[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 251 (Tuesday, December 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79948-79950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32998]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Standard Review Plan; Availability of Draft Standard Review Plan

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION: Notice of issuance of draft standard review plan.

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SUMMARY: The NRC is announcing the availability of draft standard 
review plan (SRP) sections 13.2.1, ``Reactor Operator Training,'' 
13.2.2, ``Training for Nonlicensed Plant Staff,'' and 13.5.2.1, 
``Operating and Emergency Operating Procedures,'' and chapter 18.0, 
``Human Factors Engineering,'' for interim use and public comment.

DATES: Submit comments by March 31, 2003. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Richard J. Eckenrode, Senior Human 
Factors Engineer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mailstop O-6F2, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Comments may be delivered to 11555 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal 
workdays.

[[Page 79949]]

    These documents are available for public inspection (1) at the 
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 
Public File Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, (2) 
from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, using the Accession Nos. 
ML023460600 (for draft SRP section 13.2.1), ML023460612 (for draft SRP 
section 13.2.2), ML023470047 (for SRP section 13.5.2.1), and 
ML023470061 (for draft SRP chapter 18), and (3) at the NRC's Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/#comments. Persons 
who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems accessing the 
document in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by 
telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard J. Eckenrode, Senior Human 
Factors Engineer, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, by telephone at 
301-415-3172 or e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Draft SRP Sections 13.2.1, 13.2.2, and 13.5.2.1

    Draft SRP section 13.2.1 provides review guidance for the NRC staff 
to use when evaluating a licensee's or applicant's licensed operator 
training program. The purpose of NRC staff's review related to draft 
SRP section 13.2.1 is to ensure that the training provided to reactor 
operators will be adequate to provide assurance that all reactor 
operator qualification requirements will be met at the time needed, 
i.e., prior to operator license examinations, prior to fuel loading, or 
prior to appointment or reappointment to the position.
    Draft SRP section 13.2.2 provides review guidance for the NRC staff 
to use when evaluating a licensee's or applicant's nonlicensed plant 
staff training programs. The purpose of NRC staff review related to 
draft SRP 13.2.2 is to ensure that training provided for each position 
on the plant staff will be adequate to provide assurance that all plant 
staff personnel training and qualification requirements will be met 
when needed, i.e., prior to properational tests, prior to fuel loading, 
or prior to appointment or reappointment to the position. The document 
also includes a detailed section on fire protection personnel training.
    Draft SRP section 13.5.2.1 provides review guidance for the NRC to 
use when evaluating a licensee's or applicant's operating and emergency 
operating procedures. The purpose of NRC staff review related to draft 
SRP section 13.5.2.1 is to ensure that routine operating, off-normal, 
and emergency activities are conducted in a safe manner. The review 
covers procedure content and development process including schedules 
for preparation of procedures. The classes of procedures covered by 
this section are system procedures, general plant procedures, abnormal 
or off-normal condition procedures, emergency operating procedures, and 
alarm procedures.
    Minor revisions were made to draft SRP sections 13.2.1, 13.2.2, and 
13.5.2.1 from the draft versions that were issued in 1996 for public 
comment, including changes in terminology and organizations names, 
updating of references and regulations, and the addition of technical 
rationale discussions.

Draft SRP Chapter 18

    Draft SRP chapter 18.0 describes a process for evaluating (1) 
human-system interface designs, (2) the design process, (3) design 
reviews, and (4) operator actions submitted by applicants and licensees 
for the broad range of NRC review responsibilities. This chapter 
identifies the following 12 areas of review that are needed for 
successful integration of human characteristics and capabilities into 
nuclear power plant design:
    [sbull] Human Factors Engineering Program Management
    [sbull] Operating Experience Review
    [sbull] Functional Requirements Analysis and Function Allocation
    [sbull] Task Analysis
    [sbull] Staffing and Qualifications
    [sbull] Human Reliability Analysis
    [sbull] Procedure Development
    [sbull] Training Program Development
    [sbull] Human-System Interface Design
    [sbull] Human Factors Verification and Validation
    [sbull] Design Implementation
    [sbull] Human Performance Monitoring
    While the process defines 12 areas of review, not all may be 
applicable to the review of a particular applicant's or licensee's HFE 
program. The guidance in this chapter will be applied to new plant 
designs, control station modifications, and modifications affecting 
risk-important human actions.
    The changes to chapter 18.0 from the 1996 version are both in 
organization and content. The organizational changes reflect three 
types of reviews: (1) HFE aspects of new plant designs, (2) HFE aspects 
of control room modifications (hybrid analog/digital control rooms), 
and (3) HFE aspects of changes to risk-important human actions. The 
first part on new plant designs is based on NUREG-0711, ``Human Factors 
Engineering Program Review Model,'' developed through the review 
process of the three certified advanced reactor designs. Its purpose is 
to provide a design process model that, if followed, should produce a 
control room acceptable to the NRC. This document has been recently 
updated to provide guidance to the staff for reviewing the control room 
design/development/implementation process, as it moves along, so that 
there should be no surprises at the end. The reason for this type of 
process and process review is that the three advanced reactor designs 
were certified without control room designs in order to allow for the 
significant advances in digital technology expected to be in place at 
the time a plant might actually submit a construction/operating license 
application. The second major reference in this chapter is NUREG-0700 
``Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines,'' which provides for 
a systematic evaluation of the human engineering aspects of the human-
system interface. This document has recently been updated to reflect 
the latest guidance in digital technology, all of which has gone 
through a significant validation process.
    The second part of draft chapter 18.0 provides review guidance for 
modifications to current analog control rooms. Most of these 
modifications involve changes in systems and equipment from analog to 
digital resulting in hybrid control rooms. The review guidance is based 
on NUREG-0711, but reduced in scope to apply only to those sections of 
the NUREG that are directly related to the modification. Again, NUREG-
0700 guidance applies to these modifications. Power uprates can include 
analog-to-digital instrumentation change outs and this revised guidance 
is needed to perform reviews of these changes.
    The final part of draft chapter 18.0 provides review guidance for 
changes to operator actions often resulting from changes to systems and 
equipment. It is based primarily on draft NUREG-1764, ``Guidance for 
the Review of Changes to Human Actions.'' The guidance first evaluates 
the risk associated with the action, based partly on the criteria of 
Regulatory Guide 1.174, ``An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk 
Assessment In Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Charges to the 
Licensing Basis.'' Depending on the resulting level

[[Page 79950]]

of risk, the action is assigned to one of three risk regions. If the 
risk falls in Region I, a detailed review based on NUREG-0711 is 
conducted in the detail similar to the hybrid control room. If the risk 
falls in Region II, a much reduced review is conducted, and if in 
Region III, no human factors review is conducted. This facilitates a 
much more efficient and effective use of staff resources. The NRC staff 
review of power uprate applications that credit operator actions will 
be more efficient when this screening criteria is added. Once again, 
NUREG-0700 is used for those operator action changes involving changes 
to the human-system interface.
    The three NUREGs discussed above are also available for review and 
comment.

    Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of December, 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Kathy Halvey Gibson,
Acting Chief, Equipment and Human Performance Branch, Division of 
Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-32998 Filed 12-30-02; 8:45 am]
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