2012-28436. Retrospective Review Under Executive Order 13579

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Plan for retrospective analysis of existing rules; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is making available its draft Plan for the retrospective analysis of its existing regulations. The draft Plan describes the processes and activities that the NRC uses to determine whether any of its regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed. This action is part of the NRC's voluntary implementation of Executive Order (E.O.) 13579, “Regulation and Independent Regulatory Agencies,” issued by the President on July 11, 2011. The NRC is requesting public comment on the draft Plan at this time. This request for comment is solely for information and program-planning purposes. The NRC will consider the comments submitted and may use them, as appropriate, in the preparation of a final retrospective review plan; however, the NRC does not anticipate responding to individual comments.

DATES:

Submit comments by February 6, 2013. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to only ensure consideration only of comments received before this date. Requests for extension of the comment period will not be granted.

ADDRESSES:

You may access information and comment submissions related to this draft plan, which the NRC possesses and is publicly available, by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2011-0246. You may submit comments by the following methods:

• Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0246. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].
• Email comments to: [e-mail]. 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: [phone].

For additional direction on accessing information and submitting comments, see “Accessing Information and Submitting Comments” in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

The NRC's draft Plan may be viewed online on the NRC's Public Web site at the following locations: 1) On the NRC's Open Government Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/​public-involve/​open.html (under the tabs entitled “Selected NRC Resources” and “Rulemaking”); and 2) on the NRC's plans, budget, and performance Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/​about-nrc/​plans-performance.html). The NRC's draft Plan may also be viewed online at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone] or email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0246 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this draft Plan. You may access information related to this action, which the NRC possesses and is publicly available, by the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0246.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library 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]. The NRC's draft Plan for public comment is in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12305A373.
• 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-2011-0246 in the subject line of your comment submission in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your comment submission available to the public in this docket.

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 http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not 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 will not edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Background

On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued E.O. 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.” Executive Order 13563 directs Federal agencies to develop and submit a preliminary plan “under which the agency will periodically review its existing significant regulations to determine whether any such regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed so as to make the agency's regulatory program more effective or less burdensome in achieving the regulatory objectives.” Executive Order 13563 did not, however, apply to independent regulatory agencies. Subsequently, on July 11, 2011, the President issued E.O. 13579, which recommends that independent regulatory agencies also develop retrospective plans similar to those required of other agencies under E.O. 13563. In the spirit of cooperation, in November 2011, in response to E.O. 13579, the NRC made available an initial Plan on the NRC's Public Web site. The NRC has now updated its initial Plan and has created a draft Plan. The draft Plan is available at the following locations: (1) On the NRC's Open Government Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/​public-involve/​open.html (under the tabs entitled “Selected NRC Resources” and “Rulemaking”); (2) on the NRC's plans, budget, and performance Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/​about-nrc/​plans-performance.html); and (3) on http://www.regulations.gov. The NRC is accepting public comment on this draft Plan.

III. Plan for Retrospective Review

The NRC's draft Plan describes the NRC's processes and activities relating to retrospective review of existing regulations, including discussions of the: (1) Efforts to incorporate risk assessments into regulatory decisionmaking; (2) efforts to address the cumulative effects of regulation; (3) the NRC's methodology for prioritizing its rulemaking activities; (4) rulemaking initiatives arising out of the NRC's ongoing review of its regulations related to the recent events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan; and (5) the NRC's previous and ongoing efforts to update its regulations in a systematic, ongoing basis.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of November 2012.

Annette L. Vietti-Cook,

Secretary of the Commission.