2016-27224. Information Collection: Policy Statement for the “Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof by States Through Agreement,” Maintenance of Existing Agreement State Programs,...

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of submission to the Office of Management and Budget; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a request for renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, “Policy Statement for the `Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement,' Maintenance of Existing Agreement State Programs, Request for Information Through the Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) Questionnaire, and Agreement State Participation in IMPEP.”

DATES:

Submit comments by December 14, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

Submit comments directly to the OMB reviewer at: Vlad Dorjets, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0183), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503; telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David Cullison, NRC Clearance Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0077 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-2016-0077. A copy of the collection of information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by accessing Docket ID NRC-2016-0077 on this Web site.
• 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 [e-mail]. A copy of the collection of information and related instructions may be obtained without charge by accessing ADAMS Accession No. ML16099A056. The supporting statement is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML16266A477.
• 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.
• 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 Cullison, Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

B. Submitting Comments

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 http://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, “Policy Statement for the `Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement,' Maintenance of Existing Agreement State Programs, Request for Information Through the Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) Questionnaire, and Agreement State Participation in IMPEP.” 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 July 13, 2016 (81 FR 45309).

1. The title of the information collection: “Policy Statement for the `Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement,' Maintenance of Existing Agreement State Programs, Request for Information Through the Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) Questionnaire, and Agreement State Participation in IMPEP.”

2. OMB approval number: 3150-0183.

3. Type of submission: Extension.

4. The form number if applicable: Not applicable.

5. How often the collection is required or requested: Every four years for completion of the IMPEP questionnaire in preparation for an IMPEP review. One time for new Agreement State applications. For participation by Agreement States' staff in all IMPEP reviews and fulfilling requirements for Agreement States to maintain their programs.

6. Who will be required or asked to respond: All Agreement States (37 Agreement States who have signed Agreements with NRC under Section 274b. of the Atomic Energy Act (Act)) and any non-Agreement State seeking to sign an Agreement with the Commission. On average, the staff of 11 Agreement States per year will be requested to provide completed questionnaires for regularly and non-regularly scheduled IMPEP reviews.

7. The estimated number of annual responses: 59

8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 39 (37 existing Agreement States plus 2 applicants).

9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to comply with the information collection requirement or request: 287,893 hours (an average of 7,382 hours per respondent). This includes 477 hours to complete the IMPEP questionnaires; 5,500 hours to prepare two new Agreement State applications, 396 hours for Agreement State staff participation in IMPEP reviews; and 281,520 hours for maintaining Existing Agreement State programs.

10. Abstract: The States wishing to become Agreement States are requested to provide certain information to the NRC as specified by the Commission's Policy Statement, “Criteria for Guidance of States and NRC in Discontinuance of NRC Regulatory Authority and Assumption Thereof By States Through Agreement.” The Agreement States need to ensure that the radiation control program under the Agreement remains adequate and compatible with the requirements of Section 274 of the Act and must maintain certain information.

The NRC conducts periodic evaluations through IMPEP to ensure that these programs are compatible with the NRC's program, meet the applicable parts of the Act, and are adequate to protect public health and safety.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of November 2016.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

David Cullison,

NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer.