186 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices 

it was complete, and determined that 

sufficient technical information was 

provided in order for NSF to evaluate 

the exemption request and to conclude 

that an exemption is needed and should 

be granted. 

III. Exemption 

On October 22, 2010, based on the 

finding that no domestically produced 

anti-roll tank system met all of the 

ARRV’s technical specifications and 

requirements and pursuant to section 

1605(b), the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer, in accordance with a delegation 

order from the Director of the agency, 

granted a limited project exemption of 

the Recovery Act’s Buy American 

requirements with respect to the 

procurement of a passive-controlled 

anti-roll tank control system. 

Dated: December 23, 2010. 

Lawrence Rudolph, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33043 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Buy American Waiver Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation 

(NSF). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a 

limited exemption of section 1605 of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 

111–5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with 

respect to the purchase of the weather 

facsimile machine that will be used in 

the Alaska Region Research Vessel 

(ARRV). A weather facsimile (weather 

fax) is an electronic machine designed 

to automatically receive near-real time 

marine weather information. 

DATES: January 3, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: National Science 

Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., 

Arlington, Virginia 22230. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jeffrey Leithead, Division of Acquisition 

and Cooperative Support, 703–292– 

4595. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with section 1605(c) of the 

Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title 

2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the 

National Science Foundation (NSF) 

hereby provides notice that on October 

22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer (CFO), in accordance with a 

delegation order from the Director of the 

agency, granted a limited project 

exemption of section 1605 of the 

Recovery Act (Buy American provision) 

with respect to the weather fax that will 

be used in the ARRV. The basis for this 

exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of the 

Recovery Act, in that weather faxes of 

satisfactory quality are not produced in 

the United States in sufficient and 

reasonably available commercial 

quantities. The cost of the weather fax 

is approximately $11,000, which 

represents less than .01% of the value 

of the total $148 million Recovery Act 

award provided toward construction of 

the ARRV. 

I. Background 

The Recovery Act appropriated $400 

million to NSF for several projects being 

funded by the Foundation’s Major 

Research Equipment and Facilities 

Construction (MREFC) account. The 

ARRV is one of NSF’s MREFC projects. 

Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the 

Buy American provision, states that 

none of the funds appropriated by the 

Act ‘‘may be used for a project for the 

construction, alteration, maintenance, or 

repair of a public building or public 

work unless all of the iron, steel, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

are produced in the United States.’’ 

The ARRV has been developed under 

a cooperative agreement awarded to the 

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) 

that began in 2007. Shipyard selection 

is complete and UAF executed the 

construction contract in December 2009. 

The purpose of the Recovery Act is to 

stimulate economic recovery in part by 

funding current construction projects 

like the ARRV that are ‘‘shovel ready’’ 

without requiring projects to revise their 

standards and specifications, or to 

restart the bidding process again. 

Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the 

Recovery Act authorize the head of a 

Federal department or agency to waive 

the Buy American provision if the head 

of the agency finds that: (1) Applying 

the provision would be inconsistent 

with the public interest; (2) the relevant 

goods are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality; or (3) the inclusion of the goods 

produced in the United States will 

increase the cost of the project by more 

than 25 percent. If the head of the 

Federal department or agency waives 

the Buy American provision, then the 

head of the department or agency is 

required to publish a detailed 

justification in the Federal Register. 

Finally, section 1605(d) of the Recovery 

Act states that the Buy American 

provision must be applied in a manner 

consistent with the United States’ 

obligations under international 

agreements. 

II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are 

Not Produced In the United States In 

Sufficient and Reasonably Available 

Quality 

The requirement for a weather fax was 

part of the construction specifications 

for the ARRV. A weather fax provides 

valuable, near-real time weather 

information to the ship as an aid for 

planning science operations and transit 

voyages. It is a standard piece of 

electronic bridge equipment throughout 

the world as it provides the ship 

operator with an excellent and 

necessary forecasting tool to assess 

weather impact on operations. The 

specification requirements for the 

weather fax include: 

1. Performance, reliability, 

maintainability, durability, size, and 

weight. 

2. Regulatory body approval. 

3. Availability of spare parts. 

4. Operate within the 2 MHz to 25 

MHz range. 

5. Built-in receiver. 

6. Built-in thermal printer. 

7. Human Machine Interface that 

allows the operator easy access for 

system set-up. 

8. Pre-programmed with 150 channels 

for the existing facsimile stations worldwide and allow manual programming by 

the operator. 

9. Internal back-up battery. 

10. Automatic start/stop recording 

and printing. 

An important feature operationally is 

being a stand-alone unit with a built in 

printer and automatic operation. This 

provides the bridge watch with a hard 

copy of weather charts and weather 

satellite images in the pilothouse 

without having to access a computer or 

keep track of when a facsimile station is 

scheduled to transmit. The automatic 

operation is critical to minimize 

distractions to the bridge watch who can 

then retrieve the hard copy for analysis 

at a time that will not impact 

navigational duties. Science and routine 

vessel operational duties are 

demanding, especially in the high 

latitudes where the ARRV will operate. 

Any unnecessary distractions in the 

pilothouse can jeopardize the safety of 

the vessel. 

The ARRV will operate as a Global 

class ship within the U.S. academic 

research vessel fleet. As such, it is 

expected to deploy worldwide where it 

is likely to encounter highly variable 

weather conditions. Over the vessel’s 

service life, the ARRV is likely to be 

deployed to Arctic and Antarctic waters, 

the north Pacific and north Atlantic 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices 187 

where the weather conditions change 

rapidly and dramatically. Vessels 

working in these high latitudes are 

subject to demanding and often 

dangerous conditions due to low 

temperatures, high winds, and rough 

seas. Failure to meet any of the 

technical requirements would have 

severe negative consequences for the 

project with regard to operational safety. 

The market research for this 

exemption was done by the shipyard in 

the summer of 2010 and verified by the 

UAF project team in July 2010. As noted 

in UAF’s request for this exemption, the 

shipyard performed market research by 

reviewing industry publications, the 

Internet (including the Marine 

Electronics Journal Web site) and 

contacting various electronic supply 

companies in order to assess whether 

there exists a domestic capability to 

provide a weather fax that meets the 

necessary requirements for safe and 

successful operation world-wide. 

Eighteen (18) potential vendors were 

identified with only six (6) 

manufacturing a weather fax. Of the six, 

only one (1) was a U.S. manufacturer. 

The shipyard then compared the 

existing product lines for compliance 

with the weather fax technical 

specifications and requirements as 

identified above. It was found that the 

one U.S. manufacturer did not make a 

unit that was stand-alone. Instead, the 

system uses a personal computer to 

provide both the human interface and 

printing capability of the weather 

charts. This requires the bridge watch to 

actively manage and interface with the 

system, which takes their attention from 

other navigational and operational 

duties. This distraction increases the 

likelihood of collision, grounding, 

failure to adequately monitor over-theside science operations, and 

inadvertently sailing into dangerous 

weather conditions. Because of this, all 

modern ocean-going vessels have at 

least one stand-alone weather fax 

system. 

The project’s conclusion is there are 

no U.S. manufacturers who produce a 

suitable weather fax unit that meets all 

of the ARRV requirements so an 

exemption to the Buy American 

requirements is necessary. 

In the absence of a domestic supplier 

that could provide a requirementscompliant weather fax, UAF requested 

that NSF issue a Section 1605 

exemption determination with respect 

to the purchase of a foreign-supplied, 

requirements-compliant weather fax, so 

that the vessel will meet the specific 

design and technical requirements 

which, as explained above, are 

necessary for this vessel to be able to 

perform its mission safely and 

successfully. Furthermore, the 

shipyard’s market research as verified 

by UAF indicated that a weather fax 

compliant with the ARRV’s technical 

specifications and requirements is 

commercially available from foreign 

vendors within their standard product 

lines. 

NSF’s Division of Acquisition and 

Cooperative Support (DACS) and other 

NSF program staff reviewed the UAF 

exemption request submittal, found that 

it was complete, and determined that 

sufficient technical information was 

provided in order for NSF to evaluate 

the exemption request and to conclude 

that an exemption is needed and should 

be granted. 

III. Exemption 

On October 22, 2010, based on the 

finding that no domestically produced 

weather fax met all of the ARRV’s 

technical specifications and 

requirements and pursuant to section 

1605(b), the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer, in accordance with a delegation 

order from the Director of the agency, 

granted a limited project exemption of 

the Recovery Act’s Buy American 

requirements with respect to the 

procurement of the marine weather fax. 

Dated: December 23, 2010. 

Lawrence Rudolph, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33044 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment and Final Finding of No 

Significant Impact for Exemptions 

From the Implementation Deadline for 

New Security Requirements 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) has received and 

expects to receive exemption requests 

from several nuclear power reactor 

licensees. Each expected exemption 

request will be from the implementation 

date requirement of Title 10 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 73.55. 

The NRC is authorized to issue 

exemptions pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5. In 

accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC 

has performed a programmatic 

environmental assessment of these 

exemption requests. The NRC 

concluded that the proposed action 

constitutes administrative (timing) 

changes that would not impact the 

environmental resources near any 

specified nuclear power plant. Based 

upon the results of this programmatic 

environmental assessment, the NRC is 

issuing a finding of no significant 

impact. 

Environmental Assessment 

Identification of the Proposed Action 

The proposed action may include 

issuing exemptions to nuclear power 

plant licensees for up to 40 nuclear 

power plant sites, all of which have 

already been granted plant-specific 

exemptions granting additional time to 

implement some of the new 

requirements of 10 CFR 73.55. These 

sites are: 

Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 and 2 

Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 

and 2 

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2, 

and 3 

Brunswick Steam Electric Station, Units 1 

and 2 

Columbia Generating Station 

Cooper Nuclear Station 

Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating Plant 

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit 

No. 1 

Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Unit Nos. 1 

and 2 

Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 

Fermi 2 

Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 

Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 

H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 

No. 2 

Hope Creek Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1 

and 2 

Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 1, 

2 and 3 

James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant 

Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 

and 2 

Millstone Power Station, Unit Nos. 1, 2, 

and 3 

Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant 

North Anna Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 

and 2 

Palisades Nuclear Plant 

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 

1, 2, and 3 

Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1 

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 

Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 

Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, 

Units 1 and 2 

Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Unit Nos. 

1 and 2 

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 

2 and 3 

Seabrook Station, Unit No. 1 

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 

Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 

South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2 

Surry Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 

Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 

and 2 

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station 

Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit 

No. 1 

Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 

and 2 

Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES