[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34559-34560]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14907]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
[NRC-2014-0161]
RIN 3150-AJ43
Financial Qualifications for Reactor Licensing
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft regulatory basis; public meeting and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on a draft regulatory basis for a proposed rulemaking to
amend the current financial qualification requirements of ``reasonable
assurance'' to the review standard of ``appears to be financially
qualified.'' The NRC plans to hold a public meeting to promote full
understanding of this regulatory basis and facilitate public comment.
DATES: Submit comments by August 3, 2015. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
only able to ensure consideration of comments received on or before
this date.
In addition to providing this opportunity to submit written (and
electronic) comments, the NRC plans to hold a public meeting to discuss
the draft regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking on July 8, 2015.
See Section V, ``Public Meeting,'' of this document for additional
information regarding the public meeting.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0161. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact
us at 301-415-1677.
Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at 301-415-1101.
Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and
Adjudications Staff.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yanely Malave, telephone: 301-415-
1519, email: [email protected]; or Carolyn Lauron, telephone: 301-
415-2736, email: [email protected]; both of the Office of New
Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0161 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0161.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The
draft regulatory basis is available in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML14324A706.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0161 in the subject line of your
comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that
[[Page 34560]]
you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission.
The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov
as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not
routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact
information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
The NRC is requesting comments on a draft regulatory basis to
support a proposed rulemaking on financial qualifications for reactor
licensing. The regulatory basis explains, in part, why the existing
regulations should be updated. It also discusses cost and other impacts
of the potential changes.
The specific objective of this proposed rulemaking would be to
amend the current financial qualification requirements of ``reasonable
assurance'' under 10 CFR part 50 to conform to the 10 CFR part 70
review standard of ``appears to be financially qualified.''
Specifically, the proposed rulemaking will remove the detailed
requirements found in Appendix C of 10 CFR Part 50 and amend 10 CFR
50.33(f) to remove the requirement for a power reactor applicant to
demonstrate that it possesses or can provide reasonable assurance of
obtaining the funds necessary for construction and operation. In this
proposed rulemaking, the applicant would be required to submit a plan
describing how it will proceed to finance the construction and
operation of the facility. The plan would ensure that the applicant has
both a well-articulated understanding of the size of the project it is
undertaking and the financial capacity to obtain the necessary
financing before beginning reactor construction.
The proposed rulemaking would permit the NRC to issue licenses with
conditions to applicants that may have insufficient (or no) funding at
the outset of the license application review. The license conditions
would be sufficient and specific to permit a simple, ministerial kind
of review to ensure that the applicant's plan is executed before
beginning reactor construction.
III. Specific Requests for Comments
The NRC requests that stakeholders consider the questions in
Enclosure 2 of the draft regulatory basis. The questions, identified
during development of the draft regulatory basis, cover the scope,
objectives, implementation, and cost of a proposed rulemaking based on
this regulatory basis.
IV. Cumulative Effects of Regulation
The Cumulative Effects of Regulation (CER) describes the challenges
that licensees, or other impacted entities (such as State agency
partners) may face while implementing new regulatory positions,
programs, and requirements (e.g., rules, generic letters, backfits,
inspections). The CER is an organizational effectiveness challenge that
results from a licensee or impacted entity implementing a number of
complex positions, programs or requirements within a limited
implementation period and with available resources (which may include
limited available expertise to address a specific issue). The NRC has
implemented CER enhancements to the rulemaking process to facilitate
public involvement throughout the rulemaking process. Therefore, the
NRC is specifically requesting comment on the cumulative effects that
may result from this proposed rulemaking. In developing comments on the
draft regulatory basis, consider the following questions:
(1) In light of any current or projected CER challenges, what
should be a reasonable effective date, compliance date, or submittal
date(s) from the time the final rule is published to the actual
implementation of any new proposed requirements including changes to
programs, procedures, or the facility?
(2) If current or projected CER challenges exist, what should be
done to address this situation (e.g., if more time is required to
implement the new requirements, what period of time would be
sufficient, and why such a time frame is necessary)?
(3) Do other regulatory actions (e.g., orders, generic
communications, license amendment requests, and inspection findings of
a generic nature) by NRC or other agencies influence the implementation
of the potential proposed requirements?
(4) Are there unintended consequences? Does the potential proposed
action create conditions that would be contrary to the potential
proposed action's purpose and objectives? If so, what are the
consequences and how should they be addressed?
(5) Please provide information on the costs and benefits of the
potential proposed action. This information will be used to support any
regulatory analysis by the NRC.
V. Public Meeting
A public meeting will be held on July 8, 2015, from 1:00 p.m.-4:00
p.m. at the NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland, Room O-4B6.
The purpose of the public meeting is to promote full understanding
of this regulatory basis for the proposed rulemaking and to facilitate
public comment. The NRC will not be accepting verbal or written
comments at the public meeting. All comments must be submitted as
indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this document.
Stakeholders should monitor the NRC's public meeting Web site for
information about the public meeting at http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm.
VI. Plain Writing
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, well-organized manner.
The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the Plain
Writing Act as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain Language in
Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31883). The NRC
requests comment on this document with respect to the clarity and
effectiveness of the language used.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of June, 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark Tonacci,
Acting Director, Division of Advanced Reactors and Rulemaking, Office
of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-14907 Filed 6-16-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P