3874 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 600 

Development of Nuclear Energy 

Technologies and Collaboration With 

States on Nuclear Development, Notice 

of Petition for Rulemaking 

AGENCY: Office of Nuclear Energy, 

Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Notification of petition for 

rulemaking; request for comment. 

SUMMARY: On October 23, 2019, the 

Department of Energy (DOE) received a 

petition from Mr. Ken Kay asking DOE 

to promulgate rules and establish 

programs that will allow States and 

their agents to collaboratively develop 

new nuclear technologies with DOE, 

and under the authority of DOE, 

including but not limited to the 

development of small nuclear reactors. 

The petition further requests that DOE 

promulgate rules and establish programs 

that would allow States to develop 

collaborative nuclear and non-nuclear 

laboratories with DOE on currently 

licensed or formerly licensed nuclear 

facility grounds, within their respective 

States, and allow for the construction of 

collaborative nuclear experimentation 

containment facility testing platforms. 

Through this document, DOE seeks 

comment on the petition, as well as any 

data or information that could be used 

in DOE’s determination on whether to 

proceed with the petitions. 

DATES: Written comments and 

information are requested on or before 

April 15, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments, 

identified by ‘‘Nuclear Petition,’’ by any 

of the following methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Email: NuclearPetitions@hq.doe.gov 

Include ‘‘Nuclear Petition’’ in the 

subject line of the message. 

Postal Mail: Mark Yale, Office of 

Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Mailstop 5A–148, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585. If possible, please submit all 

items on a compact disc (CD), in which 

case it is not necessary to include 

printed copies. 

Hand Delivery/Courier: Mark Yale, 

Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Mailstop 5A– 

148, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: 

(202) 586–7856. If possible, please 

submit all items on a CD, in which case 

it is not necessary to include printed 

copies. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents, or 

comments received, go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Mark Yale, Office of Nuclear Energy, 

U.S. Department of Energy, Mailstop 

5A–148, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW, Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: 

(202) 586–7856. Email: Mark.Yale@

hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 

U.S.C. 551 et seq., provides among other 

things, that ‘‘[e]ach agency shall give an 

interested person the right to petition 

for the issuance, amendment, or repeal 

of a rule.’’ (5 U.S.C. 553(e)) DOE 

received a petition from Mr. Ken Kay, as 

described in this document and set forth 

verbatim below, requesting that DOE 

promulgate rules and establish programs 

to (1) allow States and their agents to 

collaboratively develop new nuclear 

technologies with DOE, and under the 

authority of DOE, to include, but not be 

limited to, the development of small 

nuclear reactors designed to produce ten 

megawatts or less of thermal energy, and 

(2) establish programs that would allow 

States to develop collaborative nuclear 

and non-nuclear laboratories with DOE 

on currently licensed or formerly 

licensed nuclear facility grounds, and 

allow for the construction of 

collaborative nuclear experimentation 

containment facility testing platforms. 

Among the cited grounds for petitioner’s 

petition are: the Atomic Energy Act of 

1954, Public Law 83–703, as amended; 

42 U.S.C. 2013; and 42 U.S.C. 2021. In 

publishing this petition for public 

comment, DOE is seeking views on 

whether it should grant the petition and 

undertake a proposed rulemaking or 

other appropriate action. By seeking 

comment on whether to grant this 

petition, DOE takes no position at this 

time regarding the merits of the 

suggested rulemaking or the assertions 

made by the Petitioner. 

DOE welcomes comments and views 

of interested parties on any aspect of the 

petition. 

Submission of Comments. DOE 

invites all interested parties to submit in 

writing by April 15, 2021 comments and 

information regarding these petitions. 

Submitting comments via http://

www.regulations.gov. The http://

www.regulations.gov web page will 

require you to provide your name and 

contact information prior to submitting 

comments. Your contact information 

will be viewable to DOE Office of 

Nuclear Energy staff only. Your contact 

information will not be publicly 

viewable except for your first and last 

names, organization name (if any), and 

submitter representative name (if any). 

If your comment is not processed 

properly because of technical 

difficulties, DOE will use this 

information to contact you. If DOE 

cannot read your comment due to 

technical difficulties and cannot contact 

you for clarification, DOE may not be 

able to consider your comment. 

However, your contact information 

will be publicly viewable if you include 

it in the comment or in any documents 

attached to your comment. Any 

information that you do not want to be 

publicly viewable should not be 

included in your comment, nor in any 

document attached to your comment. 

Persons viewing comments will see only 

first and last names, organization 

names, correspondence containing 

comments, and any documents 

submitted with the comments. 

Do not submit to http://

www.regulations.gov information for 

which disclosure is restricted by statute, 

such as trade secrets and commercial or 

financial information (hereinafter 

referred to as Confidential Business 

Information (CBI)). Comments 

submitted through http://

www.regulations.gov cannot be claimed 

as CBI. Comments received through the 

website will waive any CBI claims for 

the information submitted. For 

information on submitting CBI, see the 

Confidential Business Information 

section. 

DOE processes submissions made 

through http://www.regulations.gov 

before posting. Normally, comments 

will be posted within a few days of 

being submitted. However, if large 

volumes of comments are being 

processed simultaneously, your 

comment may not be viewable for up to 

several weeks. Please keep the comment 

tracking number that http://

www.regulations.gov provides after you 

have successfully uploaded your 

comment. 

Submitting comments via email, hand 

delivery, or postal mail. Comments and 

documents via email, hand delivery, or 

postal mail will also be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. If you do not want 

your personal contact information to be 

publicly viewable, do not include it in 

your comment or any accompanying 

documents. Instead, provide your 

contact information on a cover letter. 

Include your first and last names, email 

address, telephone number, and 

optional mailing address. The cover 

letter will not be publicly viewable as 

long as it does not include any 

comments. 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Proposed Rules 3875 

Include contact information in your 

cover letter each time you submit 

comments, data, documents, and other 

information to DOE. If you submit via 

postal mail or hand delivery, please 

provide all items on a CD, if feasible, in 

which case it is not necessary to submit 

printed copies. No telefacsimiles (faxes) 

will be accepted. 

Comments, data, and other 

information submitted electronically 

should be provided in PDF (preferred), 

Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, 

or text (ASCII) file format. Provide 

documents that are not secured, written 

in English, and free of any defects or 

viruses. Documents should not include 

any special characters or any form of 

encryption, and, if possible, they should 

carry the electronic signature of the 

author. 

Campaign form letters. Please submit 

campaign form letters by the originating 

organization in batches of between 50 to 

500 form letters per PDF or as one form 

letter with a list of supporters’ names 

compiled into one or more PDFs. This 

reduces comment processing and 

posting time. 

Confidential Business Information. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person 

submitting information that he or she 

believes to be confidential and exempt 

by law from public disclosure should 

submit via email, postal mail, or hand 

delivery two well-marked copies: One 

copy of the document marked 

‘‘Confidential’’ including all the 

information believed to be confidential, 

and one copy of the document marked 

‘‘Non-confidential’’ with the 

information believed to be confidential 

deleted. Submit these documents via 

email or on a CD, if feasible. DOE will 

make its own determination about the 

confidential status of the information 

and treat it according to its 

determination. 

Factors of interest to DOE when 

evaluating requests to treat submitted 

information as confidential include: (1) 

A description of the items; (2) whether 

and why such items are customarily 

treated as confidential within the 

industry; (3) whether the information is 

generally known by or available from 

other sources; (4) whether the 

information has previously been made 

available to others without obligation 

concerning its confidentiality; (5) an 

explanation of the competitive injury to 

the submitting person which would 

result from public disclosure; (6) when 

such information might lose its 

confidential character due to the 

passage of time, and (7) why disclosure 

of the information would be contrary to 

the public interest. 

It is DOE’s policy that all comments 

may be included in the public docket, 

without change and as received, 

including any personal information 

provided in the comments (except 

information deemed to be exempt from 

public disclosure). 

DOE considers public participation to 

be a very important part of its process 

for considering rulemaking petitions. 

DOE actively encourages the 

participation and interaction of the 

public during the comment period. 

Interactions with and between members 

of the public provide a balanced 

discussion of the issues and assist DOE 

in determining how to proceed with a 

petition. Anyone who wishes to be 

added to DOE’s mailing list to receive 

future notices and information about 

this petition should contact Office of 

Nuclear Energy program staff at (202) 

586–2240 or via email at Mark.Yale@

hq.doe.gov. 

Approval of the Office of the Secretary 

The Secretary of Energy has approved 

publication of this petition for 

rulemaking. 

Signing Authority 

This document of the Department of 

Energy was signed on December 17, 

2020, by Dr. Rita Baranwal, Assistant 

Secretary for Nuclear Energy, pursuant 

to delegated authority from the 

Secretary of Energy. That document 

with the original signature and date is 

maintained by DOE. For administrative 

purposes only, and in compliance with 

requirements of the Office of the Federal 

Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 

Register Liaison Officer has been 

authorized to sign and submit the 

document in electronic format for 

publication, as an official document of 

the Department of Energy. This 

administrative process in no way alters 

the legal effect of this document upon 

publication in the Federal Register. 

Signed in Washington, DC, on December 

17, 2020. 

Treena V. Garrett, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. 

Department of Energy. 

Attn: John T. Lucas General Counsel, GC–1 

U.S. Department of Energy 

1000 Independence Avenue, SW. 

Washington, DC 20585. 

Cc: 

Eric J. Fygi, Deputy General Counsel, at 

eric.fygi@hq.doe.gov 

Mary Therese Keokuk, Executive Assistant to 

the Deputy General Counsel, at 

therese.keokuk@hq.doe.gov 

Daniel Cohen, Assistant General Counsel for 

Legislation, Regulation, and Energy 

Efficiency, at daniel.cohen@hq.doe.gov 

Elizabeth Kohl, Deputy Assistant General 

Counsel for Legislation and Regulation, at 

elizabeth.kohl@hq.doe.gov. 

United States Department of Energy 

In the Matter of Proposed Rulemaking 

Regarding the Creation of New Rules 

Petition for Rulemaking 

This Petition for Rulemaking is 

submitted pursuant to The 

Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 

551, and 553, requires each federal 

agency to ‘‘give an interested person the 

right to petition for the issuance, 

amendment, or repeal of a rule’’ and 

defines a ‘‘person’’ to include an 

individual, partnership, corporation, 

association, or public or private 

organization other than an agency. 

Statement of Petitioner’s Interest 

I, Ken Kay am From the State of Ohio, 

have a sincere interest and support the 

Creation of new rules, to enable further 

research and development into safe 

modular nuclear reactors as a true 

means of sustainable low-cost abundant 

ultra-clean energy, remove unused 

nuclear fuel known as waste and many 

of beneficial factors that will come with 

unleashing safe nuclear technology. 

Background 

Federal agencies have failed to 

provide a domestic program of research 

and development for nuclear 

technologies to encourage maximum 

scientific and industrial progress 

allowing other nations to become the 

world leaders in nuclear and energy 

diplomacy. This failure has 

compromised America’s safety and 

security and put states at a competitive 

disadvantage to foreign countries in 

producing new nuclear technologies. 

Federal policies with states are not 

consistent with international 

arrangements and agreements of 

cooperation. 

Providing a regulatory pathway that 

removes much of the potential for 

litigation during the research and 

development phase of a technology 

allows private industry to better prove 

technologies and reduce investor risks. 

Such a pathway would allow America 

to bring many more nuclear 

technologies at an accelerated pace. 

Countries around the world — 

particularly China, Russia, India, and 

developing nations — see the benefits of 

developing new nuclear technology and 

are poised to increase their nuclear 

production. 

Unfortunately, projections by the 

Energy Information Agency show a 

diminishing U.S. nuclear presence as 

closures of reactors mount. To improve 

3876 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 10 / Friday, January 15, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

the human condition — ensuring clean 

air, clean water, and a robust economy 

— nuclear energy should be a part of 

America’s diverse energy mix. The 

failure to innovate within the nuclear 

industry and produce newer more cost 

effective technologies and allow current 

nuclear power plants to produce income 

streams other than those from electricity 

generation; have prevented the nuclear 

industry from competing against other 

technologies such as natural gas. 

Nuclear energy is simply more 

reliable than all other sources of energy 

except geothermal. It has the ability to 

operate at full capacity 90 percent of the 

time. By contrast, solar energy can only 

sustain maximum output less than onethird of the time and wind generation 

just about half of the time because the 

sun isn’t always shining and the wind 

isn’t always blowing. Another source of 

energy must always be ready to back up 

unreliable renewables, which is often 

coal and natural gas. 

Nuclear power has even proved its 

reliability in the face of devastating 

conditions. A two-reactor nuclear power 

plant located near Houston, known as 

the South Texas Project, took a direct hit 

from the Category 4 Hurricane Harvey. 

While Texas’ wind farms quickly cut off 

generation due to high winds, the 

nuclear power plant continued 

providing power at capacity for 

struggling communities during the 

disaster. 

In other words, nuclear provided 

electricity when Texans needed it most. 

While states have their own 

development programs for other energy 

technologies (coal, oil, gas, wind, and 

solar); the federal government has a near 

monopoly in the development of new 

nuclear technologies. The federal 

government has failed to recognize 

substantively the interest of the states to 

develop new nuclear technologies for 

peaceful uses. 

The federal government should 

remove barriers to the research and 

development of nuclear technologies so 

that states can provide scientific 

diversity and aid in accelerating the 

development of new nuclear 

technologies. This will help provide 

Americans with a program of maximum 

development and an energy future that 

is not only clean, affordable, and 

reliable, but also powers their lives and 

their potential for flourishing. 

Grounds for Proposed Action 

The United States has fallen behind or 

is falling behind the rest of the world in 

building nuclear reactors and 

developing new nuclear technologies. 

The United States has not come close to 

the rate of building and planning of 

nuclear power plants under the Atomic 

Energy Commission (AEC) which was 

formed in 1946 and dissolved in 1974. 

In 1974 the Energy Research and 

Development Administration (ERDA) 

and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

(NRC) legally split the duties of the 

AEC. The ERDA was to take on the 

research and development activities of 

the AEC and the NRC was to take on the 

safety and regulatory aspects of the 

defunct AEC. In 1977, Congress saw fit 

to dissolve the ERDA and consolidate 

the Federal Energy Administration, the 

ERDA, the Federal Power Commission, 

and programs of various other agencies 

into the Department of Energy (DOE). 

What was lost in the dissolution of 

the AEC were a number of key issues 

that remain unresolved to this day. The 

1954 Atomic Energy Act (AEA) 

amended the 1946 Atomic Energy Act 

and is still the core piece of legislation 

that drives the regulation of the nuclear 

industry. Included within the language 

of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act: 

• Required the AEC to ‘‘recognize the 

interests of the States in the peaceful 

uses of atomic energy’’ U.S. Code 42 

Section 2021. 

• Required the AEC to ‘‘promote an 

orderly regulatory pattern between the 

Commission and State governments 

with respect to nuclear development’’ 

U.S. Code 42 Section 2021. 

• Required the AEC to create ‘‘a 

program of conducting, assisting, and 

fostering research and development in 

order to encourage maximum scientific 

and industrial progress’’ U.S. Code 42 

Section 2013. 

• Required the AEC to ‘‘create a 

program of administration which will be 

consistent with the foregoing policies 

and programs, with international 

arrangements, and with agreements for 

cooperation’’ U.S. Code 42 Section 

2013. 

Many of these legal requirements, as 

laid out by Congress in 1954 are not 

being met since the AEC was dissolved. 

Statement in Support of Proposed 

Action 

While the NRC has developed rules 

that allow states to regulate source 

material and byproducts, it has failed to 

recognize the interests of states to 

develop new nuclear technologies and 

to encourage maximum scientific and 

industrial progress. The NRC however, 

has correctly identified that its mission 

is only concerned with safety and 

regulation; not development. Providing 

a program that encourages maximum 

scientific and industrial progress most 

correctly falls under the umbrella of the 

DOE. We believe a proper interpretation 

of the law is that the authority of the 

DOE can be extended to states in 

collaborative research and development 

agreements per the 1954 AEA mandate 

to recognize the states interest in 

developing nuclear technologies for 

peaceful uses and the provision for 

providing a program of maximum 

development. We do not believe DOE 

authority can extend to commercial 

activity unless the NRC has previously 

authorized such activity such as in the 

production of medical isotopes from 

research reactors -or- the DOE 

developed reactor is a demonstration 

reactor that aids in determining real 

world feasibility. 

Proposed Action 

I, Ken Kay, hereby petitions the 

United States Department of Energy, 

under its authority, to promulgate rules 

and establish programs that will allow 

states and their agents to collaboratively 

develop new nuclear technologies with 

the United States Department of Energy, 

and under the authority of the United 

States Department of Energy, including, 

but not limited to, the development of 

small nuclear reactors that are designed 

to produce ten megawatts or less of 

thermal energy, thus providing for a 

program of maximum development that 

recognizes the interests of states. 

I, Ken Kay, hereby petitions the 

USDOE to promulgate rules and 

programs that will allow states to 

develop collaborative nuclear and nonnuclear laboratories with the United 

States Department of Energy on 

currently licensed or formerly licensed 

nuclear facility grounds, within their 

respective states, and allow for the 

construction of collaborative nuclear 

experimentation containment facility 

testing platforms. 

Ken Kay 

lllllllllllllllllll

Ken Kay 

lllllllllllllllllll

October 23rd 2019. 

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[FR Doc. 2020–28202 Filed 1–14–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

NATIONAL CREDIT UNION 

ADMINISTRATION 

12 CFR Part 701 

RIN 3133–AF20 

Overdraft Policy 

AGENCY: National Credit Union 

Administration (NCUA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule.