2015-21035. Information Collection: NRC's Policy Statement on Cooperation With States at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and Other Nuclear Production and Utilization Facilities

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Renewal of existing information collection; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) invites public comment on this renewal of an existing information collection. The information collection is entitled, “NRC's Policy Statement on Cooperation with States at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and other Nuclear Production and Utilization Facilities.” The NRC has a number of programs and activities that involve coordinating with States, requesting their input on proposed policies and rulemakings, and exchanging information with the States on a wide range of topics. The NRC has entered into cooperative agreements with States to conduct security inspections to verify that their materials licensees are in compliance with the NRC's orders requiring additional measures to enhance security at their facilities and to provide the NRC with information arising from their inspections.

DATES:

Submit comments by October 26, 2015. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

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-2015-0129. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

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:

Tremaine Donnell, Office of Information Services, 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-2015-0079 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-2015-0079.
• 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]. The supporting statement is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML15173A222.
• 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 NRC's Clearance Officer, Tremaine Donnell, Office of Information Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0079 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 in comment submissions 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, and 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. Background

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the NRC is requesting public comment on its intention to request the OMB's approval for the information collection summarized below.

1. The title of the information collection: Cooperation With States at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and Other Nuclear Production and Utilization Facilities, Policy Statement.

2. OMB approval number: 3150-0163.

3. Type of submission: Extension.

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

5. How often the collection is required or requested: On occasion, when a State or Tribe wishes to observe NRC inspection or perform inspections for the NRC or when a State or Tribe wishes to negotiate an agreement to observe or perform inspections. States with an agreement and State Resident Engineer have both regular reporting and occasion-specific reporting.

6. Who will be required or asked to respond: States and Tribes interested in observing or performing inspections.

7. The estimated number of annual responses: 248.

8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 36.

9. The estimated number of hours needed annually to comply with the information collection requirement or request: 815.

10. Abstract: States and Tribes are involved and interested in monitoring the safety status of nuclear power plants and radioactive materials. This involvement is, in part, in response to the States' and Tribes' public health and safety responsibilities and, in part, in response to their citizens' desire to become more knowledgeable about the safety of nuclear power plants and radioactive materials. States have identified NRC inspections as one possible source of knowledge for their personnel regarding plant and materials licensee activities, and the NRC, through the policy statement on Cooperation with States, has been amenable to accommodating the States' needs in this regard. Additionally, the NRC has been able to accommodate Tribal interests in the same way. The NRC has also entered into reimbursable Agreements with certain States under Section 274i of the Act, as amended, to employ their resources to conduct radioactive materials security inspections against NRC Orders.

III. Specific Requests for Comments

The NRC is seeking comments that address the following questions:

1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility?

2. Is the estimate of the burden of the information collection accurate?

3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected?

4. How can the burden of the information collection on respondents be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology?

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of August, 2015.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Tremaine Donnell,

NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services.