[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]
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