ML20151D725
| ML20151D725 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/29/1977 |
| From: | Felton J NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM) |
| To: | Haase W PRESIDENT OF U.S. & EXECUTIVE OFFICES |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8804140394 | |
| Download: ML20151D725 (8) | |
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i pp 2 9 471 Mr. Walter W. Haase Deputy Associate Director for Information Systems Office of Management and Budget Executive Office of the President 4
Washington, D.C.
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Dear Mr. Haase:
Enclosed are five copies of Parts II and III of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Privacy Act Implementation Report for OMB's use in preparing the Annual Report to the Congress under the Privacy Act of 1974.
a In accordance with your memorandum of January 13, 1977, Part I of the report and an annotated copy of the Commission's Inventory of Federal Personal Data Systems Subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 was submitted to OMB on February 25, 1977.
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Si erely,
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f'f cV J. H. Felton, Director Division of Rules & Records
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Office of Administration
Enclosure:
As stated i
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N1JCLEAR REGUIATORY COMMISSION PRIVACY ACT IMPLEMENTATION REPORT - PART II AND III PART II*
Actions to comply with the Act.
This part of the report shall summarize actions to implement and administer the provisions of sections 3 and 7 of the Act
.. this part shall, as a minimum, address agency actions to:
(a) advise agency personnel as to their responsibilities under the Act and inform them of agency policies and procedures for complying with the Act, including administrative and legal sanctions; (b) assure that all personal information collected by the agency is necessary for a purpose established by statute or executive order: (c) establish safe-guards to protect againse unwarranted disclosures of, loss of, or tampering with records subject to the Act which could cause substantial harm or embarrassment to the subject of such records; (d) assure the accuracy of records maintained; (e) review and modify agency contracts which provide for the operation of systems of records subject to the Act to assure that such systems are maintained in conformance with the requirements of the Act; and (f) restrict the use of the Social Security Account Number.
NRC has conducted an agency-wide program to inform agency supervisory officials and employees of their responsibilities under the Act and their rights as individuals under the Act. The administrative and legal staffs met with senior staff and various organizational units to brief them on the basic provisions of the Act and to answer any questions which they might have. In addition to this series of seminars, the administrative i
and legal staffs have coordinated the development of NRC Privacy Act statements with the Offices and Divisions maintaining systems of records.
The NRC regulations published in the Federal Register to add a new Subpart B, Privacy Act Regulations, to 10 CFR Part 9 were specifically called to the
- The under scored matter in Parts II and III is excerpted from CIRCULAR No. A-108 Transmittal Memorandum No. 2 of March 25, 1976 from James T. Lynn Director, OMB.
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cttentien cf all empicy:esto. Tha empicy00s wero iravited to submit comments on the proposed rule and were also furnished copies of the NRC's Notices of Systems of Records which were published in the Federal Register.
During the past year, the NRC has sought to identify any duplicate systems of records which exist in whole or in part at locations other than the primary location, but which are not indicated as a duplicate location in the pertinent system of records. The Nhc has amended the systems of records to correct such deficiencies. Amendraents have also been made to up-date the systems of records as changes have occurred.
The NRC staff is now finalizing an NRC manual chapter on implementation of the Privacy Act which will be in the form of a handbook, available to all employees and the public.
i Each system manager has been informed of his or her responsibilities under the Act to assure that all personal information in the pertinent t
system of records is necessary for an NRC function, that appropriate safeguards are established and maintained to protect against unwarranted i
disclosures of, loss of, or tampering with records, that records are accurate and relevant, that pertinent contracts provide that systems are maintained in conformance with the Act, and that the use of the social security account number is restricted.
PART III Evaluation of the effects of the Act.
(a) Reductions in collection of personal information, i
The NRC currently maintains 36 personal data systems subject to the a
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- 0MB reviewed the final regulations of the NRC and only offered suggestions j
for minor changes which have been implemented.
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Privacy Act of 1974. These systems contain approximately 263,000 per:onal records covering about 225,000 individuals. Of these, over 90 percent pertain to records of those persons who have been exposed to radiation in the course of their duties in the nuclear industry. Another 5 percent of the records relate to those individuals who are on NRC mailing lists at their own request. The remaining individuals on which the NRC mair-tains records are primarily NRC employees or licensed operators at nuclear facilities. NRC personal data systens are periodically screened to remove obsolete information in accordance with approved record disposal schedules.
As a part of the NRC's program for the reduction of paperwork, the staff is reviewing the NRC's reporting requirements in its regulations and license conditions to cetermine whether a number of the reporting requirements should be revoked as being no longer uecessary.
It is believed that this study will result in changes which will have the effect of reducing the personal data in the systems of records.
(b) Obtaining information from individuals - The Act is intended to assure f airness to individuals on whom records are kept and that individuals be informed of the purposes for which information about them vill be used so that they can make inforced judgments as to whether to provide it
. With respect to the information about individuals solicited from third parties, the analysis should indicate whether there has been any evident changes in willingness to respond to requests.
The NRC has examined all application, registration, and other forms, with the view of assuring that persons completing such forms are informed of the purposes for which such information is requested in order that __ _
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they can make informed judgments as to whether to provide it.
Thirty i
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nine Privacy Act Statements have been prepared for use with 56 such forms, informing the individual who is asked to furnish information of the authority for soliciting the information, the principal purpose for which I
the information is intended to be used, the routine uses which may be l
made of the information, and the effects, if any, on the individual of not providing all or any part of the requested information.
4 The NRC has noticed a change in the willingness of individuals and companies to provide information in response to personnel reference checks.
In some instances, certain companies as a matter of policy now decline to furnish any information on reference checks.
l (c) Obtaining information from other agencies.
There has been no perceptible change in the NRC's ability to obtain information from other agencies, and it has not been necessary to j
establish separate reporting systems to obtain information previously available from other sources.
I (d) Disclosing information.
Information collected for one purpose should not be used for another without the express written consent of the individual to whom the information pertains. This section 1
of the report should cover the extent to which this requirement has limited disclosures from agency records especially to the public l
(including the press) and to units of State and local government.
During 1976, the NRC has received only two requests for information, the lisclosure of which is restricted by 5 U.S.C. 552a(b).
In both cases the requests were by a consultant to public utility companies who had
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contracted to conduct a Test Validation Study for the utility companies training program for Nuclear Senior Reactor Operator Test which were administered by the NRC to the public utility's employees.
In each 4..
case the NRC requested written permission from each of the utility's employees prior to releasing the test results. Permission to release i
the test results was granted by the vast majority of the employees who responded. Thus, the limitation in the Act regarding the use of infor-mation for purposes other than those for which it was collected has had no significant impact on NRC record keeping practices.
(e) Individual access to agency reccrds.
During calendar year 1976, the NRC received 36 Privacy Act requests.
Of these, 31 requests were for access to records, and $ requests for the correction of records (two requests also asked for an accounting of disclosures). Of the 31 requests for access to records, 26 requests involved systems of records which are partially exempt from disclosure.
Of the nine requests which were denied in whole or in part at the initial stage, four were appealed. On appeal, one of the requests was granted, I
two were denied, and one was denied in part.
1 A number of the requests received did not specify the systems of records to which access was sought. In those situations, it has been the practice i
of the NRC to search its personnel and security related files, and to j
1 send to the requester a listing of the NRC systems of records, indicating I
that if he would like other systems searched to so notify the NRC. As a result, no requests had to be returned because of insufficient information.
a The Systems most frequently searched were:
NRC-1 Appointment and Promotion Certificate Records (12 requests) l NRC-ll General Personnel Records (16 requests) 4 j i
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NRC-22 Personnel Performance Appraisals (11 requests)
NRC-39 Personnel Security Files and Associated Records (10 requests)
NRC experienced no problems in meeting the statutory time limits.
Because records were not maintained concerning the number of requests for access or amendment of records prior to the effective date of the Privacy Act, it is not possible to compare the level of experience prior to and after the effective date of the Act.
With respect to the quality of information maintained by the NRC, we believe the greatest impact of the Act has been with respect to personnel type records, particularly those records maintained by individual branches in duplicate systems of records.
The staff is much more conscious of tha requirements of the Act than it was at this same time last year, and there has been, we believe, a noticeable improvement in the quality of infor-mation maintained.
(f) Sale or rental of mailing lists.
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1 The NRC does not sell or rent mailing lists. However, a list of NRC licensees maintained in the Commission's Public Document Room has been made available by the NPC for public inspection and copying for several years. The NRC has continued to make this list publicly available at the cost of duplication.
(g) Use of the Social Security Account Number (SSAN) as a personal identifier.
No new systems of records were established during 1976 requiring l
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j individuals to provide their social security account number.
(h) Public scrutiny of record-keeping practices
.. This section of f
j the report should provide an agency assessment of the effects of i
the public review process.
It should provide an analysis of the magnitude of comments received on agency rules, systems notices i
and reports on new systems.
During 1976 the NRC made only minor changes in its Privacy Act regulations 4
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(Subpart B,10 CFR Part 9) and systems of records. No comments were l
l received on any of the changes.
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