ML20057A518
| ML20057A518 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/14/1990 |
| From: | NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20055C202 | List:
|
| References | |
| 0400J, 400J, NUDOCS 9309140331 | |
| Download: ML20057A518 (3) | |
Text
RP 0400J REGION III MANUAL REGIONAL PROCEDURE 0400J CONSIDERATION OF REPETITIVE VIOLATIONS WHEN ISSUING SEVERITY LEVEL IV AND V VIOLATIONS Scope The purpose of this procedure is to as'sure that Severity Level IV and V violations are reviewed in order to determine if they collectively represent a significant management breakdown or are repetitious and, if so, to insure that the appropriate enforcement actions are considered.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Enforcement Policy specifically calls for a consideration of a licensee's enforcement history, including:
Section V.B states that civil penalties may be imposed for Level IV violations which are similar to previous violations.
Implicit in this provision is that other administrative actions, such as management meetings, enforcement conferences, and strongly worded letters, may be also used if a civil penalty is not warranted.
Discussion Repetitious violations are of concern because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects its licensees to take effective corrective action.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must expect its licensees to learn from their experiences and mistakes and not depend upon the NRC's inspection program to identify the problem area (s) within licensed activities.
Therefore, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must pay special attention to repetitive violations or those which may show a negative trend within the licensee's management controls (e.g. an ineffective corrective action program).
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Enforcement defines "similar violations" as those violations which reasonably could have been prevented by a licensee's corrective action for a previous violation which occurred within the past two years of the inspection at issue or the period within the last two inspections, whichever is longer.
Normally in considering escalated enforcement (e.g. civil penalty) for a repetitive Severity Level IV or V violation, the focus is on the violation (s)< occurring after the last inspection or within the past two years.
The longer of these two will be the period of time to be considered for this procedure.
Contact:
John A. Grobe, Director-Enforcement and Investigation Coordination Staff 2/14/90 9309140331 930830 PDR STPRC ESGGEN 7;
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RP 0400J Procedure 1.
Inspectors are to review the previous inspection reports, the "766 System,"
and the "open items" listing to evaluate the licensee's prior enforcement history, including non-cited violations, when Severity Level IV and/or V violations are being considered.
Consideration might also be given to obtaining a periodic report from the "766 System" or Open Items List (OIL) to accomplish this review.
2.
The inspectors, supervisors and managers who are reviewing an inspection i
report should focus on the licensee's enforcement history, including non-cited violations, in order to fully identify any potential repetitive violations.
3.
While preparing for an inspection, the inspector (s) should review the licensee's enforcement history, paying particular attention to significant findings.
4.
The following graduated enforcement scheme should normally be applied for repetitive violations:
a.
For a violation repeated for the first time (actually the second time the violation has been committed), the repetition should be discussed in the cover letter transmitting the Notice of Violation.
Also consider whether, or not, an enforcement conference or escalated enforcement are warranted.
If the Technical Division determines that an enforcement conference may be warranted, the letter transmitting the Notice of Violation to the licensee could contain a statement similar to the following:
"Our findings in the area of (specific area inspected) when compared to your previous history in this area for the period (the period of time reviewed for past performance) causes us to be concerned with the apparent repetitive nature of this/these violation (s).
[In determining corrective actions for this/these violation (s), you should ensure that you have thoroughly evaluated all causal factors and your actions are sufficiently broad to prevent recurrence.] or[Therefore,an enforcement conference has been scheduled for (date and time of the enforcement conference) at (the specific location of the conference) to discuss our concern with the repetitive nature of the violation (s).]"
b.
For the second repeat of the violation (third occurrence) or multiple repetitious violations, an enforcement conference should be held and serious consideration of issuing a civil penalty should be made, considering the sa,fety significance of the violation.
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RP 0400J c.
For the third repeat of the violation (fourth occurrence) an enforcement conference will be held and a civil penalty or Order should be issued, considering the safety significance of the violation.
d.
Repetitive violations which were the subject of previous escalated enforcement action, particularly egregious repeated violations, or other unusual circumstance may warrant special enforcement considerations beyond a civil penalty.
Documentation The Office of Enforcement requires the Regions to create and maintain an
'auditable record to demonstrate how the enforcement determination was made when repetitive or multiple violations were identified, actions taken, and the basis for not escalating the issue when multiple violations exist. The record of the factors which entered into the decision making process should include the following:
Pervasiveness of the problem, Similarities in the violations or parts of the licensee organization involved in the violations (i.e., engineering procedures and safeguards procedures, or I & C personnel and operations personnel),
Adequacy of the past corrective actions, including implementation (i.e.,
broad, narrow, comprehensive, or timely),
Time since the past violation, Nature of the prior notice given (i.e., licensee audits or QC findings),
and Significance of the violations.
The documentation of the decision making process, especially necessary when the decision does not result in any enforcement action, may be part of the inspection report, the cover letter to the licensee transmitting the inspection report, enforcement board minutes, or a note to the file with appropriate copies to regional management and regional enforcement staff.
Audits The Enforcement and Investigation Coordination Staff will conduct periodic audits in order to monitor the application of the Enforcement Policy for repetitive violations.
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