[Federal Register: March 23, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 55)] [Notices] [Page 14019-14020] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23mr99-118] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Public Workshop To Provide Information on the Pilot Plant Performance Indicators AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of meeting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a public workshop to provide information to selected NRC inspectors and licensee staff of the Reactor Oversight Process Pilot Program. This meeting is open to the public. DATES: The workshop will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. April 12 through April 15, 1999. The first two hours of the workshop on April 12 will be dedicated to check-in procedures. ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Holiday Inn, 1250 Roosevelt road, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: August Spector at 301-415-2140 or Lee Miller at 423-855-6510, Mail Stop: O-5H4, Inspection Program Branch, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background On January 8, 1999, the staff issued SECY-99-007, forwarding the staff's recommendations for a new reactor oversight process. On January 20, 1999, the staff briefed the Commission on the staff's proposal described in SECY-99-007. The following issues represent a brief summary of the concepts presented in SECY-99-007. Over the last 10 years, commercial nuclear power plants have been operated safely and overall plant performance has improved. This improvement in plant performance can be attributed, in part, to successful regulatory oversight. Despite this success, the agency has noted that the current reactor oversight process (1) is at times not clearly focused on the most safety important issues, (2) consists of redundant actions and outputs, and (3) is frequently subjective, with NRC action taken in a manner that is at times neither scrutable nor predictable. In the new regulatory oversight process: There will be a risk-informed baseline inspection program that establishes the minimum direct inspection effort for all licensees. Thresholds will be established for licensee safety performance, below which increased NRC interaction would be warranted. Adequate assurance of licensee performance will require assessment of both performance indicators (PIs) and inspection findings. Both PIs and inspection findings will be evaluated against risk-informed thresholds, where feasible. Crossing a PI threshold and an inspection threshold will have the same meaning with respect to safety significance and required NRC interaction. The baseline inspection program will cover those risk- significant attributes of licensee performance not adequately covered by PIs. The baseline inspection program will also verify the accuracy of PI data collection and analysis and provide for event response, as appropriate. Enforcement actions will be focused on issues that are risk significant. Guidelines will be established for identifying and responding to unacceptable licensee performance. Additionally, the staff will pilot the new reactor oversight process during a 6-month period beginning in June 1999. The purpose of the pilot program is to exercise the new processes (PI reporting, inspection, assessment, and enforcement), to identify process and procedure problems and make appropriate changes and, to the maximum extent possible, evaluate the effectiveness of the new process. Full implementation of the new oversight process will commence pending successful completion of the pilot program, as measured against pre- established success criteria. A notable feature of the pilot program is the use of the Pilot Program Evaluation Panel, consisting of NRC, NEI, industry, public, and State representatives, to aid in evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program. This workshop will focus on the pilot plant participants and specifically address performance indicator reporting requirements. Scope of the Public Workshops The NRC will hold a four day workshop from April 12-15, 1999 to provide information on the new performance indicator reporting requirements to selected NRC inspectors and licensee staff participating in the Reactor Oversight Process Pilot Program. In order to meet the objectives of the workshop, active participants will be limited to 48 NRC and licensee personnel who will be participating in the pilot program. Other interested parties may observe, up to a total of 150 additional individuals. NRC and licensee staff may choose to rotate cognizant individuals into the active participant ranks as applicable. 18 slots will be reserved for the nine pilot plants, 25 for the regional offices, and five seats reserved for NRC Headquarters and Regional Senior Reactor Analysts. The pilot plants are: Hope Creek, Salem Units 1 and 2, Fitzpatrick, Prairie Island Units 1 and 2, Quad Cities Units 1 and 2, Shearon Harris, Sequoyah Units 1 And 2, Ft. Calhoun, and Cooper. The agenda for the workshop will consist of the following: [[Page 14020]] --Day 1: registration and check-in, opening remarks, and initiating events performance indicators --Day 2: mitigating systems and barrier performance indicators. --Day 3: barrier performance indicators (continued) and Emergency Preparedness performance indicators. --Day 4: occupational exposure, public exposure, and physical protection performance indicators. Note: Each day will end with a question and answer session. Workshop Pre-Registration Active participants and observers at the workshop are requested to pre-register with the NRC approximately two weeks before the workshop. Attendees may pre-register in either of the following ways: (1) Fax to Elaine Toro at (301) 415-3707 (2) Mail to: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Attn: Elaine Toro, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mailstop O5H4, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of March, 1999. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. William M. Dean, Chief Inspection Program Branch, Division of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Cornerstone Performance Indicator Workshop Registration, Holiday Inn, Glen Ellyn, IL, April 12--15, 1999 (Please Print) Name:------------------------------------------------------------------ (last) (first) Title:----------------------------------------------------------------- Address:--------------------------------------------------------------- (department, division or unit) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (street or P.O. box) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (city) (state) (zip code) Pilot Plant (Yes/No)--------------------------------------------------- Telephone (home):------------------------------------------------------ Telephone (business): (ext)-------------------------------------------- E-mail:---------------------------------------------------------------- Name (for name badge):------------------------------------------------- Mail your registration form to: Elaine Toro, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop O-5H2, Washington, DC 20555. Fax your registration form to: 301-415-3707 Attention: Elaine Toro. THIS REGISTRATION FORM IS FOR THE WORKSHOP ONLY. PLEASE MAKE HOTEL RESERVATIONS SEPARATELY. [FR Doc. 99-7030 Filed 3-22-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P