New regs for Tuesday: Fish, nuclear safety, foreign language

Tuesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for pregnant women eating fish, improving safety at facilities involved in the manufacture of nunlear fuel, forecasting energy demand, and energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers.

Here’s what is happening:

Efficiency: The Department of Energy’s new energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers is “unlikely” to have a negative impact on consumers, the federal government says.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy published an energy-savings rule last June for these appliances.  

On Monday, the Department of Justice completed a review of the rule, determining that it would not limit competition in the market by reducing consumer choice or placing certain manufacturers at an “unjustified competitive disadvantage,” the agency found.

This paves the way for the Energy Department to move forward with the rule.

“Based on this review, our conclusion is that the proposed energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers are unlikely to have a significant adverse impact on competition,” the DOJ wrote.

Energy: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is moving forward with a new reliability standard for forecasting energy demand.

FERC on Monday approved the reliability standard developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which would provided energy demand planners and operators with access to the forecasts.

The changes go into effect in 60 days.

Fish: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new recommendations for eating fish.

The draft guidance would apply to women who are pregnant or nursing young children. They would be advised on how much and what types of fish to eat.

The public has 30 days to comment.

Nuclear safety: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing new guidelines to improve safety at facilities involved in the manufacture of nuclear fuel.

The draft guidance evaluates nuclear facilities’ compliances with certain regulatory requirements and examines potential accident sequences that could be caused by natural phenomena.

The public has 45 days to comment.

Foreign language: The Department of Defense is proposing to establish a National Language Services Corps that could be deployed by federal agencies in emergency situations when they need help from someone with language skills.

The public has 60 days to comment.

CORRECTION: This story was corrected to make clear that the NRC guidelines are meant improve safety at facilities involved in the manufacture of nuclear fuel. A previous version contained incorrect information.