Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/04/25/2011-9916/interim-enforcement-policy-for-minimum-days-off-requirements
Timestamp: 2015-05-30 12:34:51
Document Index: 372725018

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 26', 'art 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', 'art 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', 'art 26', '§ 26', '§ 26', '§ 26']

Federal Register | Interim Enforcement Policy for Minimum Days Off Requirements
Dates: This revision is effective April 25, 2011. The NRC is not requesting comments on this revision to its Enforcement Policy at this time.
Action: Policy statement; revision.
-22804 (3 pages)
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/2011-9916 Action
9.2Enforcement Discretion for the Minimum Days Off Requirements of § 26.205(d)(3)
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 NRC's public documents. The Enforcement Policy is also accessible via ADAMS accession number ML093480037. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
The NRC also maintains the Enforcement Policy on its Web site at http://www.nrc.gov; select Public Meetings and Involvement, then Enforcement, and then Enforcement Policy.
On March 31, 2008 (73 FR 17176), the NRC published a final rule in the Federal Register amending Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs.” The Commission updated the requirements in 10 CFR part 26 by reorganizing the rule and adding Subpart I, “Managing Fatigue.” Subpart I establishes requirements for managing worker fatigue at operating nuclear power plants, which was in response to a need for clear and enforceable requirements for the management of worker fatigue. Although the rule was effective on April 30, 2008, the NRC permitted an 18-month implementation period for Subpart I.
On September 3, 2010, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) submitted a petition for rulemaking (PRM-26-5) (ML102590440). The NEI stated that “the new rule has resulted in consequences not originally envisioned when the rule was developed and that these consequences have diminished the safety benefits of the rule.” The NEI has stated that the unintended consequences stem from the minimum days off requirements, specifically § 26.205(d)(3) through § 26.205(d)(6), which create an undue level of complexity and inflexibility in managing worker fatigue. The NEI requested, among other changes, that 10 CFR part 26, Subpart I, be amended to replace the MDO requirements in § 26.205(d) with a performance-based objective, consisting of an average of 54 hours worked per week, averaged over a calendar quarter rather than over each shift cycle. The NEI also proposed changing the annual assessment in § 26.205(e)(1) to a quarterly assessment to provide a more frequent review of hours worked. The NEI proposed to eliminate the MDO requirements addressed at § 26.205(d)(3) through § 26.205(d)(6), while the work hour limits and break requirements (§ 26.205(d)(1)(i), § 26.205(d)(1)(ii), § 26.205(d)(1)(iii), § 26.205(d)(2)(i), and § 26.205(d)(2)(ii)), would remain unchanged and apply during on-line and outage periods.
In summary, the maximum hours that can be worked under the alternative approach is comparable to the maximum hours worked under the current 10 CFR part 26 MDO requirements, except that the alternative approach provides for greater simplicity and flexibility. This alternative is only applicable to § 26.205(d)(3) and covered workers described in § 26.4(a). Neither the NEI's PRM-26-5 nor its enforcement discretion request offered any comparably effective alternatives for § 26.205(d)(4), § 26.205(d)(5), and § 26.205(d)(6), nor were any identified during the public meetings; therefore, the staff is taking no action in regard to those regulations.
The NRC is not requesting public comment on this alternative approach at this time; instead, the NRC will seek public comment on the effectiveness of this approach during the comment period for a proposed rule associated with the MDO requirements in 10 CFR part 26, subpart I. Paperwork Reduction Act Back to Top
NRC Enforcement Policy Back to Top
This section sets forth the interim policy that the NRC will follow to exercise enforcement discretion for licensees who pursue the alternative approach to the minimum days off (MDO) requirements of § 26.205(d)(3). This alternative approach is consistent with the bases and objectives of 10 CFR part 26, specifically managing cumulative fatigue, and provides licensees improved simplicity and flexibility for work scheduling.
This interim policy is only applicable to licensees who inform the NRC of their intent to adopt the alternative approach. Licensees shall comply with all requirements of Subpart I, as applicable, unless explicitly replaced or amended in this interim policy. The alternative approach to the MDO requirements applies to the work hours of covered individuals
during normal (e.g., non-outage/emergency) plant operations. This interim policy will remain in place until the implementation date of a revised final rule associated with the MDO requirements in 10 CFR part 26, subpart I.
A licensee who informs the NRC of its intent to transition to the alternative approach will receive enforcement discretion, and no enforcement action will be taken for the violation of § 26.205(d)(3). If at any time while the licensee is implementing this alternate approach it does not meet the requirements, as stated in this interim policy, the licensee may be in violation of § 26.205(d)(3) and subject to enforcement action. Once a licensee has transitioned to the alternate approach, it has the option to revert back to the requirement of § 26.205(d)(3); however, the licensee is only allowed one opportunity to do so.
A licensee must inform the NRC of its intent to transition to the alternative approach. Notification shall be made via a letter to the respective Regional Administrator and shall identify the implementation date which will be set by the licensee. The hours worked prior to the implementation date, must meet the requirement of § 26.205(d)(3), or enforcement action may be taken. Once the NRC has been notified of the implementation date, the licensee can commence its transition to the alternate approach.
At any time prior to the implementation date of a revised final rule associated with the MDO requirements in 10 CFR part 26, subpart I, “Managing Fatigue,” the licensee has the option to transition back to the MDO requirements. However, the licensee has this option only once. The licensee must submit a written notification to the respective Regional Administrator stating that it is reverting back to compliance with the MDO requirements as specified under § 26.205(d)(3), and shall give the NRC advance notice of its transition date. There will be no enforcement action taken on any MDO violations that occurred while the licensee was implementing the alternate approach, unless the licensee failed to meet the requirements as stated in Section 9.2.A of this policy.
1. The term “covered workers” refers to those individuals indentified in § 26.4(a) who are subject to the requirements in § 26.205.