[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 208 (Monday, October 30, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 74070-74071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23795]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 73
[NRC-2023-0172]
Draft Regulatory Guide: Preemption Authority, Enhanced Weapons
Authority, and Firearms Background Checks
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft guide; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft Regulatory Guide (DG), DG-5081, ``Preemption
Authority, Enhanced Weapons Authority, and Firearms Background
Checks.'' This DG-5081 is proposed Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide (RG)
5.86 of the same name. This DG provides an approach acceptable to the
NRC staff for use by licensees under NRC regulations, ``Physical
Protection of Plants and Materials,'' regarding stand-alone preemption
authority, combined preemption authority and enhanced weapons
authority, and firearms background checks.
DATES: Submit comments by December 14, 2023. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods;
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website:
Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0172. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
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: Phil Brochman, Office of Nuclear
Security and Incident Response, telephone: 301-287-3691; email:
[email protected], or Stanley Gardocki, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-1067; email:
[email protected]. Both are staff of the 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-2023-0172 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2023-0172.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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, at 301-415-4737,
or by email to [email protected]. DG-5081, ``Preemption Authority,
Enhanced Weapons Authority, and Firearms Background Checks,'' and its
associated regulatory analysis are available in ADAMS under Accession
No. ML23198A185 and ML23200A284, respectively.
NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2023-0172 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at
https://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. Additional Information
The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific
parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff
uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to
describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications
for permits and licenses.
The DG, entitled ``Preemption Authority, Enhanced Weapons
Authority, and Firearms Background Checks,'' is temporarily identified
by its task number, DG-5081.
Proposed Revision 1 to RG 5.86 is being revised on a limited-scope
basis to provide additional guidance on preemption authority, enhanced
weapons authority, and firearms background checks. These new
requirements are part of the NRC's final rule, titled ``Enhanced
Weapons, Firearms Background Checks, and Security Event Notifications''
(hereafter the Enhanced Weapons rule), that was published in the
Federal Register on
[[Page 74071]]
March 14, 2023 (88 FR 15864). These provisions are found in the NRC's
regulations under section 73.15 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) and 10 CFR 73.17.
Proposed Revision 1 to RG 5.86 provides acceptable methods that
eligible applicants and licensees (collectively referred to as
licensees in this DG) may use to request and use either stand-alone
preemption authority or combined preemption authority and enhanced
weapons authority and to conduct related firearms background checks.
DG-5081 also includes examples, considerations, and guidance to assist
licensees and their security personnel in understanding their
responsibilities in implementing the provisions of 10 CFR 73.15 and 10
CFR 73.17.
Following the publication of the final rule and RG 5.86, the NRC
staff conducted several pre-implementation workshops with licensees.
The NRC staff also participated in industry-led forums and symposiums
in May and June 2023. In these meetings industry raised questions about
RG 5.86 and identified potential inconsistencies and areas where
additional clarification would be beneficial to licensees to implement
the Enhanced Weapons rule effectively and efficiently. The NRC staff
has reviewed the issues raised by industry and agrees that further
clarification, revision, and supplementation of the guidance contained
in RG 5.86 will be of value. Accordingly, the NRC staff is proposing to
conduct limited-scope revisions to RG 5.86 to address these issues,
including providing notice and opportunity for public comment on the
proposed revisions.
To assist with stakeholder review of the limited scope changes to
DG-5081, staff notes the following changes have been proposed:
Section B, ``Discussion'' Topics:
``Reason for Issuance''--updated to reflect rationale for
changes to the RG.
``Standalone Preemption Authority and Combined Preemption
Authority and Enhanced Weapons''--updated to clarify the three
potential pathways by which a licensee could obtain combined preemption
authority and enhanced weapons authority.
``Firearms Background Check, paragraph 1''--clarified
background check requirements for licensee security personnel who are
not assigned duties requiring access to covered weapons.
``Firearms Background Check, paragraphs 10-12''--clarified
requirements for licensee security personnel's access to covered
weapons during and after the 10 CFR 73.15 approval process.
Section C, ``Staff Regulatory Guidance'':
Position 5, ``Completion of Training and Qualification
before Use of Enhanced Weapons,'' paragraph 1--modified language in
first sentence to say ``using.''
Position 5, paragraph 2--clarified training requirements
for staff with access to enhanced weapons who are not assigned duties
that would require them to use enhanced weapons.
Position 6.1, ``General Requirements for Fingerprints and
Firearms Background Checks,'' example 19--clarified the conditions that
must be met in order to exempt licensees from the requirement to
perform a new firearms background check for security personnel
transferring from one licensed facility to another licensed facility.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a regulatory analysis
(ADAMS Accession No. ML23200A284). The staff developed a regulatory
analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising an RG, as well as
alternative courses of action.
As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671),
this document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of
the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1
CFR chapter I.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
Issuance of DG-5081 as a final RG would not constitute backfitting
as that term is defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' 10 CFR
70.76, ``Backfitting,'' or 10 CFR 72.62, ``Backfitting,'' and as
described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information
Requests,'' to affect the issue finality of an approval issued under 10
CFR part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear
Power Plants;'' or constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined
and described in MD 8.4. The staff also does not intend to use the
guidance to support NRC staff actions in a manner that constitutes
forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4. If a
licensee believes that the NRC is using this proposed revision to RG
5.86 in a manner inconsistent with the discussion in the Implementation
section of DG-5081, then the licensee may file a backfitting or forward
fitting appeal with the NRC in accordance with the process in MD 8.4.
IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides
A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the
NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs.
Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html.
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
Dated: October 24, 2023.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen M. Wyman,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-23795 Filed 10-27-23; 8:45 am]
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