Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Notices of Enforcement Discretion for Operating Power Reactors and Gaseous Diffusion Plants[...]

Information Collection: Notices of Enforcement Discretion (NOEDs) for Operating Power Reactors and Gaseous Diffusion Plants (NRC Enforcement Policy)

Dates

Submit comments by November 27, 2023. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

Supplementary Information

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2023-0033 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-2023-0033.

• 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]. A copy of the collection of information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by accessing ADAMS Accession Nos. ML22056A177 and ML19193A023. The supporting statement is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23177A253.

• 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.

• NRC's Clearance Officer: A copy of the collection of information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by contacting the NRC's Clearance Officer, David C. Cullison, Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2084; email: [email protected].

B. Submitting Comments

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting "Currently under Review-Open for Public Comments" or by using the search function.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. All comment submissions are posted at https://www.regulations.gov and entered into ADAMS. Comment submissions are not routinely edited to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the OMB, 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 comment submissions are not routinely edited to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Background

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the NRC recently submitted a request for renewal of an existing collection of information to OMB for review entitled, "Notices of Enforcement Discretion (NOEDs) for Operating Power Reactors and Gaseous Diffusion Plants (NRC Enforcement Policy)." The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The NRC published a Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on June 12, 2023, 88 FR 38106.

1. The title of the information collection: Notices of Enforcement Discretion (NOEDs) for Operating Power Reactors and Gaseous Diffusion Plants (NRC Enforcement Policy).

2. OMB approval number: 3150-0136.

3. Type of submission: Extension.

4. The form number, if applicable: Not applicable.

5. How often the collection is required or requested: On occasion.

6. Who will be required or asked to respond: Those licensees that voluntarily request enforcement discretion through the NOED process.

7. The estimated number of annual responses: 8 (4 reporting responses + 4 recordkeepers).

8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 4.

9. The estimated number of hours needed annually to comply with the information collection requirement or request: 680 (600 reporting + 80 recordkeeping).

10. Abstract: The NRC's Enforcement Policy includes the circumstances in which the NRC may grant a NOED. On occasion, circumstances arise when a power plant licensee's compliance with a Technical Specification (TS) Limiting Condition for Operation or any other license condition would involve an unnecessary plant shutdown or transient. Similarly, for a gaseous diffusion plant, circumstances may arise where compliance with a Technical Safety Requirement (TSR) or other condition would unnecessarily call for a total plant shutdown, or compliance would unnecessarily place the plant in a condition where safety, safeguards, or security features were degraded or inoperable. In these circumstances, a licensee or certificate holder may request that the NRC exercise enforcement discretion, and the NRC staff may choose to not enforce the applicable TS, TSR, or other license or certificate condition. This enforcement discretion is designated as a NOED. A licensee or certificate holder seeking the issuance of a NOED must justify, in accordance with NRC Enforcement Manual (ADAMS Accession No. ML22056A177), the safety basis for the request, including an evaluation of the safety significance and potential consequences of the proposed request, a description of proposed compensatory measures, a justification for the duration of the request, the basis for the licensee's or certificate holder's conclusion that the request does not have a potential adverse impact on the public health and safety, and does not involve adverse consequences to the environment, and any other information the NRC staff deems necessary before making a decision to exercise discretion.