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[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 108 (Monday, June 8, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27191-27192]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13298]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2008-0497]

NRC Enforcement Policy Revision

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability of revised draft supplements and request 
for comments.

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SUMMARY: On September 15, 2008 (73 FR 53286), the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) published a notice of availability and request for 
comments on its draft proposed revised Enforcement Policy (Enforcement 
Policy). A corrected proposed revised Enforcement Policy was published 
on October 16, 2008 (73 FR 61442). The public comment period for the 
revised Enforcement Policy ended on November 14, 2008. The NRC is now 
soliciting written comments from interested parties including public 
interest groups, States, members of the public and the regulated 
industry (i.e., reactor and materials licensees, vendors, and 
contractors), on additional proposed revisions to Section 6.0, 
Supplements-Violation Examples, of the proposed revised Enforcement 
Policy. This Notice of Availability and request for comments apply only 
to new proposed revisions to Section 6.0 of the proposed revised 
Enforcement Policy.

DATES: Submit comments on or before July 8, 2009. Comments received 
after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to assure consideration only for comments received 
on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: Comments will be made available to the public in their 
entirety; personal information, such as your name, address, telephone 
number, e-mail address, etc. will not be removed from your submission. 
You may submit comments by any one of the following methods:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov; search on 
docket ID: NRC-2008-0497.
    Mail Comments to: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rulemaking and 
Directives Branch, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this notice 
using the following methods:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Documents related to this notice, 
including public comments, are accessible at http://www.regulations.gov, by searching on docket ID: NRC-2008-0497.
    NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have 
copied for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public 
File Area O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
    NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS): The 
revised draft Supplements of the proposed revised Enforcement Policy 
are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under ADAMS Accession Number 
(ML091520156). From this site, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, 
which provides text and image files of the NRC's public documents. In 
addition, revised draft Supplements of the proposed revised Enforcement

[[Page 27192]]

Policy will be available at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/public-involvement.html. If you do not have Internet access 
or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, 
contact the PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by 
e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Starkey, Office of Enforcement, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; 
[email protected], 301-415-3456.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    As discussed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION of the September 15, 
2008 document (73 FR 53286), the NRC, in developing the proposed 
revised Enforcement Policy, in many instances reworded, deleted, or 
moved (i.e., moved to the NRC Enforcement Manual, an NRC staff guidance 
document) some of the information in the current Enforcement Policy. 
(See the table at ML083050133 for a listing of subject matter in the 
current Enforcement Policy which was not carried over into the proposed 
revised Enforcement Policy.) For example, Section 6.0, Supplements-
Violation Examples, of the proposed revised Enforcement Policy was 
significantly reorganized, reworded, and contained much less detail 
than the supplements in the current Enforcement Policy. In addition, 
the NRC had also planned to add detailed violation examples to the 
Enforcement Manual to serve as further guidance to NRC inspectors. 
However, based on public comments received in response to the September 
and October 2008 publications of the proposed revised Enforcement 
Policy, the NRC has reconsidered its original plan to have abbreviated 
violation examples in the revised Enforcement Policy and detailed 
violation examples in the Enforcement Manual. The NRC now proposes to 
continue its past practice of providing violation example supplements 
in the Enforcement Policy. These revised supplements are intended to 
cover, in more detail than originally planned, a broad range of 
circumstances in each of the four severity levels in each of 14 
activity areas. It should be noted that the supplements in Section 6.0 
of the proposed revised Enforcement Policy are not intended to address 
every possible circumstance and are therefore neither exhaustive nor 
controlling.
    Because the revised violation supplements that are being proposed 
for the revised Enforcement Policy have, in some instances, been 
changed significantly from those previously published, the NRC is 
providing an opportunity for public comments on the proposed revised 
supplements.
    The NRC maintains the Enforcement Policy on its Web site at http://www.nrc.gov; select Public Meetings and Involvement, Enforcement, and 
then Enforcement Policy.
    Procedural Requirements:

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This policy statement does not contain new or amended information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing requirements were approved by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), approval number 3150-0136.

Public Protection Notification

    The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a request for information or an information collection 
requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid 
OMB control number.

Congressional Review Act

    In accordance with the Congressional Review Act of 1996, the NRC 
has determined that this action is not a major rule and has verified 
this determination with the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 1st day of June 2009.
Cynthia A. Carpenter,
Director, Office of Enforcement.
[FR Doc. E9-13298 Filed 6-5-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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