2011-18334. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION:

Notice of the OMB review of information collection and solicitation of public comment.

SUMMARY:

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). 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 May 6, 2011.

1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension.

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

3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0136.

4. The form number if applicable: N/A.

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

6. Who will be required or asked to report: Nuclear power reactor licensees and gaseous diffusion plant certificate holders.

7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 21.

8. The estimated number of annual respondents: Approximately 11.

9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 1,705.

10. Abstract: The NRC's Enforcement Policy addresses circumstances in which the NRC may exercise enforcement discretion. A specific type of enforcement discretion is designated as a NOED and relates to circumstances which may arise where a nuclear power plant licensee's compliance with a Technical Specification Limiting Condition for Operation or other license conditions would involve: (1) An unnecessary plant shutdown; (2) performance of testing, inspection, or system realignment that is inappropriate for the specific plant conditions; or (3) unnecessary delays in plant startup without a corresponding health and safety benefit. Similarly, for a gaseous diffusion plant, circumstances may arise where compliance with a Technical Safety Requirement or other condition would unnecessarily require a total plant shutdown, or, compliance would unnecessarily place the plant in a condition where safety, safeguards, or security features were degraded or inoperable.

A licensee or certificate holder seeking the issuance of a NOED, must document 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, that there will be no adverse consequences to the environment, and any other information the NRC staff deems necessary before the NRC staff makes a decision whether to exercise discretion.

In addition, the NRC's Enforcement Policy includes a provision allowing licensees to voluntarily adopt fire protection requirements contained in the National Fire Protection Association Standard 805, “Performance Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants, 2001 Edition” (NFPA 805). Licensees who wish to implement the risk-informed process in NFPA 805 must submit a letter of intent (LOI) to the NRC. Licensees who wish to withdraw from the NFPA 805 risk-informed process must submit a letter of retraction.

The public may examine and have copied for a fee publicly available documents, including the final supporting statement, at the NRC's Public Document Room, Room O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC Web site: http://www.nrc.gov/​public-involve/​doc-comment/​omb/​index.html. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice.

Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by August 22, 2011. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date.

Christine J. Kymn, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0136), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.

Comments can also be e-mailed to [e-mail] or submitted by telephone at 202-395-4638.

The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, 301-415-6258.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 15th day of July, 2011.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Tremaine Donnell,

NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services.