[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
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents
having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed
to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published
under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.
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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]
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