[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57370-57372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28152]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 220 / Wednesday, November 15, 1995 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 57370]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 50
RuleNet Communication Program; Fire Protection Regulations
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: RuleNet program: notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is announcing the
availability of a new pilot computer based program called ``RuleNet''
to maximize communication between the NRC and the public on rulemaking
issues. The RuleNet pilot will be used initially to gather information
on the safety issue of fire protection at nuclear power plants. RuleNet
will allow participants in an NRC rulemaking proceeding to communicate
both with the NRC and among themselves, with a view toward defining
issues, eliminating misunderstanding, and finding areas of common
ground. In addition to providing the NRC and the public with valuable
information, RuleNet will test the usefulness of computer-based
communications as a tool in the rulemaking process.
DATES: The public can access the RuleNet world wide site beginning
November 20, 1995. Participant registration will be conducted from
November 20, 1995 through January 2, 1996. RuleNet pilot will run from
January 2, 1996 through February 9, 1996.
ADDRESSES: The world wide web site will be linked to NRC's home page:
http://www.nrc.gov or it may be accessed directly by loading the
following URL:http:/nssc.llnl.gov/RuleNet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Francis Cameron, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-
1642.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is undertaking a project of an
entirely novel kind, designed to use state-of-the-art computer
technology to maximize communication between the NRC and the public on
an important nuclear power plant safety issue, fire protection. This
project, called RuleNet, is intended to serve not only to provide the
NRC and the public with valuable information, but also to test the
usefulness of computer-based communications as a tool in the rulemaking
process.
The concept underlying RuleNet is that computer-based
communications technology makes it possible for participants in an NRC
proceeding to communicate both with the NRC and among themselves, with
a view toward defining issues, eliminating misunderstanding, and
finding areas of common ground.
The issue on which RuleNet will be gathering information is one
that has been of concern to the Commission for some time. The
Commission's overall approach to safety issues in recent years has been
to move in the direction of performance-based regulations and away from
prescriptive regulations. The Commission has already determined that
fire protection is one area in which a shift to performance-based
regulation is appropriate.1 Thus, although a petition was filed in
February 1995, by the Nuclear Energy Institute, asking the Commission
to add a performance-based alternative to the existing prescriptive
regulations, the Commission would be examining the issue of
performance-based fire protection rules even in the absence of such a
petition.2
\1\ On February 4, 1992, the Commission published notice in the
Federal Register, at 57 FR 4166, that it regarded the NRC's fire
protection rules, set forth in appendix R to 10 CFR part 50, as a
candidate for being made less prescriptive, with some requirements
relaxed or eliminated on the basis of cost-benefit considerations.
Later in the same year, the Commission announced its intention to
begin rulemaking to develop a performance-based fire protection
regulation, that would rely in part on risk analyses. 57 FR 55156
(November 24, 1992). Subsequently, the NRC staff published a general
framework for developing performance-based, ``risk-informed''
regulations. 58 FR 6196 (January 27, 1993). At a public workshop
held in April, 1993, the NRC staff invited discussions on this
general regulatory framework and on specific proposals for changing
the appendix R fire protection rules. (The proceedings of the
workshop, including comments from members of the public and the
regulated industry, were documented in NUREG/CP-0129, issued in
September, 1993.) At the workshop, industry representatives
presented their plans for submitting a rulemaking petition to the
NRC. (Such a petition was in fact filed on February 2, 1995.) On May
18, 1994, the Commission approved the policies and framework
proposed by the NRC staff in SECY-94-090 for revising its fire
protection regulations, including the initiation of a staff study to
support the effort. The NRC staff published the petition on June 6,
1994, at 60 FR 29784, received public comment on it, and is
currently reviewing it within the context of the policies and
framework approved by the Commission.
\2\ The RuleNet initiative does not supersede the NEI petition,
which will continue to be considered on its own merits.
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The NRC has already innovated in the area of rulemaking in two
significant ways: Through the concept of ``enhanced participatory
rulemaking,'' designed to promote Early public comment and interaction
on rulemaking issues before a proposed rule is developed; and through
electronic bulletin boards, which allow comments on a proposed rule to
be submitted electronically. RuleNet represents a step toward melding
these two approaches: early public comment and interaction, as in the
enhanced participatory rulemaking, together with communications
technology, developed specially for this purpose, to permit
participants to deal with one another and with the NRC by computer.
(Participants will not be restricted to communication by computer,
however; written comments may be submitted in place of or in addition
to electronic communications.3)
\3\ Written comments will be scanned and placed on the
electronic network for all participants to read. Clearly, therefore,
those who choose to take part through the electronic network will be
in a better position to respond to the views of other participants.
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A comparison with traditional rulemaking, as conceived in the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), may help make clear why this fresh
approach to the rulemaking process has the potential to make the
participation of all interested parties--governmental units, industry,
and members of the public--significantly more effective and
influential.
In the classic model of APA rulemaking, the agency publishes either
an advance notice of proposed rulemaking or, eliminating that step,
issues a proposed rule. In the former case, the process is generally
extremely time-consuming; in the latter, there is a
[[Page 57371]]
risk that the agency may be too wedded to the proposed approach to be
able to rethink the issue from the ground up if a wholly new proposal
is submitted by a commenter. In either case, the hub-and-spoke
structure of the process, in which all communication is directed to the
agency, does not tend to encourage interested parties to work among
themselves toward common ground.
The NRC has already made strides to improve on the traditional
rulemaking with innovative procedures, such as workshops in which
different participants interact with agency staff and with each other.
RuleNet represents a further development along those lines. Because
participants can take part from home, workplace, or public library,
this step opens up the process to persons who might otherwise have been
unable to take part. The NRC Headquarters Public Document Room will
also have a computer terminal from which access to RuleNet will be
available.
The capacity of computer technology to improve the current
rulemaking process can be readily illustrated. In a traditional
rulemaking, if a particular matter raises questions in the minds of
participants, they have no recourse other than to point out the issue
in their written comments. If the rulemaking is on a proposed rule, the
commenter may not learn the answer to the question until the final rule
is issued. The computer, however, allows the agency staff to analyze
the comments and questions received, ascertain which questions arise
most often, and then post electronically a list of ``Frequently Asked
Questions'' and their answers. In this way, doubtful points can be
clarified before, not after, comments are filed.
The dialogue through the RuleNet computer network is not intended
to supplant formal comments (submitted in writing or electronically).
Rather, RuleNet is intended to provide additional opportunities for
commenters to provide input to agency personnel before the agency has
developed text on which formal written comments are required to be
filed. This can mean better informed, focused, and influential
comments. Likewise, the ability of commenters to interact among
themselves before comments are filed means that misunderstandings and
miscommunications can be corrected in a timely way. However, because
the electronic communications will contribute to the information base
used by the agency in the rulemaking process, a copy of these
communications will be placed in the rulemaking record.
For facilitating exchanges of views, a central element in the
rulemaking is the ``caucus,'' designed to allow discussions among
subgroups of participants. These caucuses may be of two kinds. First,
participants of similar viewpoints can join together on an issue or
issues to maximize their effectiveness. Second, caucuses can be used to
allow a specific issue to be placed before all participants for highly
focused consideration. In this way, a particular topic can be
considered in detail, the strengths and weaknesses of conflicting
positions can be analyzed, and the possibilities of a compromise
resolution can be explored. Caucusing may take place either separate
from the rulemaking, by the private interaction of participants, or
through the rulemaking's electronic communications, and either with or
without facilitation provided by a contractor.
Such assistance will come from facilitators and/or moderators
supplied through the NRC contract with Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory for technical support on the development of RuleNet. Such
facilitators can serve a variety of functions: Helping to categorize
comments on fire protection issues; helping to maximize the usefulness
of the electronic communications process; and providing assistance to
facilitate on-line and off-line caucuses, including helping
participants to articulate and refine their positions on issues. The
facilitators/moderators themselves will have no stake in the outcome,
however; independent of any of the parties, their role will simply be
to contribute to the smooth and productive functioning of the process.
Computer-based technology can not hope to substitute altogether for
the actual reading of comments submitted by participants (except where
the computer identifies a comment as identical to one previously filed
and analyzed). Computer technology can, however, facilitate greatly the
process of analyzing and tabulating comments. For example, persons
participating electronically may be asked to indicate by clicking
screen icons whether they agree, disagree, agree with qualifications,
etc., with the proposition on which they are commenting. In this way,
rather than the agency characterizing the positions of the
participants, the participants can do so themselves. In addition,
computer technology, searching for specific words and phrases, can make
it easier to find where if at all a participant is addressing a
particular issue in his or her comment.
The electronic forum outlined here points to a potential greater
democratization of the rulemaking process. The individual person with
expertise and good ideas to offer has as much access to the forum as
any governmental unit, corporation, or law firm, and if his or her
thinking is sound, may be just as influential or more so. With
discussions held via computer, rather than in a meeting room in the
Washington, D.C. area, and with access to the forum already available
in millions of homes nationwide (and at terminals in public libraries,
for those who do not already have access elsewhere), there is the
potential to level the playing field to an unprecedented degree.
Phases of the RuleNet Process
As a preliminary step, necessary to allow meaningful participation
in the RuleNet process, the NRC is making relevant information on fire
protection available to all who can use it: that is, both potential
participants and those who want only to observe the process. Toward
this end, the agency has loaded some basic fire protection documents
onto the network in searchable full text form. Specific discussion
topics will be loaded at a later point.
The first phase of the process itself will begin with a ``virtual
kickoff'' in which all participants will be able to communicate in a
simultaneous discussion via computer. This will be followed by a period
of 5 days for any caucuses; for the posting of questions and requests
for clarification, directed either to the NRC or to other participants,
and for the posting of answers to those questions; and for the
identification of any further issues to be addressed, or challenges to
be met, in the rulemaking.
In the second phase of the process, which will comprise
approximately 10 days, the NRC will solicit proposed solutions to the
challenges and issues identified in the first phase. This will also be
the opportunity for participants to respond to comments and suggestions
made during the first phase.
After the second phase, the NRC technical staff, acting with the
assistance of staff supplied by the contractor, will consolidate and
synthesize the challenges and the proposed solutions, using them to
develop more concrete proposals, which will be posted electronically.
The participants will then respond to the proposals just identified. As
before, there will be the opportunity for participants to caucus either
within the electronic rulemaking or outside of it.
[[Page 57372]]
We do not need to decide at this time exactly how many rounds of
comment there will be. One of the advantages of RuleNet's interactive
approach is that the participants can offer their views as to
procedures as well as substance. Accordingly, the agency plans to take
a flexible approach, shaping its procedures as needed to meet the goals
of the process.
Terms of Participation
The electronic network will be available both to those who want to
participate directly in RuleNet and to those who want only to observe
the process. Participants must identify themselves (just as
participants in a written comment process identify themselves). The NRC
fully expects that all participants will recognize that certain norms
of civility will be observed. (In the event that a participant's
conduct was such as to warrant his or her severance from the electronic
dialogue, the option of submitting paper comments would remain, but it
seems unlikely that this issue would ever arise.)
Conclusion
The RuleNet project is one of a number of high performance
computing initiatives advanced by the NRC. It has no costs over and
above those already budgeted for these initiatives generally. Before
the type of electronic exchange being demonstrated in the RuleNet
project became a part of the agency's usual process for the development
of rules, it would have to be shown to be cost-effective.
It is worth emphasizing that in proceeding in this new direction,
using procedures that have not previously been tried by this or any
other federal agency, the NRC is focusing on potential benefits.
Whether those benefits will in fact be realized depends in large part
on the willingness of the affected public--which includes governmental
units, industry, organizations, and individuals--to take part in the
process and attempt to make it work. RuleNet can help establish whether
computer communications technology can make a significant contribution
to the interaction of citizens and a government agency regulating in a
technical field.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of November, 1995.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John C. Hoyle,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 95-28152 Filed 11-14-95; 8:45 am]
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