ML20198G045

Provides Guidance on Issue of Exercising Enforcement Discretion for Situations Beyond Licensee Control.Exercise of Discretion Requires Approval of Director of OE

ML20198G045
Person / Time
Issue date:	07/14/1997
From:	Lieberman J NRC OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT (OE)
To:	Beach A, Miller H, Reyes L NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I), NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II), NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
References
EGM-97-014, EGM-97-14, NUDOCS 9708130268
Download: ML20198G045 (3)

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%,***,*j WASHINGTON, D.C. 3004H001 July 14, 1997 EGM 97-014 i

MEMORANDUM 10:

Hubert J. Miller, Regional Administrator Region I t

Luis A. Reyes, Regional Administrator Region 11 A. Bill Beach, Regional Administrator Region 111 Ellis W. Herschoff, Regional Administrator Region IV Roy Zimmerman, Associate Director for Projects,NRR Thomas T. Martin, Associate Director for Inspection and Technical Assessment, NRR l

Elizabeth Q. Ten Eyck, Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, NMSS Donald A. Cool, Director, Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS John T._Greeves, Director, Division of Waste Management, NMSS FROM:

James Lieberman, Director' y N ' b Office of Enforcement C

SUBJECT:

ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE MEMORANDUM - EXERCISING ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION FOR SITUATIONS BEYOND LICENSEES' CONTROL The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance on the issue of exercising enforceraent discretion for situations beyond licensees' control.

Notwithstanding the legal basis for a citing a violation, there may be good reason not to cite a violation. ~Specifically,Section VI.A of the Enforcement Policy provides that licensees are not ordinarily cited for violations not within their control, such as equipment failures that were not avoidable by reasonable licensee quality assurance measures or management controls.

This issue came up in a recent case, where, due to circumstances not within reasonable licensee control, the emergency diesel generator (EDG breaker closing springs failed to recharge, and as a result, the licensee) unknowingly operated in violation of its TS.

In this case, the staff reviewed the licensee's root cause analysis of the event and determined that the equipment failure could not have been avoided or detected by the licensee's quality g i['

l assurance program or other related control measures. Therefore, the staff chose to exercise discretion and refrained from issuing a violation.

In these types of rare cases, the correspondence-to the licensee should either be titled or include in the title, " Exercise of Enforcement Discretion," and should include a conclusion such as, "The staff has reviewed your root cause j o Nlll$ll[llllljll!llllll 1 n A C' M 9708130268 970714 C

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Multiple Addressees-analysis of the event and has concluded that the equipment failure could not have been avoided or-detected by your quality assurance program or other related control measures.

Therefore, in accordance with Section V1.A of the Enforcement Policy, the NRC has chosen to exercise enforcement discretion and not issue a violation for this issue."

This exercise of discretion requires the approval of the Director of OE.

This issue will be included in the Enforcement Manual in a future Change Notice.

If you have any questions, please contact Renee Pedersen at (301) 415-2742.

cc:

E. Jordan, DEDE H. Thompson, DEDR

Multiple Addressees DISTRIBUTION:

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