SECY-04-0155, Request from Department of Energy Office of Naval Reactors to Designate Information Related to Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. and Bwx Technologies, Inc. as Official Use Only
| ML042040329 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/24/2004 |
| From: | Reyes L NRC/EDO |
| To: | Commissioners NRC/OCM |
| References | |
| NRC-2017-000643 SECY-04-0155 | |
| Download: ML042040329 (4) | |
Text
OFFICIAL USE ONLY OFFICIAL USE ONLY NOTE: SENSITIVE INFORMATION -- LIMITED TO NRC UNLESS THE COMMISSION DETERMINES OTHERWISE POLICY ISSUES INFORMATION August 24, 2004 SECY-04-0155 FOR:
The Commissioners FROM:
Luis A. Reyes Executive Director for Operations
SUBJECT:
REQUEST FROM DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF NAVAL REACTORS TO DESIGNATE INFORMATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES, INC. AND BWX TECHNOLOGIES, INC. AS OFFICIAL USE ONLY PURPOSE:
To inform the Commission of a request, from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Naval Reactors (NR), and the staffs actions to respond.
BACKGROUND:
In February 2004, NR informed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of concerns regarding sensitive, unclassified documents in the public Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) library and the NRC Public Document Room concerning two NRC licensees that perform work for NR programs. These licensees are Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) and BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT). It is NRs position that access to this information would allow an adversary to eliminate, circumvent, disable or reduce the effectiveness of the security posture for these facilities.
CONTACT:
Julie Olivier, NMSS/FCSS 301-415-8098 OFFICIAL USE ONLY May be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552)
Exemption number 2 Nuclear Regulatory Commission review required before public release.
Julie Olivier, NMSS/FCSS/FCFB Name and organization of person making determination.
Date of Determination 07/22/2004
OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Commissioners 2
OFFICIAL USE ONLY OFFICIAL USE ONLY As a result, NR requested that NRC consider all information related to NR programs as Official Use Only (OUO) and remove it from public access accordingly. Subsequently, on May 10, 2004, NR submitted its position by letter and stated that it deems much of the information in the NRCs public domain, concerning NFS and BWXT, to be at least OUO (Attachment 1).
The majority of the information available to the public was generated by NFS and BWXT and forwarded to the NRC as part of the licensing process. Using NR classification guides, the documents in question may actually fall into one of several categories: Unclassified; Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information; OUO; and possibly other categories as well.
The staff agrees that, in a post-9/11 environment, the information is not appropriate for the public domain, especially when viewed in the aggregate. The staff has initiated actions to:
(1) remove public access to approximately 1740 full-text individual documents in the ADAMS Publicly Available Records System (PARS); (2) remove public access to approximately 10,200 references in the Public Legacy Library (PLL); and (3) treat correspondence related to NR programs at NFS and BWXT as minimally OUO.
DISCUSSION:
The staff agrees that the information in question is not appropriate for the public domain, especially in the post-9/11 environment. Internal guidance has been developed directing staff to designate all future correspondence, to and from NFS and BWXT, that is related to NR programs, as OUO (Attachment 2). Attached to this paper is the response to NR from NRC which describes the actions that staff plans to implement (Attachment 3). Currently, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is taking steps to remove information pertaining to these facilities from the public databases and from the NRC website. It began by removing information from PARS, followed by removal from the Public Legacy Library.
In parallel to implementing the planned actions described in Attachment 3, the staff highlights the following issues for Commission awareness:
- 1. Timing -
It was not possible to remove the documents all at once. It requires time and resources to accomplish this task (see - Timeline and Resource Expenditures). Based on NRs request, the approximate amount of time (starting at the onset of removal) to remove information from the public domain in both PARS and the PLL is approximately 61 days (30-31 days for each library in ADAMS). OCIO is investigating the possibility of automating mass deletions from ADAMS for use in future deletions of this nature. The NRC began by removing the documents referenced in NRs correspondence, dated May 10,
OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Commissioners 3
OFFICIAL USE ONLY OFFICIAL USE ONLY 2004, followed by the chronological removal of files beginning with the most recent documents.
Also, because of the time involved in removing the documents from the public domain, the public might recognize that information is being removed and begin downloading existing information, which defeats the purpose of the removal.
- 2. Commercial activities -
Both facilities are licensed to conduct commercial activities that are not associated with NR programs. Examples include the Blended Low-Enriched Uranium (BLEU) project at NFS, the laboratory work at BWXT, and decommissioning work at both sites. The NRC staff does not intend to remove this information from the public domain.
- 3. Policy implications -
Since all the facility information related to NR programs will be considered at least OUO, the staff is examining how established procedures with respect to licensing activities will be impacted.
Many of the NRC licensing policies and procedures are based on public involvement, such as, open and public meetings; Federal Register notices of licensing actions; National Environmental Policy Act consultations; requests for public comments; and Administrative Procedures Act compliance. In addition, the NRCs ability to achieve the goal of public openness regarding these facilities will also be impacted.
The NRC agrees with NRs determination that the information to be withheld is sensitive. If this determination is challenged, it could result in litigation against the NRC.
STAFF ACTIONS:
The staff has issued internal guidance to designate all future correspondence to and from NFS and BWXT, which is related to NR programs, as OUO (Attachment 2). This guidance will be incorporated into the next revision of Management Directive 12.6.
The staff has responded (see Attachment 3) to the letter from NR describing how it plans to address NRs request. The information concerning the commercial production enterprise at NFSs BLEU facility, or other non-NR commercial information will not be removed nor withheld from public access unless DOE/NR or its contractors clarifies which specific information should be protected.
The OCIO has completed the removal of most of the information from the public domain.
A Communication Plan has been prepared (see Attachment 5).
OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Commissioners 4
OFFICIAL USE ONLY OFFICIAL USE ONLY RESOURCES:
This activity is unbudgeted and the most significant impact has been on OCIO, because it is responsible for removing the documents from the public domain. The removal process was carried out during low-usage periods in workdays, during evenings, and on weekends (staff worked over-time) by staff with ADAMS system administrator security privileges. Existing Full Time Equivalency (FTE) was used without the need for additional FTE. In addition to the removal from the ADAMS Public Library, documents were also removed from the PLL, using a contractor for the programming under an existing contract.
The Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards and Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response resources to support the removal of documents and ongoing work related to this effort is minimal. Both offices re-prioritized work in order to accomplish this task which resulted in rescheduling and delays for other assignments.
COORDINATION:
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) has reviewed this paper for resource implications and has no objection. The Office of the General Counsel has also reviewed this paper and has no legal objection.
/RA/
Luis A. Reyes Executive Director for Operations Attachments:
- 1. May 10, 2004, letter from NR (classified and not included in concurrence package)
- 2. Staff Direction on OUO status for NFS/BWXT information (ML041560368)
- 3. Response to NR from NRC (ML041530065)
- 4. Timeline and Resource Expenditures (ML042170028)
- 5. Communication Plan (ML042170123)
OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Commissioners 4
OFFICIAL USE ONLY RESOURCES:
This activity is unbudgeted and the most significant impact has been on OCIO, because it is responsible for removing the documents from the public domain. The removal process was carried out during low-usage periods in workdays, during evenings, and on weekends (staff worked over-time) by staff with ADAMS system administrator security privileges. Existing Full Time Equivalency (FTE) was used without the need for additional FTE. In addition to the removal from the ADAMS Public Library, documents were also removed from the PLL, using a contractor for the programming under an existing contract.
The Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards and Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response resources to support the removal of documents and ongoing work related to this effort is minimal. Both offices re-prioritized work in order to accomplish this task which resulted in rescheduling and delays for other assignments.
COORDINATION:
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) has reviewed this paper for resource implications and has no objection. The Office of the General Counsel has also reviewed this paper and has no legal objection.
/RA/
Luis A. Reyes Executive Director for Operations Attachments:
- 1. May 10, 2004, letter from NR (classified and not included in concurrence package)
- 2. Staff Direction on OUO status for NFS/BWXT information (ML041560368)
- 3. Response to NR from NRC (ML041530065)
- 4. Timeline and Resource Expenditures (ML042170028)
- 5. Communication Plan (ML042170123)
ML042040329 (Letter)
ML042170013(Package)
- see previous or parallel concurrence OFC FCFB*
FCFB*
Tech Ed*
OGC*
FCFB*
FCSS NSIR*
NAME J.Olivier J.Lubinski E.Kraus via email S. Treby G. Janosko R. Pierson*
R.Zimmerman DATE 6/23/04 6/23/04 6/28/04 6/24/04 6/30/04 7/26/04 7/16/04 OFC NMSS OCIO*
OCFO*
DEDMRS DEDH EDO NAME mvf for J.Strosnider J.Silber J.Funches M.Virgilio W.Kane L.Reyes DATE 8/02/04 6/29/04 6/30/04 8/24/04 8/23/04 8/24/04 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY