ML22301A023

OMB 3150-0166 Final OMB Supporting Statement: NRC Forms 541 and 541 a

ML22301A023
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/15/2022
From:	NRC/OCIO
To:
References
OMB 3150-0166
Download: ML22301A023 (5)

Text

FINAL OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR NRC FORMS 541 AND 541A UNIFORM LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANIFEST CONTAINER AND WASTE DESCRIPTION AND CONTINUATION PAGE

(3150-0166)

EXTENSION

Description of the Information Collection

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Form 541 and continuation Form 541A are completed by shippers of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) inte nded for ultimate disposal at a licensed land disposal facility. NRC Forms 541 and 541A contain information needed to satisfy the waste manifesting requirements of the NRC's 10 CFR Part 20. The completed NRC Forms 541 and 541A contain container and waste descriptions and radionuclide inventory.

NRC Form 541/541A, combined with NRC Forms 540/540A and 542/542 A, are collectively referred to as the Uniform Low-Level Radioactive Waste Manifest forms. NUREG/BR-0204, Rev. 3, contains instructions for completing NRC Forms 540, 540 A, 541, 541A, 542, and 542A.

The disposal facilities and their Agreement State regulators, where applicable, use the information found on the forms to ensure waste disposal meets t he requirements in 10 CFR Part 61 for the protection of the public and environment. The N RC does not collect or retain data on the forms and the forms are not sent to or received by the NRC. Agreement States do not need to adopt NRC Forms 540, 540A, 541, 541A, 542, and 542A.

NRC Form 541/541A and NRC Form 542/542A are 1) mailed or electr onically transferred to the intended consignee prior to the shipment arriving at the co nsignee or 2) delivered with the waste to the consignee. Using both 1 and 2 are acceptable. NRC Forms 540 and 540A (if needed) are required to be with the shipment regardless of whet her 1 or 2 are chosen.

As stated in 10 CFR Part 20, Appendix G,

NRC Forms 540, 540A, 541, 541A, 542, and 542A are official NRC Forms referenced in this appendix. Licensees need not use originals of these NRC Forms as long as any substitute forms are equivalent to the original documentation i n respect to content, clarity, size, and location of information. Upon agreement betw een the shipper and consignee, NRC Forms 541 (and 541A) and NRC Forms 542 (and 542A ) may be completed, transmitted, and stored in electronic media. The ele ctronic media must have the capability for producing legible, accurate, and complete re cords in the format of the uniform manifest.

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A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Need for and Practical Utility of the Collection of Information

To meet existing regulations, each shipment of LLW, either directly or indirectly (e.g.,

through a waste processor), to a licensed disposal facility is currently accompanied by a waste manifest that describes the shipment contents as required in 10 CFR Part 20 and the Department of Transportation regulations in 49 CFR Part 172. Presently, there are four LLW disposal facilities in operation, all locate d in Agreement States and licensed under the Agreement State equivalents of 10 CFR Part 6 1. Some Agreement State regulators use official NRC Form 540, 541, and 542, howev er, other Agreement State regulators use their own forms that are equivalent versio ns of the NRC forms but do include state-specific requirements. The NRC Form 541 co ntains information needed by disposal site facilities to safely dispose of LLW and information to satisfy the waste tracking requirements of the NRC in 10 CFR Part 20.

2. Agency Use of Information

The agency and States require the information on NRC Forms 541 and 541A to meet NRC tracking requirements and safely regulate disposal of LLW.

3. Reduction of Burden through Information Technology

Appendix G of 10 CFR Part 20 allows licensees to use substitute forms that are equivalent to the original documentation in respect to content, clarity, size, and location of information. Upon agreement between the shipper an d consignee, the forms may be completed, transmitted, and stored in electronic m edia. The electronic media must have the capability for producing legible, accurate, and complete records in the format of the uniform manifest. Licensees can use softw are packages from several commercial vendors are available that can generate NRC Form 541 electronically. The information is not transmitted to NRC.

4. Effort to Identify Duplication and Use Similar Information

No sources of similar information are available. There is no du plication of requirements.

5. Effort to Reduce Small Business Burden

The required information is necessary from all shippers of LLW pursuant to Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 20. To the extent that small entities may make fewer waste shipments than larger entities, fewer manifests would be required of small entities and their burden would be proportionately less.

6. Consequences to Federal Program or Policy Activities if the Collection is Not Conducted or is Conducted Less Frequently

If the collection is not conducted at all or is conducted less frequently, NRC and

3 State regulatory agencies will not be able to obtain informatio n needed to control and

safely regulate disposal of LLW.

7. Circumstances Which Justify Variation from OMB Guidelines

There are no variations from OMB guidelines.

8. Consultations Outside the NRC

Opportunity for public comment on the information collection re quirements for this clearance package was published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2022 (87 FR 48700). The NRC staff contacted nine potential respondents via email as part of the consultation process, including two LLW disposal facilit y licensees, three Uniform Waste Manifest Form software vendors, and four Agreemen t State regulators to solicit feedback on this information collection. Two comments were received as follows.

Thomas Kalinowski, President of DW James Consulting LLC noted i n his comments that it is advantageous for his company and the nuclear industr y to have a consistent format for presentation of the data on the NRC Form 541 and tha t while Agreement States and disposal site operators often require additional sit e-specific data, they typically follow the basic format of the NRCs Uniform Waste Ma nifest. Mr.

Kalinowski commented that the burden included in this informati on collection may be appropriate for non-utility licensees with simple shipments, ho wever, the burden on utilities is likely more significant. Mr. Kalinowski notes tha t his company does not have sufficient data to develop an estimate of this burden on u tilities that use the NRC Form 541 for more complex shipments. The NRC staff appreci ates Mr.

Kalinowskis comments and related insights regarding training a nd inspection procedures for NRC inspectors on the data collected on the NRC Form 541.

However, in the absence of specific information regarding the b urden on utilities, the NRC staff has no basis for modifying the burden estimates inclu ded in this information collection.

Chris Shaw, Licensing Manager of Waste Control Specialists LLC noted in his comments that he believes the proposed information collection i s necessary and the burden estimates are reasonably accurate. Mr. Shaw comments tha t most respondents his company encounters are currently using a softwa re generator for NRCs Uniform Low-Level Radioactive Waste Manifest to create ma nifests and that these programs have become more user-friendly. The NRC staff a ppreciates this feedback and believes Mr. Shaws comments do not impact this in formation collection.

9. Payment or Gift to Respondents

Not applicable.

10. Confidentiality of the Information

Confidential and proprietary information is protected in accord ance with NRC 4

regulations at 10 CFR 9.17(a) and 10 CFR 2.390(b). However, no information

normally considered confidential or proprietary is requested.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

This information collection does not involve sensitive questions.

12. Estimated Burden and Burden Hour Cost

It is estimated that 4,616 NRC Forms 541/541A (or equivalent Agreement State forms) will be processed annually by 712 NRC and Agreement States licensees. Most uses of the Form 541 are by waste generators that use Agreement Stat e equivalent versions of the NRC form. It is assumed all shippers prepare th e manifests electronically; therefore, the average burden to complete the f orm is estimated to be 3.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br />. The total industry burden for completion of the form is estimated at 15,233 hours0.0027 days <br />0.0647 hours <br />3.852513e-4 weeks <br />8.86565e-5 months <br /> annually (4,616 forms x 3.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br />) for reporting. The t o ta l c o s t is es timated t o b e

$4,387,104 (15,233 hours0.0027 days <br />0.0647 hours <br />3.852513e-4 weeks <br />8.86565e-5 months <br /> x $288/hour).

The $288 hourly rate used in the burden estimates is based on t he NRCs fee for hourly rates as noted in 10 CFR 170.20 Average cost per profes sional staff-hour.

For more information on the basis of this rate, see the Revisio n of Fee Schedules; Fee Recovery for Fiscal Year 2021 (86 FR 32146, June 16, 2021).

13. Estimate of Other Additional Costs

There are no other additional costs.

14. Estimated Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

There are no annual printing and distribution costs to the Fede ral Government as the manifest forms are available for electronic downloading. Additionally, the forms are not submitted directly to the NRC, so there are no costs associated with processing or reviewing the forms.

15. Reasons for Changes in Burden or Cost

The NRC staff was able to better estimate the number of NRC For m 541/541A prepared annually by using updated publicly available informati on from the Department of Energy. As such, the total annual number of NRC F orm 541/541A decreased from 5,600 to 4,616; however, the assumed burden of 3.3 hours3.472222e-5 days <br />8.333333e-4 hours <br />4.960317e-6 weeks <br />1.1415e-6 months <br /> to complete the form is the same. As a result, there is an overal l reduction in burden by 3,247 hours0.00286 days <br />0.0686 hours <br />4.083995e-4 weeks <br />9.39835e-5 months <br /> from 18,480 hours0.00556 days <br />0.133 hours <br />7.936508e-4 weeks <br />1.8264e-4 months <br /> to 15,233 hours0.0027 days <br />0.0647 hours <br />3.852513e-4 weeks <br />8.86565e-5 months <br /> and a decrease in the estimated cost.

The hourly cost for professional staff has increased from $275/hour to $288/hour.

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16. Publication for Statistical Use

None.

17. Reason for Not Displaying the Expiration Date

The LLW shipping industry utilizes software to generate the For m 541/541A.

This software must undergo a verification and validation proces s by the waste generators every time a change is made to the form. Many waste generators at nuclear power plants have strict change management processes th at are time consuming and expensive because any change to the software used during daily plant operations could impact the plant operations.

For this reason, changing the expiration date on the form cause s the industry the burden of performing a time-consuming verification and validati on on the software that generates the forms. As such, the expiration date will not be d isplayed on the hardcopy form. Only changes to content of the NRC Form 541/541A will require imposing the burden of the software update and subsequent verif ication and validation on form users.

18. Exceptions to the Certification Statement

There are no exceptions.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

The collection of information does not employ statistical methods.