[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 28, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 24363-24364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11009]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 102 / Tuesday, May 28, 2019 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 24363]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2016-0185]


Processing Fitness-for-Duty Drug and Alcohol Cases

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Policy revision; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
revision to its Enforcement Policy (the Policy). The NRC is revising 
Section 4.1, ``Considerations in Determining Enforcement Actions 
Involving Individuals,'' of the Policy to indicate that the NRC 
typically will not consider Fitness-for-Duty (FFD) Drug and Alcohol 
(D&A) related violations for enforcement unless the licensee's FFD 
program has apparent deficiencies.

DATES: The policy revision is effective on May 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0185 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this action by any of 
the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0185. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS 
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Furst, Office of Enforcement; 
telephone: 301-287-9087; email: [email protected]; U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    On January 31, 2016, the NRC staff submitted to the Commission 
SECY-16-0009, ``Recommendations Resulting from the Integrated 
Prioritization and Re-Baselining of Agency Activities,'' (ADAMS Package 
Accession No. ML16028A189). Item 101 in Enclosure 1 of SECY-16-0009 
included the NRC staff's recommendations for creating efficiencies in 
the Enforcement Process, in part by reducing FFD case processing.
    In developing potential efficiencies in the enforcement program, 
the NRC staff concluded that not processing routine cases involving D&A 
issues would reduce NRC staff resources without impacting safety and 
security because 10 CFR part 26 already requires licensees to 
disposition individual violations of their FFD D&A procedures.
    The Commission approved the NRC staff's recommendation to reduce 
FFD case processing in the Staff Requirements Memorandum for SECY-16-
0009, dated April 13, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16104A158).
    On October 5, 2016, the NRC published a document in the Federal 
Register (81 FR 69010) soliciting public comments on the proposed 
change to the Policy. Twelve stakeholders provided comments on the 
proposed revision. While the Nuclear Energy Institute commented on 
behalf of the nuclear energy industry that they supported the NRC 
staff's proposed revision to the Policy, not all stakeholders agreed 
with the proposed revision to the Policy. The public comments and 
staff's responses to those comments are available in ADAMS under 
Accession No. ML16355A045.
    On May 8, 2017, the staff submitted SECY-17-0059 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML16355A048) requesting Commission approval to issue a revised 
Policy, establishing that the NRC will not typically consider FFD D&A 
related violations involving non-licensed individuals for enforcement 
action unless there is an apparent deficiency in the licensee's FFD 
program. On April 18, 2019, the Commission issued Staff Requirements 
Memorandum for SECY-17-0059, ``Proposed Enforcement Policy Revision for 
Processing Fitness-For-Duty Cases Resulting from Site Fitness-For-Duty 
Drug and Alcohol Violations by Individuals'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML19108A476), approving the staff's proposed revision to the Policy. 
The Commission also approved the staff's specific, proposed 
implementation of this change, through the addition of a new paragraph 
to Section 4.1 of the NRC's Policy.

II. Revision to the NRC Enforcement Policy

    This policy revision is being implemented by adding the following 
paragraph at the end of Section 4.1, ``Considerations in Determining 
Enforcement Actions Involving Individuals:''

    For FFD violations involving non-licensed individuals who 
violate drug and alcohol provisions of site FFD programs, which are 
explicitly described in Sec.  26.75, ``Sanctions,'' the NRC will not 
typically consider FFD drug and alcohol-related violations for 
enforcement action unless there is an apparent deficiency in the 
licensee's FFD program to take the required sanctions against the 
individual(s) or deficiencies in implementation of the licensee FFD 
program.

    The revision to the Policy is available in ADAMS under Accession 
No. ML19123A129.

III. Paperwork Reduction Act

    This revision to the Policy does not contain any new or amended 
collections of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing collections of information were 
approved by the Office of Management (OMB) and Budget, approval number 
3150-0136.

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond

[[Page 24364]]

to, a request for information or an information collection requirement 
unless the document displays a currently valid OMB control number.

IV. Congressional Review Act

    This policy is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 
U.S.C. 801-808). However, OMB has not found it to be a major rule as 
defined in the Congressional Review Act.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of May 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-11009 Filed 5-24-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P