The NRC regulations in 10 CFR part 26
prescribe requirements to establish, implement, and maintain FFD
programs at affected licensees and other entities. The objectives
of these requirements are to provide reasonable assurance that
persons subject to the rule are trustworthy, reliable, and not
under the influence of any substance, legal or illegal, or mentally
or physically impaired from any cause, which in any way could
adversely affect their ability to safely and competently perform
their duties. These requirements also provide reasonable assurance
that the effects of fatigue and degraded alertness on individual’s
abilities to safely and competently perform their duties are
managed commensurate with maintaining public health and safety. The
information collections required by 10 CFR part 26 are necessary to
properly manage FFD programs and to enable effective and efficient
regulatory oversight of affected licensees and other entities.
These licensees and other entities must perform certain tasks,
maintain records, and submit reports to comply with 10 CFR part 26
drug and alcohol and fatigue management requirements. These records
and reports are necessary to enable regulatory inspection and
evaluation of a licensee’s or other entity’s compliance with NRC
regulations, FFD performance, and significant FFD-related events to
help maintain public health and safety, promote the common defense
and security, and protect the environment.
The total burden for Part 26
changed from 599,647.9 hours to 540,049.8 hours, a decrease of
59,598.2 hours. The responses decreased from 368,702.6 to
324,646.3, a decrease of 44,056.3 responses. Five reasons account
for the changes to the total estimated burden from the previous
clearance period. (1) Reactor Construction Site D&A Testing
Programs (Part 26, Subpart K) The NRC anticipates that construction
activities will commence at four SMR sites in 2027, the third year
of this clearance period. Each SMR site is anticipated to be owned
by a different licensee and therefore, each licensee will maintain
one reactor construction site D&A testing program. The NRC is
estimating an increase in the burden associated with the new
reactor construction site D&A testing programs for this
clearance period as follows: • One-time burden increase of 2,112
hours annually (Table 1), and • Annual burden increase of 1,980
hours (Tables 2 – 4). (2) Operating Nuclear Power Reactors The NRC
estimates that 94 nuclear power reactors located at 53 sites (i.e.,
a site has one or more power reactors) will operate for the
duration of this clearance period. The previous clearance included
90 operating nuclear power reactors at 51 sites. (3) D&A
Testing Programs For the current clearance period, the number of
D&A testing programs for operating nuclear power reactor sites,
Category I SNM sites, and C/Vs is estimated to remain the same as
in the prior clearance period at 24 programs. No changes to the
number of D&A testing programs resulted from the Byron and
Dresden reactor sites that were assumed to enter decommissioning
under the previous clearance but subsequently continued operating
because each site is part of a corporate fleet with multiple sites
that continue to operate (i.e., Constellation). (4) Fatigue
Management Programs (Part 26, Subpart I) In the previous clearance
period, the estimated burden for Part 26 activities included the
submission and review of COVID-19 health emergency exemption
requests. The COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ended on
May 11, 2023. As a result, the annual burden associated with these
fatigue management COVID-19 exemption requests has been eliminated
from the current clearance period, which resulted in a decrease in
estimated annual reporting burden in Table 3 of 80 hours. This
submission requests the discontinuance of the COVID-19 related
fatigue forms. The forms will be removed from the NRC website upon
approval of this clearance. (5) Drug Testing Laboratories A
licensee or other entity may use a licensee testing facility (LTF)
to conduct initial drug and validity testing (as permitted under
Part 26, Subpart F), but must use an HHS lab to conduct
confirmatory drug and validity testing of specimens. Since the last
clearance period, the three remaining sites that utilized LTFs have
transitioned to only conducting drug testing at HHS labs. As a
result, the number of sites using an LTF has decreased from 3 to 0.
NRC staff knowledge of current industry practice does not suggest
any change in the number of LTFs during the current clearance
period. The transition to only using HHS labs to conduct drug and
validity testing of specimens has eliminated the estimated annual
burden for licensees using LTFs as reflected in Table 2 from 3,339
hours to 0 hours. The burden incurred by the 3 licensee sites that
transitioned from using LTFs to only conducting testing at HHS labs
for these licensees is now solely captured by the applicable
requirements in Table 2 for sites only using HHS labs for specimen
testing. Finally, the NRC’s fee rate changed since the last
clearance period, increasing from $279 to $300 per hour.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form NRC Form 890 10 CFR 26, Fitness for Duty Program
Burden spreadsheet for Part 26 information collection renewal.xlsx
10 CFR Part 26 FINAL supporting statement 2024 renewal.docx
10 CFR 26, Fitness for Duty Program