View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 3150-0021	ICR Reference No: 202302-3150-003
Status: Historical Inactive	Previous ICR Reference No: 202204-3150-004
Agency/Subagency: NRC	Agency Tracking No:
Title: 10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Comment filed on proposed rule and continue	Conclusion Date: 01/08/2024
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 03/03/2023
Terms of Clearance: In accordance with 5 CFR 1320, OMB is filing comment and withholding approval at this time. The agency shall examine public comment in response to the proposed rulemaking and will include in the supporting statement of the next ICR—which is to be submitted to OMB at the final rule stage—a description of how the agency has responded to any public comments on the ICR, including comments on maximizing the practical utility of the collection and minimizing the burden.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	07/31/2025	36 Months From Approved	07/31/2025
Responses	19	0	19
Time Burden (Hours)	68,933	0	68,933
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: PROPOSED RULE: 10 CFR PART 51, RENEWING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATING LICENSES – ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW. The NRC is proposing to amend the regulations that govern the NRC’s environmental reviews of operating license renewal applications. The NRC’s regulations in § 51.53(c) require each applicant for renewal of a license to operate a nuclear power plant under 10 CFR part 54 to submit an environmental report which includes, among other things, a description of the proposed action, including the applicant’s plans to modify the facility or its administrative controls. This proposed rulemaking would codify the generic findings of the LR GEIS, which presents impact analyses for the environmental issues common to many or most of license renewal applications that can be addressed generically, thereby eliminating the need to repeatedly reproduce the same analyses each time a license renewal application is submitted. The NRC’s regulations in § 51.53(c) require each applicant to prepare and submit a report entitled “Applicant’s Environmental Report—Operating License Renewal Stage,” with the applicant’s license renewal application. The information provided by the applicant in the environmental report helps the NRC meet its regulatory obligations consistent with Section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended. The proposed rule would increase burden on an applicant because several proposed changes to Table B–1 (e.g., new Category 1 and 2 issues, consolidation of Category 1 issues into Category 2 issues, and dividing an existing Category 2 issue into multiple Category 2 issues) would require the applicant to evaluate such issues on a site-specific basis and provide this information in the environmental report.

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 83 - 703 1-311 Name of Law: Atomic Energy Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
3150-AK32	Proposed rulemaking	88 FR 13329	03/03/2023

Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Changing Regulations

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: The proposed rule would increase the burden for this information collection from 68,933 to 140,000, an increase of 71,067 hours. The number of responses to the Part 51 information collection would increase from 19 to 27.3, an increase of 8.3 responses. The information collection burden increase for applicants for renewal of nuclear power plant operating licenses is primarily driven by the changing landscape in the industry and the revised estimates for the number of respondents to this information collection. The NRC staff expects that there will be no applications for initial LRs received during this period, increases to the burden imposed on these applicants will be included in the next renewal of the Part 51 clearance. The current OMB clearance for 10 CFR Part 51 estimates the industry burden for license renewal applications based the expected submission of SLR application during 2023-2024. Therefore, the NRC staff estimated that 3 license renewal applications would be received during the current clearance period or 1 application annually, on average. The NRC staff calculated the industry burden per response to be 12,300 hours, or $3,542,400 at a labor rate of $288/hour. This estimate was based on the best available information at the time of the submission of the clearance renewal in April 2022. For the proposed rule, the NRC staff revised the estimated number of respondents to reflect the latest information known by the NRC on future SLR applications. The NRC now expects that there will be 15 future SLR applications (all submitted after the effective date of the final rule) and 10 near-term and submitted applications, and issued SLRs. Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that the 15 future SLR applications were not previously included in the estimated burden associated with information collections for license renewal applications. The increase in burden is divided between the future SLR applicants and licensees with near-term and submitted applications, and issued SLRs as follows: • For future SLR applicants, the estimated burden of 64,695 hours for reporting (annualized) represents the total burden for the licensees to prepare and submit an environmental report as required in 10 CFR 51.53(c) and evaluating all issues described in the revised Table B-1. When divided by 5 responses per year on average, this burden represents an estimated 12,939 hours per respondent. In the current information collections clearance for 10 CFR Part 51, the estimated burden for license renewal applications is 12,300 hours per response. Therefore, the incremental change is burden is 639 hours per application for a future SLR. • For licensees with near-term and submitted applications, and issued SLRs, the estimated total annual burden of 6,372 hours for one-time reporting represents an increase in reporting requirements to include additional information in the applicant’s supplemental submittal to address changes made to Table B-1 (e.g., new Category 1 and 2 issues, consolidation of Category 1 issues into Category 2 issues, and dividing an existing Category 2 issue into multiple Category 2 issues). When divided by 3.3 responses per year on average, this burden represents an estimated 1,931 hours per near-term and submitted applications, and issued SLRs.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $28,168,424

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Yanely Malave 301 415-1519 yanely.malave@nrc.gov

View ICR - OIRA Conclusion