Section 144-220-B-7 - Adjustment FactorsA. After considering all relevant circumstances, adjustments to the civil penalty values may be made for the factors described below: (1) Prompt identification and reporting. Reduction of up to 50 percent of the base civil penalty may be given when a licensee identifies the violation and promptly reports the violation to the Agency. In weighing this factor, consideration will be given to, among other things, the length of time the violation existed prior to discovery, the opportunity available to discover the violation, the ease of discovery and the promptness and completeness of any required report. No consideration will be given to this factor if the licensee does not take immediate action to correct the problem upon discovery.(2) Corrective action to prevent recurrence. Recognizing that corrective action is always required to meet regulatory requirements, the promptness and extent to which the licensee takes corrective action, including actions to prevent recurrence, may be considered in modifying the civil penalty to be assessed. Unusually prompt and extensive correction action may result in reducing the proposed civil penalty as much as 50 percent of the base value shown in Table 1A. The civil penalty may be increased as much as 50 percent of the base value if initiation of corrective action is not prompt or if the corrective action is only minimally acceptable. In weighing this factor, consideration will be given to, among other things, the timeliness of the corrective action, degree of licensee initiative, and comprehensiveness of the corrective action - such as whether the action is focused narrowly to the specific violation or broadly to the general area of concern.(3) Past Performance. Reduction by as much as 100 percent of the base civil penalty shown in Table 1 may be given for prior good performance in the general area of concern. On the other hand, the base civil penalty may be increased as much as 100 percent for prior poor performance in the general area of concern. In weighing this factor, consideration will be given to, among other things, the effectiveness of previous corrective action for similar problems, overall performance such as prior enforcement history including Severity Level IV and V violations in the area of concern. For example, failure to implement previous corrective action for prior similar problems may result in an increase in the civil penalty.(4) Prior notice of similar events. The base civil penalty may be increased as much as 50 percent for cases where the licensee had prior knowledge of a problem as a result of a licensee audit, or specific NRC or industry notification, and had failed to take effective preventive steps.(5) Multiple occurrences. The base civil penalty may be increased as much as 50 percent where multiple examples of a particular violation are identified during the inspection period.B. The above factors are additive. However, in no instance will a civil penalty for any one violation exceed $10,000 per day.C. The duration of a violation may also be considered in assessing a civil penalty. A greater civil penalty may be imposed if a violation continues for more than a day. For example: (1) If a licensee is aware of the existence of a condition which results in an ongoing violation and fails to initiate corrective action, each day the condition existed may be considered as a separate violation and, as such, subject to a separate additional civil penalty.(2) If a licensee is unaware of a condition resulting in a continuing violation, but clearly should have been aware of the condition or had an opportunity to correct the condition but failed to do so, a separate violation and attendant civil penalty may be considered for each day that the licensee clearly should have been aware of the condition or had an opportunity to correct the condition, but failed to do so.(3) Alternatively, whether a licensee is aware or should have been aware of a violation that continues for more than one day, the civil penalty imposed for one violation may be increased to reflect the added significance resulting from the duration of the violation.D. The Tables and the mitigating factors determine the civil penalties which may be assessed for each violation. However, to focus on the fundamental underlying causes of a problem for which enforcement action appears to be warranted, the cumulative total for all violations which contributed to or were unavoidable consequences of that problem may be based on the amount shown in the table for a problem of that Severity Level, as adjusted. If an evaluation of such multiple violations shows that more than one fundamental problem is involved, each of which, if viewed independently, could lead to civil penalty action by itself, then separate civil penalties may be assessed for each such fundamental problem. In addition, the failure to make a required report of an event requiring such reporting is considered a separate problem and will normally be assessed a separate civil penalty, if the licensee is aware of the matter that should have been reported.10- 144 C.M.R. ch. 220, § B-7