80 FR 34559 - Financial Qualifications for Reactor Licensing

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 116 (June 17, 2015)

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.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34559-34560]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[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]
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