NRC Proposes to Adopt its Website to Announce Public Meeting

["Jacobus, John (OD)" <JJacobus@exchange.nih.gov>]

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20555
Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234
Internet: opa@nrc.gov 

No. 00-007
Friday, January 7, 2000

NRC Proposes to Adopt its Website to Announce Meetings Open to Public
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend its policies to formally
adopt the NRC website ( http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/PUBLIC/meet.html ) as its forum
to announce meetings open to the public.

Previously, the NRC's policy called for such sessions to be announced primarily
via an electronic bulletin board and a telephone recording, both of which were
toll-free. However, since the NRC began to post its notice of meetings open to
the public on its website, public use of the other automated means has dropped
dramatically. 
For people who cannot access the NRC's website, assistance on scheduled meetings
would be made available through Commission staff at the Public Document Room, by
calling toll-free at 1-800-397-4209.

An additional administrative policy change would enable the NRC to capitalize on
advanced computer storage technology methods. Current policy limits the
announcement of meetings to those scheduled within 60 days. This practice was
established due to the limited amount of computer storage capacity when the
public meeting notice system was designed. With advancements in computer
technology, though, this restriction is no longer needed. Accordingly, under the
proposed change, the NRC would eliminate the 60-day limit so that meetings can
be announced as soon as arrangements have been finalized. 

The final change would clarify the NRC's policy regarding the announcement of
the public meetings. The current policy states that meeting announcement
information is to be provided by the staff to the meeting announcement
coordinator at least ten days in advance of the scheduled date. This policy was
designed to ensure that sufficient time was given to process the notice and to
provide the public with at least one week's notice time. It does not, however,
explicitly state when the public can expect notice of the meeting.

The Commission's proposed policy change notes that staff meetings will be
announced as soon as definitive arrangements on the date, time and location have
been made, but generally no fewer than 10 calendar days prior to the meeting.
The Commission staff believes this policy change will clarify how far in advance
the public can generally expect to receive notification of an open staff meeting
via the NRC Web site. 

Interested persons are invited to submit comments within 30 days of publication
of a Federal Register notice on this subject, which is expected shortly. Written
comments
should be submitted to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.

Comments may also be submitted via the NRC's interactive rulemaking Web Site at
http://ruleforum.llnl.gov.
#### # # # #

----------------
-- John


John Jacobus, MS
Health Physicist
National Institutes of Health
Radiation Safety Branch, Building 21
21 Wilson Drive, MSC 6780
Bethesda, MD  20892-6780
Phone: 301-496-5774      Fax: 301-496-3544
jjacobus@exchange.nih.gov (W)
jenday@ix.netcom.com (H)

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