Up & Atom

The NRC recently issued its report to Congress on the best practices for the establishment and operation of local community advisory boards (CABs) associated with decommissioning nuclear power plants.

The comment period for the NRC’s draft Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) on true identity verification requirements closed on June 15, 2020. The industry had asked for and received a 45-day extension from the original April 30 deadline to provide comments.

Our colleagues in the False Claims Act practice have just announced the publication of Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions, Fifth Edition. This comprehensive two-volume treatise— frequently cited by federal and state courts as authority on the False Claims Act (FCA)—provides a full history of the FCA, an in-depth analysis of its liability provisions and the case law interpreting them, extensive perspectives on FCA practice and procedure, and a survey of state and local false claims laws.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) published proposed rule changes on May 21 addressing when parties must notify the Committee of proposed transactions.

The US Department of Labor’s chief administrative law judge (ALJ) issued an administrative order and notice on June 1, indefinitely suspending all in-person hearings before the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ).

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently published a new rule to give the Secretary of Labor discretion to review Administrative Review Board (ARB) decisions. In 1996, the Secretary of Labor established the ARB while simultaneously granting it the authority and assigning it the responsibility to issue final agency decisions—after review or on appeal—of matters arising under various worker protection laws, including the many whistleblower protection laws administered by the DOL.

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 22 issued an order upholding a trial court’s dismissal of the long-running Cooper v. Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. lawsuit.

The NRC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) recently issued Attachment 3 to Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) 20-002, providing guidance to NRC Staff to disposition violations of emergency preparedness (EP) regulations during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE). The guidance applies to entities licensed under 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50, 52, 70, and 72.

The NRC issued a letter to holders of licenses other than operating power reactor licenses (separate information regarding requests for temporary exemptions from certain security requirements at operating reactors has been issued) to possess Category 1 or 2 quantities of radioactive material (RAM) as defined in Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 37. The letter contains guidance on the NRC’s expedited review process for requests for temporary exemptions from certain requirements contained in 10 CFR Part 37, Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Material, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE), and finalizes its April 30 draft guidance on which we reported to reflect input from stakeholders received during a recent public meeting.

Executive Order 13920, “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System,” issued on May 1 limits the US use of bulk-power system equipment produced by “foreign adversaries.”