ENCLOSURE C VALUE/IMPACT STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED ACTION TO ASSURE 1. PROPOSED ACTION 1.1 Description The proposed action would require each commercial and industrial facility licensed under 10 CFR 50.22 to establish and implement procedures designed to assure that personnel with unescorted access to protected areas are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and are not otherwise unfit for duty. 1.2 Need for Proposed Action The Commission has found that the number of reported drug-related incidents in which licensee or contractor employees were arrested or terminated has increased dramatically in the past year. During the last 5 years, the increasing trend has been as follows: two in 1977; none in 1978; one in 1979; five in 1980; and twelve in 1981. Thus far in 1982, Regional Preliminary Notifications dealing with at least four new drug-related incidents have been issued. The reported incidents implicate a range of licensee or contractor personnel, including personnel in operations and security. The reported incidents are widespread geographically, and involve power reactor sites in each of the five NRC regions. Reported incidents have involved both onsite use or possession of drugs and personnel reporting to work under the influence of certain controlled substances. Marijuana was the most frequently reported controlled substance involved in these events; however, incidents involving amphetamines, cocaine, hashish, and methaqualone have also been reported. Since operation of a nuclear facility by personnel not fit for duty would degrade a licensee's ability to operate the facility in a safe manner, development of a regulation concerning the determination of fitness for duty with respect to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, the use of drugs which affect the faculties in a way contrary to safety, stress, and temporary physical impair Bent is necessary to protect the health and safety of the public. 1.3 Value/Impact of Proposed Action 1.3.1 NRC Operations The value of the proposed action to the NRC would be enhanced capability to carry out its mission with respect to ensuring the health and safety of the public by requiring licensees to focus on fitness for duty of personnel authorized unescorted access to protected areas of their facilities. The impact of the proposed action on the NRC will be the time spent developing and enforcing the regulation. 1.3.2 Other Government Agencies The proposed action would not impact other government agencies, unless the government agency is a licensee, such as TVA. 1.3.3 Industry The value of the proposed action to industry would be enhanced assurance of safety of facility operation. Implementation of this regulation would also potentially benefit the licensee by avoiding plant downtime or equipment damage caused by errors committed by personnel unfit for duty. The impact on the industry would be the cost of developing and implementing the procedures. Supervisors would have to be trained to recognize the signs which may indicate that an individual is unfit for duty, qualified professionals would have to verify the safety of drugs used by every person with unescorted access to protected areas, and records might have to be maintained regarding which drugs are approved for use. This approach would allow licensees to develop the specifics of the program taking into consideration fairness to and due process for their employees while a regulation that attempted to do this in the most minute detail could be cumbersome, inflexible, and unnecessarily detailed. 1.3.4 Public The value of the proposed action to the public would be greater assurance of safer and more reliable operation of nuclear facilities. The impact on the public could be imperceptibly higher electricity costs due to the increased cost to the industry discussed in 1.3.3. 1.3.5 Decision on Proposed Action Licensees should be required to establish and implement procedures designed to assure that personnel with unescorted access to protected areas are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol or otherwise unfit for duty. 2. TECHNICAL APPROACH Various methods of establishing a program o assure that personnel with unescorted access to the protected area of commercial and industrial facilities licensed under 10 CFR 50.22 have been considered. The procedures used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were reviewed for their applicability to nuclear facilities as were the recent changes proposed to this program. The current FAA regulations state that: "(a) No person may act as a crew member of a civil aircraft (1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage; (2) While under the influence of alcohol; or (3) While using any drug that affects his faculties in any way contrary to safety." The proposed change to the FAA regulations would add a fourth point: It was felt that imposing specific blood alcohol level limits and a required period of abstention from alcoholic beverages as used by the FAA would be premature for application to nuclear facilities since no studies have been performed to support quantitative restrictions on nuclear facility personnel. Consideration was also given to incorporating the provisions of this proposed rule into the behaviorial observation program which is being developed as a part of the proposed changes to 10 CFR 73.56 (Access Authorization Ruie). This was not done because it was felt that broadening the scope of the Proposed Access Authorization Rule would complicate and delay this proposed rule. The importance of establishing a regulation which addressed the specific issue of fitness for duty while on duty necessitated proceeding independently with this proposed rule. After some experience has been gained through the implementation of both the proposed fitness for duty rule and the proposed Access Authorization Rule, consideration will be given to combining them. A broad administrative approach was chosen to accomplish the proposed action. Each licensee would be required to establish and implement procedures which would ensure that personnel with unescorted access to protected areas are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs or otherwise unfit for duty. The category of personnel was restricted to those personnel with unescorted access rather than anyone with access to protected area because an inc:vidual with unescorted access may have the opportunity to perform an unobserved action which could effect the public health and safety. It includes all licensee employees and contractors who have been authorized unescorted access to the protected area but does not include NRC personnel. The method of implementing this requirement would be left to the licensee rather than by issuing a very detailed and cumbersome regulation in order to allow licensees to focus on the problem and provide solutions which will take into consideration the rights of their employees and any circumstances unique to their facility. 3.1.1 Specific Regulation - issue a regulation which requires personnel with unescorted access to protected areas to be fit for duty as specifically defined in the regulation. 3.1.2 Broad Regulation -issue a regulation which requires personnel with unescorted access to protected areas to be fit for duty in accordance with general guidelines. 3.1.3 Policy Statement issue a Commission policy statement which delinates Commission policy regarding fitness for duty of personnel with unescorted access to protected areas. 3.2 Value/Impact of Procedural Alternatives The value to the NRC of alternative (1), a specific regulation, is that 1: would have the full force and authority of a law. The impact on the NRC of alternative (1) is that a regulation which attempted to fully define all instances when an individual should be considered unfit for duty while protecting the rights of the individual involved would necessarily be cumbersome and less than an optimal approach for any particular facility. The value to the NRC of alternative (2), a broad regulation, is it would have the full force and authority of a law, it would provide a basis for future regulatory guides, and would allow each licensee to develop procedures which take into consideration not only fairness to and due process for its employees but also any conditions or circumstances unique to its facility. The impact on the NRC of alternative (2) is that it would be harder to enforce since it would not require industry wide standardization of their fitnessfor-duty programs. The value to the NRC of alternative (3), a policy statement, is it would provide the greatest degree of flexibility for implementation since conformance to the established policy by the licensees would be voluntary. The impact on the NRC of alternative (3) is that it would not provide a regulatory basis for enforcement. 3.3 Decision on Procedural Approach The proposed action should be accomplished by publishing a broad regulation which would require licensees to assure that personnel with unescorted access to protected areas are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs or otherwise unfit for duty. This was determined to be the least burdensome of the acceptable alternatives. |