{mosads}In its proposal, the commission states that it has determined that it “is feasible to safely store spent nuclear fuel beyond the licensed life for operation of a reactor and to have a mined geologic repository within 60 years following the licensed life for operation of a reactor.”
Along with the proposal, the agency is also releasing a draft environmental impact statement “that forms the regulatory basis for the proposed amendments” to its rules.
The environmental analyses are used when the nuclear commission grants licenses to power plants and facilities.
Housing:
The Obama administration wants to change the rules for a counseling program run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The program uses private and state agencies to help Americans who have questions about renting or owning a home, but the Dodd-Frank financial reform law required that the department specifically certify those counselors. The law also called for the department to prohibit giving grants to agencies that have violated federal election laws.
“This proposed rule would revise HUD’s Housing Counseling Program regulations to adopt the new requirements applicable to counseling agencies and individual counselors, and the use of grant funds,” the department said in its draft regulation.
Finance:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is declaring that it will not insure deposits in foreign branches of American banks.
The new move comes in response to an effort in the United Kingdom that might force U.S. banks to treat U.K. depositors the same as those in the U.S. if a bank fails. The FDIC declared in its new regulation that the American taxpayer will not be on the hook for those foreign branches.
Hazardous materials:
The Department of Transportation is updating its regulations on the permits it gives truckers to carry hazardous materials. The new rules incorporation the most recent edition of criteria for commercial vehicles.
Pensions:
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which looks after private sector pensions, is setting interest assumptions for benefit payments for the month of October.
Fishing:
Federal commercial fishing regulators are prohibiting fishing for some rockfish in the Bering Sea to prevent overfishing.
Additionally, the agency wants to issue new rules for groundfish off of the Pacific coast.
Superfund:
The Environmental Protection Agency is deleting a South Carolina Superfund site off of its national priorities list. The agency and the state “have determined that no further response activities” are necessary under the law.