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Home > Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > Commission Documents > Commission Meetings, Slides, Transcripts, Meeting SRMs, and Full Written Explanation for Closed Meetings > 1997 > Meeting SRM M970122A

IN RESPONSE, PLEASE
REFER TO: M970122A

February 12, 1997

The Commission was briefed by the NRC staff and representatives from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) on the use of consensus codes and standards.

The Commission requested that the staff identify those plants which have reactor vessels or safety-related piping systems that do not fall under the design rules of ASME Code Section III and identify the design rules or Codes that do apply, characterize the significant differences between ASME Code Section III and ANSI/ASME Codes B.31.1 and B.31.7, and describe any inspection inconsistencies that could arise from the use of these differing standards.

The staff should discuss the applicability of ASME Code Section III or other design/construction Codes of Record to operations, in particular, to those attributes that may not be addressed by the relevant Code requirements referenced in paragraphs (f) and (g) of 10 CFR 50.55a, and address the nature of design/construction Code requirements in the context of operations and the current licensing basis of operating plants.

The ASME Code is a product of a consensus process. The staff should discuss its rationale for applying backfit considerations when endorsing later editions of the ASME Code that would allow licensees to selectively determine which requirements are applicable to their facilities, since the bases of many relaxations in one portion of the Code may be a result of consensus agreement for increased requirements in other portions of the Code.

The Commission urged the staff to improve the timeliness to complete NRC endorsement of new editions or revisions to previously endorsed codes and standards, where appropriate.