Enforcement Manual - Revision 11 - Summary of Changes

Revision 11 to the Enforcement Manual (Manual) was issued on October 1, 2019. The primary purpose of this revision was to update several sections in Parts I and II of the Manual to reflect current enforcement practices, and to provide clarifying guidance where needed. In addition, the procedures for issuing Notices of Enforcement Discretion (NOEDs) were moved from Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0410 to a new appendix to the Manual, Appendix F, Notices of Enforcement Discretion.

Changes made to the following sections of Part I and II of the Manual include:

• Part I – Sections 1.1.2, 1.2.8, 1.3.1 and 2,2 were revised to clarify requirements to document low safety significant non-compliances in NRC inspection reports.

• Part I – Section 1.2.7.2, Enforcement Guidance Memoranda, was changed to remove specific guidance on preparation of EGMs.  Guidance associated with the preparation of EGMs is now contained in internal office procedures.

• Part I – Section 1.2.7.3, EGM and IEP-Related Enforcement Discretion Signature Authority, was revised to clarify signature authority related to the exercise of enforcement discretion associated with EGMs and IEPs.

• Part I – Section 1.2.8, Using Information from the Significance Determination Process (SDP), and Part II – Section 4.1.1, General Enforcement Approach, were revised to ensure that violations of NRC requirements for which there are no associated SDP performance deficiencies are documented in accordance with the appropriate Inspection Manual Chapter.

• Part I – Sections 2.2.7, Licensee Disputes of NCVs, and 2.3.7, Disputed Violation Resolution Process for Non-Escalated Enforcement Actions, were revised to consolidate and update staff guidance for handling non-escalated enforcement actions into one Manual section (2.3.7). Section 2.4.5 was also revised to ensure consistency in internal processes for resolving disputes associated with escalated enforcement actions.

• Part I – Section 5.4.1, Office of the General Counsel (OGC), was revised to update and clarify OGC’s roles and responsibilities. Conforming changes were also made to OGC's role and responsibilities in applicable sections in Part II of the Manual.

• Part I – Section 5.4.2, Office of New Reactors (NRO), was deleted in its entirety to reflect the organizational changes being made (NRO/NRR merger) on October 13, 2019. Conforming changes were also made to remove references to NRO throughout the Manual.

• Part II – Section 1.1.17, Department of Justice Referrals, was revised to update guidance on coordination of wrongdoing cases that have been referred to the Department of Justice for potential criminal action.

• Part II – Section 1.4.1, Enforcement and Administrative Actions Involving Individuals, a note was added to this section to ensure that the NRC staff coordinates with the Office of International Programs potential enforcement actions involving non-U.S. citizens, foreign nationals and/or foreign entities/licensees at NRC-regulated facilities.

• Part II – Section 5.1.4, Dispositioning Violations Associated with the Additional Protocol Treaty Obligations, was added to the Manual to provide specific language that is to be included in enforcement actions associated with violations of reporting requirements under the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States ("Additional Protocol Treaty")

• Parts I and II – Various Sections. Several editorial changes were made to various Manual sections to clarify and/or update guidance to reflect current enforcement practices.

Changes made to Part III of the Manual include:

• Part III – Appendix F, Notices of Enforcement Discretion, was added to the Manual and replaces the procedures that formerly resided in IMC 0410.  While the current process to request and disposition NOEDs is essentially unchanged under the new Appendix F guidance, several sections were revised and/or reformatted to reflect staff practices and to simplify the guidance where possible.