ML20195J789

Submits NRR Ofc Ltr 106,Rev 1 Re Release of NRC Draft or Predecisional Documents & Info.Rev 1 Reflects Guidance Issued by NRC Bulletin 3203-25, Policy on Release of Draft & Predecisional Documents & Info

ML20195J789
Person / Time
Issue date:	06/20/1988
From:	Murley T Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NRRL-106, NUDOCS 8806290236
Download: ML20195J789 (11)

Text

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[ g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 5  : E WAStilNGTON, D C. 20555 k.....) JUN 2 01933 l MEMORANDUM FOR: All NRR Employees l

l FROM: Thomas E. Murley, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT:

NRR OFFICE LETTER NO. 106, REVISION NO. 1 - RELEASE OF l NRC DRAFT OR F3E0ECISIONAL DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION PURPOSE This revised office letter provides guidance for distributing NRC draft or predecisional documents. Revision 1 reflects the guidance issued by NRC Bulletin No. 3203-25, "Policy on Release of Draft and Predecisional Documents and Information," dated February 9,1988. This revision also confirms recent guidance issued by the Director's Office pertaining to (1) predecisional documents forwarded to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) and (2) information contained in the Safety Issue Management System (SIMS). This revised office letter supersedes Office Letter No.106, dated December 7,1987.

Guidance regarding the distribution of draft and final inspection reports (e.g., vendor, Construction Appraisal Team, or Independent Design Inspection) is covered in the NRC Inspection Manual, Chapter 0620.

NRR Office Letter No.1002, "The Timing of the Disclosure to Licensees of Pending l Investigations and/or Criminal Referrals," dated March 28, 1988, provides '

guidance on releasing to a licensee inft;rmation that could conpromise an actual or potential investigation er criminal referral.

The procedures reflected in this office letter do nut apply to draft documents j specifically disseminated to the public for its comnent including applicants, '

licensees, vendors, or individuals listed on the service list (e..g., draft  !

environmental statements or analyses / assessments and Regulatory Guides).

CONTACT:

H. Smith, PMAS 492-1287 9806270236 000620 PDR ORG NRHD PDR

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All NRR Employees _ 2 ,,; , pg OBJECTIVES The objectives of this procedure are to (1) provide general policy guidance on the release and distributfon of draft, predecisional, and final documents; (2) ensure that staff documents are developed and issued without improper influences, real or perceived, by the public or bz applicants, licensees, permittees, vendors.

or their subcontractors, s. agents (3, ensure that NRC documents are made availabte romptly to all parties involved with a plant or issue and to the public; and p(4) ensure that sufficient flexibility is provided so that appropriate safety or safeguards information can be disseminated to licensees before distribution of the final document.

DEFINITIONS Documents: For the purposes :,f this procedure, the term documents encompasses all written material considtred to be NRC records under 10 CFR Part 9.

Draft: A document is considered to be a draft from its initial developnent through the period of review until it has been approved and issued as a final document.

This definition che public for itsdoes not app coment including (ly to draft documents tpplicants, licensees, specifically vendors disseminated or individuals to listed on the service list).

Predecisional: A document is considered predecisional when it encompasses an opinion, recommendation, proposal, or advice. A document is also predecisional when it has not been published as a final agency publication or position, and I when it is considered to be e part of an ongoing deliberative process. Note l that memoranda and enclosures from a review branci 'o a Project Directorate that transmit questions or input for a Safety Evaluatit , Report (SER) are predecisional.

Final: A document is considered final when it has been signed or otherwise I approved for publication or distribution outside of NRC or has been approved by the Connission.

POLICY The agency's policy pertaining to the release of draft or predecisional information is sumarized below, pr w pt and positive action is required on safety and safeguards concerns.,  ;

These concerns must be identified promptly, documented, and made known to responsible licensee reanagement to obtain prompt evaluation and appropriate corrective action. At she same tine, NRC docunents must be developed and issued without improper licensee or public influence, or the appearance of such, and must be available to the public in a timely manner, consistent with NRC regulations, policies, and procedures.

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All NRR Employees 3 M 201333 Draft documents, or information contained therein, that are not included under the category of "EXCEPTIONS," are not to be discussed with, given to, or shown to any licensee or to the public by the staff without prior approval, from the Director, NRR.

Predecisional documents shall not be provided to licensees or to the public or placed in the PDR without prior approval f rom the Director, NRR. Information and documents discussed in the "EXCEPTIONS" category are excluded.

In the event that an NRR staff member believes that a draft or predecisional document that is not covered in "EXCEPTIONS" should be released to the public, the appropriate Division Director / Staff Director should request, in writing, release approval from the Director, NRR. This request should include a description of the document to be released and justification for the release.

Final documents will be distributed in a manner that will ensure that the public, licensees, NRC contractors, and State and Federal agencies have access to information they need to fulfill their responsibilities. Final documents provided to licensees will be placed in the Public Document Room (PDR) and sent to the persons on the service list. NRR Office Letter No. 102 discusses the procedure for placing documents in the PDR. However, any decision to place documents in the PDR under this-policy also must be consistent with NRC regulations, policies, and procedures regarding confidentiality, security, safeguards, and proprietary information.

In the event any document is released contrary to this policy by the NRC, its contractors, or State or Federal agencies, the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) should be advised promptly in writing of the release and the action to be taken by the responsible office to avoid recurrence of such release.

Normally, under such circumstances, the released document should be placed in the PDR.

Nothing in these to records pursuant procedures a formal request shall automatically preclude under the Freedom the releaseAct of Information of (FOIA agency ).

RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITI,E_S Director, NRR: (1) Approves the release of draft documents or predecisional TnTormation that is not encompassed withia the category of "EXCEPTIONS."

This does not include predecisional material generated during the development of an enforcenent or inspection document. (2) Takes corrective action in the event any information for which he or she is responsible is released contrary to NRC policy, and infonns the EDO in writing of such action. (3) Maintains a written record of release approval for draft or predecisional materiai that

does not fall within the category of "EXCEPTIONS." This record can be the memorardum from the Division Director to the Director, NRR. The originator of this memorandum should ensure that the Policy Development and Technical Support Branch (PTSB), 12-E-4, is listed in the distribution section of the memorandum.

JC 2 0 m3 All NRR Employees 4 Division Directors / Staff Director: (1) Usure that their staff is aware of the guidance provided within this revised office letter. (2) Obtain' approval from the Director, NRR, before releasing a draft document or information contained therein, including discussions of that document, or certain* draf t or predecisional information. (3) Immediately inform the ED0 (via a memorandum from Director, NRR to EDO) of the inadvertent release of a document and of the facts concerning the release and actions to be taken to prevent recurrence.

Ensure that a copy of all memoranda involving the procedure stated in this office letter is sent to the PTSB,12-E-4.

Branch Chiefs and Project Directors: (1) Respond to an F0IA request that seeks material containing draft and predecisional information by determining what information should be disclosed and what information should be withheld under an FOIA exemption. (2) Ensure that administrative support staff is rovided guidance or changes to distribution list or codes, when appropriate, o p(3) Ensure that staff members adnare to the procedures stated in this office letter.

Inspectors: Where approved by regional management, may, in preparation for exit interviews or enforcement meetings, provide to the licensee a listing of significant issues developed in the course of an inspection, in order to facilitate communication of inspection findings that require corrective action.

However, notes, draft reports, draft evaluations, draft notices of violations or noncompliance, or other material containing preliminary inspection conclusions, findings, and recommendations are not to be provided to the licensee, excep.

as required by safety or security concerns. Where written information is provided for the record, a copy should be attached to the inspection report.

Also see the discussion in the category of "EXCEPTIONS" for circumstances under which draft or predecisional information could be released.

All NRR Staff: Protect draft or predecisional information from inadvertent release. This includes draft inspection and enforcement documents, and ,

documents pertaining to pending generic communications dealing with "wrong- i doing" that may be under consideration for criminal prosecution, pending investigations and/or criminal referrals. Remain knowledgeable of the guidance l provided within this office letter. If a staff member becomes aware of an i inadvertent disclosure of a draft document or information contained therein, or certain* predecisional information, that person should imediately notify his/her supervisor. Staff members must not release documents created by, communicated to, or raceived from the Comission and its staff unless I approval is received from the Comission before release. This also includes SECY papers.

Call 492-1287 (PTSB) when assistance or clarification regarding these procedures is needed. l l

• See the discussion in the category of "EXCEPTIONS" for circumstances under l which draft or predecisional information could be released. '

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All NRR Employees 5 *"'k2 EXCEPTIONS (1) In the event of an emergency or a significant safety or safeguards issue that appears to require immediate action, NRC personnel, at their discre-tion may discuss with, show to, and provide the licensee any pertinent material they believe the circumstances warrant. However, when this occurs the document should be sent to all concerned parties (e.g.,

licensees and those listed on the s evice list) and placed in the PDR, with due consideration for any situation that is encompassed within Section 2.790 of 10 CFR Part 2, or other nondisclosu.e categories (e.g.,

documents created by, communicated to, or received from the Commission and its staff; draft inspection and enforcement documents; and documents pertaining to pending investigations and/or criminal referrals).

(2) In the normal course of conducting regulatory activities, communications with licensees, vendors, industry representatives, and other State and Federal agencies are occasionally necessary regarding initial NRC staff positions, license conditions, confirmation of action letters, preparation of bulletins and information notices, events at other facilities, etc. Such commun'ca-tions can be held in advance of the final issuance of an NRC document for the purpose of (a) gaining factual information, (b) assessin and benefit of, or alternatives to, proposed actions, or (c)g the feasibility, alerting licensees to initial findings so that corrective actions can be initiated promptly. This policy is not intended to impede such exchanges of in-formatic.. However, any such written communications provided by the staff to licensees, a party to an ongoing issue or proceeding, or the public shall also be forwarded to persons listed on the service list and to other parties known to be interested in the issue, and placed in the PDR. (This includes draft SERs and draft documents pertaining to environmental reviews.)

(3) Draft research reports, studies, data, or other documentation that is based on information obtained from one or more licensees or vendors and that may be discussed or exchanged with those parties and with other partici-pants in a study or research program, are not subject to restraint under the procedures stated in this revised office ietter.

(4) The agency recognizes that in the normal course of business, discussions j of draft positions, requests for information, and such between staff and >

licensees / vendors frequently are necessary. This procedure is not intended l to hinder such exchanges of information, but to ensure that all persons '

have equal access to all relevant information. An exception would be a situation where the Project Director or Branch Chief determines it is necessary and appropriate not only to discuss such draft documents at meetings but also to make copies available to all people attending the meeting to facilitate the discussion (with due regard to any proprietary considerations). The meeting summary, which is placed in the PDR, shall document the substance of the discussions of the draft and shall include the draft document, as well as a list of participants and the agenda as attachments. Even in those situations where voluminous draft documents are distributed at working meetings and are normally collected after the meeting, the draft document must be attached to the meeting sumary.

All NRR Employees 6 @N 2 01933 A separate office letter is being prepared to reflect procedures to be followed when handling Technical Evaluation Reports (TERs) submitted by NRC contractors. That office letter will also address draft TERs.

(5) A Project Director or a Branch Chief may transmit a draft SER documenting the staff's review of a proprietary report to the vendor or utility for the

-sole purpose of determining whether the staff has discussed proprietary information in the SER. In such cases, the transmittel letter and draf t SER should be sent to Central Files. Only the letter should be placed in the PDR; the letter should clearly state that the requested review is in regard to proprietary information only (see the enclosed sample). When this review process is complete, issue a memorandum to the Records and Reports Management Branch (Central Files), and the Document Control Desk, P1-137 stating whether the document should continue to be treated as proprietary

, information, or whether the document' can be released for public disclosure.

l BASIC REQUIREMENTS

1. General In the event any draft or predecisional document is inadvertently or otherwise released by the NRC, its contractors, or other Federal and State agencies contrary to the policy stated in this office letter, the EDO should be advised promptly in writing of the occurrence, and in the case of release by NRC, the action to be taken by the responsible office to avoid recurrence of such release. Normally, under such circumstances, the released document should be placed in the PDR immediately.

Documents created by, communicated to, or received from the Commission and its staff must receive prior approval from the Commission before said document is released.

I Final documents will be distributed in a manner that will ensure that the public, the licensees, NRC contractors, and Federal and State agencies have access to information they need to fulfill their responsibilities. Final documents provided to licensees will be placed in the PDR. If the document is subject to an F0IA request, a copy must be forwarded by the Planning, Program and Management Branch to the Division of Freedom of Information and Publications Services, Office of Administration and Resources fianagement.

In the interest of maintaining a sound records management policy, all draft documents, background material, notes, and extra copies of office-filed documents should be destroyed after the final version has been issued, except under the three following conditions:

a. An FOIA request for them has been received and is pending.

All NRR Employees 7

b. They are documents of central relevance to the regulatory ' history ofaproposedorfinalrulesubmittedtothefederalRegister for publication,

c. Your management has instructed you to retain them for future agency use.

You may maintain documents that could be useful in the review of new work assignments.

In the event that the Project Director or Branch Chief finds it desirabic to send draft or predecisional material to one party in an ongoing licensir;-

activity, copies should be sent to all other parties and placed in the PM as well. This is normally done by a letter to the applicant, licensee, or vendor.

2. Inspection Documents and Enforcement Actions Under no circumstances should draft inspection reports, or contemplated enforcement actions, either in their entirety or in excerpted form be released to licensees or their agents, or to any source external to the NRC without the permission of the EDO. In the event any draft inspection report is improperly released contrary to this policy, the ED0 should be promptly advised in writing. The EDO will take or recommend appropriate action.

3. Safety Issue 11anagement System (SD!S)

The data within SIMS, which is described in the proposed NRR Office Letter No. 501, is considered to be unclassified sensitive information. This information is not to be publicly disclosed without the alproval of the Director, NRR or a designee. Contact the Inspection, Licensing and Research Integration Branch (ILRB) (X21243) if assistance is needed.

4. Advisory Connittee on Reactor Safeguards There are occasions when the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) 1 desires to review the staff's position on issues or proposed actions before l review and approval by the Committee to Review Generic Requirements (CRGR) or the Conrnission (e.g., the proposed maintenance rule, and the Mark I i containment issue). When the ACRS is involved during the deliberative l process, transmitted documents should be marked top and bottom "Predecisional j Document" on the cover page. A statement should be made in the body of the transmittal memorandum to indicate whether the enclosed material can be l released or whether it is to be withheld as "Predecisional."

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f All NRR Employees 8 WUN 2 0 g EFFECTIVE DATE This revised office letter is effective imediately. ,'

Originni signed by, D:ocas E. Murley Thomas E. Murley, Director Office of the Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosure:

Sample letter transmitting draft SER documenting staff's review of report cc: See next page Distribution Central Files NRC PDR PDTSS Rdg-HSmith SBlack CThomas FGillespie TMarley (106REV1)

Reviewed by Tech Editor, RS on 5/5/88. '?

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['pe aeg 'o UNITED STATES Enclosure g

8f> r., ( g NUCLE AR REGULATORY COMMISSION W ASHINGTON. D. C. 20555 g g.%. ,w ej t g ...;, j -

Mr. William J. Johnson, Manager Nuclear Safety Department -

Westinghouse Electric Corporation Pox 335 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230

Subject:

Acceptance for Referencing of. Licensing Topical ee port WCAP-10325 "Westinghouse LOCA Mass and Energy Release Model for Containment Design (Proprietarv) - March 1974 Version"

. The staff has completed its review of the sub.iect topical report, submitted by Westinghouse Electric Corporation letters NS-TMA-2075 (April 25,1979) and NS-EPR-2948(October 4,1984). We find the report acceptable for referencing i in licensing actions to the extent specified and under the limitations delineated in the report and the associated NRC evaluation which is enclosed, i The evaluation defines the basis for acceptance of the report. l Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.790, we have detemined that the enclosed evaluation does not contain proprietary information. However, we will delay placing the

, evaluation in the public document room for a period of ten 001 working days i

from the date of this letter to provide vou with the opportunity to coment on the proprietary asoects only. If you believe that any infomation in the enclosure is proprietary, please identify such infomation line by line and define the basis pursuant to the criteria of 10 CFR 2.790.

~ He do not intend to repeat our review of the matters described in the report and found acceptable when the report is referenced in licensing actions except to assure that the material presented is applicable to the specific plant '

involved. Our acceptance applies only to the matters described in the report.

In accordance with procedures established in N11REri-0390, it is requested that Westinghouse publish accepted versions of this report, proprietary and non-proprietary, within three months of receipt of this letter. The accepted versions should incorporate this letter and the aopropriate evaluation be' tween the title page and the abstract. The accepted versions shall include an -A (designating accepted 1 following the report identification synbol.

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Willian J. lohnson 7-1 Should our criteria or regulations change such that our conclusic95 as to the acceptability of the report are invalidated, Westinghouse and/or the applicants referencing the topical report will be expected to revise and resubmit their respective documentation, or submit justification for the continued effective applicability of the topical report with revision of their respective -

documentation. ,

Sincerely, Charles E. D.ossi, Assistant nirector Division of PWR Licensino - A

Enclosure:

As stated I

DISTRIB'JTION:

Central Files (w/ enc 1)

POR (w/o enc 1)

Originator (w/ enc 1) l l

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