[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-29481]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 30, 1994]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 2

RIN 3150-AF24

 

NRC Size Standards; Proposed Revision

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend 
the NRC's size standards used to qualify an NRC licensee as a ``small 
entity'' under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The amendments would: 
establish a separate standard to be used to determine whether a 
licensee who is a manufacturer would qualify as a small entity; and 
adjust the receipts-based standard to account for the effects of 
inflation since 1985.

DATES: Comment period expires December 30, 1994. Comments received 
after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to assure consideration only for comments received 
on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Attn: Docketing and Service Branch.
    Deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 
between 7:45 am and 4:15 pm Federal workdays.
    Copies of any comments received may be examined at the NRC Public 
Document Room at 2120 L Street, NW. (lower level), Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah N. Wigginton, Acting Chief, 
Rules Review and Directives Branch, Division of Freedom of Information 
and Publications Services, Office of Administration, telephone (301) 
415-7158.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1983, the NRC surveyed its materials 
licensees to create an economic profile sufficient to consider 
regulatory alternatives tailored to the size of the licensee. After 
analyzing the data and consulting with the Small Business 
Administration (SBA), the NRC developed a proposed size standard that 
would be appropriate to use in determining which of its licensees would 
qualify as small entities for the purposes of compliance with the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act. The NRC published its proposed size 
standard for notice and comment in the Federal Register of May 21, 1985 
(50 FR 20913). After considering the comments received, the NRC adopted 
its final size standards as noted in the Federal Register of December 
9, 1985 (50 FR 50241). In the Federal Register of November 6, 1991 (56 
FR 56671), the NRC restated the size standards to include the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act's definition of small governmental 
jurisdiction. To further improve clarity, the NRC changed the 
presentation of the size standards to conform to the listing of 
definitions of small entities in the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
    The size standards developed by the NRC were used in the NRC's 
final rule implementing Public Law 101-508 to provide for a reduced 
annual fee for those NRC licensees who qualified as small entities 
under these standards (56 FR 31472; July 10, 1991 and subsequent 
years). In response to these rules, the NRC has received a number of 
comments concerning its size standards and the failure of the NRC to 
promulgate a size standard that differentiates between manufacturing 
entities and service providers. These commenters indicated that 
applying a gross receipts standard to a manufacturing concern resulted 
in an adverse impact on a manufacturer. The gross receipts of a service 
provider reflect the value added by the service provider, which is 
essentially the value of the service itself. However, the gross 
receipts of a manufacturer that are equal to those of a service 
provider reflect a smaller percentage of the value added by the 
manufacturer. A manufacturer's gross receipts include the costs of the 
raw materials or components that, when added to the cost of 
manufacture, quickly send a manufacturer's gross receipts into fairly 
sizeable sums. The SBA size standards for manufacturers are prescribed 
in terms of a maximum number of employees rather than in terms of gross 
receipts.
    The NRC recently completed a survey to update the economic profile 
of its materials licensees. The purpose of this survey was to evaluate 
the continued efficacy of NRC's current size standards and to obtain 
the information that is necessary to determine the necessity and effect 
of a separate standard for manufacturers within the context of the 
nuclear industry.
    Of the licensees who responded to the survey request, approximately 
20 percent (1131 of 5704) indicated that manufacturing was a primary 
line of their business. This indicates that a number of licensees would 
benefit from the establishment of a separate standard for businesses 
engaged in manufacturing.
    Therefore, the NRC is proposing to adopt a size standard for 
business concerns that are manufacturing entities. The NRC proposes to 
use a standard of 500 or fewer employees. This standard is the most 
commonly used SBA employee standard and would be the standard 
applicable to the types of industries that would hold an NRC license. 
Under this standard, approximately 48 percent of the licensees who 
indicated that they were manufacturers would qualify as small entities.
    On September 2, 1993 (58 FR 46573), SBA published a proposed rule 
in the Federal Register that would have streamlined its size standards 
by reducing the number of its fixed size standard levels from 30 to 9. 
As part of this proposed rule, the SBA proposed to adjust most of its 
receipts-based size standard levels to mitigate the effects of 
inflation from 1984 to the present. In a final rule published in the 
Federal Register of April 7, 1994 (59 FR 16513), the SBA adopted only 
that portion of its proposed rule that increased its receipts-based 
size standards as a result of inflation.
    The NRC is proposing to adjust its receipts-based size standard to 
accommodate inflation and to conform to the SBA final rule. The NRC 
proposes to raise its receipts-based small business size standard from 
$3.5 million to $5 million. After analyzing the data received in 
response to the survey and the revised SBA size standards, the NRC also 
is proposing to eliminate the separate $1 million size standard for 
private practice physicians and apply the revised receipts-based size 
standard of $5 million to this class of licensees. This would mirror 
the revised SBA standard of $5 million for medical practitioners. The 
survey of materials licensees indicates that 26 percent qualify as 
small entities under current NRC standards. If the NRC adopts the 
proposed revisions to its size standards presented in this document, 35 
percent of these licensees would qualify as small entities, an increase 
of 9 percent. When NRC adopted its size standards in 1985, the NRC 
staff estimated that approximately 35 percent of the materials 
licensees would qualify as small entities.
    The Small Business Credit and Business Opportunity Enhancement Act 
of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-366) amended the Small Business Act concerning the 
establishment of agency specific small business size standards. The 
proposed NRC size standards have been developed so as to meet the 
criteria specified in Pub. L. 102-366. The NRC has submitted these 
proposed size standards for the review and approval of the 
Administrator, SBA.
    This proposed rule also would codify NRC's size standards in Part 2 
of the Commission's regulations. Previously, NRC's size standards had 
been published in the notices section of the Federal Register.

Environmental Impact: Categorical Exclusion

    The NRC has determined that this proposed rule is the type of 
action described in categorical exclusion 10 CFR 51.22(c)(1). 
Therefore, neither an environmental impact statement nor an 
environmental assessment has been prepared for this proposed 
regulation.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    This proposed rule does not contain a new or amended information 
collection requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing requirements were approved by the 
Office of Management and Budget, approval number 3150-0136.

Regulatory Analysis

    A regulatory analysis has not been prepared for this proposed rule 
because the proposed rule is administrative in that it would amend the 
criteria the NRC uses for determining which of its licensees would 
qualify as small entities for the purposes of compliance with the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act. The amended size standards would conform to 
SBA's revised standards and result in an increase in the number of NRC 
licensees that would qualify as small entities.

Regulatory Flexibility Certification

    As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, 5 U.S.C. 
605(b), the Commission certifies that this rule, if adopted, will not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The proposed rule is administrative in that it would amend 
the criteria the NRC uses in determining which of its licensees would 
qualify as small entities for the purposes of compliance with the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act. The amended size standards would conform to 
SBA's revised standards and result in an increase in the number of NRC 
licensees that would qualify as small entities.

Backfit Analysis

    The NRC has determined that the backfit rule, 10 CFR 50.109, does 
not apply to this proposed rule and, therefore, that a backfit analysis 
is not required for this proposed rule because these amendments do not 
impose any provisions which would impose backfits as defined in 10 CFR 
50.109(a)(1).

List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 2

    Administrative practice and procedure, Antitrust, Byproduct 
material, Classified information, Environmental protection, Nuclear 
materials, Nuclear power plants and reactors, Penalties, Sex 
discrimination, Source material, Special nuclear material, Waste 
treatment and disposal.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, the Energy Reorganization 
Act of 1974, as amended, and 5 U.S.C. 553, the NRC is proposing to 
adopt the following amendments to 10 CFR Part 2.

PART 2--RULES OF PRACTICE FOR DOMESTIC LICENSING PROCEEDINGS AND 
ISSUANCE OF ORDERS

    1. The authority citation for Part 2 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: Secs. 161, 181, 68 Stat. 948, 953, as amended (42 
U.S.C. 2201, 2231); sec. 191, as amended, Pub. L. 87-615, 76 Stat. 
409 (42 U.S.C. 2241); sec. 201, 88 Stat. 1242, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
5841); 5 U.S.C. 552.
    Section 2.101 also issued under secs. 53, 62, 63, 81, 103, 104, 
105, 68 Stat. 930, 932, 933, 935, 936, 937, 938, as amended (42 
U.S.C. 2073, 2092, 2093, 2111, 2133, 2134, 2135); sec. 114(f), Pub. 
L. 97-425, 96 Stat. 2213, as amended (42 U.S.C. 10134(f)); sec. 102, 
Pub. L. 91-190, 83 Stat. 853, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4332); sec. 301, 
88 Stat. 1248 (42 U.S.C. 5871). Sections 2.102, 2.103, 2.104, 2.105, 
2.721 also issued under secs. 102, 103, 104, 105, 183, 189, 68 Stat. 
936, 937, 938, 954, 955, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2132, 2133, 2134, 
2135, 2233, 2239). Section 2.105 also issued under Pub. L. 97-415, 
96 Stat. 2073 (42 U.S.C. 2239). Sections 2.200-2.206 also issued 
under secs. 161b, i, o, 182, 186, 234, 68 Stat. 948-951, 955, 83 
Stat. 444, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2236, 2282); sec. 206, 88 Stat 1246 
(42 U.S.C. 5846). Sections 2.600-2.606 also issued under sec. 102, 
Pub. L. 91-190, 83 Stat. 853, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4332). Sections 
2.700a, 2.719 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 554. Sections 2.754, 2.760, 
2.770, 2.780 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 557. Section 2.764 and Table 
1A of Appendix C also issued under secs. 135, 141, Pub. L. 97-425, 
96 Stat. 2232, 2241 (42 U.S.C. 10155, 10161). Section 2.790 also 
issued under sec. 103, 68 Stat. 936, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2133) and 
5 U.S.C. 552. Sections 2.800 and 2.808 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 
553. Section 2.809 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 553 and sec. 29, Pub. 
L. 85-256, 71 Stat. 579, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2039). Subpart K also 
issued under sec. 189, 68 Stat. 955 (42 U.S.C. 2239); sec. 134, Pub. 
L. 97-425, 96 Stat. 2230 (42 U.S.C. 10154). Subpart L also issued 
under sec. 189, 68 Stat. 955 (42 U.S.C. 2239). Appendix A also 
issued under sec. 6, Pub. L. 91-560, 84 Stat. 1473 (42 U.S.C. 2135). 
Appendix B also issued under sec. 10, Pub. L. 99-240, 99 Stat. 1842 
(42 U.S.C. 2021b et seq.).

    2. Section 2.810 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 2.810  NRC Size Standards.

    The NRC shall use the size standards contained in this section to 
determine whether a licensee qualifies as a small entity in its 
regulatory programs.
    (a) A small business is a for-profit concern and is a--
    (1) Concern that provides a service or a concern not primarily 
engaged in manufacturing with average gross receipts of $5 million or 
less over its last 3 completed fiscal years; or
    (2) A manufacturing concern with an average number of 500 or fewer 
employees based upon employment during each pay period for the 
preceding 12 calendar months.
    (b) A small organization is a not-for-profit organization which is 
independently owned and operated and has annual receipts of $5 million 
or less.
    (c) Small governmental jurisdictions are governments of cities, 
counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special 
districts with a population of less than 50,000.
    (d) A small educational institution is one that is--
    (1) Supported by a qualifying small governmental jurisdiction; or
    (2) One that is not state or publicly supported and has 500 
employees or less.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day of November, 1994.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James M. Taylor,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 94-29481 Filed 11-29-94; 8:45 am]
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