NRC Enforcement Policy: Extension of Discretion Period of Interim Enforcement Policy, 19905-19907 [E6-5706]
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hsrobinson on PROD1PC68 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 18, 2006 / Notices
to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
1. Type of submission, new, revision,
or extension: Extension.
2. The title of the information
collection: Requests to Non-Agreement
States for Information.
3. The form number if applicable: Not
applicable.
4. How often the collection is
required: 6 times per year.
5. Who will be required or asked to
report: The 18 States (16 NonAgreement States and 2 territories, the
District of Columbia and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) that
have not signed 274(b) Agreements with
NRC. Note: Minnesota became an
Agreement State effective March 31,
2006.
6. An estimate of the number of
annual responses: 108.
7. The estimated number of annual
respondents: 18 States (16 NonAgreement States and 2 territories, the
District of Columbia and
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico).
8. An estimate of the total number of
hours needed annually to complete the
requirement or request: 891 hours.
9. An indication of whether section
3507(d), Public Law 104–13 applies: Not
applicable.
10. Abstract: Requests may be made of
States that are similar to those of
Agreement States to provide a more
complete overview of the national
program for regulating radioactive
materials. This information would be
used in the decisionmaking of the
Commission. With Agreement States
and as part of the NRC cooperative postagreement program with the States
pursuant to section 274(b), information
on licensing and inspection practices,
and/or incidents, and other technical
and statistical information are
exchanged. Agreement State comments
are also solicited in the areas of
proposed implementing procedures
relative to NRC Agreement State
program policies. With the enactment of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
specifically section 651(e), NRC now
has regulatory authority over use of
accelerator-produced radioactive
materials and discrete sources of
radium-226 and other naturally
occurring radioactive material as
specified by the Commission. Therefore,
information requests sought may take
the form of surveys, e.g., telephonic and
electronic surveys/polls and facsimiles.
A copy of the final supporting
statement may be viewed free of charge
at the NRC Public Document Room, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Room O–1 F21, Rockville, MD
VerDate Aug<31>2005
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20852. OMB clearance requests are
available at the NRC worldwide Web
site: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/
doc-comment/omb/. The
document will be available on the NRC
home page site for 60 days after the
signature date of this notice.
Comments and questions should be
directed to the OMB reviewer listed
below by May 18, 2006. Comments
received after this date will be
considered if it is practical to do so, but
assurance of consideration cannot be
given to comments received after this
date.
John A. Asalone, Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs (3150–0200),
NEOB–10202, Office of Management
and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.
Comments can also be e-mailed to
John_A._Asalone@omb.eop.gov or
submitted by telephone at (202) 395–
4650.
The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda
Jo. Shelton, 301–415–7233.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day
of April, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brenda Jo. Shelton,
NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information
Services.
[FR Doc. E6–5743 Filed 4–17–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
NRC Enforcement Policy: Extension of
Discretion Period of Interim
Enforcement Policy
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Policy Statement: Revision.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is revising the NRC
‘‘Interim Enforcement Policy Regarding
Enforcement Discretion for Certain Fire
Protection Issues,’’ to extend the
enforcement discretion period to 3 years
for those licensees that commit to
transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), and to
provide clarification and enhancements
predominately in the areas of existing
non-compliances and the treatment of
non-compliances if a licensee
withdraws from the transition.
DATES: This revision is effective April
18, 2006. Comments on this revision to
the Enforcement Policy may be
submitted on or before May 18, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments
to: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules and
Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, Mail Stop: T6D59, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
PO 00000
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19905
Washington, DC 20555–0001. Handdeliver comments to: 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, between
7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Federal
workdays. Copies of comments received
may be examined at the NRC Public
Document Room, Room O1F21, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.
You may also e-mail comments to
nrcrep@nrc.gov.
The NRC maintains the current
Enforcement Policy on its Web site at
https://www.nrc.gov, select ‘‘What We
Do,’’ then ‘‘Enforcement Policy.’’
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael Johnson, Director, Office of
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555–
0001, (301) 415–2741, e-mail
mrj1@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June
16, 2004, the NRC published, in the
Federal Register, a final rule amending
10 CFR 50.48 (69 FR 33536). This rule
became effective on July 16, 2004, and
allows licensees to adopt 10 CFR
50.48(c), a voluntary risk-informed,
performance-based alternative to current
fire protection requirements. The NRC
concurrently revised its Enforcement
Policy (69 FR 33684) to provide interim
enforcement discretion during a
‘‘transition’’ period. The interim
enforcement discretion policy includes
provisions to address: (1)
Noncompliances identified during the
licensee’s transition process; and (2)
existing identified noncompliances.
In accordance with the current
Enforcement Policy, for those
noncompliances identified during the
transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), the
enforcement discretion policy will be in
effect for up to 2 years from the date of
a licensee’s letter of intent to adopt the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(c). In
addition, when the licensee submits a
license amendment request to complete
the transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), the
enforcement discretion will continue in
effect until the NRC completes its
review of the license amendment
request.
The second element of the interim
policy provides enforcement discretion
for licensees that wish to take advantage
of the rule to resolve existing
noncompliances. The original rule
required licensees wishing to take
advantage of this interim policy to
submit a letter of intent to adopt 10 CFR
50.48(c), within 6 months of the
effective date of the final rule. However,
the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
(ADAMS Accession No. ML042010132)
sent a letter dated July 7, 2004,
requesting that the NRC extend the
deadline for the letter of intent to be
E:\FR\FM\18APN1.SGM
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hsrobinson on PROD1PC68 with NOTICES
19906
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 18, 2006 / Notices
sent from 6 months to 18 months.
Subsequently, the extension was
granted and was published in the
Federal Register as a revision to the
interim enforcement policy regarding
enforcement discretion for certain issues
involving fire protection programs at
operating nuclear power plants. The
revision was effective on January 14,
2005 (70 FR 2662).
As a result, if a licensee submitted a
letter of intent by December 31, 2005, in
order to meet the second element of the
interim enforcement policy, the NRC
would exercise enforcement discretion
for existing noncompliances that could
reasonably be corrected under 10 CFR
50.48(c).
The NRC is revising the Enforcement
Policy to extend the current 2-year
period of enforcement discretion, for the
transition to this voluntary,
performance-based regulation, to 3 years
for licensees that commit, in their letters
of intent, to adopt 10 CFR 50.48(c)
requirements.
Many licensees have requested
additional time, beyond the 2-year
discretion period, to properly evaluate
their existing fire analyses and to
develop fire probabilistic risk
assessments (PRA). Based on these
requests, the staff considered the
extension of the current enforcement
discretion period from 2 years to 3
years. The extension in time is
appropriate in light of the level of effort
required to transition to this riskinformed approach, including the
implementation of plant modifications
that may be required as a result of the
licensee’s evaluation. In addition, this
change will not adversely impact public
health and safety because the discretion
policy does not apply to the most risksignificant findings (i.e., violations
characterized as Red or Severity Level
I). For those findings where the policy
does apply, licensees are required to
implement and maintain immediate
compensatory measures to qualify for
discretion. This extension would
facilitate a regulatory approach that
encourages licensees to find and resolve
their own issues in ways consistent with
Enforcement Policy goals. During the
discretion period, licensees are required
to maintain their current fire protection
plans, including maintaining
appropriate compensatory measures. In
addition to the 3-year discretion period,
the NRC staff may grant item-specific
extensions, on a case-by-case basis, to
the discretion policy, when the licensee
provides adequate justification (e.g., a
modification that can only be
implemented during an outage).
Normal inspection and enforcement
will continue to be applied to all plants
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Jkt 208001
that are not actively transitioning to 10
CFR 50.48(c).
Minor editorial changes have also
been made to the current ‘‘Interim
Enforcement Policy Regarding
Enforcement Discretion for Certain Fire
Protection Issues’’ (10 CFR 50.48), to
provide clarification and enhancements
predominately in the areas of existing
non-compliances and the treatment of
non-compliances if a licensee
withdraws from the transition.
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.
The approved information collection
requirements contained in this policy
statement appear in Section VII.C.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor,
and a person is not required to respond
to, collection of information, unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act
In accordance with the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness 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 of
OMB.
Accordingly, the NRC Enforcement
Policy is amended to read as follows:
NRC Enforcement Policy
*
*
*
*
*
Interim Enforcement Policies
*
*
*
*
*
Interim Enforcement Policy Regarding
Enforcement Discretion for Certain Fire
Protection Issues (10 CFR 50.48)
This section sets forth the interim
enforcement policy that the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
will follow to exercise enforcement
discretion for certain noncompliances of
requirements in 10 CFR 50.48, ‘‘Fire
protection,’’ (or fire protection license
conditions) that are identified as a result
of the transition to a new risk-informed,
performance-based fire protection
approach included in paragraph (c) of
10 CFR 50.48 and for certain existing
identified noncompliances that
reasonably may be resolved by
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compliance with 10 CFR 50.48(c).
Paragraph (c) allows reactor licensees to
voluntarily comply with the riskinformed, performance-based fire
protection approaches in National Fire
Protection Association Standard 805
(NFPA 805), ‘‘Performance-Based
Standard for Fire Protection for Light
Water Reactor Electric Generating
Plants,’’ 2001 Edition (with limited
exceptions stated in the rule language).
For those noncompliances identified
during the licensee’s transition process,
this enforcement discretion policy will
be in effect for up to 3 years from the
date specified by the licensee in their
letter of intent to adopt the requirements
in 10 CFR 50.48(c), and will continue to
be in place, without interruption, until
NRC approval of the license amendment
request to transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c).
This enforcement discretion policy may
be extended on a case-by-case basis, by
request, with adequate justification,
from the licensee.
If, after submitting the letter of intent
to comply with 10 CFR 50.48(c) and
before submitting the license
amendment request, the licensee
decides not to complete the transition to
10 CFR 50.48(c), the licensee must
submit a letter stating its intent to retain
its existing license basis and
withdrawing its letter of intent to
comply with 10 CFR 50.48(c). After the
licensee’s withdrawal from the
transition process, the staff, as a matter
of practice, will not take enforcement
action against any noncompliance that
the licensee corrected during the
transition process and should, on a caseby-case basis, consider refraining from
taking action if reasonable and timely
corrective actions are in progress (e.g.,
an exemption has been submitted for
NRC review). Noncompliances that the
licensee has not corrected, as well as
noncompliances identified after the date
of the above withdrawal letter, will be
dispositioned in accordance with
normal enforcement practices.
A. Noncompliances Identified During
the Licensee’s Transition Process
*
*
*
*
*
(1) It was licensee-identified, as a
result of its voluntary initiative to adopt
the risk-informed, performance-based
fire protection program included under
10 CFR 50.48(c) or, if the NRC identifies
the violation, it was likely in the NRC
staff’s view that the licensee would have
identified the violation in light of the
defined scope, thoroughness, and
schedule of the licensee’s transition to
10 CFR 50.48(c) provided the schedule
reasonably provides for completion of
the transition within 3 years of the date
specified by the licensee in their letter
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 74 / Tuesday, April 18, 2006 / Notices
of intent to implement 10 CFR 50.48(c)
or other period granted by NRC;
*
*
*
*
*
B. Existing Identified Noncompliances
*
*
*
*
*
(3) It was not willful; and
(4) The licensee submits a letter of
intent by December 31, 2005, stating its
intent to transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c).
After December 31, 2005, as
addressed in (4) above, this enforcement
discretion for implementation of
corrective actions for existing identified
noncompliances will not be available
and the requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(b)
(and any other requirements in fire
protection license conditions) will be
enforced in accordance with normal
enforcement practices. However,
licensees that submit letters of intent to
transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c) with
existing noncompliances will have the
option to implement corrective actions
in accordance with the new
performance-based regulation. All other
elements of the assessment and
enforcement process will be exercised
even if the licensee submits its letter of
intent before the NRC issues its
enforcement action for existing
noncompliances.
Dated at Rockville, MD, this 11th day of
April, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew L. Bates,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E6–5706 Filed 4–17–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 030–04530]
Notice of Availability of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for License
Amendment for U.S. Department of
Agriculture Facility in Mission, TX
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:
hsrobinson on PROD1PC68 with NOTICES
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sattar Lodhi, Materials Security &
Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear
Materials Safety, Region I, 475
Allendale Road, King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (610)
337–5364, fax (610) 337–5269; or by email: asl@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the
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15:03 Apr 17, 2006
Jkt 208001
issuance of a license amendment to U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) for
Materials License No. 19–00915–03, to
authorize remediation activities at its
radioactive waste burial site located at
Moore Air Base (MAB) in Mission,
Texas. The NRC has prepared an
Environmental Assessment (EA) in
support of this proposed action in
accordance with the requirements of 10
CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC
has concluded that a Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) is
appropriate.
II. EA Summary
The purpose of the proposed action is
to authorize remediation activities at the
licensee’s radioactive waste burial site
at MAB in Mission, Texas. USDA was
authorized initially by the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission in the mid 1950’s
and later by the NRC to use radioactive
materials for research and development
purposes at the site. On May 5, 2005,
USDA requested that NRC authorize
remediation activities at the burial site.
USDA has submitted to the NRC a plan
to remediate the burial site.
The NRC staff has prepared an EA in
support of the license amendment. The
NRC staff has reviewed the information
contained in the licensee’s remediation
plan. Based on its review, the staff has
determined that the licensee has
developed adequate procedures to
ensure that the digging, removing and
transporting the waste from the burial
site will not have a significant impact
on the environment and the workers.
The staff has also determined that no
additional information is necessary to
complete the proposed action.
Therefore, the staff considered the
impact of the remediation activities at
the facility and concluded that a
Finding of No Significant Impact is
appropriate.
19907
Document Access and Management
System (ADAMS), which provides text
and image files of NRC’s public
documents. The ADAMS accession
numbers for the documents related to
this Notice are: USDA’s plan to
remediate the radioactive waste burial
site at MAB (ML051300095), EA in
support of the amendment request
(ML060940281), review of EA by the
State of Texas (ML053120414). Persons
who do not have access to ADAMS or
who encounter problems in accessing
the documents located in ADAMS,
should contact the NRC PDR Reference
staff by telephone at (800) 397–4209 or
(301) 415–4737, or by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov. These documents may also
be viewed electronically on public
computers located at the NRC’s PDR,
01F21, One White Flint, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.
The PDR contractor will copy
documents for a fee.
Documents related to operations
conducted under this license not
specifically referenced in this Notice
may not be electronically available and/
or may not be publicly available.
Persons who have an interest in
reviewing these documents should
submit a request to NRC under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Instructions for submitting a FOIA
request can be found on the NRC’s Web
site at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
foia/foia-privacy.html.
Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this
6th day of April, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John D. Kinneman,
Chief, Materials Security & Industrial Branch,
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region
I.
[FR Doc. E6–5715 Filed 4–17–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared the EA
(summarized above) in support of the
license amendment request. On the
basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded
that there are no significant
environmental impacts from the
proposed action, and has determined
not to prepare an environmental impact
statement for the proposed action.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action,
including the application for the license
amendment and supporting
documentation, are available
electronically at the NRC’s Electronic
Reading Room at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html. From this site,
you can access the NRC’s Agencywide
AGENCY:
PO 00000
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[Docket No. 030–08219]
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Denver Federal Center, Building 53:
Issuance of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for License
Amendment
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact.
D.
Blair Spitzberg, Ph.D., Chief, Fuel Cycle
and Decommissioning Branch, Division
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 18, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19905-19907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-5706]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
NRC Enforcement Policy: Extension of Discretion Period of Interim
Enforcement Policy
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Policy Statement: Revision.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is revising the NRC
``Interim Enforcement Policy Regarding Enforcement Discretion for
Certain Fire Protection Issues,'' to extend the enforcement discretion
period to 3 years for those licensees that commit to transition to 10
CFR 50.48(c), and to provide clarification and enhancements
predominately in the areas of existing non-compliances and the
treatment of non-compliances if a licensee withdraws from the
transition.
DATES: This revision is effective April 18, 2006. Comments on this
revision to the Enforcement Policy may be submitted on or before May
18, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Michael T. Lesar, Chief, Rules
and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, Mail Stop: T6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand-deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Federal
workdays. Copies of comments received may be examined at the NRC Public
Document Room, Room O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.
You may also e-mail comments to nrcrep@nrc.gov.
The NRC maintains the current Enforcement Policy on its Web site at
https://www.nrc.gov, select ``What We Do,'' then ``Enforcement Policy.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Johnson, Director, Office of
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, (301) 415-2741, e-mail mrj1@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 16, 2004, the NRC published, in the
Federal Register, a final rule amending 10 CFR 50.48 (69 FR 33536).
This rule became effective on July 16, 2004, and allows licensees to
adopt 10 CFR 50.48(c), a voluntary risk-informed, performance-based
alternative to current fire protection requirements. The NRC
concurrently revised its Enforcement Policy (69 FR 33684) to provide
interim enforcement discretion during a ``transition'' period. The
interim enforcement discretion policy includes provisions to address:
(1) Noncompliances identified during the licensee's transition process;
and (2) existing identified noncompliances.
In accordance with the current Enforcement Policy, for those
noncompliances identified during the transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), the
enforcement discretion policy will be in effect for up to 2 years from
the date of a licensee's letter of intent to adopt the requirements of
10 CFR 50.48(c). In addition, when the licensee submits a license
amendment request to complete the transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), the
enforcement discretion will continue in effect until the NRC completes
its review of the license amendment request.
The second element of the interim policy provides enforcement
discretion for licensees that wish to take advantage of the rule to
resolve existing noncompliances. The original rule required licensees
wishing to take advantage of this interim policy to submit a letter of
intent to adopt 10 CFR 50.48(c), within 6 months of the effective date
of the final rule. However, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) (ADAMS
Accession No. ML042010132) sent a letter dated July 7, 2004, requesting
that the NRC extend the deadline for the letter of intent to be
[[Page 19906]]
sent from 6 months to 18 months. Subsequently, the extension was
granted and was published in the Federal Register as a revision to the
interim enforcement policy regarding enforcement discretion for certain
issues involving fire protection programs at operating nuclear power
plants. The revision was effective on January 14, 2005 (70 FR 2662).
As a result, if a licensee submitted a letter of intent by December
31, 2005, in order to meet the second element of the interim
enforcement policy, the NRC would exercise enforcement discretion for
existing noncompliances that could reasonably be corrected under 10 CFR
50.48(c).
The NRC is revising the Enforcement Policy to extend the current 2-
year period of enforcement discretion, for the transition to this
voluntary, performance-based regulation, to 3 years for licensees that
commit, in their letters of intent, to adopt 10 CFR 50.48(c)
requirements.
Many licensees have requested additional time, beyond the 2-year
discretion period, to properly evaluate their existing fire analyses
and to develop fire probabilistic risk assessments (PRA). Based on
these requests, the staff considered the extension of the current
enforcement discretion period from 2 years to 3 years. The extension in
time is appropriate in light of the level of effort required to
transition to this risk-informed approach, including the implementation
of plant modifications that may be required as a result of the
licensee's evaluation. In addition, this change will not adversely
impact public health and safety because the discretion policy does not
apply to the most risk-significant findings (i.e., violations
characterized as Red or Severity Level I). For those findings where the
policy does apply, licensees are required to implement and maintain
immediate compensatory measures to qualify for discretion. This
extension would facilitate a regulatory approach that encourages
licensees to find and resolve their own issues in ways consistent with
Enforcement Policy goals. During the discretion period, licensees are
required to maintain their current fire protection plans, including
maintaining appropriate compensatory measures. In addition to the 3-
year discretion period, the NRC staff may grant item-specific
extensions, on a case-by-case basis, to the discretion policy, when the
licensee provides adequate justification (e.g., a modification that can
only be implemented during an outage).
Normal inspection and enforcement will continue to be applied to
all plants that are not actively transitioning to 10 CFR 50.48(c).
Minor editorial changes have also been made to the current
``Interim Enforcement Policy Regarding Enforcement Discretion for
Certain Fire Protection Issues'' (10 CFR 50.48), to provide
clarification and enhancements predominately in the areas of existing
non-compliances and the treatment of non-compliances if a licensee
withdraws from the transition.
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. The
approved information collection requirements contained in this policy
statement appear in Section VII.C.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, collection of information, unless it displays a currently
valid OMB control number.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
In accordance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness 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 of OMB.
Accordingly, the NRC Enforcement Policy is amended to read as
follows:
NRC Enforcement Policy
* * * * *
Interim Enforcement Policies
* * * * *
Interim Enforcement Policy Regarding Enforcement Discretion for Certain
Fire Protection Issues (10 CFR 50.48)
This section sets forth the interim enforcement policy that the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will follow to exercise
enforcement discretion for certain noncompliances of requirements in 10
CFR 50.48, ``Fire protection,'' (or fire protection license conditions)
that are identified as a result of the transition to a new risk-
informed, performance-based fire protection approach included in
paragraph (c) of 10 CFR 50.48 and for certain existing identified
noncompliances that reasonably may be resolved by compliance with 10
CFR 50.48(c). Paragraph (c) allows reactor licensees to voluntarily
comply with the risk-informed, performance-based fire protection
approaches in National Fire Protection Association Standard 805 (NFPA
805), ``Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water
Reactor Electric Generating Plants,'' 2001 Edition (with limited
exceptions stated in the rule language).
For those noncompliances identified during the licensee's
transition process, this enforcement discretion policy will be in
effect for up to 3 years from the date specified by the licensee in
their letter of intent to adopt the requirements in 10 CFR 50.48(c),
and will continue to be in place, without interruption, until NRC
approval of the license amendment request to transition to 10 CFR
50.48(c). This enforcement discretion policy may be extended on a case-
by-case basis, by request, with adequate justification, from the
licensee.
If, after submitting the letter of intent to comply with 10 CFR
50.48(c) and before submitting the license amendment request, the
licensee decides not to complete the transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c), the
licensee must submit a letter stating its intent to retain its existing
license basis and withdrawing its letter of intent to comply with 10
CFR 50.48(c). After the licensee's withdrawal from the transition
process, the staff, as a matter of practice, will not take enforcement
action against any noncompliance that the licensee corrected during the
transition process and should, on a case-by-case basis, consider
refraining from taking action if reasonable and timely corrective
actions are in progress (e.g., an exemption has been submitted for NRC
review). Noncompliances that the licensee has not corrected, as well as
noncompliances identified after the date of the above withdrawal
letter, will be dispositioned in accordance with normal enforcement
practices.
A. Noncompliances Identified During the Licensee's Transition Process
* * * * *
(1) It was licensee-identified, as a result of its voluntary
initiative to adopt the risk-informed, performance-based fire
protection program included under 10 CFR 50.48(c) or, if the NRC
identifies the violation, it was likely in the NRC staff's view that
the licensee would have identified the violation in light of the
defined scope, thoroughness, and schedule of the licensee's transition
to 10 CFR 50.48(c) provided the schedule reasonably provides for
completion of the transition within 3 years of the date specified by
the licensee in their letter
[[Page 19907]]
of intent to implement 10 CFR 50.48(c) or other period granted by NRC;
* * * * *
B. Existing Identified Noncompliances
* * * * *
(3) It was not willful; and
(4) The licensee submits a letter of intent by December 31, 2005,
stating its intent to transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c).
After December 31, 2005, as addressed in (4) above, this
enforcement discretion for implementation of corrective actions for
existing identified noncompliances will not be available and the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.48(b) (and any other requirements in fire
protection license conditions) will be enforced in accordance with
normal enforcement practices. However, licensees that submit letters of
intent to transition to 10 CFR 50.48(c) with existing noncompliances
will have the option to implement corrective actions in accordance with
the new performance-based regulation. All other elements of the
assessment and enforcement process will be exercised even if the
licensee submits its letter of intent before the NRC issues its
enforcement action for existing noncompliances.
Dated at Rockville, MD, this 11th day of April, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew L. Bates,
Acting Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E6-5706 Filed 4-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
