This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

16483 

Vol. 77, No. 55 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 50 

[Docket Nos. PRM–50–101; NRC–2011– 

0189] 

Petition for Rulemaking Submitted by 

the Natural Resources Defense 

Council, Inc. 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; 

consideration in the rulemaking 

process. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC or the Commission) 

will consider the issues raised in the 

petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM– 

50–101, submitted by the Natural 

Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC 

or the petitioner), in the rulemaking 

process. The petitioner requests that the 

NRC amend its regulations to require 

each operating and new reactor licensee 

to establish station blackout (SBO) 

mitigation strategies and resources. The 

NRC determined that the issues raised 

in the PRM are appropriate for 

consideration and will consider them in 

the planned ‘‘Station Blackout’’ 

rulemaking. 

DATES: The docket for the petition for 

rulemaking, PRM–50–101, is closed on 

March 21, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Further NRC action on the 

issues raised by this petition will be 

accessible on the Federal rulemaking 

Web site, http://www.regulations.gov, by 

searching on Docket ID NRC–2011– 

0299, which is the rulemaking docket 

for the planned SBO rulemaking. 

You can access publicly available 

documents related to the petition using 

the following methods: 

• NRC’s Public Document Room 

(PDR): The public may examine and 

have copied, for a fee, publicly available 

documents at the NRC’s PDR, O1–F21, 

One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): 

Publicly available documents created 

or received at the NRC are available 

online in the NRC Library at http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 

From this page, the public can gain 

entry into ADAMS, which provides text 

and image files of the NRC’s public 

documents. If you do not have access to 

ADAMS or if there are problems in 

accessing the documents located in 

ADAMS, contact the NRC’s PDR 

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

415–4737, or by email to 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. 

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: 

Supporting materials related to this 

petition can be found at http:// 

www.regulations.gov by searching on 

the Docket IDs for PRM–50–101 and the 

planned SBO rulemaking, NRC–2011– 

0189 and NRC–2011–0299, respectively. 

Address questions about NRC dockets to 

Carol Gallagher, telephone: 301–492– 

3668; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim 

Reed, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555; 

telephone: 301–415–1462; email: 

Timothy.Reed@nrc.gov; or Scott Sloan, 

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555; telephone: 301– 

415–1619; email: Scott.Sloan@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Petition 

On September 20, 2011, the NRC 

published a notice of receipt (76 FR 

58165) of six PRMs filed by the NRDC, 

including PRM–50–101. The petitioner 

solely and specifically cited the 

‘‘Recommendations for Enhancing 

Reactor Safety in the 21st Century: The 

Near-Term Task Force Review of 

Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi 

Accident’’ (Fukushima Task Force 

Report, ADAMS Accession No. 

ML111861807), dated July 12, 2011, as 

the rationale for the PRMs. For PRM– 

50–101, the petitioner cites Section 

4.2.1, pages 32–39, of the Fukushima 

Task Force Report, regarding the 

enhancement of the ability of nuclear 

power plants to deal with the effect of 

prolonged SBO conditions at single and 

multiunit sites without damage to the 

nuclear fuel in the reactor or spent fuel 

pool and without the loss of reactor 

coolant system or primary containment 

integrity. At the time of receipt of the 

PRMs, the Commission was still in the 

process of reviewing the Fukushima 

Task Force Report, and the NRC did not 

institute a public comment period for 

the PRMs. 

In PRM–50–101, the petitioner 

requests the NRC to institute a 

rulemaking proceeding applicable to 

nuclear facilities licensed under Title 10 

of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR) parts 50, 52, and other applicable 

regulations to revise 10 CFR 50.63 to 

require each operating and new reactor 

licensee to (1) establish a minimum 

coping time of 8 hours for a loss of all 

alternating current (AC) power, (2) 

establish the equipment, procedures, 

and training necessary to implement an 

‘‘extended loss of all AC’’ coping time 

of 72 hours for core and spent fuel 

cooling and for reactor coolant system 

and primary containment integrity as 

needed, and (3) preplan and prestage 

offsite resources to support 

uninterrupted core and spent fuel pool 

cooling and reactor cooling and reactor 

coolant system and containment 

integrity as needed, including the ability 

to deliver the equipment to the site in 

the time period allowed for extending 

coping, under conditions involving 

significant degradation of offsite 

transportation infrastructure associated 

with significant natural disasters. 

Reasons for Consideration 

The Commission has established a 

process for addressing a number of the 

recommendations in the Fukushima 

Task Force Report, and the NRC 

determined that the issues raised in 

PRM–50–101 are appropriate for 

consideration and will consider them in 

the planned SBO rulemaking based on 

Section 4.2.1 of the Fukushima Task 

Force Report (Recommendation 4.1). 

The public will have the opportunity to 

provide comments on the issues raised 

by the petitioner in PRM–50–101 as part 

of the SBO rulemaking. The NRC will 

consider the issues raised by the 

remaining NRDC PRMs through the 

process the Commission establishes for 

addressing the remaining 

recommendations in the Fukushima 

Task Force Report. This PRM docket is 

closed. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day 

of March 2012. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
16484 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 55 / Wednesday, March 21, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

1See 77 FR 3408 (Jan. 24, 2012). 2 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act, Public Law 111–203, 124 Stat. 1376 

(2010). 3 12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)(C). 

4See 77 FR 3408 (Jan. 24, 2012). 5See 77 FR 594 (Jan. 5, 2012). 6See 77 FR 13513 (March 7, 2012). 

7 12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)(C). 

8See 77 FR 3408, 3412 (Jan. 24, 2012); 77 FR 594, 

632 (Jan. 5, 2012); 77 FR 3166, 3168 (Jan. 23, 2012). 

1 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act, Public Law 111–203, 124 Stat. 1376 

(2010). 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

R.W. Borchardt, 

Executive Director for Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6843 Filed 3–20–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency 

12 CFR Part 46 

[Docket ID OCC–2011–0029] 

RIN 1557–AD58 

Annual Stress Test 

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, Treasury (‘‘OCC’’). 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: On January 24, 2012, the OCC 

published in the Federal Register a 

notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) 

to implement section 165(i) of the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The 

proposed rule would require national 

banks and Federal savings associations 

with total consolidated assets of more 

than $10 billion to conduct an annual 

stress test and comply with certain 

reporting and disclosure requirements. 

To allow parties more time to 

consider the impact of the proposed 

rule, and so that the comment period on 

the proposed rule will run concurrently 

with the comment period for a 

comparable rule proposed by the Board 

of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System (Board), the OCC has 

determined that an extension of the 

comment period until April 30, 2012 is 

appropriate. This action will allow 

interested persons additional time to 

analyze the proposed rule and prepare 

their comments. 

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule 

must be received on or before April 30, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the methods identified in the 

proposed rule. Please submit your 

comments using only one method. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Scavotto, Lead International 

Expert, International Analysis and 

Banking Condition (202) 874–4943, 

Tanya Smith, Lead Expert, Regulatory 

Capital and Operational Risk (202) 874– 

4464, Akhtarur Siddique, Deputy 

Director, Enterprise Risk Analysis 

Division (202) 874–4665, Ron 

Shimabukuro, Senior Counsel, or 

Alexandra Arney, Attorney, Legislative 

and Regulatory Activities Division (202) 

874–6104, Office of the Comptroller of 

the Currency, 250 E Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20219. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

January 24, 2012, the OCC published a 

proposed rule in the Federal Register 

(proposed rule) 1 to implement stress 

testing requirements in section 165(i) of 

the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank 

Act).2 Section 165(i) requires certain 

financial companies, including national 

banks and Federal savings associations, 

with total consolidated assets in excess 

of $10 billion to conduct annual stress 

tests pursuant to regulations prescribed 

by their respective Federal primary 

financial regulatory agencies. The 

Federal primary financial regulatory 

agency is required to define ‘‘stress 

test,’’ establish methodologies for the 

conduct of the stress test that must 

include at least three different sets of 

conditions (baseline, adverse, and 

severely adverse), establish the form and 

content of the report that institutions are 

required to submit, and require the 

institution to publish a summary of the 

results of the institutional stress tests.3

In recognition of the complexities of 

the rulemaking and the variety of 

considerations involved in its impact 

and implementation, the OCC requested 

that commenters respond to numerous 

questions. The proposed rule stated that 

the public comment period would close 

on March 26, 2012.4

The OCC believes that it is important 

to allow interested parties more time to 

consider the impact of the proposed rule 

and respond to the questions asked in 

the NPRM. Additionally, the OCC 

believes that the comment period for the 

proposed rule should run concurrently 

with a similar rule by the Board of 

Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System (Board). The Board published its 

proposed rule implementing the stress 

testing requirements of section 165(i) of 

the Dodd-Frank Act on January 5, 2012 

with the comment period closing on 

March 31, 2012.5 The Board recently 

extended the comment period until 

April 30.6 Section 165(i)(2)(C) directs 

each Federal primary financial 

regulatory agency to issue ‘‘consistent 

and comparable’’ regulations to 

implement the Act’s annual stress 

testing requirements.7 Moreover, as 

noted in the preambles to the proposed 

rules, the Federal banking agencies 

generally intend to coordinate the 

development of the scenarios that will 

be used for annual stress tests 

performed pursuant to each agency’s 

regulations.8 Therefore, the OCC 

believes that the Annual Stress Test 

proposed rule should be considered as 

part of a coordinated effort by the 

Federal banking agencies to implement 

the annual stress testing requirements of 

the Dodd-Frank Act. For these reasons, 

the OCC is extending the deadline for 

submitting comments on the proposed 

rule from March 26, 2012 to April 30, 

2012. 

Dated: March 15, 2012. 

John Walsh, 

Acting Comptroller of the Currency. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6811 Filed 3–20–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE 

CORPORATION 

12 CFR Part 325 

RIN 3064–AD91 

Annual Stress Test 

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (FDIC). 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: On January 23, 2012, the FDIC 

published in the Federal Register a 

notice of proposed rulemaking for 

public comment to implement the 

requirements in Section 165(i)(2) of the 

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act (the ‘‘DoddFrank Act’’) 1 by requiring state 

nonmember banks and state savings 

associations supervised by the 

Corporation with total consolidated 

assets of more than $10 billion to 

conduct annual stress tests. 

Due to the scope and complexity of 

the rulemaking, the FDIC has 

determined that an extension of the 

comment period until April 30, 2012, is 

appropriate. This action will allow 

interested persons additional time to 

analyze the proposed rules and to 

prepare their comments. 

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule 

must be received on or before April 30, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the methods identified in the 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS