[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24742-24744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10002]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0094; EA-11-254]


In the Matter of ABSG Consulting Inc. Confirmatory Order 
(Effective Immediately)

I

    ABSG Consulting Inc. (ABSG) is an independently owned and operated 
risk, safety, and integrity management company serving various 
industries in the United States and overseas; some of which are 
regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ABSG's main 
office is located in Houston, TX.
    This Confirmatory Order (referenced as CO, Confirmatory Order or 
Order) is the result of an agreement reached during an alternative 
dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session conducted on March 12, 2012, 
in Arlington VA.

II

    On October 5, 2011, the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI) issued 
its report of investigation (OI Report No. 1-2010-050). Based upon 
evidence developed during its investigation, the NRC identified an 
apparent violation of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR) 50.7, ``Employee protection,'' involving a former ABSG employee 
who was terminated, in part, for participating in a Commission 
proceeding before the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel prior 
to his employment with ABSG.
    By letter dated January 17, 2012, the NRC identified to ABSG the 
apparent violation of 10 CFR 50.7 and offered ABSG the opportunity to 
provide a response in writing, attend a pre-decisional enforcement 
conference, or to request alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in which 
a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority would facilitate 
discussions between the NRC and ABSG, and if possible, assist the NRC 
and the parties in reaching an agreement on resolving the concerns. 
ABSG chose to participate in ADR in an effort to resolve this matter.
    On March 12, 2012, the NRC and ABSG met at ABSG's facility in 
Arlington, Virginia in an ADR session mediated by a professional 
mediator, arranged through Cornell University's Institute on Conflict 
Resolution. This Confirmatory Order is issued pursuant to the agreement 
reached during the ADR process.

III

    The NRC acknowledges that ABSG on its own initiative undertook 
several actions. These actions included:
    1. Issuance of a letter to the manager involved with the 
termination of the employment of the individual reiterating ABSG's 
commitment to its non-retaliation policies;
    2. Directing ABSG's HR Manager of Employee Relations to draft an 
expanded anti-retaliation policy for inclusion in the Company's 
Policies and Benefits Guide; and
    3. Directing ABSG's Director of Compliance to draft an expanded 
anti-retaliation policy for inclusion in the Company's Code of Ethics.
    During the ADR mediation session, an agreement in principle was 
reached in which ABSG agreed to take the following additional actions:
    1. The President of ABSG shall issue a communication in writing to 
those employees involved in its U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector 
informing them of the Company's policy and their right and avenues for 
raising nuclear safety concerns without fear of retaliation. This 
communication shall also be provided to all new hire employees within 
thirty days of their assumption of duties. All employees to whom this 
communication is given shall confirm their receipt in writing.
    2. ABSG shall hire an outside consultant with expertise in NRC 
employee protection regulations to develop anti-retaliation training 
for all ABSG U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector employees which shall 
include those items identified in 10 CFR 50.7, ``Employee protection.'' 
Training shall:
    a. Inform managers that it is the position of the NRC that ABSG is 
subject to 10 CFR 50.7.
    b. Define key terms and include examples of discriminatory 
practices that address all categories of protected activities listed in 
10 CFR 50.7.
    c. Inform employees of their rights and avenues for raising nuclear 
safety concerns (including to the NRC) without fear of retaliation.
    3. The anti-retaliation training, developed in paragraph 2 above, 
shall be conducted by an outside consultant with expertise in NRC 
employee protection regulations.
    a. The training shall be provided every two years commencing within 
two months after development.
    b. The training, after its first offering may be provided by ABSG 
training staff.
    c. Training records shall be retained consistent with applicable 
ABSG record retention policies.
    4. ABSG shall establish a process to conduct a secondary review of 
all proposed adverse actions (including written reprimand or above, but 
excluding reductions-in-force and other ordinary layoffs) for any of 
its U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector employees who have engaged in 
protected activities to ensure that these actions comport with 
applicable employee-protection requirements and assess and mitigate the 
potential for any chilling effect on such protected activities.
    a. ABSG shall establish requirements for this process in an ABSG 
procedure that shall become effective thereafter.
    b. This review shall be conducted by management personnel, 
including legal and/or human resources.
    5. ABSG shall publish, as part of its on-line newsletter, an 
article concerning the protections afforded by 10 CFR 50.7.
    On April 17, 2012, ABSG consented to the NRC issuing this 
Confirmatory Order with the commitments, as described in Section IV 
below. ABSG further agreed in its April 17, 2012, letter that this 
Order is to be effective upon issuance and that it has waived its right 
to a hearing.
    The NRC has concluded that its concerns can be resolved through 
effective implementation of ABSG's commitments. I find that ABSG's 
commitments as set forth in Section IV are acceptable and necessary and 
conclude that with these commitments the public health and safety are 
reasonably assured. In view of the foregoing, I have determined that 
the public health and safety require that ABSG's commitments be 
confirmed by this Order. Based on the above and ABSG's consent, this 
Order is immediately effective upon issuance. Accordingly, the staff is 
exercising its enforcement discretion and will not issue a Notice of 
Violation or civil penalty in this matter.

IV

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 103, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and 
186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's 
regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR Part 50, it is hereby ordered, 
effective immediately, that:
    1. By no later than three months after issuance of the Confirmatory 
Order, the President of ABSG shall issue a communication in writing to 
those employees involved in its U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector 
informing them of the Company's policy and their right

[[Page 24743]]

and avenues for raising nuclear safety concerns without fear of 
retaliation. A copy of this communication shall be provided to the NRC 
shortly after issuance. This communication shall also be provided to 
all new hire employees within thirty days of their assumption of 
duties. All employees to whom this communication is given shall confirm 
their receipt in writing.
    2. Within one year of the date of the Confirmatory Order, ABSG 
shall hire an outside consultant with expertise in NRC employee 
protection regulations to develop anti-retaliation training for all 
ABSG U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector employees which shall include 
those items identified in 10 CFR 50.7, ``Employee protection.'' 
Training shall:
    a. Inform managers that it is the position of the NRC that ABSG is 
subject to 10 CFR 50.7.
    b. Define key terms and include examples of discriminatory 
practices that address all categories of protected activities listed in 
10 CFR 50.7.
    c. Inform employees of their rights and avenues for raising nuclear 
safety concerns (including to the NRC) without fear of retaliation.
    3. The anti-retaliation training, developed in paragraph 2 above, 
shall be conducted by an outside consultant with expertise in NRC 
employee protection regulations.
    a. The training shall be provided every two years commencing within 
two months after development.
    b. The training, after its first offering may be provided by ABSG 
training staff.
    c. Training records shall be retained consistent with applicable 
ABSG record retention policies and made available to the NRC upon 
request.
    4. ABSG shall establish a process to conduct a secondary review of 
all proposed adverse actions (including written reprimand or above, but 
excluding reductions-in-force and other ordinary layoffs) for any of 
its U.S. Nuclear Utilities Market Sector employees who have engaged in 
protected activities to ensure these actions comport with applicable 
employee-protection requirements and assess and mitigate the potential 
for any chilling effect on such protected activities.
    a. Within 3 months after issuance of this Confirmatory Order, ABSG 
shall establish requirements for this process in an ABSG procedure that 
shall become effective thereafter.
    b. This review shall be conducted by management personnel, 
including legal and/or human resources.
    5. Within 6 months of the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, ABSG 
shall publish, as part of its on-line newsletter, an article concerning 
the protections afforded by 10 CFR 50.7 and provide a copy to the NRC 
shortly after publication.

V

    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, any person adversely affected by 
this Confirmatory Order, other than ABSG, may request a hearing within 
20 days of its publication in the Federal Register. Where good cause is 
shown, consideration will be given to extending the time to request a 
hearing. A request for extension of time must be made in writing to the 
Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555, and include a statement of good cause for the 
extension.
    All documents filed in the NRC's adjudicatory proceedings, 
including a request for hearing, a petition for leave to intervene, any 
motion or other document filed in the proceeding prior to the 
submission of a request for hearing or petition to intervene, and 
documents filed by interested governmental entities participating under 
10 CFR 2.315(c), must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule 
(72 FR 49139, August 28, 2007). The E-Filing process requires 
participants to submit and serve all adjudicatory documents over the 
internet, or in some cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. 
Participants may not submit paper copies of their filings unless they 
seek an exemption in accordance with the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 
ten days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact 
the Office of the Secretary by email at [email protected], or by 
telephone at (301) 415-1677, to request: (1) A digital identification 
(ID) certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal 
server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise 
the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a request or 
petition for hearing (even in instances in which the participant, or 
its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-issued digital ID 
certificate). Based upon this information, the Secretary will establish 
an electronic docket for the hearing in this proceeding if the 
Secretary has not already established an electronic docket.
    Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is 
available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. System requirements for accessing 
the E-Submittal server are detailed in NRC's ``Guidance for Electronic 
Submission,'' which is available on the agency's public Web site at 
http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. Participants may 
attempt to use other software not listed on the Web site, but should 
note that the NRC's E-Filing system does not support unlisted software, 
and the NRC Meta System Help Desk will not be able to offer assistance 
in using unlisted software.
    If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC 
in accordance with the E-Filing rule, the participant must file the 
document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to 
serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange System, 
users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC's 
Web site. Further information on the Web-based submission form, 
including the installation of the Web browser plug-in, is available on 
the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.
    Once a participant has obtained a digital ID certificate and a 
docket has been created, the participant can then submit a request for 
hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions should be in 
Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with the NRC guidance 
available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the 
documents are submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be 
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system 
no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of 
a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends 
the submitter an email notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
E-Filing system also distributes an email notice that provides access 
to the document to the NRC's Office of the General Counsel and any 
others who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to 
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the 
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition 
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document 
via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically using the agency's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by

[[Page 24744]]

contacting the NRC Meta System Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' 
link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by email at [email protected], or by a toll-free 
call at 1 (866) 672-7640. The NRC Meta System Help Desk is available 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, 
excluding government holidays.
    Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, in 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing 
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper 
format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: 
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth 
Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 
20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants 
filing a document in this manner are responsible for serving the 
document on all other participants. Filing is considered complete by 
first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, 
express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing the 
document with the provider of the service. A presiding officer, having 
granted an exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a 
participant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer 
subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from 
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
http://ehd1.nrc.gov/ehd/, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the 
Commission, or the presiding officer. Participants are requested not to 
include personal privacy information, such as social security numbers, 
home addresses, or home phone numbers in their filings, unless an NRC 
regulation or other law requires submission of such information. With 
respect to copyrighted works, except for limited excerpts that serve 
the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use 
application, participants are requested not to include copyrighted 
materials in their submission.
    If a person (other than ABSG) requests a hearing, that person shall 
set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is 
adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order and shall address the 
criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.309(d) and (f).
    If a hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely 
affected, the Commission will issue an order designating the time and 
place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered 
at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order should be 
sustained.
    In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of 
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions 
specified in Section IV above, shall be final 20 days from the date 
this Confirmatory Order is published in the Federal Register, without 
further order or proceedings. If an extension of time for requesting a 
hearing has been approved, the provisions specified in Section IV shall 
be final when the extension expires if a hearing request has not been 
received.
    A REQUEST FOR HEARING SHALL NOT STAY THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVENESS OF 
THIS ORDER.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 17 day of April 2012.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Director, Office of Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2012-10002 Filed 4-24-12; 8:45 am]
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