Energy August 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Secretary of Energy to develop procedures for the acquisition of petroleum products for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (``SPR''). Pursuant to that direction, the Department of Energy (``DOE'' or the ``Department'') promulgated the Procedures for Acquisition of Petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Over the intervening 16 years, the existing regulations have become outdated due to changes in statutory authority, agency practice, and market dynamics. In this notice of proposed rulemaking (``NOPR''), DOE proposes to amend the procedures for the acquisition of petroleum products for the SPR to: more closely align the regulatory language with the applicable statutory language; remove outdated procedures for acquisition under the royalty-in-kind program; add procedures for acquisition by exchange to better reflect petroleum product acquisition operations as conducted by the Office of Petroleum Reserves; and increase the Department's flexibility in structuring acquisitions.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collection, FERC-725Z (Mandatory Reliability Standards: IRO Reliability Standards).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or Department) has periodically published in the Federal Register a list of facilities covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended (EEOICPA or Act). This Notice amends the list of covered facilities by removing the designation of Sciaky Brothers, Inc. (Chicago, Illinois), Swenson Evaporator Co. (Harvey, Illinois), and the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago, Illinois) as Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) facilities.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing this record of decision (ROD) for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) pursuant to the Final Versatile Test Reactor Environmental Impact Statement (VTR EIS) (DOE/EIS-0542). DOE prepared the VTR EIS to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for constructing and operating a VTR and the associated facilities required for post-irradiation examination of test and experimental fuels and materials. DOE has decided to implement its Preferred Alternative, to construct and operate a VTR at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, and to establish, through modification and construction, co-located facilities for post-irradiation examination of test products and for management of spent VTR driver fuel at INL. The VTR will operate as a national user facility, providing a fast-neutron-spectrum test capability for the testing and development of advanced nuclear technologies. DOE has not decided whether to establish VTR driver fuel production capabilities at the INL Site, the Savannah River Site (SRS), or a combination of the two sites. Once a preferred alternative or option for VTR driver fuel production is identified, DOE will announce its preference in a Federal Register (FR) notice. DOE would then publish a ROD no sooner than 30 days after its announcement of a preferred alternative/option for VTR driver fuel production.