United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 00-015 January 21, 2000

NRC ANNOUNCES POLICY ON TIMING RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS TO THE PUBLIC

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has established a general policy for the timely release

of documents to the public under the new “Agencywide Documents Access and Management

System (ADAMS).”

Under the policy, documents received by the agency will be released to the public three

working days after they are electronically entered into the ADAMS public library. Documents are

entered into ADAMS within about eight hours of receipt during the normal work day. Documents

that are produced by the agency and sent to either external or internal addressees will be released

three working days after the date of the document.

These changes will allow recipients of the documents reasonable time to review their

correspondence before it is available to the general public. The brief delay also will help prevent

release of any proprietary or privacy-related information sent to the agency.

Certain documents will be excluded from this policy, as is current practice, and will carry

their own release conditions. For example, certain Commission papers will be made available to the

public ten business days after issuance. Commission staff requirements memoranda, voting records,

and Commission action memoranda will be made available immediately after final Commission

action. The entire list of types of documents that are exceptions to the three-day release policy is

attached.

With the arrival of ADAMS, documents are available to the public within days instead of

weeks, as was the case with the previous document management system.

On November 1, the agency began placing all newly received and created public records in

electronic form at the ADAMS public library on the website, accessible by computers in homes,

schools, offices, libraries, and the agency’s Public Document Room, using a standard web browser.

To date, there are approximately 12,000 documents that have been newly entered into the ADAMS

public library which can be accessed at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html . Many

documents are also available on NRC’s main website.
Those who cannot access computers or who prefer not to use them, may contact NRC’s

Public Document Room (202-634-3273). The Public Document Room will search for and retrieve

documents, and upon request, will have them copied for a fee.

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Documents With Specific Release Conditions

DOCUMENT TYPE WHEN TO RELEASE

1. Notification of significant enforcement actions Three business days after the enforcement action is issued

2. Documents related to byproduct material

licenses (10 CFR Parts 30 through 39)

Three business days after the final licensing action is completed

(e.g., license issued)

3. Route approval letters to licensee Ten business days after the last of a series of shipments in a

shipping campaign

4. Nonsensitive information papers Ten business days after issuance of the paper

5. Nonsensitive SECY papers not listed elsewhere Immediately after final Commission action

6. Commission staff requirements memoranda,

voting records, and Commission action

memoranda (COM)

Immediately after final Commission action

7. Congressional and executive correspondence Five business days after it is sent to recipient

8. Generic requirements proposed to CRGR

(attachments to CRGR meeting notice transmittal

memoranda)

After the NRC has considered the proposed requirements in

a public forum or has decided on the matter addressed in the

proposed requirements

9. CRGR meeting minutes After the NRC has decided on the matter addressed in the minutes

10. Contract solicitation documents (requests for

proposals)

Maintained in the PDR until solicitation closing date

11. Office of Public Affairs press releases and

speeches

Immediately

12. Emergency preparedness exercise objectives

and scenarios, including NRC and FEMA

comments and reviews

After conduct of exercise

13. Regulatory guides and draft regulatory guides One business day after Congressional committees receive

printed copies

14. Facility-submitted operator licensing written

examinations

After the conduct of the examination