[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 44 (Monday, March 7, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12295-12298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5053]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

========================================================================


Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 44 / Monday, March 7, 2011 / Proposed 
Rules

[[Page 12295]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 50

[Docket No. PRM-50-92; NRC-2008-0492]


James Luehman; Denial of Petition for Rulemaking

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; denial.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is denying a petition for rulemaking (PRM) submitted by James Luehman 
(the petitioner). The petitioner requests that the NRC amend the NRC's 
standard for sustaining a whistleblower retaliation violation of the 
Employee Protection Rule. The NRC is denying PRM-50-92 for the reasons 
stated in this document.

ADDRESSES: Publicly available documents related to this petition for 
rulemaking may be accessed using the following methods:
    <bullet> NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine 
and have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's 
PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852.
    <bullet> NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public 
can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of the 
NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there 
are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the 
NRC PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail 
to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d8a8bcaaf6aabdabb7adaabbbd98b6aabbf6bfb7ae"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="78081c0a560a1d0b170d0a1b1d38160a1b561f170e">[email protected]</span></a>.
    <bullet> Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Supporting materials related 
to this petition for rulemaking can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2008-0492. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone: 301-492-
3668; e-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#246745564b480a6345484845434c4156644a56470a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="febd9f8c9192d0b99f92929f99969b8cbe908c9dd0999188">[email protected]</span></a>.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberly Sexton, Office of the General 
Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 
telephone: 301-415-1151; e-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#94dffdf9f6f1e6f8edbac7f1ece0fbfad4fae6f7baf3fbe2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3a715357585f48564314695f424e55547a544859145d554c">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Petition

    Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Sec.  2.802, 
``Petition for Rulemaking,'' provides an opportunity for any interested 
person to petition the Commission to issue, amend, or rescind any 
regulation and on June 26, 2008, the petitioner submitted a PRM 
requesting that the NRC amend 10 CFR 50.7, ``Employee Protection.'' 
Section 50.7 prohibits discrimination by an NRC licensee, among others, 
against an employee for engaging in certain protected activities.\1\ 
This regulation is commonly known as a ``whistleblower'' protection 
provision. Similar provisions are found in 10 CFR parts 19, 30, 40, 52, 
60, 61, 63, 70, 71, 72, and 76.
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    \1\ The NRC can take an enforcement action, including orders and 
civil penalties, against licensees, applicants, or contractors or 
subcontractors of licensees or applicants who violate Section 50.7 
and may do so because the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorizes the 
NRC to prohibit employee discrimination that is based on protected 
activity, 42 U.S.C. 2201(c) and (o), 2133, 2236(a), and provides 
broad authority for the NRC to protect workers against retaliation 
for raising safety concerns. Union Electric Co. (Callaway Plant, 
Units 1&2), ALAB-527, 9 NRC 126 (1979).
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    The legal standard by which the NRC determines whether a violation 
of Section 50.7 has occurred was decided by the Commission in the 
Tennessee Valley Authority (Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 1; Sequoyah 
Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2; Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2, 
and 3), CLI-04-24, 60 NRC 160 (2004) (TVA) enforcement proceeding. In 
TVA, the Commission held that in evaluating whether a violation of 
Section 50.7 has occurred, licensing boards must address two questions:

    1. Did the NRC Staff show, by a preponderance of the evidence, 
that protected activity was a ``contributing factor'' in an 
unfavorable personnel action?
    2. Did the employer show, by ``clear and convincing evidence,'' 
that it would have taken the same personnel action regardless of the 
protected activity?

TVA, CLI-04-24, 60 NRC at 194.

    These two questions were adapted by the Commission from Section 211 
of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended (ERA), 42 U.S.C. 
5851. Section 211 offers protection, through the U.S. Department of 
Labor (DOL), to employees who have been fired or otherwise 
discriminated against as a result of engaging in protected activities. 
S. Rep. No. 95-848, at 29 (1978). Under Section 211, to prove a 
violation, employees must demonstrate by a preponderance of the 
evidence that the protected activity ``was a contributing factor in the 
unfavorable personnel action alleged in the complaint.'' Relief to the 
employee, however, may not be granted if the employer can demonstrate 
``by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same 
unfavorable personnel action in the absence of such behavior.'' Public 
Law 102-486, Section 2902(d), 106 Stat. 2776, 3123-24 (amending 42 
U.S.C. 5851(b)).
    The petitioner's proposed new regulatory standard would allow the 
NRC, in evaluating the evidence, to conclude that a whistleblower 
retaliation violation has occurred without regard to whether the 
licensee has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that it 
would have taken the same unfavorable personnel action in the absence 
of protected activity. Thus, the petitioner's proposed approach would 
apply the clear and convincing evidentiary standard not to the question 
of whether a violation has occurred but to the determination of the 
sanction to be imposed for the violation.
    The petitioner requests that the NRC amend its standard for 
sustaining a whistleblower retaliation violation of the Employee 
Protection Rule based on two asserted changes in circumstance 
reflecting that a departure from TVA is now needed. First, the 
petitioner states that there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to 
suggest that the Commission's TVA decision may be having an adverse 
effect on how potential filers of complaints view NRC handling of 
discrimination cases, as well as how such cases are being evaluated by 
the NRC staff. The petitioner cites as evidence ``a significant recent 
decline in the number of discrimination allegations submitted

[[Page 12296]]

as well as a decline in the percentage of discrimination allegations 
that were determined to meet the threshold for investigation.'' Second, 
the petitioner states that because of the probable new construction of 
power reactors under 10 CFR part 52 and the Department of Energy's 
application for a high-level waste repository, a clarification of the 
Employee Protection Rule is necessary.
    In support of this request, the petitioner provides eight arguments 
for changing the Commission ruling in TVA. Each of the arguments is 
described below.
    The petitioner first argues that the addition of the clear and 
convincing test in effect raises the standard for concluding a 
violation exists from a preponderance of the evidence (meaning that it 
is more likely than not that a violation occurred) to a higher standard 
of ``somewhere between preponderance [of the evidence] and clear and 
convincing [evidence].'' Accordingly, the petitioner views TVA as 
making it more difficult to prove a violation of the Employee 
Protection Rule. The petitioner argues that the legal requirements of 
Section 50.7 of the Employee Protection Rule and Section 211 of the ERA 
are satisfied by the lesser standard of evidence, i.e. when it is shown 
by a preponderance of the evidence that discrimination was ``a 
contributing factor'' in the adverse action against the employee. The 
petitioner states that the licensee may raise the defense that clear 
and convincing evidence demonstrates it would have taken the same 
unfavorable personnel action in the absence of protected activity only 
as a defense in the sanction determination process, not as a defense to 
the question of whether a violation has occurred.
    Second, the petitioner states that the additional clear and 
convincing test identified in TVA directly conflicts with the present 
language of Section 50.7(d). That provision provides that adverse 
actions taken by an employer, or others, against an employee may be 
predicated upon nondiscriminatory grounds and that an employee's 
engagement in protected activities does not automatically render him or 
her immune from discharge or discipline for legitimate reasons or from 
adverse action dictated by nonprohibited considerations. The petitioner 
argues that TVA changed the application of Section 50.7(d) such that 
``the prohibition against discrimination now applies, if and only if, 
the employer is unable to show by clear and convincing evidence that 
the adverse action would have been taken in absence of the protected 
activity.'' The petitioner believes this ``will cause and in fact may 
now be causing some number of people to not enter the process given the 
reduced chances of success.''
    The petitioner's third, fourth, and fifth arguments essentially 
state that the clear and convincing test does not exist in Section 211 
of the ERA for the determination of a violation and thus should not be 
used by the NRC for that purpose. The petitioner cites the decision of 
an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Licensing Board) in Tennessee 
Valley Authority, LBP-03-10, 57 NRC 553 (2003) as support for modifying 
the Section 50.7 Employee Protection Rule so that the ``clear and 
convincing'' question is considered in the sanction determination 
process, not in determining whether a violation has occurred .
    Sixth, the petitioner states that there is a possibility of an 
inconsistent regulatory message if the DOL finds a violation of Section 
211 of the ERA but the NRC does not find a violation of the Employee 
Protection Rule of Section 50.7 for the same set of underlying facts.
    Seventh, the petitioner states that the Commission's decision in 
TVA could cause employees to fear retaliation because TVA demonstrates 
``that some amount of retaliation is in fact acceptable.''
    Finally, the petitioner states that the test established in TVA is 
not necessary to ensure that the staff appropriately applies the 
Section 50.7 Employee Protection Rule.
    The NRC reviewed the request for rulemaking and determined that the 
request met the minimum sufficiency requirements of 10 CFR 2.802 and 
therefore was considered as a petition for rulemaking. Accordingly, the 
NRC docketed the request as PRM-50-92 on July 9, 2008. The NRC notified 
the petitioner of this decision by letter dated July 15, 2008. Due to 
this PRM's primary focus on the continued viability of a Commission 
adjudicatory decision, it was deemed a legal matter and thus, the NRC 
did not prepare a notice of receipt and request for comment, and 
instead began consideration of the request.

Background

    In TVA, the NRC staff issued an $110,000.00 Order Imposing Civil 
Monetary Penalty to the Tennessee Valley Authority for its non-
selection of an employee to a competitive position due, in part, to 
that employee's having engaged in protected whistleblowing activities. 
Tennessee Valley Authority, LBP-03-10, 57 NRC 553. The Tennessee Valley 
Authority did not deny that the employee had engaged in protected 
activities; however, it stated that the employee's non-selection was 
made solely for legitimate business reasons and requested a hearing on 
the imposition of the penalty. After a 25-day evidentiary hearing, the 
Licensing Board determined that the Tennessee Valley Authority violated 
Section 50.7 based solely on a standard of ``whether the Staff can 
prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the complainant's 
protected activity was a contributing factor in an adverse action.'' 
Having found a violation, the Licensing Board then reduced the civil 
penalty to $44,000.00 because of ``the small role that protected 
activities may have played in leading to the adverse action.''
    The Tennessee Valley Authority appealed the Licensing Board's 
ruling to the Commission. The Commission agreed to review the decision, 
and also raised its own question of whether the Licensing Board applied 
the correct legal evidentiary standard when determining whether to 
mitigate a civil penalty arising from a violation of the Employee 
Protection Rule. TVA, CLI-03-09, 58 NRC 39. On appeal, the Tennessee 
Valley Authority argued that the Licensing Board erred by not following 
the evidentiary framework established in discrimination cases like 
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973) and Price 
Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989). Id. at 190. The NRC staff, 
on the other hand, provided essentially the same argument as the 
petitioner does now, that it need only prove by a preponderance of the 
evidence that the complainant's protected activity was a contributing 
factor in an unfavorable personnel action without looking to whether 
the employer would have taken the same action in the absence of the 
complainant's protected activity.\2\
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    \2\ Before the Licensing Board, the staff argued that ``[t]he 
appropriate standard to apply in a section 50.7 violation case is 
whether the Staff has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that 
the complainant's protected activity was a contributing factor in an 
unfavorable personnel action. The Board should not consider whether 
the employer can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that 
it would have taken the same action in the absence of the 
complainant's protected activity. A section 50.7 violation is based 
on the employer's actual motives; if one of the employer's motives 
for taking the adverse action was the complainant's protected 
activity, the employer has violated section 50.7.'' ``NRC Staff 
Pretrial Legal Brief'' (Mar. 1, 2002) (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML020660033). The staff maintained its position before the 
Commission on appeal. ``NRC Staff's Brief in Response to CLI-03-10 
Regarding Standards by Which a Licensing Board Should Mitigate a 
Civil Penalty in a Discrimination Case'' (Oct. 2, 2003) (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML032820036).
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    The Commission disagreed with the NRC staff and decided that it was 
appropriate for Licensing Boards in

[[Page 12297]]

whistleblower discrimination cases to ask two questions, adapted from 
Section 211 of the ERA, to determine whether a violation of 10 CFR 50.7 
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exists:

    1. Did the NRC Staff show, by a preponderance of the evidence, 
that protected activity was a ``contributing factor'' in an 
unfavorable personnel action?
    2. Did the employer show, by ``clear and convincing evidence,'' 
that it would have taken the same personnel action regardless of the 
protected activity?

TVA, CLI-04-24, 60 NRC at 194. The Commission attempted to ``make[] 
clear that engaging in protected activities does not immunize employees 
`from discharge or discipline for legitimate reasons or from adverse 
action dictated by non-prohibited considerations.' '' Id. at 192-93. In 
establishing this test, the Commission believed that employers should 
be offered ``the same right of defense in an NRC enforcement proceeding 
as Section 211 gives them in a Department of Labor compensation 
proceeding--i.e., the right to defend against a whistleblower 
discrimination charge on the ground that they would have taken the same 
personnel action regardless of the employee's protected activities.'' 
Id. at 192-193. The clear and convincing test dovetails with Section 
50.7(d) to provide that protection and while the Commission looked to, 
and tracked, Section 211's evidentiary framework, it emphasized that 
Section 50.7 does not adopt it. Id. at 194.
    The Commission also defined what constitutes a ``contributing 
factor'' in an adverse employment action. Although both parties in TVA 
agreed that Section 211's ``contributing factor'' causation standard 
should apply, the parties could not agree on what that standard 
entails. TVA, CLI-04-24, 60 NRC at 195. First, the Commission looked to 
Congressional intent. ``Congress did not enact Section 211's 
`contributing factor' test in a vacuum,'' but instead patterned it 
after similar whistleblower protection statutes in other industries. 
Id. at 196. Congressional intent in using the ``contributing factor'' 
test in other industries evidenced a desire to lessen the burden on 
plaintiffs in making their case, and in turn to make it more difficult 
for defendants to avoid liability. Id. Thus, after looking to case law 
involving whistleblower statutes similar to Section 211, the Commission 
held that the correct questions to ask in determining whether the 
protected activity was a ``contributing factor'' in the adverse action 
was: whether the ``protected activity contributed `in any degree' or 
played `at least some role' in [the employer's] personnel decisions'' 
as opposed to whether it was a ``significant'' or ``motivating'' 
factor. Id. at 196-97. The Commission, however, was quick to point out 
that this is not a ``toothless'' test:

    An employee may not simply engage in protected activities and 
expect immunity from future unfavorable personnel actions. Mere 
employer (or supervisor) knowledge of the protected activity does 
not suffice as a ``contributing factor;'' nor does ``the equivalent 
of adding `a drop of water into the ocean.' '' The evidence, direct 
or indirect, must allow a reasonable person to infer that protected 
activities influenced the unfavorable personnel action to some 
degree. In cases where the evidence is weak, employers should be 
able to avoid liability by providing ``clear and convincing 
evidence'' that they would have taken the same personnel action 
anyway, based on non-discriminatory grounds.

Id. at 197. Therefore, finding a contributing factor does not 
necessarily end the analysis; ``under section 211 (and under analogous 
whistleblower laws) employers still may avoid liability if they show, 
by `clear and convincing evidence,' that they would have taken the same 
unfavorable personnel action even in the absence of whistleblowing.'' 
\3\ Id. at 198.
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    \3\ Ultimately, the Commission affirmed in part, and reversed in 
part, the Licensing Board's Order, and remanded the case to the 
Licensing Board for further action. On November 10, 2004, the 
Licensing Board approved a settlement agreement between Tennessee 
Valley Authority and the NRC and terminated the proceedings. TVA, 
LBP-04-26, 60 NRC 532 (2004).
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NRC Evaluation

    Within the context of the Commission's TVA decision, the NRC has 
reviewed the petition and has decided to deny PRM-50-92. As stated 
above, in deciding TVA, the Commission had before it the NRC staff's 
position as to the appropriate evidentiary standard under the Employee 
Protection Rule. The standard advocated by the staff in 2002 is 
fundamentally the same position now advocated by the petitioner. In 
2004, when the Commission ruled in TVA, it explicitly elected an 
approach that is different from that proposed by the petitioner. In 
overturning the Licensing Board's decision, and the standard advocated 
by the staff in TVA, the Commission fully considered the option of 
using the clear and convincing question solely in the sanction 
determination process, and chose not to elect this approach. Further, 
the Commission also considered, and dismissed, the possibility of an 
inconsistent regulatory message in TVA.\4\ Thus, the Commission's 
approach in TVA was adopted with full knowledge of the position and 
arguments currently advocated by the petitioner.
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    \4\ In fact, the staff argued this very same point to the 
Commission in the ``NRC Staff Reply to Initial Briefs of the 
Tennessee Valley Authority and the Nuclear Energy Institute'' (Nov. 
3, 2003) (ADAMS Accession No. ML033240178), which the Commission 
directly rejected: ``In practical terms, because we see few 
whistleblower enforcement adjudications at the NRC, because varying 
evidentiary frameworks are not necessarily outcome-determinative, 
and because the NRC's general enforcement policy is to give 
deference to DOL's whistleblower determinations, our disagreement 
with DOL on how to apply section 211 in adjudications is unlikely to 
lead to inconsistent results between the agencies very often, if at 
all.'' TVA, CLI-04-24, 60 NRC at 192.
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    Contrary to the petitioner's understanding, TVA did not raise the 
NRC staff's burden of proving a violation to ``somewhere between 
preponderance and clear and convincing.'' The staff's burden for 
proving retaliation is always preponderance of the evidence. Once the 
NRC staff meets its burden, the employer may proffer an affirmative 
defense by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard for the 
employer to meet, that it would have taken the same personnel action 
anyway, regardless of the whistleblowing activity. The petitioner 
mistakenly treats the second part of the TVA test as a standard the NRC 
staff must refute to take enforcement action, rather than recognizing 
it as, in essence, an affirmative defense that the licensee may, but is 
not required to, address.
    Further, TVA does not establish that ``some amount of retaliation 
is in fact acceptable.'' Instead, TVA states that if the protected 
activity affected or contributed to the adverse action ``in any way,'' 
``in any degree,'' or ``played `at least some role','' the staff will 
satisfy the Commission's ``contributing factor'' test. TVA, CLI-04-24, 
60 NRC at 197. The staff does not have to show that the protected 
activity played a ``significant,'' ``motivating,'' ``substantial,'' or 
``predominant'' factor in the adverse action. Id. But, the staff must 
show more than mere employer knowledge of the protected activity or the 
equivalent of adding a ``drop of water into the ocean.'' Id.
    The Commission recognized in establishing the two-part test that 
although the NRC staff may demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence 
that the contributing factor test is met ``where the evidence is 
weak,'' id. at 197, the Commission did not expect for the NRC staff to 
prevail in weak cases--only in those where the employer does not prove 
by a high standard of proof that it would have taken the same action 
absent protected activity. See id. at 192 (``In cases where the 
evidence is weak, employers should be able to avoid

[[Page 12298]]

liability by providing `clear and convincing evidence' that they would 
have taken the same personnel action * * *''). By contrast, in cases 
where the staff has stronger evidence that protected activity was a 
contributing factor, such as when a document or employer's statements 
confirm an allegation of whistleblower discrimination, it would be 
unlikely that the employer could make its case by clear and convincing 
evidence that it would have taken the adverse action regardless. Thus, 
the Commission in TVA did not condone ``some amount of retaliation''; 
rather, it established the standards for determining the existence of 
whistleblower discrimination if a violation is challenged by an 
employer.
    In deciding TVA, the Commission looked to Section 211 for 
procedural guidance in applying Section 50.7 and generally adopted 
Section 211's overall framework. Id. at 194. The Commission, however, 
is not required to follow Section 211's evidentiary standard. Id. at 
193-194.\5\ Section 211 establishes DOL's authority to take action in 
cases involving whistleblower discrimination, id. at 194, but the NRC's 
authority to regulate against employee discrimination is derived from 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Therefore, Section 211 should not be 
construed as directing the NRC's evidentiary approach.
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    \5\ ``It is true that our whistleblower regulation, section 
50.7, does not adopt the Section 211 evidentiary paradigm as such, 
but neither does it adopt the McDonnell Douglas or Price Waterhouse 
paradigms. Our regulation is prohibitory, not procedural. It renders 
discriminatory conduct unlawful, but does not purport to prescribe 
evidentiary standards and approaches for use in NRC enforcement 
litigation.''
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    Further, contrary to the petitioner's assertion, the discrimination 
data from 1999-2009 do not appear to evidence any meaningful trends 
because the data fluctuates up and down during the years prior to and 
following TVA (2004); in some years since TVA, the number of 
discrimination claims filed is higher than in the years directly 
preceding TVA and in others that number is lower. Also, because the 
data does not differentiate claims failing to meet the threshold prima 
facie determination from those that were withdrawn by the alleger or 
came to the NRC as third-party claims,\6\ it is unknown whether there 
is any change in the percentage of discrimination allegations that were 
dismissed or withdrawn because they failed to meet the threshold for 
investigation, as the petitioner asserts.
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    \6\ Third party claims are those discrimination claims that come 
to the NRC from an individual other than the employee who was 
allegedly discriminated against.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                            Calendar year
                                           -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              1999      2000      2001      2002      2003    2004 \7\    2005      2006      2007      2008      2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS...............       139       144       108        97        96        97       118        88        84        94       116
Total Claims Resolved/\8\% of Total Claims   91/65.5   91/63.2   75/69.4   55/56.7   70/72.9   75/77.3   73/61.9   37/42.0   52/61.9   34/36.2    10/8.6
NRC Substantiated/% of Total Claims.......     6/4.3     6/4.2     8/7.4       0/0     4/4.2     3/3.1     1/0.9     2/2.3       0/0     1/1.1       0/0
NRC Not Substantiated/% of Total Claims...   83/59.7   84/58.3   66/61.1   55/56.7   64/66.7   66/68.0   63/53.4   23/26.1   42/50.0   16/17.0     7/6.0
Settlements/\9\% of Total Claims..........     2/1.4     1/0.7     1/0.9       0/0       0/0     6/6.2     9/7.6    9/10.2   10/11.9   17/18.1     3/2.6
Claims Still Open/% of Total Claims.......       0/0       0/0       0/0     1/1.0     2/2.1     1/1.0     3/2.5     1/1.1     2/2.3   13/13.8   58/50.0
Claims Not Warranting NRC Review/\10\% of    48/34.5   53/36.8   33/30.6   41/42.3   24/25.0   21/21.6   42/35.6   50/56.2   30/35.7   47/50.0   48/41.3
 Total Claims.............................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\*\The data contained in this table was obtained from the Allegation Management System.

    Finally, the TVA decision has had no effect on the way the NRC 
staff approaches or evaluates whistleblower discrimination claims. That 
is, the NRC staff continues to issue notices of violations of the 
Employee Protection Rule to licensees, applicants, and contractors or 
subcontractors of licensees and applicants based on its assessment as 
to whether the evidence shows that protected activity was a 
contributing factor in the adverse action, while also taking into 
consideration credible evidence that the employer would have taken the 
same personnel action regardless of the protected activity.
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    \7\ 2004 represents both: (1) The year when the Commission 
decided TVA and (2) the year that the interim program regarding the 
voluntary use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in addressing 
discrimination complaints and other allegations of wrongdoing was 
adopted in the NRC's Enforcement Policy.
    \8\ Refers to the number of discrimination claims for which 
either: (1) The NRC's Office of Investigations (OI) reached a 
conclusion and (2) those that did not involve an OI investigation 
and were settled via early-ADR (or licensee-sponsored internal 
mediation) or in the DOL.
    \9\ These numbers represent the number of cases settled either 
through early-ADR or in the DOL. However, the table does not reflect 
cases that involved DOL settlements between 1/1999 and 9/2004 that 
also involved an OI case. For information only, those numbers are: 
1999--10; 2000--7; 2001--7; 2002--3; 2003--9; and 2004--3.
    \10\ These numbers represent the number of claims that did not 
meet the threshold prima facie determination, were withdrawn by the 
alleger, or came to the NRC as third-party claims. These numbers do 
not take into account that some of the open claims might eventually 
be found to not meet the prima facie determination or could be 
withdrawn by the alleger.
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Public Comments on the Petition

    Due to this PRM's primary focus on the continued viability of a 
Commission adjudicatory decision, it was deemed a legal matter and 
thus, the NRC did not prepare a notice of receipt and request for 
comment, and instead began consideration of the request. Accordingly, 
there are no public comments on this petition.

Determination of Petition

    For reasons cited above, the NRC is denying PRM-50-92.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of February 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011-5053 Filed 3-4-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P


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