[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 112 (Tuesday, June 11, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35056-35058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13794]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2013-0125]
Effectiveness of the Reactor Oversight Process Baseline
Inspection Program
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Public meeting and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to hold a
public meeting to discuss the effectiveness of the reactor oversight
process (ROP) baseline inspection program with members of the public,
licensees, and interest groups. The NRC is also seeking public comment
about the effectiveness of the ROP baseline inspection program.
Responses received at the meeting and public comments submitted to the
NRC will provide important information for ongoing program improvement.
DATES: The public meeting will be held on July 17, 2013. See Section
III, Public Meeting, of this document for more information on the
meeting. Comments on the issues and questions presented in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document should be submitted
by July 26, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0125. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules,
Announcements, and
[[Page 35057]]
Directives Branch, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
For additional direction on accessing information and submitting
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marsha Gamberoni, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulations, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0890; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0125 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses
and is publicly available, by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0125.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
Information regarding the ROP and licensee performance can
be accessed at http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/.html.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0125 in the subject line of your
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in you
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.
II. Program Overview
The mission of the NRC is to ensure adequate protection of public
health and safety, promote the common defense and security, and protect
the environment. The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants
through a combination of regulatory requirements; licensing; safety
oversight, including inspection, assessment of performance and
enforcement; operational experience evaluation; and regulatory support
activities. The NRC periodically reviews each of these processes and is
in the process of reviewing the baseline inspection program and the
associated inspection procedures. Inspection procedures are statements
of requirements or guidance for inspection activities that focus on
safety. Baseline inspections are performed annually at all plants.
Inspection Manual Chapter 2515 Appendix A provides background on the
baseline inspection program including the objectives and philosophy and
contains a list of all inspection procedures.
The agency's goal for the current review is to enhance the baseline
inspection program to incorporate the needed inspection areas for the
current environment, eliminate redundant or no longer necessary
inspection areas, maximize efficient and effective use of agency
resources, and incorporate flexibility where appropriate. This process
should provide a validation of the basic philosophy and key principles
of the baseline inspection program with allowance to make changes where
it may be necessary.
III. Public Meeting
The public meeting will be held in Rockville, Maryland, at 11555
Rockville Pike, in the NRC Commissioners' Hearing Room on July 17,
2013. The agenda for the public meeting will be noticed no fewer than
10 days prior to the meeting on the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule Web
site at http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm.
Any meeting updates or changes will be made available on this Web site.
At the meeting, the NRC will discuss inspection areas such as
engineering, maintenance, operations, and problem identification and
resolution. The NRC has prepared the following questions in advance of
the meeting to aid in a focused discussion on specific topics. In
addition, the NRC specifically requests public comment addressing the
following topics:
(1) What issues/programs/components, if any, should be covered by
the ROP baseline inspection program, but are not? What areas, if any,
are covered by the ROP baseline inspection program that should not be?
(2) How can the baseline inspection program be more efficient and/
or effective?
(3) What redundancies exist in the baseline inspection program? For
example, do the current baseline inspection procedures have the correct
breadth to ensure we are not inspecting the same things?
(4) What ways are there to increase the NRC's focus on the most
significant performance issues at a plant? Are there areas of licensee
plant operations and performance which warrant increased or new NRC
focus? Are there areas where the NRC's focus should be decreased?
(5) How can we improve the existing baseline inspection procedures
to result in findings that have a clear tie to nuclear safety, are
indicative of current performance, and provide the most insight?
(6) How can we better integrate operating experience into the
baseline inspection program?
(7) What changes, if any, can be made to the existing baseline
inspection program to ensure we are sufficiently evaluating age related
degradation or failures of passive or active systems, structures, or
components?
(8) What changes, if any, should be made to the baseline inspection
program to ensure it is adequate for the current environment (e.g.
external event uncertainties, plants entering extended operation,
effects of power uprates, new corporate/financial structures, etc)?
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(9) What changes, if any, should be made to the frequency of team
inspections?
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of June, 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Timothy J. Kobetz,
Acting Director, Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulations.
[FR Doc. 2013-13794 Filed 6-10-13; 8:45 am]
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