The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a direct final rule changing several internal and public-facing procedures, including how proprietary-information requests are supported and how the agency handles comments submitted after a rule is published.
The rule is scheduled to take effect Oct. 26, 2026. Because the NRC used a direct-final process, it says it will withdraw the rule if it receives significant adverse comments by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 10.
One change removes a requirement that an affidavit seeking to withhold proprietary information describe the harm disclosure would cause. Other withholding requirements remain, and the change does not make every confidentiality request automatic.
The NRC also revises or removes its self-imposed procedure for post-promulgation comments in 10 CFR 2.804. The agency characterizes that process as duplicative of other petition and rulemaking mechanisms; the rule does not end ordinary notice-and-comment requirements that otherwise apply.
Advisory-committee terminology, charters, appointments and reporting are being aligned with General Services Administration rules issued in December 2025 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
A fourth part codifies national-security eligibility criteria from Security Executive Agent Directive 4 that the NRC says it already uses internally. Codification places those criteria in the agency's regulations rather than creating a new eligibility system.
The NRC says the package imposes no new obligations or costs on licensees or the public. That is the agency's regulatory assessment, not an independently measured outcome after implementation.
Direct-final status is important: the published text is a completed agency action, but its Oct. 26 start remains conditional during the adverse-comment window. A withdrawal or companion proposal would appear in a later public record.