NRC Asks FERC to Prepare Generic Rules on Protecting Sensitive Data

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday to create generic rules aimed at protecting sensitive information that could threaten critical energy infrastructure.

“As the federal regulator of commercial nuclear power plants, the NRC regularly receives and generates information that, if released, could negatively affect, at a minimum, public health and safety, and that would thus qualify” as critical electric infrastructure information, commonly referred to as CEII, according to an NRC statement. “The NRC believes that, in granting the FERC the authority to ‘designate’ information as CEII, Congress intended that the FERC, instead, formulate a generic designation of CEII that would constitute the governing standard for other agencies to use for their own information.”

Citing instances where agency officials inadvertently leaked sensitive data to industry leaders, the Commission hopes to close the loophole through the creation of a governing standard that can ensure confidentiality during a potential threat.