Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 5263 

regular inspections of the EPBMTBM’s 

hyperbaric equipment and support 

systems (such as temperature control, 

illumination, ventilation, and fireprevention and fire-suppression 

systems), and hyperbaric work areas, as 

required under 29 CFR 1926.20(b)(2), 

including: 

(a) Developing a set of checklists to be 

used by a competent person in 

conducting weekly inspections of 

hyperbaric equipment and work areas; 

and 

(b) Ensuring that a competent person 

conducts daily visual checks and 

weekly inspections of the EPBMTBM. 

2. Remove from service any 

equipment that constitutes a safety 

hazard until it corrects the hazardous 

condition and has the correction 

approved by a qualified person. 

3. Ballard would have to maintain 

records of all tests and inspections of 

the EPBMTBM, as well as associated 

corrective actions and repairs, at the job 

site for the duration of the job. 

Compression and Decompression 

Ballard would have to consult with its 

attending physician concerning the 

need for special compression or 

decompression exposures appropriate 

for CAWs not acclimated to hyperbaric 

exposure. 

Recordkeeping 

In addition to completing OSHA’s 

Form 301 Injury and Illness Incident 

Report and OSHA’s Form 300 Log of 

Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, 

Ballard would have to maintain records 

of: 

1. The date, times (e.g., time 

compression started, time spent 

compressing, time performing 

intervention, time spent 

decompressing), and pressure for each 

hyperbaric intervention. 

2. The names of all supervisors and 

DMTs involved for each intervention. 

3. The name of each individual 

worker exposed to hyperbaric pressure 

and the decompression protocols and 

results for each worker. 

4. The total number of interventions 

and the amount of hyperbaric work time 

at each pressure. 

5. The results of the post-intervention 

physical assessment of each CAW for 

signs and symptoms of decompression 

illness, barotrauma, nitrogen narcosis, 

oxygen toxicity, or other health effects 

associated with work in compressed air 

for each hyperbaric intervention. 

Notifications 

1. To assist OSHA in administering 

the conditions specified herein, Ballard 

would have to: 

(a) Notify the OTPCA and the LIAO of 

any recordable injury, illness, in-patient 

hospitalization, amputation, loss of an 

eye, or fatality that occurs as a result of 

hyperbaric exposures during EPBMTBM 

operations, including those that do not 

require recompression treatment (e.g., 

nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity, 

barotrauma), but still meet the 

recordable injury or illness criteria of 29 

CFR 1904. The notification would have 

to be made within 8 hours of the 

incident or 8 hours after becoming 

aware of a recordable injury, illness, or 

fatality; a copy of the incident 

investigation (OSHA’s Form 301 Injury 

and Illness Incident Report) must be 

submitted to OSHA within 24 hours of 

the incident or 24 hours after becoming 

aware of a recordable injury, illness, or 

fatality. In addition to the information 

required by OSHA’s Form 301 Injury 

and Illness Incident Report, the 

incident-investigation report would 

have to include a root-cause 

determination, and the preventive and 

corrective actions identified and 

implemented. 

(b) Provide certification to the LIAO 

within 15 working days of the incident 

that Ballard informed affected workers 

of the incident and the results of the 

incident investigation (including the 

root-cause determination as well as the 

preventive and corrective actions 

identified and implemented). 

(c) Notify the OTPCA and the LIAO 

within 15 working days and in writing, 

of any change in the compressed-air 

operations that affects Ballard’s ability 

to comply with the proposed conditions 

specified herein. 

(d) Upon completion of the Suffolk 

County Outfall Tunnel, evaluate the 

effectiveness of the decompression 

tables used throughout the project, and 

provide a written report of this 

evaluation to the OTPCA and the LIAO. 

Note: The evaluation report would have to 

contain summaries of (1) the number, dates, 

durations, and pressures of the hyperbaric 

interventions completed; (2) decompression 

protocols implemented (including 

composition of gas mixtures, air, and/or 

oxygen), and the results achieved; (3) the 

total number of interventions and the number 

of hyperbaric incidents (decompression 

illnesses and/or health effects associated 

with hyperbaric interventions as recorded on 

OSHA’s Form 301 Injury and Illness Incident 

Report and OSHA’s Form 300 Log of WorkRelated Injuries and Illnesses, and relevant 

medical diagnoses, and treating physicians’ 

opinions); and (4) root causes of any 

hyperbaric incidents, and preventive and 

corrective actions identified and 

implemented. 

(e) To assist OSHA in administering 

the proposed conditions specified 

herein, inform the OTPCA and the LIAO 

as soon as possible, but no later than 

seven (7) days, after it has knowledge 

that it will: 

(i) Cease doing business; 

(ii) Change the location and address of 

the main office for managing the 

tunneling operations specified herein; 

or 

(iii) Transfer the operations specified 

herein to a successor company. 

(f) Notify all affected employees of 

this proposed Permanent Variance by 

the same means required to inform them 

of its application for a Variance. 

2. OSHA would have to approve the 

transfer of the proposed Permanent 

Variance to a successor company. 

VII. Authority and Signature 

Loren Sweatt, Principal Deputy 

Assistant Secretary of Labor for 

Occupational Safety and Health, 200 

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20210, authorized the preparation of 

this notice. Accordingly, the agency is 

issuing this notice pursuant to Section 

29 U.S.C. 655(6)(d), Secretary of Labor’s 

Order No. 8–2020 (85 FR 58393; Sept. 

18, 2020), and 29 CFR 1905.11. 

Signed at Washington, DC, on January 13, 

2021. 

Loren Sweatt, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor 

for Occupational Safety and Health. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01110 Filed 1–15–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–26–P 

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND 

BUDGET 

Recommendations From the 

Metropolitan and Micropolitan 

Statistical Area Standards Review 

Committee to the Office of 

Management and Budget Concerning 

Changes to the 2010 Standards for 

Delineating Metropolitan and 

Micropolitan Statistical Areas 

AGENCY: Executive Office of the 

President, Office of Management and 

Budget. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comment. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) requests public 

comment on the recommendations it 

has received from the Metropolitan and 

Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards 

Review Committee for changes to 

OMB’s metropolitan and micropolitan 

statistical area standards. These 

standards determine the procedures for 

delineating and updating the statistical 

areas as new data become available, and 

responses to this request will be 


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5264 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 

carefully considered by OMB in 

establishing revised standards. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted in 

writing. To ensure consideration of 

comments, they must be received no 

later than 60 days from the publication 

of this notice. Because of delays in the 

receipt of regular mail related to 

security screening, respondents are 

encouraged to send comments 

electronically (see ADDRESSES, below). 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent 

electronically via 

www.regulations.gov—a Federal EGovernment website that allows the 

public to find, review, and submit 

comments on documents that agencies 

have published in the Federal Register 

and that are open for comment. Simply 

type ‘‘OMB–2021–0001’’ (including 

quotation marks) in the Comment or 

Submission search box, click ‘‘Go,’’ and 

follow the instructions for submitting 

comments. Comments received by the 

date specified above will be included as 

part of the official record. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice may be made available to the 

public. For this reason, please do not 

include in your comments information 

of a confidential nature, such as 

sensitive personal or proprietary 

information. If you send an email 

comment, your email address will be 

automatically captured and included as 

part of the comment that is placed in the 

public docket. Please note that 

responses to this public comment 

request containing any routine notice 

about the confidentiality of the 

communication will be treated as public 

comments that may be made available to 

the public notwithstanding the 

inclusion of the routine notice. 

Electronic Availability: This notice is 

available on the internet on the OMB 

website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ 

omb/. Federal Register notices are also 

available electronically at https://

www.federalregister.gov/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James D. Fitzsimmons, Chair, 

Metropolitan and Micropolitan 

Statistical Area Standards Review 

Committee, telephone (301) 763–1465; 

or Email statistical_directives@

omb.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Outline of Notice 

1. Background 

2. Review Process 

3. Overview of Recommendations From 

the Metropolitan and Micropolitan 

Statistical Area Standards Review 

Committee 

4. Issues for Comment 

1. Background 

The metropolitan area program has 

provided standard statistical area 

delineations for approximately 70 years. 

In the 1940s, it became clear that the 

value of statistics produced by Federal 

agencies would be greatly enhanced if 

agencies used a single set of geographic 

delineations for the Nation’s largest 

centers of population and activity. 

OMB’s predecessor, the Bureau of the 

Budget, led the effort to develop what 

were then called ‘‘standard metropolitan 

areas’’ in time for their use in 1950 

census publications. Since then, 

comparable data products for 

metropolitan areas have been available. 

The general concept of a metropolitan 

statistical area is that of an area 

containing a large population nucleus 

and adjacent communities that have a 

high degree of integration with that 

nucleus. The concept of a micropolitan 

statistical area closely parallels that of 

the metropolitan statistical area, but a 

micropolitan statistical area features a 

smaller nucleus. 

As currently operationalized, a 

metropolitan statistical area must 

contain a Census Bureau-delineated 

urban area with a population of 50,000 

or more, while a micropolitan statistical 

area must contain a Census Bureaudelineated urban area with a population 

of 10,000 to 49,999. (Areas delineated in 

annual updates based on Census Bureau 

place population estimates are excepted 

from this requirement until the 

following decade.) 

Both metropolitan and micropolitan 

statistical areas are composed of entire 

counties (Figure 1). ‘‘Central counties’’ 

are those that have substantial 

population residing in the largest urban 

area of the metropolitan or micropolitan 

statistical area. ‘‘Outlying counties’’ 

qualify based on having sufficient 

commuting with the central county or 

counties of the area. Counties that do 

not fall within metropolitan or 

micropolitan statistical areas are termed 

‘‘outside core based statistical area.’’ 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 5265 

The purpose of these statistical areas 

is unchanged from when standard 

metropolitan areas were first delineated: 

The classification provides a nationally 

consistent set of delineations for 

collecting, tabulating, and publishing 

Federal statistics for geographic areas. 

OMB establishes and maintains these 

areas solely for statistical purposes. In 

reviewing and revising these areas, OMB 

does not take into account or attempt to 

anticipate any public or private sector 

nonstatistical uses that may be made of 

the delineations. These areas are not 

designed to serve as a general-purpose 

geographic framework applicable for 

nonstatistical activities or for use in 

program funding formulas. 

2. Review Process 

Periodic review of the standards is 

necessary to ensure their continued 

usefulness and relevance. OMB reviews 

the statistical area standards and, if 

warranted, revises them prior to their 

application to new decennial census 

data. The current review of the 

metropolitan and micropolitan 

statistical area standards is the seventh 

such review. In 2018, OMB charged the 

Metropolitan and Micropolitan 

Statistical Area Standards Review 

Committee with examining the 2010 

metropolitan and micropolitan 

statistical area standards and providing 

recommendations on the standards 

scheduled to be issued no later than 

December 2020. Agencies represented 

on the review committee include the 

U.S. Census Bureau (Chair), Bureau of 

Economic Analysis, Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 

Economic Research Service, National 

Center for Health Statistics, Statistics of 

Income, and ex officio, OMB. The 

Census Bureau provided research 

support to the committee. 

This notice is the first of two 

anticipated notices related to the review 

of the 2010 standards. After OMB 

considers the recommendations of the 

review committee and the comments 

received through this notice, any 

revisions to the standards will be 

announced in a final notice. 

3. Overview of Recommendations From 

the Metropolitan and Micropolitan 

Statistical Area Standards Review 

Committee 

The committee noted that the 2010 

standards have served the Federal 

statistical community well over the past 

decade. There are aspects of the 

standards, however, that require 

evaluation in light of experiences from 

the implementation of the 2010 

standards and continuing change in U.S. 

population and activity patterns. 

The committee made the following 

recommendations in their report to 

OMB, available as a supplemental 

document to this Notice at 

www.regulations.gov: 

(1) The minimum urban area 

population to qualify a metropolitan 

statistical area should be increased from 

50,000 to 100,000 (see Appendix, Part 

A: Table 1 for a list of current 

metropolitan statistical areas likely to be 

among those that would be affected by 

this recommendation). 

(2) The delineation of New England 

city and town areas (NECTAs), NECTA 


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5266 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 

divisions, and combined NECTAs 

should be discontinued. 

(3) Research should be undertaken on 

an additional, territorially exhaustive 

classification that covers all of the 

United States and Puerto Rico. 

(4) The first annual delineation 

update of the coming decade should be 

combined with the decennial-based 

delineations. 

(5) OMB should make publicly 

available a schedule for updates to the 

core based statistical areas (see 

proposed update schedule below). 

(6) OMB should continue use of 

American Community Survey 

commuting data in measurement of 

intercounty connectivity, though 

changing societal and economic trends 

may warrant considering changes in the 

2030 standards. 

Under the recommendations of the 

committee, OMB would release three 

different types of updates, subject to the 

proposed standards. 

(1) Annual Updates—These updates 

would address qualification of new 

metropolitan and micropolitan 

statistical areas and typically would 

affect a small number of counties. (In 

some years, there may be no updates 

warranted by the data.) 

(2) Five-Year (‘‘mid-decade’’) 

Update—This broader update would 

include: Qualification of metropolitan 

and micropolitan statistical areas, 

qualification of outlying counties, 

merging of adjacent metropolitan or 

micropolitan statistical areas, 

qualification of principal cities, 

categorization of metropolitan and 

micropolitan statistical areas, 

qualification of metropolitan divisions, 

qualification of combined statistical 

areas, and titling of metropolitan and 

micropolitan statistical areas, 

metropolitan divisions, and combined 

statistical areas. 

(3) Decennial Delineation—The initial 

re-delineation following adoption of 

revised standards would include all of 

the changes listed for the five-year 

update, plus the qualification of central 

counties. 

The schedule for these updates as 

described in the attached proposed 

standards is as follows: 

Update type Release date 

Decennial Delineation ........ June 2023. 

Annual Update ................... December 2024. 

Annual Update ................... December 2025. 

Annual Update ................... December 2026. 

Annual Update ................... December 2027. 

Five-Year Update .............. December 2028. 

Annual Update ................... December 2029. 

4. Issues for Comment 

OMB is seeking comments on the 

specific recommendations of the 

committee for revising the 2010 

standards and their potential effects on 

the statistical area delineations (see 

Section 3 above). Comments are also 

sought on any other aspect of the 

current 2010 Standards that are of 

interest to reviewers, including topics 

such as commuting thresholds, 

alternative sources of data, stakeholder 

engagement, and procedures for OMB 

dissemination of updates to the 

delineations, as well as editorial 

suggestions to help improve the clarity 

of the standards. 

Dominic J. Mancini, 

Deputy Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00988 Filed 1–15–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3110–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2020–0153] 

Updated Aging Management Criteria 

for Reactor Vessel Internal 

Components for Pressurized-Water 

Reactors 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing Interim 

Staff Guidance (ISG) SLR–ISG–2021– 

01–PWRVI, ‘‘Updated Aging 

Management Criteria for Reactor Vessel 

Internal Components for PressurizedWater Reactors.’’ This ISG updates the 

aging management criteria for 

pressurized-water reactor (PWR) vessel 

internals components in the NRC’s 

subsequent license renewal (SLR) 

guidance documents. Specifically, the 

ISG revises guidance contained in 

NUREG–2191, ‘‘Generic Aging Lessons 

Learned for Subsequent License 

Renewal (GALL–SLR) Report,’’ and 

NUREG–2192, ‘‘Standard Review Plan 

for Review of Subsequent License 

Renewal Applications for Nuclear 

Power Plants.’’ This ISG is intended to 

facilitate preparation of SLR 

applications by clarifying existing 

guidance for aging management and 

adding new guidance, which also will 

facilitate the NRC staff’s review of SLR 

applications. 

DATES: This guidance is effective on 

February 18, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2020–0153 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may obtain publicly available 

information related to this document 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0153. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://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. For the convenience of the 

reader, instructions about obtaining 

materials referenced in this document 

are provided in the ‘‘Availability of 

Documents’’ section. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents, is currently closed. You 

may submit your request to the PDR via 

email at pdr.resource@nrc.gov or call 1– 

800–397–4209 or 301–415–4737, 

between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jeffrey Mitchell, Office of Nuclear 

Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001, telephone: 301–415– 

0833; email: jeffrey.mitchell2@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On August 3, 2020 (85 FR 46735), the 

staff requested public comments on 

draft SLR–ISG–PWRVI–2020–XX, 

‘‘Updated Aging Management Criteria 

for Reactor Vessel Internal Components 

for Pressurized-Water Reactors.’’ The 

NRC received comments from the 

Electric Power Research Institute, 

Materials Reliability Program (EPRI 

MRP) by letter dated September 1, 2020 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML20245E539), 

and from the Nuclear Energy Institute 

by letter dated September 2, 2020 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML20246G654). 

No other comments were submitted. 

The NRC staff considered those 

comments in developing the final 

version of the ISG. The staff’s responses 

to the comments are provided in 


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