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COMSECY-03-0031

In a staff requirements memorandum dated May 20, 1998, the Commission requested that annual reviews be conducted of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.174, "An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis," and Standard Review Plan (SRP) Chapter 19, "Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking," and that the periodic reviews and updates be tracked in the PRA Implementation Plan, now the Risk-Informed Regulatory Implementation Plan (RIRIP).

Revisions 1 of RG 1.174 and SRP Chapter 19 were issued in November 2002 with relatively minor enhancements. No significant items have been identified since that time that would cause the staff to revise these documents.

The staff proposes to discontinue the current requirement for an annual status report on these two documents for the following reasons:

1. RG 1.174 and SRP Chapter 19 were first issued in 1998 and were revised last year. The staff now sees these documents as mature. Industry applications based upon the RG are well established and mostly straightforward. Furthermore, stakeholders are not calling for additional revisions at this time. Therefore, the staff does not see a need for a revision to the RG within the next year or on any specific schedule. If a future revision to the RG is deemed necessary, adequate communication to all parties will precede its publication, such as public workshops and advisory committee presentations.

2. Staff resources are being focused on the other risk-informed RGs where there is a greater perceived need for revision. For instance, the staff is revising RG 1.178, "An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Inservice Inspection," which was also issued originally in 1998 and which has been endorsed and widely applied by the industry. The staff expects to issue the revision in August 2003. The staff is also developing DG-1122, "An Approach for Determining the Technical Adequacy of PRA Results for Risk-Informed Activities." It is intended to provide industry with guidance for determining the quality of PRA components. The staff will continue to inform the Commission of the status of these and other risk-informed activities.

3. Other risk-informed initiatives, such as revisions to 10 CFR 50.46, are currently underway. Ultimately, these initiatives may point to the need for a revision to RG 1.174. However, in that case it would be more appropriate to discuss the proposed changes in the context of the overall risk-informed activity rather than on a stand-alone basis as is currently done once a year.

Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, the staff plans to pursue the course of action herein, namely, to discontinue annual reporting on RG 1.174 and SRP Chapter 19. Future communications regarding these and other risk-informed regulatory guides will be integrated into the individual risk-informed initiatives, as described in the RIRIP.

SECY please track.

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