Udp - Ssa - 2006

Supporting Statement
for the
Uranium Data Program
OMB Number 1905-0160

Introduction:
A three-year clearance is requested for the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to modify
and continue the use of Form EIA-851A “Domestic Uranium Production Report – Annual,”
Form EIA-851Q “Domestic Uranium Production Report – Quarterly,” and the Form EIA-858
“Uranium Marketing Annual Survey” to conduct its Uranium Data Program (UDP) through
2009. These forms were previously cleared under the Uranium Data Program, OMB number
1905-0160, through 11/30/2006.
EIA proposed changes to the Form EIA-851A and Form EIA-858, which were published on May
1, 2006 in Federal Register Notice Vol. 71, No. 83. Public comments to the proposed changes
and other items are summarized in Section 8 of this supporting statement.
EIA proposed slightly increasing the collection of details on Form EIA-851A related to four of
the seven current data items: Facility Information; Milling and Processing; Feed Source; Mine
Production; Employment; Drilling; and Expenditures. The annual burden associated with the
collection of this additional detail would be increased by 1 hour for an estimated average 3 hours
per response. Specifically, EIA proposes the additional detail of mine production by mine name,
by type, by capacity, by State, and by owner; employment by State; by exploration drilling and
by development drilling; and land, exploration, and reclamation expenditures. These details were
not collected previously because of the small U.S. production industry, and this increase in
burden is minimal.
EIA proposed collecting one new data price (Average-Price per Separative Work Unit (SWU))
on Form EIA-858 in Item 2: Enrichment Services Purchased by Owners and Operators of
Civilian Nuclear Power Reactors. The annual burden would be increased by 1 hour for an
estimated average 15 hours per response. An SWU is a measure of the amount of work (energy)
that is required to separate raw uranium into two components - a valuable component (U235)
and a waste component (U238). EIA already collects information on uranium price and
quantities purchased. However, this provides only a partial picture of the market. EIA now
proposes to collect average SWU price data from owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power
reactors on an annual basis because this information is critical to understanding the overall
dynamics and underlying fundamentals of the current nuclear fuels market and choices.
The information collection proposed in this supporting statement has been reviewed in light of
applicable information quality guidelines. It has been determined that the information will be
collected, maintained, and used in a manner consistent with the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), Department of Energy (DOE), and EIA information quality guidelines.

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Justification:
1.

Legal Authority
Authorization for collection of data on the three UDP surveys is set forth in the Federal
Energy Administration Act of 1974, as amended, (FEA Act, Public Law 93-275).
Mandatory collection of these data is authorized by Section 13(b) of the FEA Act of
1974, 15 U.S.C. 772(b), as follows:
All persons owning or operating facilities or business premises who are
engaged in any phase of energy supply or major energy consumption shall
make available to the (Secretary) such information and periodic reports,
records, documents, and other data, relating to the purposes of this Act,
including full identifications of all data and projections as to source, time,
and methodology of development, as the (Secretary) may prescribe by
regulation or order as necessary and appropriate for the proper exercise of
functions under this Act.
The data submitted assist the Secretary in carrying out the functions and duties presented
in Section 5(b) of the FEA Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 764(b), which states that the
Administrator of the FEA (now the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy) shall:
(2) assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet demands in the
immediate and longer range future for all sectors of the economy and for
the general public;...
(9) collect, evaluate, assemble, and analyze energy information on
reserves, production, demand, and related economic data;...
(12) perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law.
As the authority for invoking Section 5(b) above, Section 5(a) of the FEA Act of 1974,
15 U.S.C. Section 764(a) states:
Subject to the provisions and procedures set forth in this Act, the
(Secretary) shall be responsible for such actions as are taken to assure that
adequate provision is made to meet the energy needs of the Nation. To
that end, he shall make such plans and direct and conduct such programs
related to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution,
rationing, and allocation of all forms of energy as are appropriate in
connection with only those authorities or functions:
(1) specifically transferred to or vested in him by or pursuant to this Act;...
(3) otherwise specifically vested in the (Secretary) by Congress.

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Authority for invoking Section 5(a) of the FEA Act is provided, in turn, by Section 52
of the Federal Energy Administration Act, 15 U.S.C. 790a, which states:
(a) It shall be the duty of the Director to establish a National Energy
Information System (hereinafter referred to in this Act as the "System") ...
(which) shall contain such information as is required to provide a
description of and facilitate analysis of energy supply and consumption
within and affecting the United States on the basis of such geographic
areas and economic sectors as may be appropriate to meet the needs of
(1) the (Department of Energy) in carrying out its lawful functions; ...
(b) At a minimum, the System shall contain such energy information as is
necessary to carry out the Administration's statistical and forecasting
activities, and shall include, at the earliest date and to the maximum extent
practical subject to the resources available ... , such energy information as
is required to define and permit analysis of:
(1) the institutional structure of the energy supply system including
patterns of ownership and control of mineral fuel and non mineral fuel
resources and the production, distribution, and marketing of mineral fuels
and electricity; ...
(3) the sensitivity of energy resource reserves, exploration, development,
production, transportation, and consumption to economic factors,
environmental constraints, technological improvements, and
substitutability of alternate energy sources: ...
Additional authority for collection of uranium information on Form EIA-858 "Uranium
Marketing Annual Survey," is provided through the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT
1992), Public Law 102-486. This law provides under Subtitle B, 42 U.S.C. § 2296b-4,
Sec. 1015, that:
“. . . the owner or operator of any civilian nuclear power reactor shall report to the
Secretary (of Energy), acting through the Administrator of the Energy
Information Administration, for activities of the previous fiscal year—
(1) the country of origin and the seller of any uranium or enriched uranium
purchased or imported into the United States either directly or indirectly by
such owner or operator; and
(2) the country of origin and the seller of any enrichment services purchased by
such owner or operator.”

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2.

Needs and Uses
The EIA's UDP collects basic data, which are required to meet the needs of DOE
legislative mandates and those of the States, the industry, and the user community. Data
obtained include, but are not limited to: selected annual data relating to aspects of
uranium exploration, mining of mineral materials from the ground, uranium concentrate
production and employment, inventories, actual and future uranium deliveries and
requirements, actual and future enrichment-feed shipments, uranium used in fuel
assemblies loaded into U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors, different uranium and
contract types, contract transactions and prices of uranium, purchases of enrichment
services (the standard measure is SWU), and Congressional required data relating to the
country origins and sellers of uranium and enrichment services. The data collected on
these surveys are unique. Although limited amounts of related or somewhat similar data
might be available from other Federal agencies, sources in the industry, and private
sources, those data collections are not reasonable alternatives for the data sets obtained
through the Uranium Data Program surveys.
EIA-851Q (Quarterly)/EIA-851A (Annual), Domestic Uranium Production Report
The data collected on the EIA-851Q quarterly survey are used by the EIA to publish
quarterly uranium concentrate production and facility operating status in EIA report
Domestic Uranium Production Report - Quarterly.
The data collected on the EIA-851A annual survey will be used by the EIA to publish
annual data in EIA reports Domestic Uranium Production Report and Annual Energy
Review. Both are to answer inquiries and requests about these data from the Congress,
Federal Government, States, the industry, and public data users.
Among the specific uses for the EIA-851A annual data are the following:
o

To continue historical trends of uranium exploration and development activities
in the U.S. uranium industry including data on drilling and expenditures in the
domestic industry;

o

To publish annual U.S. production of uranium concentrate from ore and/or
solutions from different methods of mining, including underground, open pit, insitu leaching, and other production sources;

o

To publish uranium production including quantities of U.S. mine production,
uranium concentrate, processing facility capacities, uranium concentrate
inventories and shipments, and status of production facilities;

o

To continue historical trends on employment in the raw materials sector of the
U.S. uranium industry by State and category of work performed in exploration,
mining, milling, processing and reclamation operations.

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Form EIA-858, Uranium Marketing Annual Survey
The data collected on Form EIA-858 are used by the EIA to publish annual reports, to
fulfill Congressional mandates under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102486), and to answer inquiries and requests about these data from the Congress, Federal
Government, States, the domestic industry, and public data users. Form EIA-858 data are
not collected for any other organization within the DOE.
Form EIA-858 data are published in aggregate form for general statistical uses and are
the primary source of data on the U.S. uranium market. The EIA reports Uranium
Marketing Annual Report and Annual Energy Review carry forward several important
time series of data.
Among the specific uses of the EIA-858 data are the following:
o

To provide to Congress the origin countries and sellers of any uranium and
enrichment services purchased or imported into the United States by
owners or operators of any U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors;

o

To provide current and historical data trends on uranium marketing
activities in the United States, including amounts and prices of uranium
transactions, contract and material type, purchases of enrichment services
(the standard measure is SWU), domestic or foreign purchase and sale,
origins and destinations of enrichment feed deliveries, uranium loaded into
U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors, and uranium inventories;

o

To provide future data trends on U.S. uranium market requirements,
including contracted deliveries (filled requirements), unfilled market
requirements, and projected enrichment feed deliveries.

The uses described above for the data collected on Forms EIA-851A/Q and Form EIA858 assist the EIA and the DOE in fulfilling their legislative mandates and supplying upto-date information about the U.S. uranium industry to policymakers and all data users.

3.

Technical Considerations
The UDP survey instruments are designed to minimize respondent burden insofar as
possible and still meet requirements for data from the DOE and the user community. In
addition to the standard respondent identification information preprinted on Form EIA851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858, information for selected data elements from
each respondent’s survey form for the prior year are also preprinted on each form to
assist respondents in completing the surveys for the current year.
EIA developed and began a new Form EIA-858 Internet Data Collection (IDC) system in
2006. EIA plans to survey the Form EIA-851A and Form EIA-851Q respondents by
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developing an IDC system and using this new system starting in 2007. Through this
secure internet data collection technique, respondent burden will be further reduced and
greater accuracy in data capture, validation, and processing achieved.

4.

Efforts to Reduce Duplication and Inadequacies of Similar Data
EIA is one of two statistical agencies that collect and/or maintain uranium data in the
Federal Government. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects information on
nonfuel minerals and materials, and also maintains the National Geochemical Data Base,
for hydrogeochemical and stream sediment analyses, based on the National Uranium
Resource Evaluation.
Non-statistical agencies that collect uranium data in the Federal Government include:
o U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC): questionnaires collected data from
the nuclear-fuel cycle industry pertaining to ITC’s 5-year review investigation
concerning uranium from Russia. These questionnaires were completed by
uranium converters, enrichers, fabricators, importers, producers, and purchasers.
In addition, they submitted copies of their completed Form EIA-858 for reporting
years 2000-2005.
o U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
o The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
In the private sector, some uranium consultants, vendors, and brokerage, investing, and
trading firms collect data from the industry, and subsequently provide information on
production, prices, supply, and demand frequently through their websites and
subscription-based analytical reports. This information is similar to some of the data
collected on Form EIA-851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858.

5.

Burden Reduction for Small Businesses and Small Entities
Minimizing the burden to small businesses of responding to EIA surveys, which
constitute a sizeable segment of the domestic uranium industry, is of primary concern to
the EIA. Given the relatively small number of U.S. firms in the uranium industry, it is
important that each firm participating in the industry, regardless of the firm's size,
participate in the EIA's uranium industry surveys in order for the resulting statistical
information to accurately represent the entire domestic industry.
Companies engaged in the domestic industry range in size from small firms which can
participate in limited or full range of industry activities from land acquisition through
exploration, drilling, mining, milling, processing, conversion, and U.S. market
broker/traders; to large firms that own and operate U.S. nuclear power reactors, enrich
uranium, and fabricate nuclear fuel assemblies. The UDP survey forms request data for
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items that are normally recorded in maintaining any business. Of the data elements
requested, little time will have to be spent by small companies in preparing their
responses.

6.

Results of Collecting Data Less Frequently
The Form EIA-851A and Form EIA-858 surveys collect U.S. uranium industry data
annually. The Form EIA-851Q survey collects three months of domestic uranium
production data each quarter of the year. Less frequent reporting would not enable EIA
to meet its mandate of providing timely, reliable information on the U.S. uranium
industry.

7.

Special Considerations
There are no special circumstances which would require the UDP surveys to be
conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 C.F.R. 1320.6.

8.

Summary of Consultations Outside the EIA
EIA filed a notice of request for comments in the Federal Register on May 1, 2006 (Vol.
71, No. 83, pages 25586-25587.
Form EIA-851A proposes the additional detail of mine production by mine name, by
type, by capacity, by State, and by owner in Item 4; employment by State in Item 5; by
exploration drilling and by development drilling in Item 6; and land, exploration, and
reclamation expenditures in Item 7.
Form EIA-858 proposes collecting one new data price (Average-Price per Separative
Work Unit (SWU)) in Item 2: Enrichment Services Purchased by Owners and Operators
of Civilian Nuclear Power Reactors. The annual burden would be increased by 1 hour for
an estimated average 15 hours per response. The term SWU is a measure of the amount
of work (energy) that is required to separate raw uranium into two components -- a
valuable component (U235) and a waste component (U238).
During the 60-day comment period (May 1-June 30, 2006), EIA did not receive any
comments directly pertaining to the notice but did receive an email notification that a
comment would be sent sometime in July. That late comment, the only one, was received
by EIA on July 10, 2006 and it follows:

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Comment:

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EIA Response to the Comment:
In response to Areva’s first comment “land, exploration and reclamation expenditures are
confidential and AREVA will not support the collection of this data by DOE/EIA;” EIA’s
mandate is to “collect, evaluate, assemble, analyze, and disseminate data and information
which is relevant to energy resource reserves, energy production, demand, and
technology, and related economic and statistical information. EIA addresses
confidentiality as part of its information collection plans. With regard to the information
collected on the EIA-851A, EIA will treat the expenditures data as confidential in
accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
(CIPSEA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-347) and the information will be used solely for statistical
purposes. EIA has successfully collected drilling expenditure, production expenditure,
and “land and other” expenditure data for 2003 through 2005 from company respondents,
including COGEMA Mining, Malapai Resources, and Pathfinder Mines who are now all
part of AREVA. All EIA-851A respondent contacts were notified of the plans to collect
the additional expenditures information and no other respondent commented on the
proposal.
In response to Areva’s second comment; Item 2 in Form EIA-858 would not be filled in
by AREVA, a uranium and enrichment supplier (previously named COGEMA). Only
U.S. nuclear power plant owners/operators are required to complete Item 2. In 2005, 26
U.S. nuclear power plant owners/operators purchased 11.4 million SWU of uranium
enrichment services from five different sellers. Four sellers operate enrichment plants
(CNEIC in China, COGEMA, Inc. in France, URENCO, Inc. in
Germany/Netherlands/United Kingdom and USEC, Inc. in the United States) and the fifth
seller is a U.S. trader of uranium and enrichment services. The number of suppliers for
uranium enrichment is few worldwide, less than the number of uranium suppliers.
Currently, there are plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities in the United
States (in Ohio and New Mexico), to replace the existing one owned by the U.S.
government and operated by USEC, Inc. Spot-market prices of enrichment services are
reported by four or five different sources in the nuclear fuel industry, but a federal energy
statistic for the average price of enrichment service, in $ per SWU, based on the 11 to 12
million SWU purchased each year for U.S. nuclear power plants is not available. After
careful consideration, EIA has determined that it is important to begin collecting SWU
price data on the Form EIA-858 to provide such a statistic and to produce a SWU price
series for analysis and for use in consideration of any future U.S. enrichment plants.
None of the company respondents, who would be providing their average SWU price on
the Form EIA-858 commented on the proposal to collect this additional information.

9.

Payments to Respondents
Respondents to Form EIA-851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858 receive no
payments.

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10.

Provisions Regarding Confidentiality of Information
Except for the elements listed below as not confidential, all other information reported on
the uranium survey Form EIA-851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858 will be treated
as confidential in accordance with CIPSEA and the information will be used solely for
statistical purposes.
The following elements reported on the uranium surveys will be treated as not
confidential and will be publicly released in identifiable form for use in statistical and
nonstatistical purposes. The items are being treated as not confidential because the
information has been released in identifiable form for many years in the Domestic
Uranium Production Report – Quarterly, annual Domestic Uranium Production Report,
Uranium Marketing Annual Report, and Uranium Industry Annual reports.
Form EIA-851A (Annual) and Form EIA-851Q (Quarterly):
Respondent and Contact Information:
- Company Name
Item 1: Facility Information
- Name
- County
- State
- Owner
- Rated Capacity
- Operating Status
Form EIA-858:
Respondent and Contact Information:
- Company Name
Item 1: Contract
- A. Other Party Name
Item 2, Enrichment Services Purchased by Owners and Operators of Civilian Nuclear
Power Reactors
- B. Seller's Name
Instructions to the forms will include the following:
Form EIA-851A
The items RESPONDENT IDENTIFICATION NAME and all of ITEM 1:
FACILITY INFORMATION on Form EIA-851A are NOT considered confidential
and may be publicly released in identifiable form. In addition to the use of the
information from these two data fields by EIA for statistical purposes, this information
may also be used for any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.

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Form EIA-851Q
The items RESPONDENT IDENTIFICATION NAME and all of ITEM 1:
FACILITY INFORMATION on Form EIA-851Q are NOT considered confidential
and may be publicly released in identifiable form. In addition to the use of the
information from these two data fields by EIA for statistical purposes, this information
may also be used for any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.
Form EIA-858
The items RESPONDENT IDENTIFICATION NAME and OTHER PARTY
NAME (ITEM 1A), and SELLER’S NAME (ITEM 2B) on Form EIA-858 are NOT
considered confidential and may be publicly released in identifiable form. In addition to
the use of the information from these data fields by EIA for statistical purposes, this
information may be used for any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative,
regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.
All other information you provide on Form EIA-851A/851Q/858 will be considered
confidential and used for statistical purposes only. In accordance with the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (Title 5 of
Public Law 107-347) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be
disclosed in identifiable form without your consent. By law, every EIA employee, as
well as every agent, is subject to a jail term, a fine of up to $250,000, or both if he or
she discloses ANY identifiable information about you.

11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions
There are no questions of a sensitive nature included on the UDP survey forms.

12.

Estimated Reporting Burden

Number of Respondents:
Frequency of Response:
Hours per Response:
Total Burden Hours:

Form EIA-851A
55
annually
3
165

Form EIA-851Q
10
quarterly
0.75
30

Form EIA-858
66
annually
15
990

The total burden for the surveys is 1,185 hours annually.

13.

Estimate of Cost to Respondents

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The EIA estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated with these
surveys other than the costs associated with the burden hours as set forth in item 12
above. Costs of the burden hours to the respondent universe for completion of the Form
EIA-851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858 are estimated below. The dollar values
shown were derived using the standard formulas:
(Total burden hours)X($57 per hour*)=(Total respondent burden cost in
dollars)
* An average cost per hour of $57 is used because that is the average loaded (salary plus
benefits) cost for an EIA employee. EIA assumes that the survey respondent workforce
completing surveys for EIA is comparable to the EIA workforce.
and
(Total respondent burden, dollars)÷(Total number of respondents)=(Average cost per
responding company).
Form EIA-851A:

165 X $57 = $9,405
and
$9,405 ÷ 55 = $171/respondent

Form EIA-851Q:

30 X $57 = $1,710
and
$1,710 ÷ 10 = $171/respondent

Form EIA-858:

990 X $57 = $56,430
and
$56,430 ÷ 66 = $855/respondent

The total cost to all respondents for these 3 surveys is $67,545

14.

Estimate of Costs to the Federal Government
The total cost for EIA’s UDP is 1 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) ($123,000) and contracted
IT support to develop, maintain, and enhance the internal & IDC systems for the Form
EIA-851A, Form EIA-851Q, and Form EIA-858.

15.

Changes in the Reporting Burden
Because of the increase in number of respondents and burden hours, the total for this ICR
has increased from 1,044 hours in 2003 to 1,185 hours in 2006.

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Change from 2003 to 2006
Number of Respondents
Hours per Response
Total Burden Hours

Form EIA-851A
+35
+1
+125

Form EIA-851Q
+2
0
+6

13
Form EIA-858
-4
+1
+10

The total burden hour increase is 141 hours annually. The change in the number of
respondent burden (increase) is 20 hours and the program change (increase) due to
agency discretion is 121 hours.

16.

Plans for Tabulation and Publication
Data tabulation and publication (EIA website posting) of Form EIA-851Q data is
scheduled 45 days after each quarter. The Forms EIA-851A and EIA-858 tabulated data
are scheduled to be posted in April of each year.

Form EIA-851A
Form EIA-851Q
Form EIA-858

17.

Month posted on EIA website
April
February; May; August; November
April

Display of Expiration Date
All three survey forms will display the expiration date.

18.

Exception to Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification.

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