CHAPTER II – DECISION DOCUMENTS

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DECISION DOCUMENTS 

The primary decision-making tool of the collegial Commission is the written issue paper 

submitted by the Office of the Executive Director for Operations (EDO), the Chief 

Financial Officer (CFO), or other Office Directors reporting directly to the Commission. 

Best known as SECY papers, they are described below. The development of 

Commission decision documents may be initiated by the Chairman through a tasking 

memorandum; by the Commission through direction in a Staff Requirements 

Memorandum (SRM)11; or by the EDO, CFO, or other Office Director reporting directly to 

the Commission. If the EDO or CFO identifies a policy issue that he or she determines 

is appropriate for collegial review by the Commission, and the Chairman concludes that 

preparation of a paper is not warranted, the Chairman will promptly inform the other 

Commissioners of the issue raised by the staff and his/her reasons for not bringing the 

matter to the Commission at that time. 

An additional vehicle for Commission decision-making is the written exchange of 

memoranda between Commissioners. In these action memoranda (called COMs), one 

Commissioner recommends a particular course of action to the other Commissioners. 

The Commission also receives memoranda from the staff. Most of these documents 

provide information on current topics and do not require any Commission action. At times, 

however, a staff memorandum may contain a recommendation or seek guidance from the 

Commission. In that event, the memorandum will be circulated in the COM system as a 

“COMSECY.” A description of the process used to obtain Commission action on such 

memoranda is detailed later in this chapter under the section “Action Memoranda (COMs 

and COMSECYs).” 

Copies of draft and final SECY papers or COMSECYs delivered to the Chairman shall be 

delivered simultaneously to the other Commissioners. 

 

SECY PAPERS 

 

Policy, rulemaking, and adjudicatory matters, as well as general information, are provided 

to the Commission for consideration in a document style and format established 

specifically for the purpose. Such documents are referred to as SECY papers. A SECY 

paper gains its nomenclature through the designation (e.g., SECY-16-0089) assigned to 

it by the Office of the Secretary (SECY). In addition to its numerical designation, each 

paper has two other distinctive markings. First, a heading on the first page designates 

whether the subject matter relates to the formulation of policy (Policy Issue papers), the 

promulgation of agency rules (Rulemaking Issue papers), or the issuance of adjudicatory 

orders (Adjudicatory Issue papers). Subject matter relating to Federal Court litigation is 

also presented in Adjudicatory Issue papers. Second, a color band on the top and bottom 

 11 SRM is the abbreviation for the Secretary’s memorandum of decision, known as 

a Staff Requirements Memorandum, in which the Secretary records the results of 

collegial action on each paper. The SRM is described in greater detail at the end 

of this Chapter and in Chapter III. 
CHAPTER II – DECISION DOCUMENTS

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of the first page further indicates the type of action expected of the Commission. SECY, 

in consultation with the Staff office submitting the paper, will designate the color band. If 

a Commissioner disagrees with a paper’s color band designation, SECY will poll the 

Commission and the color band designation will be determined by a majority of the 

Commission. However, for black band Information papers, a single Commissioner may 

direct SECY to convert the paper to a Notation Vote paper. A description of the color 

bands used by the Commission is as follows: 

● A red band (Commission Meeting paper) indicates an issue that lends itself to 

brief discussion, deliberation, and a possible vote at a Commission meeting, 

usually in a public session. Should a vote on the paper not occur at the initial or a 

subsequently-held Commission meeting, the Commission will conclude action on 

the matter through the written notation vote process. (See also Chapter IV, 

Commission Meetings). 

● A blue band (Notation Vote paper) indicates a policy or proposed rulemaking issue 

requiring a decision by the Commission or consultation with the Commission prior 

to action by the staff that lends itself to a written notation vote process. 

● A green band (Affirmation paper) indicates Commission business that by law must 

be voted by the Commissioners in the presence of each other but for which voting 

at a deliberative meeting is not anticipated. Such green-band designations 

indicate actions (i.e., approval of final rules or orders) that legally bind those 

the NRC regulates or have a significant legal effect on persons outside the 

Commission. The Affirmation process is administered through a notation voting 

system and a subsequent formal declaration of votes by Commissioners in a public 

session dedicated to this purpose. 

● A black band (Information paper) indicates a paper that provides information on 

policy, rulemaking, or adjudicatory issues. Information Papers are purely 

informational and should not assume or request any action by the Commission. If 

the paper does touch upon major policy issues, the paper should conspicuously 

note the policy issue. A single Commissioner, however, may direct SECY to 

convert an Information paper to a Notation Vote paper. As a recommended best 

practice, a Commissioner should consider use of a COM as the appropriate vehicle 

for raising whether the described staff action should be stayed until the voting 

process on the Notation Vote paper is concluded. Alternatively, the Commissioner 

requesting conversion may request that SECY poll the Commission. If polling is 

used, the results will be addressed through the SRM process. The action will be 

stayed if approved by a majority of the Commission. Weekly Information papers 

describing recent agency activities are issued without any color band. 

As a general policy, SECY papers will be released to the public in accordance with the 

guidelines set forth later in this section unless they contain specific, limited types of 

information that warrant protection, as described below: 
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● SECY papers involving matters that the Commission has specifically decided 

should be withheld (Classified, Safeguards Information; Allegation, Investigation, 

Security-Related, Proprietary, Privacy Act Information; Federal/State/Foreign 

Government and International Agency-Controlled Information; and Sensitive 

Internal Information, which includes adjudicatory, enforcement, attorney-client or 

attorney work product) should be marked in accordance with M.D. 12.2, 12.6, and 

12.7, which govern Classified, Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information 

(SUNSI), and Safeguards Information. 

● SECY papers that involve particularly sensitive matters and contain a specific 

withhold recommendation by the originating office together with supporting 

justification will be issued with the following statement, which restricts any future 

release determination to the Commission: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - SENSITIVE INTERNAL INFORMATION - LIMITED 

TO NRC UNLESS THE COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 

Because the Commission's general policy is to release papers whenever possible, 

the use of this withholding category should be limited and, when used, requires 

adequate justification for withholding on a case-by-case basis. The originating 

office must include in the supporting justification statement reasons that are 

sufficiently persuasive to set aside the release policy. The withhold 

recommendation and justification statement should be included as a separate 

paragraph at the end of the SECY paper. For voting papers, the staff should 

include the withhold recommendation as a specific recommendation. Papers 

withheld from the public in this category are internal NRC documents and may not 

be given to any outside sources (licensees, industry working groups, etc.) without 

Commission authorization. If requested, SECY will poll the Commission on 

release of such papers. SECY papers will be released if a majority of the 

Commission approves release. 

If the staff is recommending the paper be withheld, a date or time frame upon which 

the paper could be released should be specified where a time frame can be 

established. SECY will issue such papers with the following statement: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - SENSITIVE INTERNAL INFORMATION - LIMITED 

TO NRC UNTIL (X DAYS/MONTHS OR EVENT) UNLESS THE 

COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 

SECY will issue adjudicatory information with the following statement, which limits 

distribution of the paper to only adjudicatory employees: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - SENSITIVE ADJUDICATORY MATERIAL - 

LIMITED TO AUTHORIZED COMMISSION ADJUDICATORY 

EMPLOYEES UNLESS THE COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 
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Classified and Safeguards Information will be marked in accordance with M.D. 

12.2 and 12.7. 

Papers that do not involve matters discussed above will be released using the following 

guidelines: 

● Information papers will be made publicly available 10 business days after 

issuance of the paper by SECY. This allows the Commissioners time to become 

familiar with the paper and decide whether they would like to convert it to a Notation 

Vote paper before it is made publicly available. 

● Except as otherwise noted, Affirmation papers on Final Rules and Notation 

Vote papers will be released 10 business days after receipt by the Commission. 

An exception to this procedure will be made if a paper contains correspondence or 

a report to Congress. In these cases the paper will be released 5 days after the 

letter/report is issued, and the SRM will be issued with a statement that reads: 

TO BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE 5 BUSINESS DAYS AFTER THE 

[LETTER TO... OR REPORT] IS DISPATCHED 

● If the Chairman or a Commissioner proposes within 10 business days of receipt by 

the Commission that a paper be withheld, the reason for withholding should be 

documented and the Commission will be polled. A majority vote is needed to 

withhold a document not claimed to be sensitive or to release a document that is 

considered sensitive. In the event of a split Commission with no majority view, a 

document that is considered sensitive will not be released. 

● The Commission may authorize release of a SECY paper to the public at an earlier 

time than the normal practice to allow earlier public access to the SECY paper. 

This can occur when there is a request made for early release of the paper from 

individuals either inside or outside the agency. When SECY receives a request 

for early release of a SECY paper, SECY will poll Commission offices. If a majority 

of the Commission agrees with the request, the SECY paper will be made publicly 

available at a time to be determined by the Commission. 

SECY will publicly release the document and notify the appropriate staff that it is a 

public document. SECY will also notify the Commission’s Advisory Committee on 

Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) or other appropriate advisory committees, which may 

conduct open meetings on the subject. 

FORMAT FOR STAFF PAPERS 

AND ACTION MEMORANDA TO THE COMMISSION 

The following guidance concerns format for SECY papers and action memoranda which 

are forwarded to the Commission for approval of a policy, a significant course of action, 

rulemaking, or an adjudicatory matter. 
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1. If the text of the paper or action memorandum is more than 5 typed pages, single 

spaced, the paper should include a concise summary which sets forth the major 

issues (e.g., technical, policy, legal), the recommendation of the office sending the 

paper, and a statement concerning dissenting views (if any). 

2. If the subject of the paper has had a prior history before the Commission, the paper 

should provide the reference (staff paper numbers, meeting dates, memoranda, 

etc., and Commission actions on them) in a preliminary background paragraph. 

3. If the paper recommends revised text in a document the Commission has been 

asked previously to approve, the additions and the deletions to that text should be 

clearly identified. 

4. If the paper involves State issues, the staff should address States’ views in the 

coordination section of the paper either by noting the Organization of Agreement 

States and/or Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors views or 

describing the interactions, if any, that have taken place. In a small number of 

cases information cannot be shared with the States before it is provided to the 

Commission for deliberation. In these cases, a brief statement as to why it was 

not coordinated with the States would be appropriate. 

5. Any policy issues should be clearly identified in a separate section of the paper. 

6. A thorough assessment of resource implications (FTE and dollars) of actions 

proposed in the paper should be provided under a "Resource" enclosure. 

7. A schedule should be included, in business days or months, of when the proposed 

actions will be completed, including key milestones. 

8. If applicable, SECY papers should include a section that details staff commitments. 

9. All SECY papers should include a section indicating coordination with the CFO for 

resource implications and OGC for legal considerations. 

10. SECY papers and action memoranda coming to the Commission should include 

discussion of any significant differing opinions that arose during the process. 

11. The staff should include as a specific recommendation for Commission decision 

its recommendation to withhold a paper from public release for any period of time 

beyond those established by the normal Commission policies outlined on pages II2 through II-5. 

12. Staff coordinates with the Office of Congressional Affairs and the Office of Public 

Affairs to develop draft Congressional letters and draft Press Releases that require 

Commission approval in the context of a decision document pertaining to policy 

formulation, rulemaking, or adjudication. Draft Congressional letters and Press 
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Releases are then forwarded separately with the associated SECY paper (or 

COMSECY) to SECY. These documents are provided to the Commission with the 

SECY paper (or COMSECY) as supplemental material, but are not part of the 

SECY paper (or COMSECY). In the case of a COM, any draft Congressional 

letters and Press Releases are forwarded to SECY and provided to the 

Commission for its review and approval once voting on the related SRM has 

concluded. 

 

ACTION MEMORANDA (COMS AND COMSECYS) 

Action Memoranda may be (1) written exchanges between Commissioners on issues 

before the agency or on matters a Commissioner wants to bring to the attention of his or 

her fellow Commissioners (COMs) or (2) memoranda from the Executive Director for 

Operations (EDO), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), or other Commission-level office 

seeking guidance from the Commission (COMSECYs). The use of this system allows 

Commissioners to develop preliminary views, explore options and proposed direction to 

the staff, and to initiate activities prior to staff offices becoming involved. In addition, this 

system allows the staff to obtain Commission views on matters that do not warrant 

development of a SECY paper. The Chairman has also used the system to obtain 

Commissioner concurrence on personnel appointments (e.g., appointment of Atomic 

Safety and Licensing Board judges). An attempt has been made to keep the system as 

informal as possible; however, the usual method of response is via the electronic 

response sheet sent by e-mail and the original signed copy of the response sheet 

provided to SECY for the official record. 

Each action memorandum is forwarded to the Office of the Secretary by the initiating 

Commissioner or office with the notation “SECY please track”; processed with a 

distinctive control and identification number, similar to the SECY paper numbering 

system; and assigned a due date (normally 10 business days). The numbering system 

for Commissioner action memoranda consists of a three-letter Commissioner 

identification, year of issuance, and a consecutive number (e.g., COMABC-YY-0001). 

Staff action memoranda are identified with a “COMSECY” identification number, year of 

issuance, and a consecutive number (COMSECY-YY-0001). Distribution of the action 

memoranda is normally set by the originating office. Distribution can be limited to 

Commissioners only or more broadly to OGC, the EDO, the CFO, or other offices. 

Detailed procedures and voting requirements for action memoranda are found in Chapter 

III. SECY tracks each Commissioner’s response. 

COMSECYs coming to the Commission should include any significant differing opinions 

that arose during the process. 

As a general policy, COM documents developed by a Commissioner and COMSECY 

documents are released to the public as a package (COM, SRM, responses) after 

completion of the Commission’s action, unless they contain specific, limited types of 

information which warrant protection, as described below: 
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● COM and COMSECY documents involving matters that the Commission has 

specifically agreed should be withheld (Classified, Safeguards Information; 

Allegation, Investigation, Security-Related, Proprietary, Privacy Act Information; 

Federal/State/Foreign Government and International Agency-Controlled 

Information; and Sensitive Internal Information, which includes adjudicatory, 

enforcement, attorney-client or attorney work product) should be marked in 

accordance with M.D. 12.2, 12.6, and 12.7, which govern Classified, Sensitive 

Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI) and Safeguards Information. 

 COMSECYs that involve particularly sensitive matters and which contain a specific 

withhold recommendation by the originating office together with supporting 

justification will be issued with the following statement, which restricts any future 

release determination to the Commission: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - SENSITIVE INTERNAL INFORMATION - LIMITED 

TO NRC UNLESS THE COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 

 

Because the Commission’s general policy is to release decision documents 

whenever possible, the use of this withholding category should be limited and, 

when used, requires solid justification for withholding on a case-by-case basis. For 

COMs, the Commissioner initiating the COM should communicate to SECY the 

sensitivity of the particular COM. For COMSECYs, the originating office must 

include in the supporting justification statement reasons that are sufficiently 

persuasive to set aside the release policy. The justification statement should be 

included as a separate paragraph at the end of the COMSECY. Documents 

withheld from the public in this category are internal NRC documents and may not 

be given to any outside sources (licensees, industry working groups, etc.) without 

Commission authorization. If requested, SECY will poll the Commission on 

release of such documents. COMSECYs will be released if a majority of the 

Commission approves release. The COMs of individual Commissioners will be 

released only upon approval of the originating Commissioner(s). 

 

If the staff is recommending a COMSECY be withheld, a date or time frame upon 

which the document could be released should be specified where a time frame can 

be established. SECY will issue such document with the following statement: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - SENSITIVE INTERNAL INFORMATION - LIMITED 

TO NRC UNTIL (X DAYS/MONTHS OR EVENT) UNLESS THE 

COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 

 

 SECY will issue adjudicatory COMs and COMSECYs with the following statement, 

which limits distribution of the document to only adjudicatory employees: 

OFFICIAL USE ONLY – SENSITIVE ADJUDICATORY MATERIAL - 

LIMITED TO AUTHORIZED COMMISSION ADJUDICATORY 

EMPLOYEES UNLESS THE COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE 
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Classified and Safeguards Information will be marked in accordance with M.D. 

12.2 and 12.7. 

Similar to an Information paper, a Commissioner may direct SECY to convert any 

memorandum from the Staff to the Commission to a COMSECY if the 

Commissioner wants formal comment on the topic reported in the memorandum. 

As a recommended best practice, a Commissioner should consider use of a COM 

as the appropriate vehicle for raising whether the described staff action should be 

stayed until the voting process on the converted memorandum is concluded. 

Alternatively, the Commissioner requesting conversion may request that SECY 

poll the Commission. If polling is used, the results will be addressed through the 

SRM process. The action will be stayed if approved by a majority of the 

Commission. 

 

STAFF REQUIREMENTS MEMORANDA 

The Secretary records the results of the Commission action on each SECY Paper and 

action memorandum (COM or COMSECY) in a “Staff Requirements Memorandum 

(SRM).” (The process for developing and approving SRMs is described in Chapter III, 

“Voting,” “Closure Process.”) 

The SRM includes: 

(a) a concise statement of the Commission’s decision on the recommendation of the 

SECY paper, COM, or COMSECY, noting specifically any approved modifications 

to the recommendation; 

(b) a clear statement of any additional requirements or tasks to be performed by the 

staff together with appropriate action due dates and designation of high priority, if 

appropriate; these dates are assigned by SECY, if not directed by the Commission, 

and confirmed through the circulation of the draft SRM; 

(c) any exceptions to immediate public release of the SRM will be clearly indicated in 

a statement at the bottom of the first page; and 

(d) if applicable, in the case of a SECY or COMSECY where the Commission was 

unable to reach a decision on an issue not delegated to the staff because of a 2-2 

split vote, the Secretary’s SRM will advise the staff that the proposed action is “not 

approved.” 

In the case of a Commissioner COM where the Commission was unable to reach a 

decision on the proposed action because of a 2-2 split vote, no SRM will be issued. The 

Secretary will issue a memorandum to the initiating Commissioner(s) that the proposal 

was “not approved.” 
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RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS UNDER FOIA 

The Commission's decision-making documents, including the private intra-office 

exchanges between a Commissioner and his or her personal staff, are subject to review 

for possible release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Upon receipt of a FOIA 

request for Commissioner records, SECY will provide each Commissioner office an action 

notice in hard copy with a specified due date. Upon receipt of the FOIA notice, 

Commissioner offices are expected to identify and review all responsive records by the 

due date and provide their response to SECY. SECY will track this process. SECY 

performs a search for documents and forwards the search results along with the incoming 

FOIA request to OGC for a release/withhold recommendation and then to individual 

Commissioner offices for a final release/withhold review. In addition to noting which 

documents are legally withholdable, OGC, in consultation with the appropriate technical 

staff, should provide the Commission with a recommendation on whether to withhold any 

documents or portions of documents. Commissioner offices are expected to identify and 

review all records within the scope of the request in their office files within the 20 business 

day statutory review period for FOIA requests. Release/withhold decisions are made by 

the individual offices. (See Appendix 2 for detailed procedures for handling withheld 

documents in Commissioners’ offices under FOIA.) If withheld documents are subject to 

later FOIA appeal, a second review is conducted and final reviews are conducted by the 

individual offices with the advice of the General Counsel. 

Commissioner offices are consulted prior to the release or withholding under the FOIA of 

other Commission decision-making documents after review by the General Counsel’s 

office and SECY. If a FOIA appeal is received, the Secretary is authorized to grant or 

deny the appeal after consultation with the Commissioners. If no documents are to be 

released on appeal, the Secretary should consult with the Commission regarding the 

proposed withholding. 

MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF COMMISSIONER RECORDS 

The Federal Records Act requires maintenance of all records of each Commissioner’s 

activities and decisions during his or her term of office. Most records generated by a 

Commissioner’s office are permanent records to be transferred to the legal and physical 

custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The NRC has a 

management directive and NARA approved records retention schedules covering 

records accumulated by Commissioners during their terms of office.