United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 96-182 FOR IMMEDIATE

RELEASE

(Tuesday, December 10,

1996)

NRC OPENS MOST ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCES TO PUBLIC

OBSERVATION

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided to open most

NRC predecisional enforcement conferences to public observation.

The Commission acted after evaluating the agency's

experience during a four-year trial period in which about 25

percent of such conferences were open. This new policy is in

effect for enforcement conferences announced after today.

The NRC staff holds predecisional enforcement conferences

with licensees when it is considering escalated enforcement

action, such as fines or other sanctions. The purpose is to

discuss apparent violations, their causes and safety

significance; to provide the licensee an opportunity to point out

any errors that may have been made in NRC's inspection report;

and to enable the licensee to outline proposed corrective

actions. Such conferences are normally held in NRC regional

offices.

Historically, predecisional enforcement conferences have

been closed. But in 1992, the Commission authorized a trial

program which opened about one-fourth of them to public

observation. The trial program was extended in 1994 while an NRC

team completed a broad review of the agency's enforcement

program.

In deciding to open most enforcement conferences, the

Commission evaluated the benefit to the public as well as the

impact on (1) the NRC's ability to exercise its regulatory and

safety responsibilities; (2) the candor and openness of

communications during the sessions; and (3) NRC resources. The

Commission has found that discussions during open enforcement

conferences were essentially as frank and open as during closed

sessions. And the agency was not prevented from obtaining

information required to implement its enforcement program in

public conferences.
The NRC retains the discretion to close a conference under

special circumstances with the approval of the Executive Director

for Operations, the agency's chief staff executive. The revised

enforcement policy provides that conferences will not normally be

open if enforcement action being contemplated:

* Would be taken against an individual, or if the action,

though not taken against an individual, turns on whether an

individual has committed wrongdoing.

* Involves significant personnel failures where the NRC has

requested that the individual or individuals involved be present

at the conference.

* Is based on findings of an NRC Office of Investigations

report that has not been publicly disclosed.

* Involves safeguards information, Privacy Act information,

or information which could be considered proprietary.

In addition, conferences will not normally be open if (1)

they cannot be conducted without disclosing the name of an

individual subjected to a medical misadministration or

overexposure; or (2) the conference will be conducted by

telephone or will be held at a relatively small licensee's

facility.

The new guidelines on open enforcement conferences are

discussed in more detail in an amendment to the NRC's General

Statement of Policy and Procedure for Enforcement Actions

published for public comment in the December 10 edition of the

Federal Register. Written comments on the changes should be

received by January 10, and addressed to the Secretary of the

Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C.

20555, ATTN: Docketing and Service Branch.

Recorded information on forthcoming predecisional

enforcement conferences is available by calling 1-800-952-9674.

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