This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

2111 

Vol. 89, No. 9 

Friday, January 12, 2024 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 2 

[NRC–2023–0196] 

Revision of the NRC Enforcement 

Policy 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Revision to policy statement. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is publishing a 

revision to its Enforcement Policy. This 

revision addresses the requirements of 

the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 

2015, which requires Federal agencies 

to adjust their maximum civil monetary 

penalty amounts annually for inflation. 

DATES: This action is effective on 

January 12, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2023–0196 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may obtain publicly available 

information related to this document 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2023–0196. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Dawn 

Forder; telephone: 301–415–3407; 

email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• 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 Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. 

• 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Susanne Woods, Office of Enforcement, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001, telephone: 

301–287–9446, email: Susanne.Woods@

nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion 

In 1990, Congress passed the Federal 

Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act 

of 1990 (FCPIAA) to provide for regular 

adjustments for inflation of civil 

monetary penalties (CMPs). As amended 

by the Debt Collection Improvement Act 

of 1996, the FCPIAA required that the 

head of each Federal agency review and, 

if necessary, adjust by regulation the 

CMPs assessed under statutes enforced 

by the agency at least once every 4 

years. 

On November 2, 2015, the President 

of the United States signed into law the 

Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 

2015 (the 2015 Improvements Act), 

which further amended the FCPIAA and 

requires Federal agencies to adjust their 

CMPs annually for inflation no later 

than January 15 of each year. The 

requirements of the 2015 Improvements 

Act apply to the NRC’s maximum CMP 

amounts for 1) a violation of the Atomic 

Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as amended, 

or any regulation or order issued under 

the AEA, codified in § 2.205(j) of title 10 

of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR), ‘‘Civil penalties’’; and 2) a false 

claim or statement made under the 

Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, 

codified in 10 CFR 13.3, ‘‘Basis for civil 

penalties and assessments.’’ 

Pursuant to the 2015 Improvements 

Act, the NRC published today in the 

Rules section of the Federal Register the 

revised maximum daily base CMP, 

based on the percentage change in the 

consumer price index between October 

2021 and October 2022, and codified in 

10 CFR 2.205(j). In connection with this 

final rule, the NRC is publishing a 

corresponding update to the NRC’s 

Enforcement Policy to adjust the 

monetary amounts listed in Section 8.0, 

‘‘Table of Base Civil Penalties.’’ This 

monetary adjustment does not include 

the base civil penalty amounts listed in 

item f. because those values are based 

on the estimated or actual costs of 

authorized disposal and are not 

calculated based on the maximum daily 

base CMP codified in 10 CFR 2.205(j). 

Adjustments to item f. base civil penalty 

amounts are being examined under a 

separate effort. 

Accordingly, the NRC has revised its 

Enforcement Policy to read as follows: 

8.0 TABLE OF BASE CIVIL PENALTIES

[Table A] 

a. Power reactors, gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants, and high-level waste repository .................................................. $360,000 

b. Fuel fabricators authorized to possess Category I or II quantities of SNM and uranium conversion facilities .............................. 180,000 

c. All other fuel fabricators, including facilities under construction, authorized to possess Category III quantities of SNM, industrial processors, independent spent fuel and monitored retrievable storage installations, mills, gas centrifuge and laser uranium enrichment facilities ................................................................................................................................................................. 90,000 

d. Test reactors, contractors, waste disposal licensees, industrial radiographers, and other large material users ........................... 36,000 

e. Research reactors, academic, medical, or other small material users ........................................................................................... 18,000 

f. Loss, abandonment, or improper transfer or disposal of regulated material, regardless of the use or type of licensee: 

1. Sources or devices with a total activity greater than 3.7 × 104 MBq (1 Curie), excluding hydrogen-3 (tritium) .................... 54,000 

2. Other sources or devices containing the materials and quantities listed in 10 CFR 31.5(c)(13)(i) ........................................ 17,000 

3. Sources and devices not otherwise described above ............................................................................................................. 7,000 


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2112 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 9 / Friday, January 12, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

1Adjustment of Civil Penalties for Inflation (73 

FR 54671; Sept. 23, 2008); Adjustment of Civil 

Penalties for Inflation (69 FR 62393; Oct. 26, 2004); 

Adjustment of Civil Penalties for Inflation; 

Miscellaneous Administrative Changes (65 FR 

59270; Oct. 4, 2000); Adjustment of Civil Monetary 

Penalties for Inflation (61 FR 53554; Oct. 11, 1996). 

An adjustment was not performed in 2012 because 

the FCPIAA at the time required agencies to round 

their CMP amounts to the nearest multiple of 

$1,000 or $10,000, depending on the size of the 

CMP amount, and the 2012 percentages based on 

the statutory formula were small enough that no 

adjustment resulted. 

8.0 TABLE OF BASE CIVIL PENALTIES—Continued 

[Table A] 

g. Individuals who release safeguards information ............................................................................................................................. 9,000 

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: December 20, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Daniel H. Dorman, 

Executive Director for Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28968 Filed 1–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Parts 2 and 13 

[NRC–2022–0045] 

RIN 3150–AK73 

Adjustment of Civil Penalties for 

Inflation for Fiscal Year 2024 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is amending its 

regulations to adjust the maximum civil 

monetary penalties it can assess under 

statutes enforced by the agency. These 

changes are mandated by the Federal 

Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act 

of 1990, as amended by the Federal 

Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act 

Improvements Act of 2015. The NRC is 

amending its regulations to adjust the 

maximum civil monetary penalty for a 

violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 

1954, as amended, or any regulation or 

order issued under the Atomic Energy 

Act from $351,424 to $362,814 per 

violation, per day. Additionally, the 

NRC is amending provisions concerning 

program fraud civil penalties by 

adjusting the maximum civil monetary 

penalty under the Program Fraud Civil 

Remedies Act from $13,508 to $13,946 

for each false claim or statement. 

DATES: This final rule is effective on 

January 12, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2022–0045 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: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2022–0045. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Dawn 

Forder; telephone: 301–415–3407; 

email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• 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 Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS 

accession number for each document 

referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) 

is provided the first time that it is 

mentioned in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section. 

• 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Krupskaya Castellon, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–287–9221, email: 

Krupskaya.Castellon@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Background 

II. Discussion 

III. Rulemaking Procedure 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis 

V. Regulatory Analysis 

VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

VII. Backfitting and Issue Finality 

VIII. Plain Writing 

IX. National Environmental Policy Act 

X. Paperwork Reduction Act 

XI. Congressional Review Act 

I. Background 

Congress passed the Federal Civil 

Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 

1990 (FCPIAA) to allow for regular 

adjustment for inflation of civil 

monetary penalties (CMPs), maintain 

the deterrent effect of such penalties 

and promote compliance with the law, 

and improve the collection of CMPs by 

the Federal government (Pub L. 101– 

410, 104 Stat. 890; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note). 

Pursuant to this authority, and as 

amended by the Debt Collection 

Improvement Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104– 

34, 110 Stat. 1321–373), the NRC 

increased via rulemaking the CMP 

amounts for violations of the Atomic 

Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) 

(codified at § 2.205 of title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 

‘‘Civil penalties’’) and Program Fraud 

Civil Remedies Act (codified at § 13.3, 

‘‘Civil penalties and assessments’’) on 

four occasions between 1996 and 2008.1

On November 2, 2015, Congress 

amended the FCPIAA through the 

Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 

2015 (2015 Improvements Act) (Sec. 

701, Pub. L. 114–74, 129 Stat. 599). The 

2015 Improvements Act required that 

the head of each agency perform an 

initial ‘‘catch-up’’ adjustment via 


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