[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2445-2446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00305]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2019-0242]


Revision of the NRC Enforcement Policy

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Revision to policy statement.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing a 
revision to its Enforcement Policy to address the requirements of the 
Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 
2015. The 2015 Improvements Act amended the Federal Civil Penalties 
Inflation Adjustment Act (FCPIAA) of 1990, and now requires Federal 
agencies to adjust their maximum civil monetary penalty annually for 
inflation.

DATES: This action is effective on January 15, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0242 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0242. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; 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 https://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].
     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: Gerry Gulla, Office of Enforcement, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
telephone: 301-287-9143, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion

    In 1990, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 
Adjustment Act of 1990 (FCPIAA), to provide for regular adjustment for 
inflation of civil monetary penalties (CMPs). As amended by the Debt 
Collection Improvement Act of 1996, the FCPIAA required that the head 
of each Federal agency review, and if necessary, adjust by regulation 
the CMPs assessed under statutes enforced by the agency at least once 
every four years.
    On November 2, 2015, the President signed into law the Federal 
Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the 
2015 Improvements Act), which further amended the FCPIAA and requires 
Federal agencies to adjust their CMPs annually for inflation no later 
than January 15 of each year. These requirements apply to the NRC's 
maximum CMP amounts for (1) a violation of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) 
of 1954, as amended, or any regulation or order issued under the AEA, 
codified in Sec.  2.205(j) of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Civil Penalties''; and (2) a false claim or 
statement made under the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, codified in 
Sec.  13.3, ``Basis for Civil Penalties and Assessments.''

[[Page 2446]]

    Pursuant to the 2015 Improvements Act, today the NRC published in 
the Rules section of the Federal Register a revision to Sec.  2.205(j), 
increasing the maximum CMP for a violation of the AEA to $303,471 per 
violation, per day. This adjustment requires a corresponding revision 
to the NRC Enforcement Policy. Specifically, the maximum CMP amount 
found in Section 8.0, ``Table of Base Civil Penalties'' of the NRC 
Enforcement Policy is being updated to $300,000, consistent with the 
NRC's existing practice of rounding the maximum CMP amount codified in 
Sec.  2.205(j) down to the nearest multiple of $10,000. Lesser CMP 
amounts in the table of base civil penalties are also being adjusted to 
maintain the same proportional relationship amongst the penalty 
amounts, except for item ``f.'', which is based on the estimated or 
actual cost of authorized disposal and not on the monetary value 
codified in Sec.  2.205(j).
    Accordingly, the NRC has revised its Policy to read as follows:

                   8.0--Table of Base Civil Penalties
                                 Table A
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a. Power reactors, gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment         $300,000
 plants, and high-level waste repository................
b. Fuel fabricators authorized to possess Category I or          150,000
 II quantities of SNM and uranium conversion facilities.
c. All other fuel fabricators, including facilities               75,000
 under construction, authorized to possess Category III
 quantities of SNM, industrial processors, independent
 spent fuel and monitored retrievable storage
 installations, mills, gas centrifuge and laser uranium
 enrichment facilities..................................
d. Test reactors, contractors, waste disposal licensees,          30,000
 industrial radiographers, and other large material
 users..................................................
e. Research reactors, academic, medical, or other small           15,000
 material users.........................................
f. Loss, abandonment, or improper transfer or disposal
 of regulated material, regardless of the use or type of
 licensee:
    1. Sources or devices with a total activity greater           54,000
     than 3.7 x 104 MBq (1 Curie), excluding hydrogen-3
     (tritium)..........................................
    2. Other sources or devices containing the materials          17,000
     and quantities listed in 10 CFR 31.5(c)(13)(i).....
    3. Sources and devices not otherwise described above           7,000
g. Individuals who release safeguards information.......           7,500
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II. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    This policy statement does not contain any new or amended 
collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing collection of information were 
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), approval numbers 
3150-0010 and 3150-0136.

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless the document requesting 
or requiring the collection displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This action is not a rule as defined in the Congressional Review 
Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808).

    Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of December, 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Margaret M. Doane,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2020-00305 Filed 1-14-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P