On November 18, 2025, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its Staff Requirements Memorandum for SECY-24-0009, which proposed changes to the NRC Enforcement Policy governing regulated materials and civil penalties. The proposed changes reflect the NRC Office of Enforcement’s periodic review of its Environment Policy, undertaken every few years to identify appropriate significant revisions.
In short: the Commission gave final approval to the changes and authorized new flexibility for adjusting certain base civil penalties. The Commission also directed the NRC staff to bring forward any Enforcement Policy changes stemming from implementation of the ADVANCE Act or Executive Order 14300. The revisions approved by the Commission were based on the detailed list of changes provided in Enclosure 1: Proposed Enforcement Policy Revision. Below we highlight the key revisions approved by the Commission.
Specific Guidance for Materials and ISFSIs
Under the updated policy, language related to lost or missing sources will be reorganized and clarified into a new dedicated section for improved access and understanding. This revision encourages timely licensee response to lost or missing material and adds new severity-level examples of such cases. The updated policy also adds a new section of violation examples applicable to independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs), which should enable NRC staff to dispose of these violations efficiently and more consistently.
This aligns well with the recent inspection procedure changes providing guidance to NRC inspectors on when to apply enforcement discretion in specific cases related to dry spent fuel storage. More specifically, inspectors will apply enforcement discretion to a user of a General License (GL) if an apparent violation of 10 CFR 72.48 or certain provisions of 10 CFR 72.212 is a consequence of the GL user adopting a design change initiated by the certificate of compliance (CoC) holder and the GL user failed to perform its own separate 72.48 review for that specific adoption.
Discretion is warranted only when the GL user’s adoption did not require a site-specific, technical change. This allows the NRC to focus its enforcement action on the CoC holder, who initiated the change, rather than penalizing the GL user for the resulting regulatory process deficiencies.
Enhanced Clarity on Civil Penalties and Disposition of Violations
The revised policy clarifies the mechanisms for assessing civil penalties and disposing of violations, aiming for greater predictability and consistency. The changes underscore that the policy is fundamentally risk-informed, ensuring that enforcement actions and sanctions are aligned with safety and security significance of each violation.
The Commission clarified that the applicable civil penalty amount will be the one in effect at the time of assessment rather than the time the violation occurred (civil penalty amounts are indexed to inflation). Further, the policy clarified the application of credit for identification and credit for promptness and comprehensiveness of corrective actions when calculating the final penalty.
To aid in consistent enforcement, the policy now includes clearer definitions for terms used to characterize violations, such as “programmatic,” “repetitive,” and “isolated.” The revised policy also documents a longstanding expectation that in a settlement agreement arising out of alternative dispute resolution the NRC will typically seek more comprehensive corrective actions than those that might be achieved solely through the traditional enforcement process.
Updates to Reactor Oversight Process and Enforcement Discretion
The Commission also revised the policy to better align with current and planned regulatory frameworks. For instance, the section covering the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) was updated by removing the specific qualitative color descriptions (like White or Yellow) used in the safety significance determination process and replacing them with simple references to the ROP colors to minimize confusion between the independent enforcement and inspection programs.
This change ensures that the policy remains functional even as the separate ROP guidance documents undergo planned changes pursuant to Section 5(g) of EO 14300. Additionally, the policy revises the section on notices of enforcement discretion, particularly to expand the scope of facilities that may be addressed by a notice of enforcement discretion to include nonpower production and utilization facilities.
Enforcement Actions Involving Individuals
Finally, the policy changes seek to strengthen the approach to individual misconduct and reliability. The Commission clarified the process to be used when the NRC discovers potentially damaging or disqualifying information concerning an individual’s trustworthiness or reliability. The Commission also clarified the specific criteria the NRC considers when issuing an enforcement sanction to an alleger who also engages in deliberate misconduct.
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