[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 249 (Thursday, December 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68070-68071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32755]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Policy and Procedure for Enforcement Actions; Policy Statement

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Policy statement: corrections.

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SUMMARY: This document presents corrections to the revision of the 
policy statement that was published December 10, 1996 (61 FR 65088). 
This action is necessary to correct the inadvertent failure to change 
two paragraphs of the Enforcement Policy concerning matters on which 
the NRC staff must notify the Commission. These additional changes are 
consistent with the other changes that were made in the revision as 
published.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The revision became effective on December 10, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Lieberman, Director, Office of 
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 
(301) 415-2741.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 10, 1996 (61 FR 65088), the NRC 
publised a revision to its ``General Statement of Policy and Procedure 
for NRC Enforcement Actions'' (Enforcement Policy or Policy) to address 
issues regarding consultation with the Commission and other subjects. 
Sections III of the Policy was revised to reflect the new list of 
circumstances in which the Commission would be consulted or notified. 
However, two paragraphs in Section VII, Exercise of Discretion, were 
not amended to reflect the changes adopted by the Commission. This 
document modifies those two paragraphs to reflect the appropriate 
policy as to notification to the Commission when the staff exercises 
discretion in enforcement matters. These two paragraphs were 
inadvertently omitted in the revision prepared for publication in the 
Federal Register.
    Accordingly, the NRC Enforcement Policy is corrected by revising 
the first paragraphs in Sections VII.A.1. and VII.B. to read as 
follows:

General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions

* * * * *

VII. EXERCISE OF DISCRETION

* * * * *

A. Escalation of Enforcement Sanctions

* * * * *
    1. Civil penalties. Notwithstanding the outcome of the normal civil 
penalty assessment process addressed in Section VI.B, the NRC may 
exercise discretion

[[Page 68071]]

by either proposing a civil penalty where application of the factors 
would otherwise result in zero penalty or by escalating the amount of 
the resulting civil penalty (i.e., base or twice the base civil 
penalty) to ensure that the proposed civil penalty reflects the 
significance of the circumstances and conveys the appropriate 
regulatory message to the licensee. The Commission will be notified if 
the deviation in the amount of the civil penalty proposed under this 
discretion from the amount of the civil penalty assessed under the 
normal process is more than two times the base civil penalty shown in 
Tables 1A and 1B. Examples when this discretion should be considered 
include, but are not limited to the following:
* * * * *

B. Mitigation of Enforcement Sanctions

    The NRC may exercise discretion and refrain from issuing a civil 
penalty and/or a Notice of Violation, if the outcome of the normal 
process described in Section VI.B does not result in a sanction 
consistent with an appropriate regulatory message. In addition, even if 
the NRC exercises this discretion, when the licensee failed to make a 
required report to the NRC, a separate enforcement action will normally 
be issued for the licensee's failure to make a required report. The 
approval of the Director, Office of Enforcement, with consultation with 
the appropriate Deputy Executive Director as warranted, is required for 
exercising discretion of the type described in Section VII.B.1.b where 
a willful violation is involved, and of the types described in Sections 
VII.B.2 through VII.B.6. Commission notification is required for 
exercising discretion of the type described in: (1) Section VII.B.2 the 
first time discretion is exercised during that plant shutdown, and (2) 
Section VII.B.6 where appropriate based on the uniqueness or 
significance of the issue. Examples when discretion should be 
considered for departing from the normal approach in Section VI.B 
include but are not limited to the following:
* * * * *
    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 18th day of December, 1996.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John C. Hoyle.
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 96-32755 Filed 12-24-96; 8:45 am]
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