[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 165 (Wednesday, August 26, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45520-45521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22906]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Public Workshop To Develop Improvements to the Performance 
Assessment and Regulatory Oversight Processes

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a public 
workshop to develop improvements to

[[Page 45521]]

the performance assessment and regulatory oversight processes. These 
meetings are open to the public and all interested parties may attend 
and participate.

DATES: The workshop will be held from September 28 through October 1, 
1998. The workshop will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on 
September 28 through September 30, 1998. On October 1, 1998, the 
workshop will again start at 8:00 a.m., and is scheduled to conclude at 
2:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Bethesda Marriott, 5151 
Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda MD 20814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy J. Frye at 301-415-1287 or 
David L. Gamberoni at 301-415-1144, Mail Stop: O-5H4, Inspection 
Program Branch, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In September 1997, the NRC began an integrated review of the 
assessment processes (IRAP) used for commercial nuclear power plant 
licensees. A cross-disciplinary team of NRC staff members was assembled 
to identify and evaluate potential improvements to the process used by 
the NRC to assess licensee performance. A process re-engineering 
approach was taken by the team to identify the desired objectives of a 
new assessment process, the attributes it should possess, and criteria 
to measure improvement over the existing assessment processes.
    The team developed a conceptual design for a new integrated 
assessment process and presented it to the NRC Commissioners in 
Commission paper SECY-98-045, dated March 9, 1998. On April 2, 1998, 
the staff briefed the Commission on the concepts as discussed in the 
paper. On June 30, 1998, the Commission issued a staff requirements 
memorandum (SRM) in response to SECY-98-045, approving the staff's 
request to solicit public comment on the concepts presented in the 
Commission paper.
    The NRC issued (1) background material on the concept developed for 
a new integrated assessment process and (2) other assessment tools such 
as trending methodology, financial indicators, and risk-informed 
assessment guidance in the report ``Concepts Developed by the 
Integrated Review of Assessment Process for Commercial Nuclear Power 
Plants,'' dated July 29, 1998. On August 7, 1998, the NRC issued a 
Federal Register Notice announcing a 60-day public comment period to 
solicit public comment on possible changes to the NRC's assessment and 
regulatory oversight processes.
    In parallel with staff work on the IRAP and the development of 
other assessment tools, the industry has independently developed a 
proposal for a new assessment and regulatory oversight process. This 
proposal would take a risk-informed, performance-based approach to the 
inspection, assessment, and enforcement of licensee activities based on 
the results of a set of performance indicators. This proposal, which is 
being developed by the Nuclear Energy Institute, is further described 
in ``Minutes of the July 28, 1998, Meeting With the Nuclear Energy 
Institute to Discuss Performance Indicators and Performance 
Assessment,'' dated July 30, 1998.

Scope of the Public Workshops

    The NRC will hold a four day workshop to develop improvements to 
the licensee performance assessment and regulatory oversight processes. 
As background information, concepts previously developed by the NRC and 
the industry for improving the performance assessment and regulatory 
oversight processes will be discussed. At the workshop, the NRC will 
present a framework that links various regulatory oversight activities, 
such as inspection and assessment, to the overall objective of the 
agency and the industry, which is to ensure the adequate protection of 
public health and safety.
    Several fundamental issues will then be discussed in order to 
develop the attributes that a new process must meet. These fundamental 
issues will be discussed in focused breakout sessions and grouped by 
the following topics: (1) general policy issues involving safety 
performance expectations and regulatory oversight; (2) the use of risk 
insights in the assessment process; (3) the use of performance 
indicators and their integration with inspection results; and (4) the 
role of enforcement in regulatory oversight/range of NRC actions/
communication of assessment results.
    The attributes that result from the discussion of these fundamental 
issues will then be used by the workshop participants to develop the 
specific details for improvements to the performance assessment and 
regulatory oversight processes. This development activity will again 
occur in focused breakout sessions, with each group focused on the 
development of one aspect of the new process.

Workshop Pre-Registration

    Attendees at the workshop are requested to pre-register with the 
NRC approximately three weeks before the workshop. In order to pre-
register, please give your utility or group affiliation, list the names 
of the people planning to attend, and indicate which of the fundamental 
issue breakout sessions that members of your group are interested in 
participating. Attendees may pre-register in any of the following ways:
    (1) Contact via e-Mail either Timothy J. Frye at [email protected], or 
David L. Gamberoni at [email protected], or
    (2) Submit the pre-registration information to either Timothy J. 
Frye or David L. Gamberoni via fax at 301-415-3707, or
    (3) Send written pre-registration data to: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Attn: Timothy J. Frye, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, Mail Stop O-5H4, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at the Bethesda Marriott 
for the use of the workshop participants. These rooms will be available 
until September 9, 1998, and should be reserved by contacting the hotel 
at 301-897-9400 and requesting a room in the ``NRC'' block. After 
September 9, 1998, reservations will be accepted on a space available 
basis.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of August 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frank P. Gillespie,
Director, Division of Inspection & Support Programs, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 98-22906 Filed 8-25-98; 8:45 am]
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