Comment on FR Doc # 2026-12989, NRC-2025-1303-0001, from Sheryl Ann Sweet
Sheryl Ann SweetOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter argues that the Managing Fatigue rule (10 CFR 26 Subpart I) provides no measurable safety benefit and creates unnecessary complexity for nuclear licensees. They propose dissolving the rule, claiming that the current requirements are based on unproven theories and do not reflect actual safety risks in the nuclear industry.
Dissolve 10 CFR 26 Subpart I, Managing Fatigue
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)*, a nuclear worker could ‘hypothetically’ work 80+ hours per week, provided the worker is compensated with appropriate overtime pay. FLSA covered non-exempt employees should be paid at least 1.5 times the hourly wage after 40 hours/week. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 requires SOX compliant companies to maintain accurate financial records which include labor costs. This statute does not spell out overtime or timekeeping rules, but many companies have internal requirements or policies to record ‘actual time worked’ to avoid misstated financial statements.
FLSA, and to some extent SOX, compete in philosophy with Part 26 Managing Fatigue (compensation vs safety). Part 26 legally supersedes FLSA’s permissive hour limits in the nuclear industry. Part 26 strictly prohibits a nuclear worker from working 80+ hours because of safety concerns.
SubPart I, Managing Fatigue, frequently applies the phrase ‘safely and competently’ but never provides a definition of the phrase. There is no juxtaposition of being fatigued to ‘safely and competently’ performing duties. There have never been any examples of nuclear workers causing an unsafe situation because they exceeded work hour limits or because they worked under a waiver. The only evidence provided to support the Fatigue Rule is the theory of circadian rhythms concluding that shift work is detrimental to human health.
The entire world works around the clock and humans, of all creatures, require less sleep than any of our closest animal relatives. Circadian rhythms do not manifest identically. They vary from one person to the next, each with unique triggers. They evolve with age, shifting in older adults to less deep sleep. The average American sleeps approximately 7 hours in a 24-hour period.
The complexities of Fatigue Rule calculations have led licensees to adopt software solutions for tracking hours worked, breaks, potential situations requiring waivers (along with fatigue and work assessments), outage rules, annual reporting. These complexities have given rise to small industry in itself – Fatigue Rule software programs. Nuclear workers spend a good portion of time attending to a phenomenon that has never happened – ‘not safely and competently performing duties.’
A Proposal: Reduce the complexities of Managing Fatigue by dissolving the rule. It provides no safety benefit commensurate with the overly complex mathematical problems that do not balance.