Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 66079 

regulatory flexibility analysis, USDA 

has not identified any relevant Federal 

rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict 

with this final rule. 

AMS is committed to complying with 

the E-Government Act, to promote the 

use of the internet and other 

information technologies to provide 

increased opportunities for citizen 

access to Government information and 

services, and for other purposes. 

A proposed rule concerning this 

action was published in the Federal 

Register on October 1, 2018 (83 FR 

49312). Copies of the proposed rule 

were provided to all kiwifruit handlers. 

The proposal was also made available 

through the internet by USDA and the 

Office of Federal Register. A 30-day 

comment period ending October 31, 

2018, was provided for interested 

persons to respond to the proposal. 

One comment was received regarding 

the proposed rate change. The 

commenter questioned the Committee’s 

authority to recommend a reduction in 

the rate and the potential impact of the 

rate change on the quality of kiwifruit. 

As stated in the Act (7 U.S.C. 

610(b)(2)(ii)), assessments collected by 

the Committee are used to cover the 

costs of administering the program. 

When the collection of assessments 

surpasses budget needs and reserve 

funds are at their maximum, the 

Committee and USDA are obligated by 

the Order (§ 920.41 Assessments and 

§ 920.42 Accounting) to adjust the 

amount of assessment funds collected. 

This adjustment can be made either by 

refunding assessments or by reducing 

the assessment rate. Reducing the 

assessment rate is less costly and more 

efficient for both the Committee and 

handlers. Therefore, to prevent the 

collection of surplus revenue if the 

assessment rate were not changed, the 

authority to reduce the assessment rate 

is both implied in, and necessary under 

the Order. 

Regarding the commenters question 

about the quality of kiwifruit, the 

amount of assessments collected are tied 

to volume of kiwifruit handled, not the 

quality of the kiwifruit. Therefore, the 

assessment rate and kiwifruit quality are 

not directly correlated. 

The remainder of the comment was 

related to general information about the 

kiwifruit marketing order and was 

outside the scope of this action. 

Accordingly, no changes will be made 

to the rule as proposed, based on the 

comment received. 

A small business guide on complying 

with fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop 

marketing agreements and orders may 

be viewed at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/ 

rules-regulations/moa/small-businesses. 

Any questions about the compliance 

guide should be sent to Richard Lower 

at the previously mentioned address in 

the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section. 

After consideration of all relevant 

material presented, including the 

information and recommendation 

submitted by the Committee and other 

available information, it is hereby found 

that this rule will tend to effectuate the 

declared policy of the Act. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 920 

Kiwifruit, Marketing agreements, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 920 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 920—KIWIFRUIT GROWN IN 

CALIFORNIA 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 920 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674. 

■ 2. Section 920.213 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 925.213 Assessment rate. 

On and after August 1, 2018, an 

assessment rate of $0.025 per 9-kilo 

volume-fill container or equivalent of 

kiwifruit is established for kiwifruit 

grown in California. 

Dated: December 19, 2018. 

Bruce Summers, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27888 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 72 

[NRC–2018–0212] 

RIN 3150–AK16 

List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage 

Casks: TN Americas LLC, 

Standardized NUHOMS® System, 

Certificate of Compliance No. 1004, 

Renewed Amendment No. 15 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Direct final rule; confirmation of 

effective date. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is confirming the 

effective date of January 22, 2019, for 

the direct final rule that was published 

in the Federal Register on November 7, 

2018. This direct final rule amended the 

NRC’s spent fuel storage regulations by 

revising the ‘‘List of approved spent fuel 

storage casks’’ to include Renewed 

Amendment No. 15 to Certificate of 

Compliance No. 1004 for the TN 

Americas LLC Standardized NUHOMS®

Horizontal Modular Storage System 

(NUHOMS® System). Because this 

amendment is subsequent to the 

renewal of the TN Americas LLC 

Standardized NUHOMS® Certificate of 

Compliance No. 1004 system and, 

therefore, subject to the Aging 

Management Program requirements of 

the renewed certificate, it is referred to 

as ‘‘Renewed Amendment No. 15.’’ 

DATES: Effective Date: The effective date 

of January 22, 2019, for the direct final 

rule published November 7, 2018 (83 FR 

55601), is confirmed. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2018–0212 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information for this action. You may 

obtain publicly-available information 

related to this action by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2018–0212. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to pdr.resource@

nrc.gov. The proposed amendment to 

the certificate, the proposed changes to 

the technical specifications, and 

preliminary safety evaluation report are 

available in ADAMS under Accession 

No. ML18228A529. The final 

amendment to the certificate, final 

changes to the technical specifications, 

and final safety evaluation report can 

also be viewed in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML18347B333. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christian Jacobs, Office of Nuclear 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES
66080 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

1OMB’s annual guidance memorandum was 

issued on December 14, 2018, providing the 2019 

adjustment multiplier and addressing how to apply 

it. 

Material Safety and Safeguards; 

telephone: 301–415–6825; email: 

Christian.Jacobs@nrc.gov or Edward M. 

Lohr, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 

and Safeguards; telephone: 301–415– 

0253; email: Edward.Lohr@nrc.gov. Both 

are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

November 7, 2018 (83 FR 55601), the 

NRC published a direct final rule 

amending its regulations in part 72 of 

title 10 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations by revising the ‘‘List of 

approved spent fuel storage casks’’ to 

include Renewed Amendment No. 15 to 

Certificate of Compliance No. 1004 for 

the TN Americas LLC Standardized 

NUHOMS® Horizontal Modular Storage 

System. Renewed Amendment No. 15 

revised the technical specifications of 

the certificate of compliance to: Unify 

and standardize fuel qualification 

tables; revise existing and add new heat 

load zoning configurations; increase the 

allowable maximum assembly average 

burnup; allow loading of damaged fuel 

assemblies under certain conditions; 

expand the definition of the poison rod 

assemblies to include rod cluster control 

assembly materials; allow other 

zirconium alloy cladding materials; add 

model OS197 as an authorized transfer 

cask; add the description for the solar 

shield in the updated final safety 

analysis report; and add flexibility to 

general licensees in verifying 

compliance regarding the storage pad 

location and the soil-structure 

interaction. Additionally, the 

rulemaking made clarifications to rule 

text related to the certificate of 

compliance by removing redundant 

language. 

In the direct final rule, the NRC stated 

that if no significant adverse comments 

were received, the direct final rule 

would become effective on January 22, 

2019. As described more fully in the 

direct final rule, a significant adverse 

comment is a comment where the 

commenter explains why the rule would 

be inappropriate, including challenges 

to the rule’s underlying premise or 

approach, or would be ineffective or 

unacceptable without a change. 

The NRC received two comments and 

has determined that they are not 

significant adverse comments. One 

comment agreed with the proposed 

changes to the regulations. The second 

comment concerned transportation of 

nuclear waste fuel to another country. 

As this rulemaking only addressed the 

changes to the technical specifications 

for dry shielded canisters used to store 

nuclear waste on-site, the NRC 

determined this comment to be out of 

scope. Because no significant adverse 

comments were received, the direct 

final rule will become effective as 

scheduled. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day 

of December, 2018. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Cindy K. Bladey, 

Chief, Regulatory Analysis and Rulemaking 

Support Branch, Division of Rulemaking, 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27810 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Parts 207, 218, 429, 431, 490, 

501, 601, 820, 824, 851, 1013, 1017, and 

1050 

Inflation Adjustment of Civil Monetary 

Penalties 

AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, 

U.S. Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy 

(‘‘DOE’’) publishes this final rule to 

adjust DOE’s civil monetary penalties 

(‘‘CMPs’’) for inflation as mandated by 

the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act of 1990, as further 

amended by the Federal Civil Penalties 

Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements 

Act of 2015 (collectively referred to 

herein as ‘‘the Act’’). This rule adjusts 

CMPs within the jurisdiction of DOE to 

the maximum amount required by the 

Act. 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

December 26, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Preeti Chaudhari, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 

GC–33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586–8078. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

II. Method of Calculation 

III. Summary of the Final Rule 

IV. Final Rulemaking 

V. Regulatory Review 

I. Background 

In order to improve the effectiveness 

of CMPs and to maintain their deterrent 

effect, the Federal Civil Penalties 

Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, 28 

U.S.C. 2461 note (‘‘the Inflation 

Adjustment Act’’), as further amended 

by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 

2015 (Pub. L. 114–74) (‘‘the 2015 Act’’), 

requires Federal agencies to adjust each 

CMP provided by law within the 

jurisdiction of the agency. The 2015 Act 

requires agencies to adjust the level of 

CMPs with an initial ‘‘catch-up’’ 

adjustment through an interim final 

rulemaking and to make subsequent 

annual adjustments for inflation, 

notwithstanding 5 U.S.C. 553. DOE’s 

initial catch-up adjustment interim final 

rule was published June 28, 2016 (81 FR 

41790) and adopted as final without 

amendment on December 30, 2016 (81 

FR 96349). The 2015 Act also provides 

that any increase in a CMP shall apply 

only to CMPs, including those whose 

associated violation predated such 

increase, which are assessed after the 

date the increase takes effect. 

In accordance with the 2015 Act, the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) must issue annually guidance on 

adjustments to civil monetary penalties. 

This final rule to adjust civil monetary 

penalties for 2019 is issued in 

accordance with applicable law and 

OMB’s guidance memorandum on 

implementation of the 2019 annual 

adjustment.1

II. Method of Calculation 

The method of calculating CMP 

adjustments applied in this final rule is 

required by the 2015 Act. Under the 

2015 Act, annual inflation adjustments 

subsequent to the initial catch-up 

adjustment are to be based on the 

percent change between the October 

Consumer Price Index for all Urban 

Consumers (CPI–U) preceding the date 

of the adjustment, and the prior year’s 

October CPI–U. Pursuant to the 

aforementioned OMB guidance 

memorandum, the adjustment 

multiplier for 2019 is 1.02522. In order 

to complete the 2019 annual 

adjustment, each CMP is multiplied by 

the 2019 adjustment multiplier. Under 

the 2015 Act, any increase in CMP must 

be rounded to the nearest multiple of 

$1. 

III. Summary of the Final Rule 

The following list summarizes DOE 

authorities containing CMPs, and the 

penalties before and after adjustment. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with RULES