Extension of Comment Period (Published)

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Proposed Rules

Federal Register
Vol. 80, No. 45
Monday, March 9, 2015

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains notices to the public of the proposed
issuance of rules and regulations. The
purpose of these notices is to give interested
persons an opportunity to participate in the
rule making prior to the adoption of the final
rules.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 951
[Docket Number DOE–HQ–2014–0021]
RIN 1990–AA39

Convention on Supplementary
Compensation for Nuclear Damage
Contingent Cost Allocation
Office of the General Counsel,
Department of Energy.
ACTION: Extension of public comment
period.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) has published a notice of
proposed rulemaking (NOPR), which
proposes regulations under section 934
of the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The
proposed regulations would establish a
retrospective risk pooling program
whereby nuclear suppliers would pay
for any contribution made by the United
States government to an international
supplementary fund created under the
Convention for Supplementary
Compensation for Nuclear Damage
(CSC) in the event of certain nuclear
incidents not covered by the PriceAnderson Act. The NOPR provided a
deadline of March 17, 2015 for
comments. In response to requests for
an extension, this document announces
an extension of the comment period to
April 17, 2015. This document also
requests comment by April 17, 2015 on
specific questions to inform a process
for DOE to obtain additional data and
information.
DATES: DOE will accept comments and
information regarding the NOPR and
development of regulations under
section 934 published on December 17,
2014 (79 FR 75076), and the specific
questions identified in this document
no later than April 17, 2015. DOE will
consider any comments received by
midnight of April 17, 2015, and deems
any comments received by that time to
be timely submitted.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons may
submit comments identified by RIN

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SUMMARY:

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1990–AA39 by any of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Email: Section934Rulemaking@
Hq.Doe.gov. Include Section 934 in the
subject line of the message.
• Mail: Ms. Sophia Angelini, U.S.
Department of Energy, Office of General
Counsel, Mailstop GC–72, 1000
Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585. Please submit
one signed original and three copies of
all comments.
• Instructions: All submissions
received must include the agency name,
docket number [DOE–HQ–2014–0021],
and the RIN for this rulemaking. Note
that all comments received will be
posted, without change, including
personal information.
• Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at http://
www.regulations.gov, or the Web site
specifically established for this
proceeding at http://www.energy.gov/gc/
convention-supplementarycompensation-rulemaking.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sophia Angelini, Attorney-Advisor,
Office of the General Counsel for
Civilian Nuclear Programs, GC–72, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585; telephone: (202)
586–0319.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On
December 17, 2014, DOE published a
NOPR in the Federal Register (79 FR
75076) in which it proposed regulations
under section 934 of EISA to establish
a retrospective risk pooling program
whereby, in the event of certain nuclear
incidents, nuclear suppliers would pay
for any contribution by the United
States government to the international
supplementary fund created by the CSC.
The NOPR provided that written public
comments were to be received by DOE
no later than March 17, 2015. By letter
dated January 28, 2015, DOE received a
request from the Nuclear Energy
Institute (NEI) for an extension of the
public comment period to May 19, 2015,
stating that the complexity of the NOPR
requires extensive analysis on a number
of issues such as the proposed reporting
requirements, the potential impact of
the two alternative methods of

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calculating the risk premium payment
to a particular nuclear supplier and the
nuclear industry as a whole, and
clarification of key terms in the
proposed rule.
On February 20, 2015, DOE held a
public workshop on the proposed
rulemaking (80 FR 4227). In advance of
the public workshop, DOE solicited
from the public questions or suggestions
for topics to be addressed at the
workshop in order to structure the
discussion and enhance participation
(80 FR 4228). DOE received extensive
questions and topic suggestions from
the Contractors International Group on
Nuclear Liability (CIGNL) and NEI. The
day-long workshop was attended by
representatives of various nuclear
industry organizations and other
entities. The participants at the
workshop raised a number of questions
and expressed concerns regarding,
among other things, the level of
information and data available to DOE
on the cost and burden of reporting
requirements under the proposed rule,
the nature and quantity of nuclear
exports and the nuclear suppliers that
export, and the allocation of risk and
premium payments across and among
nuclear suppliers. Thereafter, DOE
received written requests from other
participants at the public workshop
echoing the NEI request for an extension
of time for public comment given the
complexity of the issues raised in the
proposed rule and further described at
the public meeting. All these entities
requested an extension of the comment
period to May 19, 2015, to allow
sufficient time to review the proposed
rule and formulate comments to the
extent possible given available
information.
DOE has considered the written
extension requests noted above, along
with the comments and information
provided prior to and at the public
meeting, and determined that the
comment period on the NOPR should be
extended to April 17, 2015, which
provides, in total, a 120 day comment
period.
DOE is especially interested in
potential modifications to the proposals
set forth in the NOPR, in light of the
issues discussed at the workshop. These
issues include: (1) The extent, if any, to
which transactions prior to the effective
date of the rule should be considered in
the allocation formula; (2) the

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 45 / Monday, March 9, 2015 / Proposed Rules
justification for capping the allocation
assigned to a single entity; (3) the
possibility of different caps for different
types of suppliers; (4) the criteria for
classifying a supplier as a small entity
exempt from the allocation formula; (5)
goods and services that pose no or de
minimis risk of triggering the
international supplementary fund; (6)
alternative methodologies for evaluating
risk, including examples of existing risk
allocation mechanisms in the nuclear
industry; and (7) potential modification
to simplify, minimize and/or clarify the
burden on industry.
In addition, DOE intends to conduct
additional data and information
gathering in response to and in
consideration of statements in the
written comments and at the public
workshop. These statements suggest
certain additional information should be
obtained by DOE and is necessary for
the public to comment on the NOPR. In
response to these statements, DOE is
requesting any entity that believes
additional information is needed to
provide detailed comments as to the
specific information it believes is
needed.
DOE is enumerating several general
questions to assist DOE in its additional
data gathering effort. The general
questions for which DOE seeks
comment are: (1) What data and
information should be gathered on U.S.
nuclear suppliers and their exports (for
example, what entity should be
considered the exporter (especially in
situations where a supplier employs an
entity to facilitate the export), should
quantity, value and/or another factor be
used to measure exports, and what time
period should be used); (2) what data
and information should be gathered on
nuclear suppliers to inform reporting
requirements (for example, what are the
recordkeeping methods employed in the
nuclear industry and what is currently
reported to other government agencies);
and (3) what data and information
should be gathered on the allocation of
risk across and among nuclear suppliers
and nuclear supplier groups. Comments
concerning additional information to be
gathered will facilitate DOE’s effort to
obtain additional data and information
to inform the proposed rulemaking and
should be provided to DOE by April 17,
2015. DOE intends to make the
additional data and information it
obtains available for public review and
comment, the date and timing of which
will be announced in a subsequent
Federal Register notice.
DOE will consider any comments
received by midnight of April 17, 2015,
and deems any comments received by
that time to be timely submitted. To the

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extent commenters provide confidential
business information, pursuant to 10
CFR 1004.11, any person submitting
information he or she believes to be
confidential and exempt by law from
public disclosure should submit via
email, postal mail, or hand delivery/
courier two well-marked copies: One
copy of the document marked
‘‘confidential’’ including all the
information believed to be confidential,
and one copy of the document marked
‘‘non-confidential’’ with the information
believed to be confidential deleted.
Submit these documents via email or on
a CD, if feasible. DOE will make its own
determination about the confidential
status of the information and treat it
according to its determination. Factors
of interest to DOE when evaluating
requests to treat submitted information
as confidential include: (1) A
description of the items; (2) whether
and why such items are customarily
treated as confidential within the
industry; (3) whether the information is
generally known by or available from
other sources; (4) whether the
information has previously been made
available to others without obligation
concerning its confidentiality; (5) an
explanation of the competitive injury to
the submitting person which would
result from public disclosure; (6) when
such information might lose its
confidential character due to the
passage of time; and (7) why disclosure
of the information would be contrary to
the public interest.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 4,
2015.
Samuel T. Walsh,
Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy.
[FR Doc. 2015–05405 Filed 3–6–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
13 CFR Parts 121, 124, 125, 126 and
127
[Docket No. SBA–2014–0006]
RIN 3245–AG58

Small Business Government
Contracting and National Defense
Authorization Act of 2013 Amendments
U.S. Small Business
Administration.
ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of
comment period.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) is reopening the
comment period for the proposed rule
published in the Federal Register on
December 29, 2014 at 79 FR 77955. In

SUMMARY:

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that rule SBA proposed to implement
provisions of the National Defense
Authorization Act of 2013, which
pertain to performance requirements
applicable to small business and
socioeconomic program set aside
contracts and small business
subcontracting. SBA also proposed to
make changes to its regulations
concerning the nonmanufacturer rule
and affiliation rules. Further, SBA
proposed to allow a joint venture to
qualify as small for any government
procurement as long as each partner to
the joint venture qualifies individually
as small under the size standard
corresponding to the NAICS code
assigned in the solicitation. Finally,
SBA requested comments on the
timeline and procedures for North
American Industry Classification
System code appeals. The comment
period closed on February 27, 2015.
SBA is reopening the comment period
in response to the significant level of
interest generated by the proposed rule
and due to the request of multiple
stakeholders. Given the scope of the
proposed rule and the nature of the
issues raised by the comments received
to date, SBA believes that affected
businesses need more time to review the
proposal and fully prepare their
comments.
DATES: The comment period for the
proposed rule published on December
29, 2014 (79 FR 77955) is extended
through April 6, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by Docket Number: SBA–
2014–0006, by any of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• For mail, paper, disk, or CD/ROM
submissions: Brenda Fernandez, U.S.
Small Business Administration, Office
of Policy, Planning and Liaison, 409
Third Street SW., 8th Floor,
Washington, DC 20416.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Brenda
Fernandez, U.S. Small Business
Administration, Office of Policy,
Planning and Liaison, 409 Third Street
SW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20416.
SBA will post all comments on
www.regulations.gov. If you wish to
submit confidential business
information (CBI) as defined in the User
Notice at www.regulations.gov, please
submit the information to Brenda
Fernandez, U.S. Small Business
Administration, Office of Policy,
Planning and Liaison, 409 Third Street
SW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20416,
or send an email to brenda.fernandez@
sba.gov. Highlight the information that

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