The following licensee-identified violation of NRC requirements was determined to be of very low safety significance or
Severity Level IV and meet the
NRC Enforcement Policy criteria for being dispositioned as a Non-Cited Violation. Because it had the potential for impacting the NRCs ability to perform its regulatory function, traditional enforcement is applicable in accordance with
Inspection Manual Chapter 0612, Appendix B. This finding was also determined to be a
Severity Level IV violation in accordance with Section 6.6.d.1 of the
Enforcement Policy because it involved the licensees ability to meet or implement a regulatory requirement not related to assessment or notification such that the effectiveness of the
emergency plan was reduced. Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50.54(q) states, in part, that a licensee may make changes to
emergency plans without prior NRC approval only if the changes do not reduce the effectiveness of the plans and the plans, as changed, continue to meet the standards of 50.47(b) and the requirements of Appendix E. Proposed changes that reduce the effectiveness of the approved
emergency plans may not be implemented without application to and approval by the NRC. Contrary to the above, on multiple occasions between 2008 and 2014, the licensee implemented changes to their Radiological
Emergency Plan and Emergency Action Levels (
EALs) which reduced the effectiveness of the Plan. Specifically, the licensee deleted and/or changed
EAL threshold values, all of which would have resulted in a change that reduced the effectiveness of the approved
Emergency Plan and was implemented without application to and approval by the NRC. Because the violation was entered into the licensees corrective action program as Condition Report 10421212, it is being treated as a Green non-cited licensee-identified
SL IV violation consistent with Section 2.3.2 of the
Enforcement Policy.
