Enforcement Manual - Revision 8 - Summary of Changes

Revision 8 was issued on February 1, 2013. The main purpose of this revision was to update the Enforcement Manual (Manual) with guidance and information reflective of the recently revised Enforcement Policy published in the Federal Register on January 28, 2013 (78 FR 5838) and to incorporate recommendations from Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit OIG-12-A-09, "Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Use of Confirmatory Action Letters". In addition, changes were made throughout the Manual to reflect current enforcement practices, correct editorial errors, and to provide clarification where needed.

The following briefly describes some of the more significant changes associated with the revised Enforcement Policy:

Sections 2.14.2 and 3.1 were revised to clarify that a violation identified at any NRC licensed facility with an approved Corrective Action Program (CAP) may be dispositioned as a non-cited violation provided certain criteria are satisfied.  Previously this only applied to operating power reactor licensees.

Section 4.1 was revised to clarify guidance regarding predecisional enforcement conferences (PECs) and regulatory conferences.

Section 4.3 and 6.6.4 were modified to provide guidance on when to consider proposing a civil penalty; including proposing a civil penalty to an individual that releases safeguards information.

Sections 4.3.3, 5.1.1, and other appropriate sections, were modified to reflect guidance for use of discretion when considering imposing daily civil penalties.

Section 6.4 was revised to reflect changes made in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program.

Section 6.6 was modified to provide guidance regarding notification of employers when the NRC discovers damaging or disqualifying information about an individual's trustworthiness and reliability.

Applicable sections throughout the Manual were revised to conform to revised terminology (e.g. "potential violation" to "apparent violation"; "NRC licensed material" to "NRC regulated material."

The following briefly describes some of the more significant changes not associated with the revised Enforcement Policy:

The Introduction and Overview section was modified to clarify that root cause analyses are not required for minor violations even though all minor violations are required to be corrected.

Section 1.15 was changed to provide the appropriate guidance document (IMC 0410) regarding Notices of Enforcement Discretion (NOEDs) for operating power reactors and to clarify the available methods to notify the Commission when communication with the Commission is required prior to issuing an enforcement action.

Section 2.7 was modified to clarify the use of an Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) and an Interim Enforcement Policy.

Section 2.11 was modified to clarify when a Severity Level IV Notice of Violation should be considered in lieu of dispositioning the issue as a minor violation.

Section 2.12 was changed to clarify the format to be used when profiling an enforcement case in ADAMS.

Section 3.2 was changed to clarify that approval from the Office of the Executive Director for Operations for using discretion to issue a Severity Level IV violation, when the criteria for dispositioning the violation as a non-cited violation are met, is no longer required.

Section 3.5 was changed to incorporate recommendations from the OIG audit, OIG-12-A-09, "Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Use of Confirmatory Action Letters" regarding, in part, issuance, coordination, program office responsibilities, tracking, and closure of Confirmatory Action Letters.

Section 4.5 was modified to reflect the revised timeliness metrics.

Section 6.5 was changed to reference Allegation Guidance Memorandum 2012-001 for guidance on special cases involving allegations of a chilled work environment.

Section 8.1 was modified to clarify guidance regarding use of the civil penalty assessment process and the loss source policy.

Section 8.12 was changed to clarify the process to be used to disposition violations against a Master Materials License.

Section 8.14 was modified to provide clarification regarding enforcement actions against non-licensees.

Applicable sections throughout the Manual were revised to clarify that, even though required to be corrected, a formal root cause analysis is not required for minor violations.