ML20183A186 (6) Form 742 SS

FINAL SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR
DOE/NRC FORM 742
"MATERIAL BALANCE REPORT"
AND NUREG/BR-0007, REVISION 7
"INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PREPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION
OF MATERIAL STATUS REPORTS (DOE/NRC Forms 742)"
(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 30 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,” Revision 7.
A.

JUSTIFICATION

1.

Need for and Practical Utility of the Information Collection
For the United States to fulfill its responsibilities as a participant in the U.S.-IAEA
Safeguards Agreements 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 which are actually present.
Per 10 CFR 75.35, 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
The 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,
Revision 7, the instructions for completing the form, enables NRC to collect, retrieve,
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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 U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreements; and for the domestic inspection
program.
3.

Reduction of Burden through Information Technology
The NRC has issued Guidance for Electronic Submissions to the NRC , which provides
direction for the electronic transmission and submittal of documents to the NRC.
Electronic transmission and submittal of documents can be accomplished via the
following avenues: the Electronic Submittals application, which is available from the
NRC's “Electronic Submittals” Web page, by Optical Storage Media (OSM) (e.g. CDROM, DVD), by facsimile or by e-mail. The Electronic Submittals application allows
electronic transmission of information to the NRC pertaining to licensing actions,
associated hearings, and other regulatory matters. The application ensures that
information sent to the NRC via the Internet is secure and unaltered during transmission.
It operates 24 hours a day, except when it is taken down for scheduled maintenance.
The application serves as a secure portal that respondents may use to transmit
documents to the NRC. It is estimated that approximately 95% of the responses are
filed electronically.
Form 742 is a common form hosted by the NRC that is also used by the DOE. The
NRC provides the form and instructions to all affected NRC licensees who must submit
reports in a computer readable format. Once submitted by licensees, information from
these forms is saved in a Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards System
(NMMSS). The use of common reporting forms minimizes the reporting burden on
industry members required to provide regulations or contractual obligations. The
licensee is thus able to file one report to meet the requirements of both agencies.
Compliance with specific reporting requirements is monitored by the agency for which
the specific data are required. Currently DOE has no burden hours associated with the
use of this form.

4.

Effort to Identify Duplication and Use Similar Information
No sources of similar information are available. There is no duplication of requirements.
In addition, the use of common reporting forms by DOE and NRC minimizes the reporting
burden on industry members required to provide nuclear material data to one or both
agencies.

5.

Effort to Reduce Small Business Burden
The burden on licensees will vary with the size and type of licensed operation.
Further burden reductions for small businesses would prevent the NRC from fulfilling
its international or domestic responsibilities.

6.

Consequences to Federal Program or Policy Activities if the Collection is Not Conducted
or is Conducted Less Frequently
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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. This is required by
10 CFR Parts 74 (Section 74.13) and 75 (Sections 75.31, 75.32, 75.33, and 75.35). 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 60
days after completion of the inventory is a reasonable measure to ensure timeliness in
receipt of inventory data by NRC 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 U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreements 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 the Office of Management and Budget
(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 U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreements.

8.

Consultations outside NRC
Opportunity for public comment on the information collection requirements for this
clearance package was published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2020 (85 FR
23870). As part of the consultation process, the NRC staff directly contacted, via email,
four fuel cycle licensees. No responses or comments were received as a result of the
FRN or the NRC staff’s direct solicitation of comment.

9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents
Not applicable.

10.

Confidentiality of Information
Confidential and proprietary information is protected in accordance with the NRC
regulation at 10 CFR 9.17(a) and 10 CFR 2.390(b). However, no information normally
considered confidential or proprietary is requested.

11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions
This information collection does not involve any sensitive questions.

12.

Estimated of Annualized Burden and Burden Hour Cost

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The annual burden for a licensee for the preparation and submission of DOE/NRC Form
742 data is estimated to take 3.5 hours. This estimate includes time for reading the
instructions for completing DOE/NRC Form 742, NUREG/BR-0007, “Instructions for the
Preparation and Distribution of Material Status Reports,” Revision 7. It is estimated,
based on NRC staff knowledge of the industry and submittals to NRC in recent years,
that approximately 344 licensees submit DOE/NRC Form 742 data each year, resulting
in a total of approximately 344 reports submitted annually. The burden of preparation
and submission of each report is estimated to be 3.5 hours [taking the median or
average value of 2 to 5 hours]. The total resulting burden for required submissions of
the form by all licensees is 1,204 hours (344 reports x 3.5 hours/report).
The total annual cost to all respondents to comply with this requirement is estimated to
be $334,712 (1,204 hours x $278/hour). Cost estimates are calculated at a rate of $278
per hour, which is based on NRC's fee recovery rate.
The $278 hourly rate used in the burden estimates is based on the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission’s fee for hourly rates as noted in 10 CFR 170.20 “Average cost per
professional staff-hour.” For more information on the basis of this rate, see the Revision
of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2019 (84 FR 22331, May 17, 2019).
13.

Estimate of Other Additional Costs
There are no additional costs.

14.

Estimated Annualized Cost to Federal Government
The collected information is not submitted to the NRC. Licensees report directly
to the DOE NMMSS contractor. The data contained in the NMMSS is available to vario
us NRC staff that uses it to perform their assigned job functions; however,
the individual submissions are not reviewed by NRC staff. The NRC costs for NMMSS
operations are approximately $1,900,000 per fiscal year This is the NRC’s contribution
for the operations of the NMMSS to support the collection of Forms 740M, 741, 742
and 742C data, in addition to other data collections and operations.
The staff has developed estimates of annualized costs to the Federal Government
related to the conduct of this collection of information. These estimates are based on
staff experience and subject matter expertise and include the burden needed to review,
analyze, and process the collected information and any relevant operational expenses.

15.

Reason for Change in Burden or Cost
There has been a decrease in the burden for this collection of 106 hours, from 1,310 to
1,204 hours. These decreases are due to lesser numbers of NRC licensees than
previous years to fill out existing OMB approved forms related to nuclear material
accounting information to fulfill the obligations of the U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreements.
In particular, there were 809 licensees who were required to provide physical inventory
data 4 years ago. Currently, the number of licensees who are required to provide
physical inventory data is 514.

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16.

Publication for Statistical Use
None.

17.

Reason for Not Displaying the Expiration Date
The expiration date is displayed on DOE/NRC Form 742.

18.

Exceptions to the Certification Statement
None.

B.

COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS.
Statistical methods are not used in this collection of information.

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