ML080940158
| ML080940158 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Hatch  |
| Issue date: | 11/07/2005 |
| From: | Michael Case NRC/NRR/ADRO/DIRS |
| To: | |
| References | |
| RIS-05-026 | |
| Download: ML080940158 (6) | |
See also: RIS 2005-26
Text
UNITED STATES
NUCLE AR RE GULATOR Y COM MISS ION OFFICE OF NUC LEAR REAC TOR REGU LATION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001
November 7, 2005 NRC REGUL AT ORY ISSUE SUMMA
RY 2005-26
CONTROL OF SENSITIVE UNCLASSIFIED NONSAFEGUA
RDS INFORMATION RELATED TO NU
CLEAR POWER REA
CTORS ADDRESSEES
All hold ers of operating li
censes for nucle
ar power re
actors and hol
ders of and appl
icants for
certificates for reactor d
esigns.INTENT The U.S. Nuclear Regulator
y Commission (NRC) is issuing this regulatory issue summ
ary (RIS)to inform the addres
sees of the appropriate hand
ling of inform
ation that warrants controls
because of conti
nuing concerns
about terrorist a
ttacks against the cri
tical infrastructu
re of the Unite d State s. The N RC in tends to bal ance i ts resp onsib ilit y to p reserv e publ ic acc ess to informat ion a nd sup port me aningful parti cipat ion i n NRC's regu latory proce sses a gainst its responsibil
ity to w ithhold i nformation that might unn
ecessarily
compromise the
security of
nucle ar facil ities. Lic ensee s for ope rating nucle ar pow er pla nts an d reac tor faci lity desi gners may need t
o assess their doc
ument contro l procedu res to en sure th ey protec t sensit ive information. Al
though no speci
fic action or w
ritten response
is required, th
e NRC enco
urages the addr essees f or this RI
S, vendor s and cont
ractor s, and ot hers who ma
y possess sensitive
information to dest
roy, mark, or other
wise control the information to avoid inadvertently
providin g assistance to
those who
might use the in
formation for malevol
ent acts.BA CKGROU ND INF ORMA TION NRC traditi
onally has given th
e public access to a si
gnificant amount of in
formation about the
facilities a
nd materials
the agency regul
ates. Openness
has been and
remains a co
rnerstone of NRC's regula
tory phil osophy. The
Atomic Energy
Act, subsequent l
egislation, a
nd variou s NRC regulatio
ns have giv
en the publ
ic the right to
participate i
n the lice
nsing and ov
ersight process for nucle
ar power re
actors and othe
r NRC lic ensees. To parti
cipate in
a meaningful
way, the public mus
t have acce
ss to information
about the desi
gn and operatio
n of regulated
facilit ies and use
of nucle ar mat erials. However, NRC an
d other G overnme nt agen cies have alway s withhel d some information
from public dis
closure for reason
s of security, p
ersonal priv acy, or comme rcial or trad e secre t prote ction. In l ight of i ncreas ed terr orist activ ity worldw ide, NRC re
examined i
ts document dis
closure pol
icies.
Pag e 2 of 5 Since the e
vents of Septembe
r 11, 2001, NR
C has issue
d adviso ries and taken s
pecific action
s regarding the securi
ty of its li
censed facili
ties. NRC
has also as
sessed and re
vised i ts policie
s and pr actice s for con trol o f informat
ion s o that informat ion th at cou ld rea sonab ly b e exp ected to be useful to terrori
sts in plan
ning or exec
uting an attack again
st nuclear po
wer plan ts or other
NRC-licen sed faciliti
es wil l be wi thheld from publi
c disclosu
re. The most recent
and detail
ed guidance on the control of inf
ormation related to operat
ing nuclear power plants is provided in
the Commission
paper SECY
-04-0191, "Withholding Sensi
tive Uncl assified Information
Concerning Nu
clear Pow er Reactors From
Public Di sclosure," dated
October 19, 2004 , and the associated sta
ff requirements memorandum dated
November 9, 2004. Also
see SECY-05-009 1, "Task F
orce R eport o n Publ ic Di sclos ure of S ecuri ty-Re lated Informati
on,"dated May 18, 20 05, an d the a ssoci ated s taff requir
ements memoran dum dat ed Jun e 30, 2 005. The NRC staff
is preparing similar guidance f
or materials licensees and expects to mak
e it availab le to the pu
blic in early 200 6.SUMMARY OF ISSUE
Considerin
g the various
review s, legislati
on, and other c
hanges since S
eptember 11, 200
1, the NRC staff believ
es that clari
fying NRC's
current procedures
and poli cies regarding the
control of information wi
ll be ben eficial to stakeho
lders. NRC
will continue to
make availab
le to the publi c most o f the in formatio n that the age ncy r eceiv es from o r send s to i ts li censee s. In addit ion, t he pub lic w ill have acces s to a large a mount o f informat
ion i nclud ed in vari ous re ports produced by
the NRC sta
ff. Much of NRC's
information als
o will be readil
y avai lable to th
e public v ia the NRC
Web site (www.n
rc.gov) and the
NRC's el ectronic docume
nt management
system (ADAM
S) (www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
). In additi
on, other informatio
n may be released to the public in response to form
al or informal request
s. The exceptions for cert
ain infor mation to be withhe
ld from public disc
losure f or reas ons othe r than se curity (e.g., privacy, proprietary, a
nd pre-decisi
onal information) have not
changed as a res
ult of recent ev
ents. The
appropriate ha
ndling of Safeguards Informatio
n (SGI) is dis
cussed in R
IS-2003-08, "Prote
ction of Safegua
rds Infor mation From U nautho rize d Dis closu re," da ted Ap ril 3 0, 200 3, and more speci fic SGI d esigna tion gu idanc e docu ments. NRC wi thheld from publi
c disclosu
re some information
related to prote
cting operating nu
clear power pl ants although i
t does not meet th
e existi ng criteria for desi
gnation as SGI. Thi
s type of infor mation was recog
nized bef ore Sept ember 11, 2001, and, when su
bmitt ed to NRC by a
licensee, w
as withhe ld from public
disclosure
according to the
provisio ns of 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1). This re
gulation states: (d) The follow
ing information i
s considered
commercial or
financial i
nformation with
in the meaning of §9.17(a)(4) o
f this chapter and
is subject to
disclosure
only in accordance
with the pr ovis ions of §9.19 of this chapt er.(1) Corresponden
ce and reports
to or from the NRC
which co ntain information
or records concerni
ng a license
e's or appl
icant's phy
sical protec
tion, classi
fied matter
protection, or mate
rial control
and accounti
ng program for special
nuclear materia
l not otherw ise d esigna ted as Safegua rds Infor mation or cl assifi ed as Natio nal S ecuri ty Information or Restri
cted Data.
Pag e 3 of 5 NRC expe cts that lice
nsees wi ll contin ue to request NRC
withhol d some information
citing 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1) and that the volume of
material requested to be withheld fr
om public disclosure
under this pro
vision will increase as
the NRC staff and l
icensees i
mplement the
guidan ce in this RIS. N RC ch anged i ts proc edures shortl y after Septe mber 11 , 2001 , to withhol d from public di
sclosure v
arious categorie
s of documents li
kely to inc
lude indi vidual record s that warra nt wi thhol ding u nder 1 0 CFR 2.390. The N RC sta ff will asses s the n eed to withhol d such documen
t categories if li
censees routin
ely ide ntify specific
documents contai
ning sensitive information. The NRC staf
f will interact with licensees on a case-by-case basis
regarding the use of
the provisions of 10 CFR 2.390(d)(1) to assu
re that informat
ion is properly
controlled, u
nder either S
ection 2.390(d
)(1) or one of the o
ther Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) exemptions that m
ight be applicable. Licensees that identify inf
ormation to be withheld
from public dis
closure in
accordance w
ith 10 CFR
2.390(d)(1) or oth
er provisi
on in the regulation sho
uld use the
same general prac
tices as used
for proprietary
commercial or
financi al in formatio n. As show n on th e attac hed di agram, th e cov er let ter sho uld c learl y sta te that the document
includes s
ensitive information and
the affected pages shoul
d include the marking "Security-R
elated Information
- Withhold Under 10 CFR
2.390." Unl
ike the requirements for wi
thholding prop
rietary in
formation, license
es are not requi
red to provi
de an affidavit for sensiti
ve information
withhel d under 10 C
FR 2.390(d) an
d related to
(1) physica
l prot ecti on o r (2) mate rial con trol and acc ount ing.Most informatio
n receive d and generated
by NRC deals w ith design, op
erations, or oth
er matters not di rectly relat ed to t he phy sical securi ty of n uclea r facil ities or rad ioact ive materi als. This information, i
f not protected as p
roprietary o
r under another
exception, is generally
made availab le to the pu
blic. After Sep
tember 11, 2001, NRC and oth
er Government agenc
ies responded to c
oncerns that some
information easi
ly ava ilable o n public Web sites or by other
means might be use
ful to terrorists. S
ECY-04-0191
provides the primary N
RC guidance
on whether information relate
d to operating nuclear power plants should be withheld from
public disclosure
in light of the
post-September 11
concerns. The N
RC staff has posted th
e guidance
and related
material w
ithin the p
ublic readi
ng room (http://ww
w.nrc.gov/readi
ng-rm.html) on the
NRC Web site, and stakehol
ders can ask questi
ons or make suggestions
about the guida
nce and th e exa mples. As discussed
in SECY-04-0191, other Gov
ernment agencies
have issu ed regulations
or guidan ce for pr otecti ng inform ation that c ould be rea sonab ly e xpec ted to be use ful to t errori sts in planni ng or executi
ng an attack on criti
cal infrastructure.
- Protected criti
cal infrastructure
information (PCII) i
s information rel
ated to the sec
urity of criti cal i nfrastru cture t hat is vol untari ly p rovi ded to the De partmen t of Home land Securi ty (DHS). *Criti cal e nergy infrastr ucture informa tion (CEII) i s defin ed in Feder al En ergy R egulat ory Commission (FE
RC) regulation
s as information
related to ene
rgy-related in
frastructure (e.g., hy droel ectric dams a nd el ectric transmi ssion syste ms).*Sensitiv e security
information (SSI) i
s defined in
Transportation Sa
fety Administrati
on (TSA) and Departmen
t of Transportation (DOT) regul
ations as i
nformation about the
security of trans
portation asse
ts, includi
ng pipeline
s.
Pag e 4 of 5 Licensees may
need to asse
ss and revi
se their proce
dures for handli
ng sensitiv
e unclassi
fied nonsafeguards information
in their n
ormal activ
ities and
interactions
with parti
es other than
NRC. Duri
ng discussion
s of existin
g practices w
ith vario us license
es, the NRC
staff discovered
that license
es vary in how they treat and
protect information
that was pre
viously unprotected bu
t now is con sider ed sen sitiv e. Som e lic ensee s hav e ins titute d more restri ctiv e cont rols. Some have determi
ned that their
routine busi
ness practices
provide an appropria
te level of protection
for the s ensit ive informat ion. As described
in 10 CF R 2.390, informatio
n deemed sensi
tive beca use it relate
s to physi
cal protection or mate
rial control
and accounti
ng is protected i
n much the same
way as commercial
or fina ncial inf ormat ion. As with pr
oprieta ry infor mation , license es are expe
cted to have sufficient internal
controls to keep
the information c
onfidential.
Possible methods to prev
ent the inadverten
t release of sens
itive un classified no
nsafeguards information i
nclude marking
documents as de
scribed in
0, restricting acce
ss to electroni
c recordkeeping
system s, and co ntrollin g the re produc tion, dis tribut ion, and de
struc tion of potent ially sensit
ive records. NRC
uses the marking "Sec
urity-Rela
ted Information - Withhold Unde
0" and encoura
ges the use of this
marking by lic
ensees and o
thers possessi
ng informat ion d eemed s ensit ive using t he gui dance in SE CY-04-0191. Lice nsees shoul d ensu re that similar
controls are i
n place w hen sensiti
ve information
is provi ded to outsid
e parties suc
h as contractors or other
Government agencies. T
he NRC staff posted inf
ormation on NRC's
Web site (http://www.n
rc.gov/reading-rm.html) an
d include d a feedback form for questions o
r suggesti ons on how to effecti
vely contro l sen sitiv e infor mation. BA CKFIT DISCU SSION This R IS requi res no actio n or w ritten respo nse. A ny ac tion o n the p art of ad dresse es to assess and rev
ise their do
cument control p
rocedures in
accordance w
ith the guidan
ce contai ned i n this RIS i s stric tly v olunt ary a nd, the refore, i s not a backfit under 10 CFR 50.10 9. Consequently , the NRC sta
ff did not perform a backfit anal
ysis.FEDERAL REGISTER
NOTIF ICA TION A notice of opp
ortunity for pub
lic comment on
this RIS w
as not publi
shed in the
Federal Register becau se it is in formatio nal a nd per tains to a s taff posi tion t hat do es not repres ent a departure from current regul
atory requirements
and practice. NRC inte
nds to work w
ith the Nuclear Ene
rgy Institute, in
dustry represe
ntatives, membe
rs of the publi
c, and other
stakeholders in
modifying rela
ted guidance d
ocuments.SMAL L BUSINESS
REGULA TORY ENFOR
The NRC has determined that this act
ion is not a rule and thus is not subject to the Small
Busin ess Re gulato ry En forcemen t Fair ness A ct of 199 6.
Pag e 5 of 5 PAPERWORK REDUCTION A
not contain i
nformation colle
ctions and, th
erefore, is not sub
ject to the
require ments o f the Pa perw ork Red uctio n Act o f 1995 (44 U.S.C. 350 1 et se q.).CONTACT Please di rect any questi
ons about thi
s matter to the tech
nical conta
cts listed b
elow or to the approp riate Office of N
uclea r Reac tor Regu latio n (NRR) proje ct mana ger./RA/ By Patrick
L. Hiland For
/Michael J. Case, Di
rector Divi sion of Inspe ction and R egiona l Sup port Office of Nuclear Reacto
r Regulation
Technical Co
ntacts: W illiam Reckley, NRR
301-415-1323
301-415-2737
E-mail: wdr@nrc.gov
E-mail: mxk5@nrc.gov
Attachment: M
arking diagram for documents
withhel d under 10 C
FR 2.390 Note: NRC
generic communica
tions may b
e found on the N
RC publi c Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, under E
lectronic Re
ading Room/Docu
ment Collecti
ons.
Security-Re
lated Information
Withhold Under 10 CFR
2.390 Subject XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX
Attachment
Pag e 1 of 1 SUGGESTED MA
RKINGS Withhold From Pub
lic Disclosure In
Ac cordance With 1
0 CFR 2.390
Over
all page marking on
the top of all pa
ges Ensure Subjec t Line is non-se nsitive Appropriate Controls
Access: Need-to-know i
n order to perform official
licensee
functions.
Storage: Openly w ithin li censee facili
ties wi th electronic
or other acces
s controls, for exa
mple, key cards , guards, alarms.
Mail: U.S. P ostal Serv ice fir st cla ss mai l, si ngle o paque e nvel ope w ith no markings to indi
cate 10 CFR
2.390 contents.
Electronic Tran
smission: Over encryp
ted phone, facsimi
le, computer, if av
ailable;otherwise over non-encrypted circuits where recipient will
be present to re
ceive the transmission.