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Alex Polonsky, Timothy P. Matthews, Jane Accomando, Ryan K. Lighty

Up & Atom

KEY TRENDS IN LAW AND POLICY REGARDING
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND MATERIALS

NRC Proposes Reactor Oversight Process Enhancement

By Timothy P. Matthews , Jane Accomando , and Joseph Azeizat
// July 03, 2025
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff recently submitted recommendations and planned actions to the Commission aimed at enhancing elements of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) consistent with the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2024 (ADVANCE Act). These efforts would also in part be responsive to recently issued Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
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Topics: Advanced Reactors, Inspections and Enforcement, NRC, Nuclear

NRC Office of Investigations FY 2024 Annual Report Shows Whistleblower Allegations on the Rise

By Jane Accomando , Scott D. Clausen , and Robert P. Goldfin
// February 26, 2025
The NRC’s Office of Investigations (OI) recently published its Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2024, summarizing its activities from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024. According to the annual report, OI opened 82 new cases in FY 2024, the same number it opened in FY 2023. But OI increased its number of case closures in FY 2024 and closed 82 cases compared to 72 closures in FY 2023, a 14% increase. In total, OI conducted 129 investigations in FY 2024. Below, we analyze how OI investigations compare to the previous fiscal year and significant OI investigations highlighted in the Annual Report.
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Topics: Energy, Inspections and Enforcement, Investigations, NRC, Whistleblowers

NRC Annual Reports: Allegations Rise, but Escalated Enforcement Actions Decline

By Jane Accomando and Robert P. Goldfin
// June 04, 2024
Morgan Lewis routinely assists licensees in connection with NRC allegations, investigations, and enforcement. The following are summaries of trends and findings in the NRC’s 2023 Allegation Program Annual Trends Report and Enforcement Program Annual Report.
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Topics: Energy, Inspections and Enforcement, Investigations, NRC, Whistleblowers

NRC OI Annual Report: Significant Jump in Materials Licensee and Discrimination Investigations for FY 2023

By Timothy P. Matthews , Jane Accomando , and Molly Mattison
// March 05, 2024
The NRC’s Office of Investigations (OI) recently published its Annual Report for fiscal year 2023, summarizing its activities from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. According to the annual report, OI opened 82 new cases in FY 2023 compared to 70 in FY 2022, a 17% increase. It also closed 72 cases in 2023 compared to 67 in FY 2022, a 7.5% increase.
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Topics: Inspections and Enforcement, Investigations, NRC

NRC Proposes Adjustments to Annual Fees and Fee Schedules

By Jane Accomando and Robert P. Goldfin
// February 26, 2024
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a proposed rule to amend the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to applicants and licensees. The proposed amendments are necessary under the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) to ensure the NRC recovers approximately its full annual budget, except funds for specific excluded activities. Among other changes, the NRC proposes decreasing the annual fee for the operating power reactors fee class by $4,000—approximately 0.07%—from $5.492 million in fiscal year 2023 to $5.488 million.
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Topics: Energy, Enforcement, Inspections and Enforcement, Licensing, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), NRC, Rulemaking

NRC to Increase Focus on Appendix B Compliance in View of FY2023 Enforcement Findings

By Jane Accomando and Robert P. Goldfin
// December 22, 2023
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently published its annual vendor newsletter, The Vendor Times, documenting findings of NRC vendor inspection staff and lessons learned related to the vendor inspection program. The newsletter follows the NRC’s November 20 vendor inspection program self-assessment for fiscal year 2023. Through these two issuances, the NRC noted an increase in enforcement findings and indicated that it will focus on 10 CFR Part 21 and supplier oversight compliance during future inspections.
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Topics: Energy, Enforcement, Inspections and Enforcement, NRC

NRC Plans Increased Focus on Reactor Safety Culture

By Timothy P. Matthews and Jane Accomando
// September 28, 2023
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently published a memorandum from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) documenting planned changes to the NRR’s Safety Culture Inspection Program. The NRC expects to implement these changes by the end of 2023.
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Topics: Enforcement, Inspections and Enforcement, NRC

NRC Office of Investigations FY 2022 Annual Report Shows Jump for Reactors, Decrease for Material Licensees

By Jane Accomando , Scott D. Clausen , and Molly Mattison
// March 10, 2023
The NRC’s Office of Investigations (OI) recently published its Annual Report Fiscal Year 2022 summarizing its activities from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. According to the annual report, OI opened 70 new cases in FY 2022, compared to 65 in FY 2021—an 8% increase. In contrast, it closed only 67 cases, compared to 96 in FY 2021—a 30% decrease.
Topics: Inspections and Enforcement, Investigations, NRC

NRC Annual Trends Report Shows Increase in Allegations

By Scott D. Clausen
// May 11, 2022
The NRC recently issued its Allegation Program Annual Trends Report, analyzing regional, national, and site-specific allegation trends for calendar year 2021. The report’s top-line numbers show that allegations increased approximately 40% from 2020. The broad-based increase spanned reactor and materials licensees, as well as their vendors.
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Topics: Inspections and Enforcement, Investigations, NRC, Whistleblowers

NRC: No Safety Threats to Reactor Facilities After Reports on Counterfeit Parts

By Timothy P. Matthews
// March 22, 2022
In response to reports from the NRC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and a tasking order from the NRC's executive director of operations (EDO) directing a review of NRC oversight of “counterfeit, fraudulent, and suspect items” (CFSI) in all regulated activities, the directors of the NRC's Offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) jointly issued a memorandum on March 4 concluding that “there is no evidence that CFSIs have adversely challenged the safety of reactor facilities” or any licensed activities. However, the NRC Staff's activities evaluating whether program improvements are necessary to address the risks posed by CFSI remain ongoing, with a final report expected in mid-April.
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Topics: Inspections and Enforcement, NRC
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