FINAL SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR
DOE/NRC FORM 742
"MATERIAL BALANCE REPORT"
AND NUREG/BR-0007
"INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION
OF MATERIAL STATUS REPORTS"
(3150-0004)
---
EXTENSION
Description of the Information Collection
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations require each licensee who is authorized to possess at any one time and location special nuclear material (SNM) in a quantity totaling more than one gram of contained uranium-235, uranium-233, or plutonium, or any combination thereof, to prepare and submit reports concerning SNM received, produced, possessed, transferred, consumed, disposed of, or lost. Each NRC licensee who has been selected for the application of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 75 is required to complete and submit Department of Energy (DOE)/NRC Form 742, "Material Balance Report," within thirty days after the start of a physical inventory. In addition, each licensee, Federal or State, who is authorized to possess, at any one time or location, 1 kilogram of foreign obligated source material, is required to file with the NRC an annual statement of source material inventory which is foreign-obligated. The instructions for completing Form 742 are in NUREG/BR-0007, “Instructions for the Preparation and Distribution of Material Status Reports.”
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Need for and Practical Utility of the Information Collection
In order for the United States to fulfill its responsibilities as a participant in the US/IAEA Safeguards Agreement and to satisfy various bilateral agreements for nuclear cooperation with other countries and its domestic safeguards responsibilities, it is necessary for licensees affected by 10 CFR Part 75 and related sections of Parts 30, 40, 50, 70, 74, and 150 to submit accounting reports. These reports are required to be submitted to the IAEA annually. The annual accounting reports for each IAEA material balance area must include material status reports based on a physical inventory of nuclear materials actually present.
10 CFR 75.35 requires that each licensee identified by the Agreement submit material status annual reports for each physical inventory taken as part of the material accounting and control procedures. A computer-readable DOE/NRC Form 742 is used for the collection of the information on the material balance of nuclear material.
2. Agency Use of Information
NRC is required to collect nuclear material transaction information and make it available to the IAEA. The use of DOE/NRC Form 742, together with NUREG/BR-0007, the instructions for completing the form, enables NRC to collect, retrieve, analyze as necessary, and submit the data to IAEA to fulfill its reporting responsibilities. Use of this computer-readable report form enhances NRC's ability to collect and provide this data. This information is needed to provide to the Australian, Canadian, and several other Governments a periodic report showing the inventory of all materials located at licensee facilities that is subject to their respective Bilateral Agreements; to satisfy the terms of the US/IAEA Safeguards Agreement; and for the domestic inspection program.
3. Reduction of Burden through Information Technology
There are no legal obstacles to reducing the burden associated with this information collection. The NRC encourages respondents to use information technology when it would be beneficial to them. NRC issued a regulation on October 10, 2003 (68 FR 58791), consistent with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, which allows its licensees, vendors, applicants, and members of the public the option to make submissions electronically via CD-ROM, e-mail, special Web-based interface, or other means. It is estimated that approximately 99% of the potential responses are filed electronically.
4. Effort to Identify Duplication and Use Similar Information
No sources of similar information are available. There is no duplication of requirements. NRC has in place an ongoing program to examine all information collections with the goal of eliminating all duplication and/or unnecessary information collections.
5. Effort to Reduce Small Business Burden
Approximately 180 of these licensees are large, independent industrial firms, each with an estimated annual gross income of more than $1 million and a staff of more than 500 people. The reporting burden for larger inventories is estimated to be 5 hours or less per licensee. The remaining approximately 180 licensees are facilities that maintain smaller inventories, less than 350 grams of nuclear material. Due to the smaller inventories, the reporting burden is estimated to be 2 hours or less per licensee.
6. Consequences to Federal Program or Policy Activities if the Collection is Not Conducted or is Conducted Less Frequently
Affected licensees are required to submit reports annually. This schedule is reasonable because the submission will coincide with taking a physical inventory. The collection and recording of data for inventory purposes is a continuing process that the licensee carries out throughout the year for the licensee's internal records. At the specified times for inventory reports, the licensee simply submits the accumulated data from the licensee's records, based either on book inventory or on data from a physical inventory, to NRC on DOE/NRC Form 742. The requirement to report within sixty days after completion of the inventory is a reasonable measure to ensure timeliness in receipt of inventory data by NRC in order to maintain material accountability under its statutory responsibility pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act to assure protection of the common defense and security. Moreover, the US/IAEA Safeguards Agreement specifies that reports are to be submitted within 30 days following a physical inventory taking by licensees selected and reporting pursuant to 10 CFR Part 75.
If licensees are not required to submit these reports, NRC will not be able to maintain material accountability under its statutory responsibilities of the Atomic Energy Act.
7. Circumstances which Justify Variation from OMB Guidelines
Contrary to OMB guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d), 10 CFR 75.35 requires submission of the report within 30 days or less. This requirement is necessary to satisfy the terms of the US/IAEA Safeguards Agreement (INFCIRC/288).
8. Consultations Outside NRC
Opportunity for public comment on the information collection requirements for this clearance package was published in the Federal Register on February 25, 2014 (79 FR 10575). No comments were received.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents
Not applicable.
10. Confidentiality of Information
Confidential and proprietary information is protected in accordance with NRC regulations at 10 CFR 9.17(a) and 10 CFR 2.390(b).
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
This information collection does not involve sensitive questions.
12. Estimated of Annualized Burden and Burden Hour Cost
The annual burden for a licensee for the preparation and submission of DOE/NRC Form 742 data is estimated to be 2 or 5 hours, including reading the instructions for completing Form 742 (NUREG/BR-0007), “Instructions for the Preparation and Distribution of Material Status Reports.” It is estimated, based on submittals to NRC in recent years that 360 licensees (180 large licensees and 180 small licensees) will each submit DOE/NRC Form 742 data each year, resulting in a total of approximately 360 reports submitted annually. For the smaller licensees, the burden will total to 360 hours (180 reports x 2 hours/report). For the larger licensees, the burden will total to 900 hours (180 reports x 5 hours/report). Thus, the total burden for all licensees will be 1,260 hours.
The cost to licensees is calculated at a rate of $272 per hour, based on NRC's fully recoverable fee rate. The annual cost to each smaller licensee to comply with this requirement is estimated to be approximately $544 (1 report/licensee x 2 hours/report x $272/hour). The annual cost to each larger licensee to comply with this requirement is estimated to be approximately $1,360 (1 report/licensee x 5 hours/report x $272/hour). The total annual cost to all affected licensees is estimated to be approximately $342,720 ([$1,360X 180 reports] + [$544 x 180 reports]).
13. Estimate of Other Additional Costs
There are not additional costs.
14. Estimated Annualized Cost to Federal Government
The collection of information requires an average of 5 minutes/form of NRC staff time. Therefore, for approximately 360 respondents reporting semiannually, the estimated annualized cost to the Federal government will be approximately 30 hours/year (5 minutes/ report x 360 reports/year = 30 hours/year). Annual labor costs at $272 per staff hour will be $8,160. These costs are fully recovered through fee assessments to NRC licensees pursuant to 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171. Other costs are attributed to operating the Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards System (NMMSS).
15. Reason for Change in Burden or Cost
There has been a reduction in the burden for this collection by 40 hours from 1,300 to 1,260 hours because approximately 20 small licensees have either ceased operations or removed their nuclear material holdings, therefore eliminating their reporting needs. However, there has been an increase in the hourly rate from $259/hour to $272/hour, increasing the overall financial burden to industry by $6,020 from $336,700 to $342,720.
16. Publication for Statistical Use
None.
17. Reason for Not Displaying the Expiration Date
Not applicable.
18. Exceptions to the Certification Statement
None.
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS.
Statistical methods are not used in this collection of information.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | keb1 |
| Last Modified By | Miles, Brenda |
| File Modified | 2014-08-07 |
| File Created | 2014-08-07 |