NRC: News Release - 2005-133 - NRC Updates Aging Management Document for Reviewing Reactor License Renewal Requests

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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs	Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
www.nrc.gov

No. 05-133

September 28, 2005

NRC UPDATES AGING MANAGEMENT DOCUMENT
FOR REVIEWING REACTOR LICENSE RENEWAL REQUESTS
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the first revision of its Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report, a key document in the agency’s process for reviewing applications to renew reactor operating licenses.

The report’s revisions stem from lessons learned during more than 15 license renewal reviews, which covered more than 30 reactors, conducted by the agency since 1998. The original report, issued in July 2001, included 48 examples of aging management programs. Almost all of the 48 examples are updated in the revised report and nine more programs have been added. The revised GALL Report also includes a new chapter on standardized aging-management terminology.

"The revised GALL Report gives us even more information to use in determining whether reactors can be operated safely beyond their original 40-year license," said Pao-Tsin Kuo, Director of License Renewal and Environmental Impacts in the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "We will continue learning from current reviews and consider further GALL enhancements as necessary."

The GALL Report catalogs the structures and components found in a nuclear power plant. NRC reviewers use the report’s matrix of materials and environments, as well as aging effects and mechanisms, to judge whether a plant’s aging management program is acceptable. The NRC staff asked for public input during the revision process, and considered these comments in the final report. As part of this process, the NRC also revised its Standard Review Plan for license renewal applications, as well as the standard format and content requirements for license renewal applications, based on the GALL report revisions and lessons learned during previous license renewals.

The revised GALL Report’s two volumes are available online from the NRC’s electronic document database, ADAMS. Volume 1 can be retrieved by entering ML052110005, and Volume 2 by entering ML052110006, in the ADAMS search engine at this Web address: http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. The Standard Review Plan and application format/content guide can be retrieved by entering ML052110007 and ML051920430, respectively.