This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

40763 

Vol. 86, No. 143 

Thursday, July 29, 2021 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

7 CFR Part 274 

[FNS 2016–0074] 

RIN 0584–AE02 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

Program (SNAP): 2008 Farm Bill 

Provisions on Clarification of Split 

Issuance; Accrual of Benefits and 

Definition Changes: Delay of 

Implementation Date for Certain 

Provisions 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service 

(FNS), USDA. 

ACTION: Interim final rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This interim final rule delays 

from September 24, 2021, until 

September 24, 2022, the implementation 

date of certain provisions of the final 

rule entitled, ‘‘Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program (SNAP): 2008 Farm 

Bill Provisions on Clarification of Split 

Issuance; Accrual of Benefits and 

Definition Changes’’ (‘‘the Final Rule’’), 

which was published in the Federal 

Register on August 24, 2020 and became 

effective on September 23, 2020. The 

original implementation date for the 

final rule was September 24, 2021. For 

reasons explained below, mostly arising 

from the burden on State agency 

resources caused by the COVID–19 

pandemic, FNS is changing the 

implementation date for certain 

provisions of the final rule to September 

24, 2022, effective immediately. 

DATES:

Effective date: This interim final 

regulation regarding the delay of the 

implementation date is effective July 29, 

2021. 

Comments due date: To be 

considered, written comments on this 

interim final rule must be received on 

or before August 30, 2021. 

Implementation date: State agencies 

must fully implement the requirements 

at 7 CFR parts 274.2(h) and 274.2(i)(1)– 

(3) as established by the final rule 

published August 24, 2020 (85 FR 

52025), no later than September 24, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://

www.regulations.gov and follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

electronically. Comments may be 

submitted via email to Shanta.Swezy@

usda.gov. You may also mail comments 

to: Shanta Swezy, Chief, Issuance 

Support Branch, Retailer and Issuance 

Policy and Innovation Division, Food 

and Nutrition Service (FNS), U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, 

Virginia 22314. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shanta Swezy at the address above or 

(703) 305–2238, Shanta.Swezy@

usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The final 

rule, in part, amended SNAP regulations 

at 7 CFR 274.2(h) and 274.2(i)(1)–(3) to 

implement provisions of the Food, 

Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 

(Pub. L. 110–234) (2008 Farm Bill) and 

the Agriculture Improvement Act of 

2018 (Pub. L. 115–334) (2018 Farm Bill) 

regarding storage of benefits off-line and 

permanent expungement of unused 

benefits. Due to the extenuating 

circumstances of COVID–19, State 

agencies have been focusing efforts on 

the programming necessary for the 15 

percent Thrifty Food Plan increase 

authorized by the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L 116– 

133), Pandemic EBT (P–EBT) authorized 

by the Families First Coronavirus 

Response Act (FFCRA, Pub. L. 116– 

127), and Emergency Allotments 

authorized by FFCRA, which have been 

essential to providing households 

additional support during the COVID– 

19 pandemic. As such, the September 

24, 2021 implementation date poses 

administrative and management 

information system challenges for State 

agencies, and efforts to meet it would 

divert resources from other, more 

pressing programs and the nutrition 

assistance that they provide at this 

critical time. The new implementation 

date of September 24, 2022, as 

established by this interim final rule, is 

intended to result in more effective and 

efficient implementation of the new 

requirements for offline storage and 

expungement, and enable State agencies 

to better manage any cost adjustments 

arising from the changes. 

Administrative Procedure Act 

Statement 

Pursuant to the Administrative 

Procedure Act (APA), notice and 

comment are not required prior to the 

issuance of a rule if an agency, for good 

cause, finds that ‘‘notice and public 

procedure thereon are impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest.’’ 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). USDA 

recognizes that courts have held that the 

good cause exception to notice and 

comment rulemaking is to be narrowly 

construed and only reluctantly 

countenanced. 

Following these principles, the 

Department finds for good cause that 

notice and public comment is 

impracticable, unnecessary, and 

contrary to the public interest for this 

rule. Due to the extenuating 

circumstances of the COVID–19 

pandemic, State agencies have intently 

been working to meet multiple essential 

pandemic-related requirements. This 

has limited their ability to implement 

the final rule, necessitating an 

implementation date change for certain 

provisions of the final rule. A notice and 

public comment period would be 

impracticable because it would 

consume time before certainty about the 

implementation date could be achieved, 

when State agencies need to know 

immediately whether the September 24, 

2021 implementation date still stands, 

as it is fast approaching. During a notice 

and comment period, States would face 

challenges regarding how best to use 

their resources. States likely would 

divert resources from other pandemicrelated requirements to ensure they can 

meet an implementation date that 

might, after the notice and comment 

period, not be sustained. Accordingly, 

the purpose of delaying the 

implementation date—averting the 

States’ diversion of resources—would be 

impeded by waiting until after a notice 

and comment period to determine if the 

implementation date would be delayed. 

In addition, being informed of the 

implementation date change is critical 

to State agency planning and allocation 

of resources, and having to divide those 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES
40764 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 143 / Thursday, July 29, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

resources between COVID–19 needs and 

implementation of this final rule could 

potentially compromise important State 

efforts related to COVID–19. Thus, it is 

in the best interest of the public to 

proceed to change the implementation 

date immediately without notice-andcomment rulemaking. 

Timothy English, 

Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–16123 Filed 7–28–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Parts 50 and 70 

[NRC–2015–0016] 

RIN 3150–AJ53 

Spent Fuel Reprocessing 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Discontinuation of rulemaking 

activity. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is discontinuing a 

rulemaking activity that would have 

amended the NRC’s regulations to add 

a new part to the existing regulatory 

framework specific to nuclear spent fuel 

reprocessing facilities. The purpose of 

this action is to inform members of the 

public that this rulemaking activity is 

being discontinued and to provide a 

brief discussion of the NRC’s decision. 

This rulemaking activity will no longer 

be reported in the NRC’s portion of the 

Unified Agenda of Regulatory and 

Deregulatory Actions (the Unified 

Agenda). 

DATES: As of July 29, 2021 the 

rulemaking activity discussed in this 

document is discontinued. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2015–0016 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–2015–0016. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Dawn 

Forder; telephone: 301–415–3407; 

email: Dawn.Forder@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 publiclyavailable 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 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. Easter Standard Time (EST), 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom 

Boyce, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 

and Safeguards, telephone: 301–415– 

7335; email: Tom.Boyce@nrc.gov; U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Industry interest was the primary 

impetus for the NRC to update the 

regulatory framework for reprocessing 

light-water reactor spent fuel. In Staff 

Requirements Memorandum (SRM)— 

SECY–13–0093, ‘‘Staff Requirements— 

SECY–13–0093—Reprocessing 

Regulatory Framework—Status and 

Next Steps,’’ the Commission approved 

the NRC staff’s recommendation to 

develop a reprocessing-specific rule. It 

directed the staff’s ‘‘continued 

development of the regulatory 

framework should be limited in scope— 

for the time being—to the resolution of 

Gap 5, ‘Safety and Risk Assessment 

Methodologies and Considerations for a 

Reprocessing Facility.’ ’’ Gap 5 focused 

on the development of analytical 

methods for the quantitative assessment 

of risks associated with reprocessing 

facility accidents to inform the basis for 

the development of regulatory 

requirements and regulatory guidance. 

From 2013 to 2016 the staff focused 

its efforts on assessing the quantitative 

risk associated with reprocessing facility 

accidents (i.e., Gap 5). In 2016, the staff 

found that industry interest in 

constructing and operating a 

commercial light-water reactor spent 

fuel reprocessing facility had declined. 

As a result, in 2016, the NRC suspended 

work on the spent fuel reprocessing 

regulatory framework because of other 

higher priorities related to spent fuel 

storage and transportation, as well as 

budgetary constraints. 

II. Discussion 

To inform its decision making, the 

NRC reached out to stakeholders to 

determine the degree of stakeholder 

interest in constructing, operating, and 

licensing a spent fuel reprocessing 

facility. Specifically, the NRC held a 

Category 3 public meeting on March 4, 

2020; participating stakeholders 

included the Nuclear Energy Institute 

(NEI), the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE), the Union of Concerned 

Scientists (UCS), industry 

representatives, environmental groups, 

and private citizens. The NEI and 

industry representatives voiced their 

support for continuing the rulemaking 

primarily on the basis of a need for a 

clear and stable regulatory framework 

for reprocessing and to support 

advanced reactor licensing. However, no 

industry stakeholders indicated that 

they plan to submit an application to 

the NRC for a reprocessing facility in the 

foreseeable future. Other stakeholders, 

such as UCS and members of the public, 

indicated they do not support the 

continuation of the rulemaking because 

of proliferation and other concerns. 

In May 2020, after the public meeting, 

the NEI and the American Nuclear 

Society (ANS) sent letters to the NRC 

with further feedback on the need for 

rulemaking. The NEI stated that 

developers with advanced reactor 

designs that may eventually source their 

fuel from the spent fuel of other reactors 

are generally not planning to do so in 

the near future. The NEI encouraged the 

NRC to assess the technologies for 

advanced reactors before making any 

decisions on the reprocessing 

rulemaking. It also suggested that the 

NRC should not charge existing 

facilities with fees for work on a 

reprocessing rule. ANS encouraged the 

NRC to continue with the rulemaking 

and stated that the lack of an efficient, 

technically robust, and technologyinclusive regulatory foundation for 

reprocessing and recycling is a barrier to 

innovation in advanced reactor designs. 

The NRC also engaged organizations 

and vendors in the advanced reactor 

community to assess their interest in 

and specific needs for reprocessing, 

such as the use of fuel recovered from 

the existing spent fuel feedstock. Based 

on these interactions, the NRC 

concluded that, in addition to using 

fresh fuel obtained from enrichment and 

fabrication, some advanced reactor 

designs have the capability to 

eventually source their fuel from the 

spent fuel of other reactors, but there 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES