[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 39 (Friday, February 27, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9890-9891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-03929]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2025-1998]
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 (Policy) to incorporate multiple
changes approved by the Commission.
DATES: This revision is effective on February 27, 2026. The NRC is not
soliciting comments on this revision to its Policy at this time.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-1998 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: Electronically at https://www.regulations.gov. Search for Docket ID NRC-2025-1998. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Helen Chang; telephone: 301-415-3228;
email: [email protected].
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 ADAMS Public Search.''
For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room
(PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email
to [email protected].
NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if
it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is
[[Page 9891]]
mentioned in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
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
The mission of the NRC is to protect public health and safety and
advance the nation's common defense and security by enabling the safe
and secure use and deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies
and radioactive materials through efficient and reliable licensing,
oversight, and regulation for the benefit of society and the
environment. The NRC supports this mission through its use of its
Enforcement Policy (Policy). Adequate protection is presumptively
assured by compliance with the NRC's regulations, and the Policy
contains the basic procedures used to assess and disposition apparent
violations of the NRC's requirements.
The NRC initially published the Policy in the Federal Register on
October 7, 1980 (45 FR 66754). Since its initial publication, the
Policy has been revised on a number of occasions to address changing
requirements and lessons learned. The most recent Policy revision is
dated January 13, 2023. That revision incorporated changes to the
monetary amounts listed in Section 8.0, ``Table of Base Civil
Penalties.'' This revision meets the requirements of the Federal Civil
Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the 2015
Improvements Act), which requires Federal agencies to adjust their
civil monetary penalties annually for inflation no later than January
15 of each year.
This current revision to the Policy is a staff initiative to
incorporate lessons learned along with miscellaneous clarifications and
additions. These revisions include clarifying and relocating the
current Policy on lost or missing sources to a new separate section;
removing the significance determination process qualitative color
descriptions; revising guidance on miscellaneous actions involving
individuals; adding a new section for independent spent fuel storage
installations; revising several severity level violation examples,
including examples for import/export activities, licensed reactor
operators, materials operations, and fuel cycle operations; and
sunsetting Interim Enforcement Policy 9.2, ``Enforcement Discretion for
Permanent Implant Brachytherapy Medical Event Reporting (10 CFR
35.3045),'' for permanent implant brachytherapy medical reporting
requirements.
The NRC provided an opportunity for the public to comment on these
Policy revisions in a document published in the Federal Register on
December 3, 2020, (85 FR 78046). The NRC received multiple comments
from Enercon Talisman, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and Louisiana
Energy Services, LLC. These comments and the disposition of them are
included in enclosure 1. The revision to the Policy and enclosures is
available in ADAMS under Accession Numbers:
Memo: ML22318A123
Enclosure 1: ML22318A130
Enclosure 2: ML22318A132
Enclosure 3: ML22318A138
Enclosure 4: ML23038A220
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 collections 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 a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of Management and Budget has
determined that it is not a ``major rule'' as defined by the
Congressional Review Act.
Dated: February 24, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael King,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2026-03929 Filed 2-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P