[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 25, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54712-54714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-26421]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Proposed Generic Communication; Licensee Qualification for
Performing Safety Analyses (M91599)
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to issue
Supplement 1 to Generic Letter 83-11 concerning licensee qualification
for performing their own safety analyses. This draft generic letter
supplement provides an alternative method for licensee qualification.
The NRC is seeking comment from interested parties regarding both the
technical and regulatory aspects of the proposed generic letter
supplement presented under the Supplementary Information heading.
This proposed generic letter supplement was endorsed by the
Committee to Review Generic Requirements (CRGR) on September 26, 1995.
The relevant information that was sent to the CRGR will be placed in
the NRC Public Document Room. The NRC will consider comments received
from interested parties in the final evaluation of the proposed generic
letter supplement. The NRC's final evaluation will include a review of
the technical position and, as appropriate, an analysis of the value/
impact on licensees. Should this generic letter supplement be issued by
the NRC, it will become available for public inspection in the NRC
Public Document Room.
In addition to the proposed supplement to Generic Letter 83-11, the
NRC staff is also investigating modified procedures for reducing the
resource effort for acceptance of new or revised licensee or vendor
analysis methods. Currently, topical reports are submitted to the NRC
which require a relatively long review and approval process. In this
regard, the NRC requests comments on the following:
(1) To what extent can an organization other than the NRC (a third
party) review a new methodology or a significant change to an existing
methodology?
(a) What capabilities should be required of a third-party reviewer?
(b) What is the safety significance of not having the NRC perform
the review?
(c) What documentation should be submitted to the NRC by the third-
party reviewer and/or by the licensee?
(d) What type of acceptance (e.g., a safety evaluation report)
should be issued?
(e) How would approved references (e.g., Core Operating Limits
Report (COLR) parameters in technical specification reporting
requirements) be handled?
(f) What information, if any, should be available for NRC audit?
(2) What other viable approaches can be used for accepting new or
revised methods?
(a) Should a regulatory guide be developed?
(b) Can a set of criteria, as proposed in the generic letter
supplement for previously approved generic methods, also be developed
for new methods?
(3) To what technical disciplines should this process apply?
Commentors should clearly differentiate any comments submitted in
response to these questions from comments on the generic letter
supplement.
DATES: Comment period expires December 11, 1995. Comments submitted
after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but
assurance of consideration cannot be given except for comments received
on or before this date.
ADDRESSEES: Submit written comments to Chief, Rules Review and
Directives Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T-6D-
69, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Written comments may also be delivered
to 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 am to 4:15 pm,
Federal workdays. Copies of written comments received may be examined
at the NRC Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, N.W. (Lower Level),
Washington, D.C.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurence I. Kopp (301) 415-2879.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
NRC Generic Letter 83-11, Supplement 1: Licensee Qualification for
Performing Safety Analyses
Addressees
All holders of operating licenses or construction permits for
nuclear power reactors.
Purpose
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this
supplement to Generic Letter (GL) 83-11 to notify licensees and
applicants of modifications to the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
(NRR) practice regarding licensee qualification for performing their
own safety analyses. It is expected that recipients will review the
information for applicability to their facilities. However, suggestions
contained in this supplement to the generic letter are not NRC
requirements; therefore, no specific action or written response is
required.
Background
Over the past decade, substantially more licensees have been
electing to perform their own safety analyses to support such tasks as
reload applications and technical specification amendments, rather than
contract the work out to their nuclear steam supply
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system (NSSS) vendor, fuel vendor, or some other organization. The NRC
encourages utilities to perform their own safety analyses since doing
this significantly improves licensee understanding of plant behavior.
GL 83-11 presented guidance on the information that NRC needs in order
to qualify licensees to perform their own safety analyses using
approved computer codes.
Description of Circumstances
NRC experience with safety analyses using large, complex computer
codes has shown many times that errors or discrepancies discovered in
safety analyses can be traced to the user rather than to the code
itself. This realization has led the NRC to place additional emphasis
on assuring the capabilities of the code users as well as on assuring
the codes themselves. In the past, NRC obtained this assurance by
reviewing the code verification information submitted by the licensee.
The review focused primarily on the licensee's quality assurance
practices and the technical competence of the licensee with respect to
their ability to set up an input deck, execute a code, and properly
interpret the results. The information which was reviewed generally
included comparisons (performed by the user of the code results) with
experimental data, plant operational data, or other benchmarked
analyses, as well as compliance with any restrictions or limitations
stated in the generic NRC Safety Evaluation Report (SER) that approved
the code.
Since GL 83-11 was issued, many licensees have submitted
information in the form of topical reports demonstrating their ability
to perform their own safety analyses, such as reload analyses, using
NRC-approved methods and codes. The preparation and review of a
qualification topical report is resource intensive for both the
licensee and the staff, and because the review is usually assigned a
low priority, it is difficult to schedule the review for timely
completion.
Discussion
To help shorten the lengthy review and approval process, the NRC
has adopted a generic set of guidelines which, if met, would eliminate
the need to submit detailed topical reports for NRC review before a
licensee could use approved codes and methods. These guidelines are
presented in Attachment 1. Using this approach, which is consistent
with the regulatory basis provided by Criteria II and III of Appendix B
to Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50),
the licensee would institute a program (such as training, procedures,
and benchmarking) that follows the guidelines, and would notify NRC by
letter that it has done this and that the documentation is available
for NRC audit.
Summary
The revised guidance on licensee qualification for using safety
analysis codes is intended for licensees who wish to perform their own
licensing analyses using methods that have been reviewed and approved
by the NRC.
Backfit Discussion
This supplement does not involve a backfit as defined in 10 CFR
50.109(a)(1), it provides guidance as to an acceptable means by which a
licensee may verify to the NRC its qualifications to use approved codes
and methods for performing safety analyses. Therefore the staff has not
prepared a backfit analysis.
Attachment 1--Guidelines for Qualifying Licensees To Use Generically
Approved Analysis Methods
1.0 Introduction
This attachment presents a simplified approach for qualifying
licensees to use NRC-approved analysis methods. Typically, these
methods are developed by a fuel vendor or an organization such as the
Electric Power Research Institute, Incorporated (EPRI). To use these
approved methods, the licensee would institute a program (e.g.,
training, procedures) that follows the guidelines below and notify the
NRC that it has done so.
2.0 Guidelines
A commitment on the part of a licensee to implement the guidelines
delineated in this document is sufficient information for the NRC to
accept the licensee's qualification to use an approved code or method
to perform safety-related evaluations. To document its qualification in
this manner, the licensee must send the NRC a notification of its
having followed the guidelines at least three months before the date of
its intended first licensing application.
2.1 Eligibility
The only codes and methods that are addressed by this process are
those that NRC has reviewed and approved.
2.2 Application Procedures
In-house application procedures, which ensure that the use of
approved methods is consistent with the code qualification and approved
application of the methodology, should be established and implemented.
These procedures should contain a section describing the application of
the code and a section delineating the code limitations and
restrictions, including any defined in the licensing topical report,
correspondence with the NRC, and the safety evaluation report (SER).
2.3 Training and Qualification of Licensee Personnel
A training program should be established and implemented to ensure
that each qualified user of an approved methodology has a good working
knowledge of the codes and methods, and will be able to set up the
input, to understand and interpret the output results, to understand
the applications and limitations of the code, and to perform analyses
in compliance with the application procedure.
2.4 Comparison Calculations
Licensees should verify their ability to use the methods by
comparing their calculated results to an appropriate set of benchmark
data, such as physics startup tests, measured flux detector data during
an operating cycle, and vendor results. These comparisons should be
documented in a report which is part of the licensee's quality
assurance (QA) records. Any deviations in the calculations of safety-
related parameters should be justified in the report. All comparisons
with startup test data should agree within the acceptance criteria
defined in the plant startup test plan.
2.5 Quality Assurance and Change Control
All safety-related licensing calculations performed by a licensee
using NRC-approved codes and methods should be conducted under the
control of a Quality Assurance (QA) program which complies with the
requirements of Appendix B to Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50). The licensee's QA program should also
include the following:
(1) A provision for implementing vendor updates in codes, methods,
and procedures (if applicable); and
(2) A provision for informing vendors of any problems or errors
discovered while using their codes, methods, or procedures.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of October 1995.
[[Page 54714]]
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dennis M. Crutchfield,
Director, Division of Reactor Program Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-26421 Filed 10-24-95; 8:45 am]
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