Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements and Revision of Administrative Requirements Rulemaking (Docket ID: NRC-2017-0214)
This Web page includes recent and planned activities for the NRC’s “Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements” rulemaking.
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Upcoming Activities
SECY-21-0110, “Rulemaking Plans to Implement the Results of the Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements Evaluation” was provided to the Commission on 12/20/2020.
Implementation of Stakeholder-Recommended Changes to the NRC’s Administrative Requirements
On 2/4/20, the NRC published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register (85 FR 6103) requesting input from its licensees and members of the public on any administrative requirements that may be outdated or duplicative in nature. The NRC received over 146 comment submissions with 100 unique recommendations for changes that spanned all agency program areas. The NRC staff evaluated the comments by applying criteria approved by the Commission in the staff requirements memorandum (SRM) to COMSECY‑18‑0027, “Staff Requirements—COMSECY‑18‑0027—Evaluation Criteria for Retrospective Review of Administrative Regulations,” dated 10/8/19 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19281C697).
The evaluation recommended that 54 of the 100 individual comments be addressed through the NRC’s rulemaking process. Of those 54 comments, the NRC has taken action on the following five stakeholder-recommended changes to remove outdated requirements. See “Miscellaneous Corrections”; Final Rule (8/9/21; 86 FR 43397)
| 10 CFR |
Change Implemented |
| Section 20.2207(h) |
Expired historical requirements regarding this regulation’s implementation phase have been removed |
| Part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.D.4 |
Expired requirements from 2013 to report alert and notification system design have been removed |
| Part 50, Appendix E, Section VI.4 |
Expired historical requirements form the regulation’s implementation phase have been removed |
| 10 CFR 50.63(c)(4) |
Expired station blackout implementation requirements for plants licensed earlier than 1988 have been removed |
| Section 50.71(e)(3)(ii) |
Completed notifications from approximately 20 years ago related to the NRC’s Systematic Evaluation Program (SEP) - Efforts for the SEP, including lessons learned from the SEP, have been removed |
For the remaining stakeholder-recommended changes, the NRC staff plans to submit one or more coordinated rulemaking plan(s) to the Commission in late 2021. Once approved by the Commission, staff will issue these changes using the notice and comment rulemaking process.
Federal Register Notices and Other Notifications
Public Meeting Summary Packages
List of Documents Issued
- SECY-21-0110, “Rulemaking Plans to Implement the Results of the Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements Evaluation” (12/20/21)
- Letter to notify Agreement States of public meeting and FRN (6/8/21)
- SECY-21-0056, "Evaluation of Stakeholder Input on Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements and Enclosure 1, "Comment Evaluation Summary" (6/1/21; public release date: 6/15/21)
- NRC response to Nuclear Energy Institute's letter to NRC (5/27/21)
- Nuclear Energy Institute's letter to NRC, "NRC's Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements" (3/10/21)
- Nuclear Energy Institute letter to NRC, "Comments on the NRC's Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements" (5/6/20)
- Public Comment, "Comment (02) of Anonymous on PR-Chap 1 – Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements (5/6/20)
- Nuclear Energy Institute letter to NRC, "Retrospective Review of Administrative Requirements" (3/12/20)
- SRM-COMSECY-18-0027, "Evaluation Criteria for Retrospective Review of Administrative Regulations" (10/8/19)
- SRM-SECY-17-0119, "Retrospective Review of Administrative Regulations" (4/5/18)
- SECY-17-0119, "Retrospective Review of Administrative Regulations" (11/22/17)
Background
The NRC initiated a retrospective review of its administrative requirements in the fall of 2017 (announced via NRC press release on 8/11/17) with the goal of making information submission, recordkeeping, and reporting processes more efficient, and therefore, potentially reducing the regulatory burden for the NRC, applicants, and regulated entities. The review was intended to identify outdated or duplicative administrative regulations that may be eliminated without having an adverse effect on public health or safety, common defense and security, protection of the environment, or regulatory efficiency and effectiveness. In this context, administrative regulations meant recordkeeping or reporting requirements or regulations that address areas of agency organization, procedure, or practice.
In December 2017, in SECY-17-0119, the staff requested Commission approval of the staff's proposed seven-step strategy to accomplish the retrospective review of administrative regulations. In addition, the staff requested Commission approval to publish a notice in the Federal Register to seek public comment on the draft criteria that the NRC would use as a guideline for evaluating potential changes to regulations in a consistent manner. In SRM‑SECY‑17‑0119, the Commission 1) approved the staff's proposed strategy and the publication of the FRN, 2) directed the staff to submit the final proposed evaluation criteria to the Commission for review and approval, and 3) directed that the "suggestions that screen out of this retrospective review should be compiled and made accessible to those conducting the agency's innovation and transformation efforts."
In May 2018, the staff published a notice in the Federal Register (83 FR 19464; 5/3/18) requesting public input on NRC’s overall strategy and the criteria that the NRC proposed to use to identify administrative regulations for possible elimination. The 60-day public comment period ended on 7/2/18. On 5/31/18, the staff conducted a public meeting to provide an opportunity for the staff and external stakeholders to exchange information on the overall strategy and the draft evaluation criteria. Twenty‑nine individuals attended the meeting, including industry representatives, members of the public, and NRC staff. The NRC incorporated public input into the five final evaluation criteria provided to the Commission for review and approval in COMSECY-18-0027, "Evaluation Criteria for Retrospective Review of Administrative Regulations." Enclosure 1 of COMSECY‑18-0027 described the changes to the evaluation criteria that resulted from public comments. In its staff requirements memorandum to COMSECY-18-0027 issued on 10/8/19, the Commission approved the staff's recommended criteria with changes to criterion 5.
The NRC published a notice in the Federal Register (85 FR 6103; 2/4/20) requesting recommendations for administrative requirements that may be eliminated without an adverse effect on public health or safety, common defense and security, protection of the environment, or regulatory efficiency and effectiveness.
The NRC also collected input from agency staff. The NRC held public meetings on 3/5/20 and 3/24/20 to allow the public to provide input on outdated or duplicative administrative requirements that could potentially be modified or eliminated, and provide remarks on the NRC’s initiative. The original 60-day public comment period, scheduled to close on 4/6/20, was extended by 30 days to allow more time for members of the public to submit their comments. By the close of the comment period on 5/6/20, the NRC had received submissions from NEI and a member of the public containing 123 individual comments, and 26 comment submissions from NRC staff. The NRC binned comments providing a similar position or rationale, resulting in 100 unique comments overall.