[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 10 (Friday, January 14, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 2309-2310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00011]
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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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.
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2022 / Rules
and Regulations
[[Page 2309]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 2
[NRC-2021-0219]
Revision of the NRC Enforcement Policy
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Revision to policy statement.
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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 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0219 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-2021-0219. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Dawn Forder; telephone: 301-415-3407;
email: [email protected]. 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
[email protected].
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), 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: [email protected].
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 violation of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as
amended, or any regulation or order issued under the AEA, codified in
Sec. 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 Sec. 13.3, ``Basis for
civil penalties and assessments.''
Pursuant to the 2015 Improvements Act, the NRC published in the
Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register the revised maximum
daily base CMP, based on the percentage change in the consumer price
index between October 2020 and October 2021, and codified in Sec.
2.205. In connection with this final rule, the NRC is publishing a
corresponding update to the NRC's Enforcement Policy table of civil
penalties, specifically, of the monetary amounts found in Section 8.0,
``Table of Base Civil Penalties,'' items a through e and g. This
monetary adjustment does not include item f since its monetary value is
based on the estimated or actual cost of authorized disposal and not on
the monetary value codified in Sec. 2.205(j).
Accordingly, the NRC has revised its Enforcement Policy to read as
follows:
8.0--Table of Base Civil Penalties
[Table A]
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a. Power reactors, gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment $320,000
plants, and high-level waste repository................
b. Fuel fabricators authorized to possess Category I or 160,000
II quantities of SNM and uranium conversion facilities.
c. All other fuel fabricators, including facilities 80,000
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..................................
d. Test reactors, contractors, waste disposal licensees, 32,000
industrial radiographers, and other large material
users..................................................
e. Research reactors, academic, medical, or other small 16,000
material users.........................................
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 54,000
than 3.7 x 104 MBq (1 Curie), excluding hydrogen-3
(tritium)..........................................
2. Other sources or devices containing the materials 17,000
and quantities listed in 10 CFR 31.5(c)(13)(i).....
3. Sources and devices not otherwise described above 7,000
[[Page 2310]]
g. Individuals who release safeguards information....... 8,000
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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 22, 2021.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Daniel H. Dorman,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2022-00011 Filed 1-13-22; 8:45 am]
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