Frequently Asked Questions/Emergency Preparedness Guidance Clarification

On this page:

• Nuclear Industry Expectations
• Question Criteria
• EPFAQs Under Review
• EPFAQs Out for Public Comment
• EPFAQs Completed
• Submit Your Question

Nuclear Industry Expectations

While any member of the public may submit an EPFAQ for NRC consideration, the staff expects the nuclear industry to work with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to coordinate, discuss, and submit EPFAQs through NEI. This will ensure consistency and allows other nuclear industry representatives to assist in the development of the applicable EPFAQ.

Question Criteria

A potential EPFAQ should be a question addressing issues where the regulatory guidance may not be sufficiently clear, or where consistency in application would benefit both the NRC and licensees. To be considered as an EPFAQ, the initiator shall apply the following criteria:

• The question must be sufficiently generic (e.g., Does it affect more than one licensee or plant without consideration or evaluation of site-specific information?).
• The question does not involve unresolved inspection issues, enforcement actions, allegations, or other situations covered by existing regulatory processes.
• The question does not involve classified, safeguards, or official use only information.
• The question does not request interpretation of NRC regulations, clarification of guidance not yet published as final, or NEI/Industry documents submitted but not endorsed by the NRC.
• The question relates to guidance applicable to licensees.  Questions related to the development, implementation or evaluation of offsite emergency plans and preparedness are the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), per the FEMA/NRC Memorandum of Understanding contained in Appendix A to 44 CFR 353, and will not be accepted under this EPFAQ process.
• The question does not request clarification of on-going licensing activities or issues processed by the licensee in accordance with 10 CFR 50.54(q) or Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 50.
• The question does not pertain to the EP Performance Indicators, Baseline EP Inspection Procedures, or Appendix Manual Chapter 0609 (EP Significance Determination Process).

If all of the above criteria are met, then an EPFAQ is appropriate.

Disclaimer: The information in any response to an email sent to this address is provided as a public service and solely for informational purposes and is not, nor should be deemed as, an official NRC position, opinion or guidance, or "a written interpretation by the General Counsel" under 10 CFR 50.3, on any matter to which the information may relate. The opinions, representations, positions, interpretations, guidance or recommendations which may be expressed by the NRC technical staff responding to an inquiry are solely the NRC technical staff's and do not necessarily represent the same for the NRC. Accordingly, the fact that the information was obtained through the NRC technical staff will not have a precedential effect in any legal or regulatory proceeding.

Final FAQ Resolution may be considered as part of the revision process for applicable EP guidance.

If you are reporting a safety or security concern, please see our Report a Safety or Security Concern page.

EPFAQs Under Review

These EPFAQs are under review and yet to be finalized.

EPFAQs Out for Public Comment

The following report provides a list of EPFAQs out for public comment.

EPFAQs Completed

The following report provides a list of completed EPFAQs that have not been adopted into regulatory guidance.

• EPFAQs Completed 2012-2015
   

Submit Your Question