Supporting Statement 0694-0135

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

Bureau of Industry and Security

Additional Protocol to the U.S. - International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards

Agreement Report Forms

OMB CONTROL NO. 0694-0135

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

The Protocol Additional to the Agreement Between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America (hereinafter referred to as the “Additional Protocol,” “Protocol,” or “AP”) was developed to strengthen existing verification agreements established under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards regime and to promote the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, which is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign and national security policy. The U.S. Additional Protocol requires the United States to declare to the IAEA a number of commercial nuclear and nuclear-related items, materials, and activities that may be used for peaceful nuclear purposes, but also would be necessary elements for a nuclear weapons program.

The U.S. Additional Protocol was signed by the United States in Vienna on June 12, 1998, and the President transmitted it to the United States Senate on May 9, 2002, for its advice and consent to ratification. The U.S. Senate provided its advice and consent to ratification on March 31, 2004. The President signed the Additional Protocol Implementation Act (Title II of Public Law 109-401) into law on December 18, 2006, and Executive Order (EO) 13458 on February 4, 2008. The EO designates Department of Commerce (DOC) as the lead agency responsible for collecting data from the commercial nuclear industry and other U.S. persons, except those activities or locations subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The EO also designates the NRC as lead agency responsible for collecting data as required under the AP from those persons, locations, and sites subject to its licensing jurisdiction. Finally, the President signed National Security Policy Directive 57 on February 4, 2008, that provides for more specific agency responsibilities, which, in addition to the responsibilities under the EO, designated DOC as the lead agency responsible for managing the collection and aggregation of interagency declarations to compile the U.S. AP declaration for submission to the IAEA.

On October 31, 2008, DOC published the Additional Protocol Regulations (15 CFR Parts 781 through 799) as a notice of final rulemaking. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also published revisions to the applicable NRC regulations (10 CFR Parts 75 and 110) as a direct rule.

Under an existing Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the NRC, the DOC’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) developed handbooks and report forms for collecting information from the commercial nuclear industry, other U.S. persons, and NRC and Agreement State licensees for the U.S. to comply with its AP commitments. DOC is the centralized point of submission of report forms from the public subject to the DOC final AP Regulations and the NRC Regulations.

Annual reports must be submitted to DOC by January 31st of the year following any year in which the nuclear fuel cycle-related activities took place or in which there were changes to previously reported activities. Export reports must be submitted to DOC 15 days passed the end of each quarter.

There are two separate handbooks and related forms for collecting information from the public for implementing the Protocol. The first handbook is for locations and the second is for sites of IAEA-Selected Facilities. The below tables describes each form, including the form number, a brief description of the information to be collected on the form, and the correlation to the specific sub-article of the Protocol.

Handbook for locations and related forms:

FORM	DESCRIPTION OF INFORMATION COLLECTED ON FORM	SUB-ARTICLE
AP-1	Certification	n/a
AP-2	Contact Information	n/a
AP-3	Research and Development with U.S. Government (USG) Involvement	2.a.i
AP-4	Research and Development without U.S. Government Involvement	2.b.i
AP-5	Nuclear-related manufacturing, assembly and construction activities	2.a.iv
AP-6	Information on uranium hard rock mines	2.a.v
AP-7	Information on concentration plants	2.a.v
AP-8	Holdings of impure source materials	2.a.vi.a
AP-9	Imports and exports of impure source materials	2.a.vi.c
AP-10	Holdings of safeguards-exempted materials	2.a.vii.a&b
AP-11	Location of safeguards-terminated materials	2.a.viii
AP-12	Processing of safeguards-terminated waste materials	2.a.viii
AP-13	Exports of specified equipment and non-nuclear material	2.a.ix.a
AP-14	Imports of specified equipment and non-nuclear material	2.a.ix.b
AP-15	Supplemental information report	2.b.ii & 2.c
AP-16	Continuation	n/a
AP-17	No Changes Report	3.b

Handbook for Sites of IAEA-Selected Facilities and related forms:

FORM		DESCRIPTION OF INFORMATION COLLECTED ON FORM	SUB-ARTICLE
AP-A		Certification	n/a
AP-B		Contact Information	n/a
	AP-C	Building information	2.a.iii
AP-D		Research and Development with U.S. Government Involvement	2.a.i
AP-E		Research and Development without U.S. Government Involvement	2.b.i
AP-F		Nuclear-related manufacturing, assembly and construction activities	2.a.iv
AP-G		Information on concentration plants	2.a.v
AP-H		Holdings of impure source materials	2.a.vi.a
AP-I		Imports and exports of impure source materials	2.a.vi.c
AP-J		Holdings of safeguards-exempted materials	2.a.vii.a&b
AP-K		Location of safeguards-terminated materials	2.a.viii
AP-L		Processing of safeguards-terminated waste materials	2.a.viii
AP-M		Exports of specified equipment and non-nuclear material	2.a.ix.a
AP-N		Imports of specified equipment and non-nuclear material	2.a.ix.b
AP-O		Supplemental information report	2.b.ii & 2.c
AP-P		Continuation	n/a
AP-Q		No Changes Report	3.b.

Information required by Protocol sub-article:

Sub-article	Information Required to be Declared to the IAEA
2.a.i	Research and development activities with U.S. Government involvement – General description of activity and location information, not involving nuclear materials, that are funded, specifically authorized or controlled by, or carried out on behalf of, the United States. Specific information that must be provided for U.S. locations includes general activity description and location information.
2.a.iii	Site building information -- General description of each building on each site, including its use and, if not apparent from that description, its contents. A map of the site is required. This information will be for sites of facilities selected by the IAEA for the application of safeguards from the U.S. ‘Eligible Facilities List’ for which a design information questionnaire has previously been submitted.
2.a.iv	Manufacturing activities -- Description of the scale of operations for each location involved in the manufacturing activities specified and listed in detail in Annex I of the AP (e.g., manufacture of centrifuge rotor tubes, diffusion barriers, zirconium tubes, nuclear grade graphite, and reactor control rods). This information includes the company or U.S. person’s name, location, a brief description of operations, the estimated production capacity, and the production for the reporting time period.
2.a.v	Uranium mines and concentration plants and thorium concentration plants – Identification of location, operational status and estimated annual production capacity of uranium mines and concentration plants and thorium concentration plants, the current annual production of such mines and concentration plants for the U.S. as a whole. Upon request by the IAEA, the current annual production of an individual mine or concentration plant. However, provision of this information does not require detailed nuclear material accountancy.
2.a.vi.(a)	Holdings of Impure Source Material -- Chemical composition, quantity, use, description of intended use of such material, and building or room where material is held for each location.
2.a.vi.(b).and (c)	Exports and Imports of Impure Source Material -- Chemical composition, quantity, intended use of such material for each location, the date of each export from the U.S. and the destination/country of import, the date of import into the U.S., the country of export, the current location and intended use of each import into the U.S. of such material for specifically non-nuclear purposes.
2.a.vii(a) and (b)	Holdings of Safeguards-Exempted Materials – Quantity, use and location of nuclear material exempted from safeguards pursuant to Articles 36(b) and 37 of the Safeguards Agreement. Note that there is currently no nuclear material in the U.S. that has been exempted from IAEA safeguards.
2.a.viii	Location of Safeguards–Terminated Waste Material -- Location of further processing of intermediate or high-level waste containing plutonium, high enriched uranium or uranium-233 on which safeguards have been terminated pursuant to Article 11 of the Safeguards Agreement. Note that there is currently no high-level waste, as defined, in the U.S. on which IAEA safeguards have been terminated.
2.a.ix(a)	Exports -- Each export out of the U.S. of specified equipment and non-nuclear material, including the identity, quantity, location of intended use in the receiving State and date or, as appropriate, expected date, of export must be declared on a quarterly basis.
2.a.ix(b)	Imports – Upon receipt of a request from the IAEA, an import of equipment or non-nuclear material covered in Annex II of the AP (List of Specified Equipment and Non-Nuclear Material for the Reporting of Imports) must be declared for information to verify imports.
2.b.i.	Research and development activities without U.S. Government involvement -- Research and development activities not involving nuclear material and funded and conducted by non-government entities. Specific information that must be provided for U.S. locations includes general activity description and location information.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.

The United States is required to submit annual declarations to the IAEA, quarterly declarations on exports of nuclear and nuclear-related equipment and materials, and amended declarations thereto to the IAEA. In addition, upon request by the IAEA, the United States will also submit additional information to resolve a question or inconsistency with the U.S. declaration.

The DOC and NRC collect reports from the public pursuant to the DOC final AP Regulations and the NRC Regulations, respectively, in order to obtain the necessary information to compile the U.S. declarations. Under an agreement with the NRC, Commerce will receive reports on behalf of the NRC and Agreement State licensees, pursuant to NRC regulations.

The Section 515 Information Quality Guidelines apply to this information collection and comply with all applicable information quality guidelines (i.e., OMB, Department of Commerce, and specific operating unit guidelines.)

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

The report forms are available in portable document format (PDF) and can be printed and submitted, or information can be directly entered onto the forms, printed, and submitted. DOC also deployed a joint DOC-NRC website, www.ap.gov that contains the PDF data enterable forms.

DOC has been developing an electronic Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS). The APRS is a user-friendly, time-saving tool available for the U.S industry and other U.S. persons engaged in certain civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities to submit reports via the internet. The APRS is projected to be available to the public by the end of 2024.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

The Additional Protocol requires that additional information, beyond that which is currently being collected pursuant to the U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreement, be declared to the IAEA. The ‘total’ information required for U.S. compliance with the Additional Protocol, as to be collected under DOC’s final AP Regulations and NRC Regulations, has not been previously obtained from the public. It is determined, therefore, that this is not a significant duplication of information necessary for implementing the Protocol. However, there is certain information collected, as described below, but this information is not sufficient to comply with specific Protocol requirements.

1. Under the Safeguards Agreement, NRC collects information regarding buildings on sites of IAEA-Selected Facilities in applications for NRC licenses, but this information will not fully meet the Article 2.a(iii) reporting requirement. The information collected and contained in the design information questionnaire (DIQ) relates to only the building where the nuclear material is located, whereas the Additional Protocol requires information to be declared on every building on the site of the IAEA-Selected Facility, including a detailed map of the site, and the use of the building and its content.

2. NRC and the Department of Energy (DOE) collect certain information on nuclear material from the public, including NRC and Agreement State licensees. DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) administers a survey to collect statistical data on the U.S. uranium industry. The data includes pounds of uranium ore concentrate produced on an annual and quarterly basis as well as number of operating and standby mills, concentration plants and by-product recovery plants. This information is not fully sufficient to comply with the requirements of Article 2.a(v) of the Additional Protocol because the EIA survey only captures the total operational and standby domestic mining activities and the Additional Protocol requires information on permanently closed down mines. NRC only licenses “in-situ” leach facilities and does not collect information on open pit or underground (deep mining) facilities. Finally, most mines, mills and concentration plants are located in Agreement States and report directly to the Agreement State. This information is collected at the state level and is not directly available to the U.S. government.

Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safety and health standards as a means to eliminate fatal accidents; to reduce the frequency and severity of nonfatal accidents; to minimize health hazards; and to promote improved safety and health conditions in the nation's mines. MSHA carries out the mandates of the Mine Act at all mining and mineral processing operations in the United States, regardless of size, number of employees, commodity mined, or method of extraction. MSHA gathers information (i.e., company name, mine name, address, operational status) from the mining industry on a quarterly basis. This information is not sufficient to satisfy the information needed for Article 2.a(v) of the AP because it does not include mines whose operational status was designated as abandoned, decommissioned, or under environmental restoration (e.g., mining operations that are shut down and personnel and infrastructure are not in place to resume mining activities)

3 NRC collects information on the inventories of source materials (depleted uranium, natural uranium and thorium) to which foreign obligations have been assigned. Source material without foreign obligations may be transferred between facilities, which are required under the Protocol. This information is, therefore, not sufficient to satisfy the information required under Article 2.a.(vi) of the Protocol.

4 There is currently no information collected from the public regarding research and development (R&D) on nuclear fuel cycle activities not involving nuclear material (e.g., development of enrichment technology) that is not funded by the U.S. government. Most U.S. government funding for fuel cycle-related R&D is provided by the DOE’s, Office of Nuclear Energy, however, NRC’s Office of Research also funds some activities. The information collected by DOE and NRC on R&D activities will not fully meet the Article 2.a(i) and 2.b(ii) reporting requirements.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

DOC and NRC are sensitive to the needs of small businesses; however, this collection must be conducted to ensure the United States is in full compliance with its obligations under the Additional Protocol. This procedure, conducted under the final AP Regulations and NRC’s Regulations for Safeguards on Nuclear Material-Implementation of U.S./IAEA Agreement, is governed by national security, foreign policy and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction requirements.

Respondents consist of government, small businesses, academic institutions, private company contractors, and other private entities. To minimize the burden on small businesses and other small organizations, the AP Report forms have been developed to only collect the minimum amount of information necessary from the public for the U.S. to comply with its AP treaty requirements. In addition, DOC and NRC provide outreach to the public through seminars and published documents, providing pertinent information on the impending implementation of the Additional Protocol. These efforts familiarize the public with the Additional Protocol and assist their understanding and compliance with the DOC and NRC Additional Protocol requirements.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

Article 3 of the Additional Protocol requires the United States to submit annual and quarterly declarations for all public and private entities engaged in certain commercial nuclear fuel cycle related activities. If the requested collections are made less frequently or not at all, the United States will not be able to meets its reporting obligations and will then be in technical non-compliance with the requirements of the Additional Protocol, an international treaty that has the force of law. In addition, the President’s policy objectives would be in jeopardy if this collection were not conducted, as enumerated in National Security Strategy of the U.S. of America of 2006.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

There are no special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide a copy of the PRA Federal Register notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

The notice requesting public comment was published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2023. No public comments were received.

BIS consults with Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) consisting of members outside the agency, who are leaders in the industry, to discuss with BIS current policies and standards both with the government and the public. ECRA states that the TACs advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security on controls under the Export Administration Regulations.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

There are no plans to provide payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Article 15 of the AP protects confidential business information (CBI) by mandating that the IAEA maintain a stringent regime to ensure effective protection against disclosure of commercial, technological and industrial secrets. In addition to the national security exclusion, the U.S. Additional Protocol includes all the protections for commercially sensitive information contained in the Model Protocol. For example:

1. Information on nuclear R&D activities that must be declared to the IAEA is limited to location and general description and does not include details or results;

2. Similarly, the required information on nuclear-related manufacturing is also limited to location and the scale of operation without details;

3. Access is designed to be infrequent;

4. Inspection activities are limited and relevant to detection of undeclared nuclear material and activities or to resolve a question of inconsistency related to the declaration;

.

6. The IAEA is required to maintain a stringent regime for protection against disclosure of commercial, technological and industrial confidential information, and the regime is subject to periodic review and approval by the United States and other Board members;

7. Only those individuals to whom the United States agrees may be assigned by the IAEA to conduct inspections in the United States under the U.S. safeguards agreement or for access under the U.S. Additional Protocol;

8. Whenever requested by the United States, managed access arrangements must be used to prevent disclosure of proliferation sensitive information, or proprietary or commercially sensitive information;

9. Both the IAEA and its officers or employees may be subject to legal process in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. The IAEA can withdraw immunity of inspectors in cases of abuse.

The United States Additional Protocol Implementation Act exempts information reported to, or otherwise acquired by, the U.S. government pursuant to the AP from disclosure through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (5 USC 552). This FOIA exemption will ensure additional protection against any unauthorized release of information. In addition, complementary access to locations and sites in the United States will be conducted consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In addition, the DOC or NRC Host Team facilitating the inspection will implement managed access measures, if applicable, as described under the DOC final AP Regulations and NRC’s Regulations on Safeguards on Nuclear Material-Implementation of U.S./IAEA Agreement. These include actions to prevent the dissemination of sensitive information (e.g., removal of sensitive papers from office spaces; shrouding of sensitive displays, stores and equipment; and logging off computer systems and turning off data indicating devices).

As stated in Section 221 of the United States Additional Protocol Implementation Act, in the event of a complementary access to a privately owned or operated facility, no employees from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may participate in the access. In the case of access to a federal facility, accompanying officials from other government agencies (i.e., OSHA or EPA) cannot conduct a concomitant inspection to ensure compliance with the given agency’s regulations or issue citations and/or fines based on non-compliance with those regulations.

Finally, information submitted by the public to the DOC or NRC is protected from release to the public under Section 231 of the United States Additional Protocol Implementation Act.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.

The total burden for submitting reports for forms and reports submission by persons and locations under DOC’s final AP Regulations and NRC’s Regulations and by sites under NRC’s regulations is 920 total hours. This estimate is based on the actual number of forms and reports submitted for the reporting year 2022 activities.

Burden Hours for Locations – Sixty-three locations submitted information on the report DOC and NRC forms for an approximate 390 total burden hours. The result is based upon the sum of the number of forms submitted for each activity multiplied by the estimated average number of hours to complete each type of report form as provided by companies from previous survey.

Burden Hours for Sites – Eleven sites submitted information on the NRC forms for an approximate of 530 total burden hours. This result is based upon the sum of the number of forms for these 11 sites conducting each activity multiplied by the estimated average number of hours to complete each type of report form provided by the two sites from previous survey. The total burden hours for sites decreased significantly and remain the same after the first reporting year because there are few changes to the initial reports.

DOC estimates that the total burden hours and cost for the joint AP report forms will be similar in the future. In addition, DOC is developing an electronic Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS) for the public to use for creating and submitting AP reports. The APRS will be a mandatory tool, which is designed to minimize companies burden in complying with AP report requirements under the Additional Protocol Regulations (APR 15 CFR Parts 781-783).

Estimated Burden Hour Table

The total estimated burden hours in 2022 for this joint collection include locations regulated by both the DOC and NRC and sites regulated by NRC. The burden hours (920) are broken into three separate sub-tables, as follows: sub-table A for DOC locations; sub-table B for NRC locations, and sub-table C for NRC sites, as well as the related reference notes.

SUB-TABLE A -- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Locations
AP Forms	No. of Forms Competed	Time Estimate Responses (min.)	Avg. Time Estimate (min)	Total Time Per Form (min.)*
AP-11 AP-22 AP-33 AP-43 AP-54 AP-65 AP-75 AP-86 AP-97 AP-108 AP-118 AP-128 AP-139 AP-1410 AP-1511 AP-1612	14 37 30 1 11 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6	60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10 120, 120, 30, 20, 20, 15, 15 480, 240 480, 240 240, 180, 10 120, 72, 30 120, 72, 30 120, 60 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10	22.8 48.6 360 360 143 74 74 90 30 --- --- --- 30 --- --- 22.8	319.2 1798.2 10800 360 1573 1184 0 0 0 --- --- --- 0 --- --- 136.8
Total (Burden Hrs.) ** 269.5

SUB-TABLE B -- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION - LOCATIONS

Locations Table
AP Forms	No. of Forms Competed	Time Estimate Responses (min.)	Ave. Time Estimate (min)	Total Time Per Form (min.)*
AP-11 AP-22 AP-33 AP-43 AP-54 AP-65 AP-75 AP-86 AP-97 AP-108 AP-118 AP-128 AP-139 AP-1410 AP-1511 AP-1612	18 26 9 0 2 0 20 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5	60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10 120, 120, 30, 20, 20, 15, 15 480, 240 480, 240 240, 180, 10 120, 72, 30 120, 72, 30 120, 60 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10	22.8 48.6 360 360 143 74 74 90 30 --- --- --- 30 --- --- 22.8	410.4 1263.6 3240 0 286 0 1480 450 0 --- --- --- --- --- --- 114
Total (Burden Hrs.)** 120.7

SUB-TABLE C -- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – SITES

Sites Table
AP Forms (Site)	No. Forms Competed	Time Estimate Responses (min.)	Ave. Time Estimate (min)	Total Time Per Form (min.)*
AP-A1 AP-B2 AP-C13 AP-D3 AP-E3 AP-F4 AP-G5 AP-H6 AP-I AP-J8 AP-K8 AP-L8 AP-M9 AP-N10 AP-O11 AP-P12	11 11 74 3 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3	60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10 120, 120, 30, 20, 20, 15, 15 180, 132 480, 240 480, 240 240, 180, 10 120, 72, 30 120, 60 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 60, 30, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10	22.8 48.6 360 360 143 74 74 90 30 --- --- --- 30 --- --- 22.8	250.8 3293.4 26640 1080 0 296 0 180 0 --- --- --- 0 --- --- 68.4
Total (Burden Hrs.)** 530.1

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in #12 above).

This collection involves a recordkeeping requirement of three years, as specified in DOC’s final AP Regulations. The estimated recordkeeping cost for this collection of $674.

Based on reports submitted in 2022, each report averaged around 25 pages of documents to be contained in a filing cabinet occupying 0.15 square feet of office space. The average estimated cost of office space costs in the Washington, DC area is around of $45/sq. ft. /year. Applying cost to the 100 respondents who submitted reports in 2022 yields an estimated annual recordkeeping cost for this collection of $674 (0.15 sq.ft. x $45/sq.ft. x 100 reports).

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.

Annually, the estimated cost to DOC and NRC for reports is $1,087,203. This estimate is the cost for personnel to receive, process, validate, aggregate, archive the data, maintain the electronic data collection system, and other activities for implementing the reporting and complementary access requirements for the Additional Protocol.

Number of Personnel Cost (USD)

One full-time NRC employees $137,318

1. GS-14, Step 1 x 1.2 (Overhead)

Two part-time DOC employees (1 GS-15, Step 5 and 1 GS 12, Step 6)

[ (1 x 1040 x hrs/year x $71.8/hr) + (1 x 1040 x hrs/year x $48.3)] x 1.2(Overhead) $149,885

System maintenance and support $ 800,000

Total Cost $ 1,087,203

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB 83-I.

All burden figures are based on the number of respondents who submitted, and the number of corresponding reports received in 2022 by DOC and NRC. There is a slight increase in government cost due to salary increase.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

There are no plans to publish information obtained under this collection.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

DOC is requesting exemption from printing the expiration date on forms for this collection of information because the implication of an expiration date would only serve to confuse the public. The presence of an expiration date would tend to give the public the impression that these collections are only temporary and are no longer required after the expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the

OMB 83-I.

Not applicable.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not utilize statistical methods.

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