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. 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
76752 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 182 / Thursday, September 19, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

Additionally, the proposed rule would 

make several clarifications and changes 

to the Mentor-Prote ́ge ́ Program. First, it 

would clarify that mentors must be 

organized as for-profit business 

concerns. Second, the rule also 

proposed to establish consequences and 

options following the acquisition of a 

firm that is currently participating as a 

mentor in SBA’s Mentor-Prote ́ge ́

Program. Third, the proposed rule 

would revise the Mentor-Prote ́ge ́

Program regulations to make clear that 

a business concern cannot be a prote ́ge ́

for a total of more than 12 years. The 

proposed rule has a 45-day comment 

period, with comments due on or before 

October 7, 2024. 

Pursuant to the Agency’s Tribal 

Consultation Policy, SBA consults with 

Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations 

(ANC), and other Native communities 

prior to implementing regulatory or 

policy changes with a direct and 

substantial effect on their participation 

in the HUBZone and 8(a) BD programs. 

SBA recognizes that regular 

communication and collaboration 

between the SBA and its Tribal and 

ANC stakeholders are vital to improving 

their program participation experience 

and maximizing the benefits to Native 

American communities, even where 

SBA is not actively considering program 

policy changes. SBA therefore makes 

efforts to consult Native communities 

periodically to obtain input on how the 

SBA could improve its programs. To 

these ends, SBA announced that it was 

holding Tribal consultations concerning 

the proposed rule and the following two 

matters. 89 FR 59010 (July 22, 2024). 

First, the proposed rule explained that 

SBA was seeking input on how best to 

implement Executive Order (E.O.) 

14112, Reforming Federal Funding and 

Support for Tribal Nations To Better 

Embrace Our Trust Responsibilities and 

Promote the Next Era of Tribal SelfDetermination, which directed agencies 

to identify and execute policy reforms 

designed to promote accessible, 

equitable, and flexible administration of 

Federal funding and support programs 

for Tribal Nations to better live up to the 

Federal Government’s trust 

responsibilities and help address the 

needs of all Tribal Nations. The Agency 

requested comments on several 

potential opportunities for reform as 

well as one change SBA had already 

made to address the business and 

economic development needs of Tribal 

Nations. 

Second, SBA requested comments on 

prospective policy changes addressing 

joint venture participation in SBA 

programs. Specifically, SBA requested 

input on the perception that mentorprote ́ge ́ joint ventures are winning an 

inordinate number of orders issued 

under small business multiple award 

contracts and suggestions on how to 

incentivize a more equitable 

marketplace for individual small 

businesses who compete against 

mentor-prote ́ge ́ joint ventures for 

multiple award, small business 

contracts. SBA also sought comments on 

the perception that small businesses 

often enter joint ventures to seek 

multiple award contract awards because 

procuring agency past performance and 

experience requirements make it 

difficult for many small businesses to 

qualify for the awards individually. SBA 

explained it was considering whether to 

propose eliminating the exception to 

affiliation between an SBA-approved 

mentor and its prote ́ge ́ for multiple 

award contracts to address this concern. 

In the alternative, the Agency might 

consider proposing a rule that would 

allow an exclusion from affiliation for a 

joint venture between a prote ́ge ́ firm and 

its mentor only for contracts or orders 

that do not exceed five years. Lastly, the 

proposed rule stated SBA was 

considering steps to eliminate the 

applicability of the HUBZone price 

evaluation preference to HUBZone joint 

ventures formed under the MentorProte ́ge ́ Program. 

This document clarifies that the 

above-referenced possible prospective 

policy change to eliminate or restrict the 

exclusion from affiliation available to 

mentor-prote ́ge ́ joint ventures is outside 

the scope of the proposed rule 

published on August 23, 2024. 

Additionally, SBA is not addressing the 

applicability of the HUBZone price 

evaluation preference to HUBZone joint 

ventures formed under the MentorProte ́ge ́ Program as part of this proposed 

rule. To the extent SBA decides to 

propose amendments to its mentorprote ́ge ́ joint venture policies beyond 

those outlined in the rulemaking 

published on August 23, 2024, the 

Agency would do so through a separate 

proposed notice and comment 

rulemaking action in which all 

interested SBA stakeholders may 

participate. 

Jaqueline Robinson-Burnette, 

Associate Administrator, Office of 

Government Contracting and Business 

Development. 

[FR Doc. 2024–21362 Filed 9–18–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–09–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2024–2143; Project 

Identifier AD–2024–00008–A] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Piper 

Aircraft, Inc. Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a 

new airworthiness directive (AD) for 

certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Model 

PA–28–140, PA–28–150, PA–28–160, 

PA–28–180, PA–28S–160, PA–28S–180, 

PA–28–236, PA–28–201T, PA–32–300, 

PA–32R–300, PA–32RT–300, PA–32RT– 

300T, PA–32–301FT, PA–32–301XTC, 

PA–32R–301 (HP), PA–32R–301 (SP), 

PA–32R–301T, PA–32–301, and PA–32– 

301T airplanes. This proposed AD was 

prompted by a report of a wing 

separation caused by fatigue cracking in 

a visually inaccessible area of the lower 

main wing spar cap and additional 

reports of fatigue cracking in the wing 

spars of airplanes that share common 

type design features. This proposed AD 

would require reviewing airplane 

maintenance records to determine if an 

eddy current inspection of the lower 

main wing spar bolt holes was done 

and, depending on the result, doing a 

one-time eddy current inspection of the 

lower wing spar bolt holes for crack(s), 

and replacing any cracked main wing 

spar. The FAA is proposing this AD to 

address the unsafe condition on these 

products. 

DATES: The FAA must receive comments 

on this proposed AD by November 4, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

using the procedures found in 14 CFR 

11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: Deliver to Mail 

address above between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

AD Docket: You may examine the AD 

docket at regulations.gov under Docket 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1