76750 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 182 / Thursday, September 19, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 50 

[Docket No. PRM–50–125; NRC–2024–0135] 

Returning a Decommissioning Plant to 

Operating Status 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice 

of docketing and request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) has received a 

petition for rulemaking from Alan Blind 

and Roger Rapoport, dated July 1, 2024, 

requesting that the NRC revise its 

regulations to include a Commissionapproved process for returning a 

decommissioning plant to operational 

status. The petition was docketed by the 

NRC on July 23, 2024, and has been 

assigned Docket No. PRM–50–125. The 

NRC is examining the issues raised in 

PRM–50–125 to determine whether they 

should be considered in rulemaking. 

The NRC is requesting public comment 

on this petition at this time. 

DATES: Submit comments by December 

3, 2024. Comments received after this 

date will be considered if it is practical 

to do so, but the NRC is able to assure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods 

however, the NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal rulemaking website: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2024–0135. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Helen 

Chang; telephone: 301–415–3228; email: 

Helen.Chang@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• Email comments to: 

Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you 

do not receive an automatic email reply 

confirming receipt, then contact us at 

301–415–1677. 

• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 

415–1101. 

• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: 

Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. 

• Hand deliver comments to: 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 

20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. 

eastern time, Federal workdays; 

telephone: 301–415–1677. 

You can read a plain language 

description of this petition for 

rulemaking at https://

www.regulations.gov/docket/NRC-2024- 

0135. For additional direction on 

obtaining information and submitting 

comments, see ‘‘Obtaining Information 

and Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Soly 

Soto Lugo, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001; telephone: 301–415–7528, email: 

Soly.Sotolugo@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2024– 

0135 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information for this 

action. You may obtain publicly 

available information related to this 

action by any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2024–0135. 

• 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. The ADAMS 

accession number for each document 

referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) 

is provided the first time that it is 

mentioned in this document. 

• NRC’s PDR: The NRC Public 

Document Room (PDR), where you may 

examine and order copies of publicly 

available documents, is open by 

appointment. To make an appointment 

to visit the PDR, please send an email 

to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1–800– 

397–4209 or 301–415–4737, between 8 

a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time, Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

B. Submitting Comments 

The NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal Rulemaking website (https://

www.regulations.gov). Please include 

Docket ID NRC–2024–0135 in your 

comment submission. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC will post all comment 

submissions at https://

www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 

comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment into ADAMS. 

II. The Petitioner and Petition 

The petition for rulemaking (PRM) 

was filed by Alan Blind and Roger 

Rapoport. Subsequently, the petitioner 

submitted additional signatures of 

community members near the Palisades 

Nuclear Plant (Palisades) in support of 

the petition. The PRM requests that the 

NRC revise its regulations at 10 CFR 

part 52, ‘‘Licenses, Certifications, and 

Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,’’ to 

include a Commission-approved process 

for returning a decommissioning plant 

to operational status. The NRC 

understands the petition, based on the 

context and references within, to mean 

plants currently in the decommissioning 

process rather than fully 

decommissioned plants and to be 

requesting a revision of the part 50 

regulations rather than part 52 

regulations. The petition may be found 

in ADAMS at Accession No. 

ML24205A122. 

III. Discussion of the Petition 

The petition states that the NRC staff 

lack a specific NRC Commissionapproved and codified process for 

licensing, inspecting, and approving the 

return to service of a power reactor that 

has entered decommissioning. The 

petitioner requests that the NRC 

conduct rulemaking to include a 

codified process for returning a 

decommissioning plant to operational 

status. The petitioner points to the 

ongoing Palisades proceedings as 

examples for where new, codified 

processes are needed. 

The petition states that the NRC 

received a proposal for a regulatory path 

to the reauthorization of power 

operations at the Palisades plant using 

the current regulatory framework. The 

petition also states that the proposed 

framework is based on a denial of PRM– 

50–117, ‘‘Criteria to Return Retired 

Nuclear Power Reactors to Operations’’ 

(86 FR 24362), which the petitioner 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 182 / Thursday, September 19, 2024 / Proposed Rules 76751 

states is taken out of context by Holtec/ 

Palisades. The petitioner contends that 

returning a plant that has entered the 

decommissioning process to an 

operational status does not meet the 

applicability requirements of 10 CFR 

50.12, ‘‘Specific exemptions;’’ 50.59, 

‘‘Changes, tests and experiments’’ and 

50.90, ‘‘Application for amendment of 

license, construction permit, or early 

site permit.’’ The petitioner also states 

that a generic rulemaking to establish a 

Commission-approved process for 

returning a decommissioning plant to 

operational status is necessary as 

Palisades is the first plant seeking NRC 

approval to transition from a 

decommissioning status back to 

operations. 

The petitioner did not provide 

proposed regulatory language but rather 

proposed elements that should be 

included in the rulemaking. These 

elements include decommissioning 

status and configuration verification, 

aging management, quality assurance 

during restart and operations, 

equipment maintenance, personnel 

qualifications, license expirations, 

hearing process, appropriate licensing 

basis, startup testing, and NRC catchup 

review, as well as completion of past, 

open commitments. 

In addition, the petitioner requests 

that the NRC revise its regulations to 

require the NRC to review all materials 

associated with license transfers to new 

entities for the purpose of completion of 

decommissioning. The petitioner also 

requests that the NRC revise its 

regulations to require that entities 

previously approved primarily for 

decommissioning activities submit a 

new license transfer application in 

accordance with 10 CFR 50.80, 

‘‘Transfer of licenses,’’ before that entity 

can be qualified to engage in activities 

associated with power operations. The 

petitioner contends that this 

requirement would ensure that the NRC 

assesses the qualifications of the 

requesting entity based on evidence of 

its operational capabilities and not 

evidence of its decommissioning 

qualifications. 

Only public comments responsive to 

PRM–50–125 regarding the request that 

the NRC revise its regulations to include 

a Commission-approved process for 

returning a decommissioning plant to an 

operational status will be considered. 

Note that this is a separate process from 

the ongoing NRC consideration of 

requested actions related to the 

potential restart of the Palisades Nuclear 

Plant, which has separate Docket IDs, 

and can be found at NRC–2024–0128 

and NRC–2024–0130. 

IV. Conclusion 

The NRC has determined that the 

petition meets the sufficiency 

requirements for docketing a PRM under 

10 CFR 2.803, ‘‘Petition for rulemakingNRC action.’’ The NRC will examine the 

issues raised in PRM–50–125 and any 

comments received in response to this 

comment request to determine whether 

these issues should be considered in 

rulemaking. While the petition is being 

evaluated, the NRC staff will continue to 

follow existing regulations for its 

regulatory activities. 

The public can monitor further action 

on the rulemaking that will address this 

petition by searching Docket ID NRC– 

2024–0135 on the Federal rulemaking 

website, https://www.regulations.gov. 

The site allows members of the public 

to receive alerts when changes or 

additions occur in a docket folder. To 

subscribe: (1) navigate to the docket 

folder (NRC–2024–0135); (2) click the 

‘‘Subscribe’’ link; and (3) enter an email 

address and click on the ‘‘Subscribe’’ 

link. The NRC also tracks the status of 

all NRC rules and PRMs on its website 

at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/ 

regulatory/rulemaking/rulespetitions.html. 

Dated: September 10, 2024. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Carrie Safford, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20936 Filed 9–18–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 126 

Clarification to HUBZone Program 

Updates and Clarifications and 

Potential Reforms 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Clarification to proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA or Agency) 

publishes this document to clarify the 

scope of a proposed rule published on 

August 23, 2024. The proposed rule is 

intended to clarify and improve policies 

implemented as part of a comprehensive 

revision to the Historically 

Underutilized Business Zone 

(HUBZone) program regulations in 

2019; to propose several changes to 

SBA’s size and 8(a) Business 

Development (BD) regulations, and 

technical changes to the Women-Owned 

Small Business (WOSB) and Veteran 

Small Business Certification (VetCert) 

programs; and to move program-specific 

recertification requirements to a new 

section that would cover all size and 

status recertification requirements. The 

proposed rule does not address the 

exclusion from affiliation available to 

mentor-prote ́ge ́ joint ventures or the 

applicability of the HUBZone price 

evaluation preference to HUBZone joint 

ventures formed under the MentorProte ́ge ́ Program. Those issues are 

outside the scope of the proposed rule. 

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule 

published at 89 FR 68274 (Aug. 23, 

2024) must be received on or before 

October 7, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No. SBA–2024– 

0007 or RIN 3245–AH68, by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail (for paper submissions): Laura 

Maas, HUBZone Program, 409 Third 

Street SW, Washington, DC 20416. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number or Regulatory 

Information Number (RIN) for this 

rulemaking. All comments received will 

be posted on https://

www.regulations.gov. If you wish to 

submit confidential business 

information (CBI) as defined in the User 

Notice at https://www.regulations.gov, 

please submit the comments to Laura 

Maas and highlight the information that 

you consider to be CBI and explain why 

you believe this information should be 

held confidential. SBA will make a final 

determination as to whether the 

comments will be published or not. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laura Maas, Deputy Director, Office of 

HUBZone, hubzone@sba.gov, (202) 205– 

7341. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SBA 

issued a proposed rule concerning the 

HUBZone program regulations under 

RIN 3245–AH68. 89 FR 68274 (Aug. 23, 

2024). The proposed rule is intended to 

clarify and improve several regulatory 

provisions, including those governing 

HUBZone contract eligibility. The 

proposed rule would also make several 

changes to SBA’s size and 8(a) Business 

Development (BD) program regulations. 

In particular, the rulemaking would 

consolidate and redesignate the separate 

recertification requirements for SBA’s 

size, 8(a) BD, HUBZone, Woman-Owned 

Small Business, and Service-Disabled 

Veteran-Owned Small Business 

programs to a new section to reduce 

confusion and to ensure consistent 

application of the size and status 

recertification requirements. 


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