[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37819-37822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17748]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Workshop on Redefining the Role of the Division of Licensing
Project Management in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
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SUMMARY: The NRC is sponsoring a workshop involving the Division of
Licensing Project Management in the Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, licensing officials representing the nuclear industry, and
other stakeholders external to the NRC. The purpose of the meeting is
to provide a forum for constructive dialogue on the agency's efforts to
redefine the responsibilities of the Division of Licensing Project
Management. This meeting is open to the public and all interested
parties may attend.
Discussion
The Division of Licensing Project Management (DLPM), in the Office
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), is in the process of redefining
its responsibilities. Previous audits and reviews had indicated that
the function of project managers needed to be reevaluated, clearly
defined, and communicated. In addition, the staff is attempting to
correlate the functions of DLPM with the four strategic objectives of
maintaining safety, reducing unnecessary regulatory burden, increasing
pubic confidence, and increasing efficiency and effectiveness. DLPM
management has determined that the project managers have responsibility
for the following three major program areas: (1) Licensing authority,
(2) interactions, and (3) regulatory improvements. Within each area are
several specific tasks and goals regarding timeliness, effectiveness,
and quality. A summary of each program area is given below. DLPM is
sharing
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these proposed responsibilities with external stakeholders to solicit
feedback so that the responsibilities can be further refined. The
purpose of this workshop is for the staff to gain insights into the
stakeholders views on the functions of the projects organization.
Specific questions that the staff is requesting feedback on are listed
at the end of this discussion.
Program Areas
Licensing Authority
Licensing Authority is the core program area for DLPM. The project
manager (PM) is expected to be the single most knowledgeable member of
the staff regarding the licensing agenda for a given facility. The PM
is also expected to be the most informed member of the staff in matters
pertaining to a facility's licensing basis and any activities
undertaken to modify or change the licensing basis. The wide range of
issues involving the licensing basis of power reactors require each PM
to have a technical background in terms of understanding overall plant
design and operating practices as well as a thorough understanding of
NRC rules, processes, and licensing requirements. The PMs are therefore
expected to be ``generalists'' in that they must have the ability to
work on a diverse number of assignments, which may or may not be
interrelated. This is especially relevant when DLPM assesses its
contribution and mission in support of office level goals, noting that
specific technical expertise resides in other NRR divisions. Having an
adequate number of generalists results in routine efficiency gains as
well as providing flexibility for and improving the responsiveness of
the overall organization. The DLPM example can be readily compared to
the regional projects organizations in which residents are viewed as
generalists and technical specialists from the regional office or NRR
are called upon, as necessary, to address specific issues or inspection
needs.
Activities covered in this program area include all DLPM tasks
associated with carrying out the regulatory requirements contained in
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50 (10 CFR Part 50)
with regard to specific plant activities. These tasks include (1)
licensing actions that require prior NRC approval before licensees may
proceed with an activity, (2) review of licensing basis documents
controlled and submitted to the NRC in accordance with specific
regulations or licensee administrative controls, (3) management of NRC
processes associated with these activities, and (4) other licensing
tasks required by regulation or established NRC procedures.
DLPM activities associated with completing licensing actions
comprise the majority of the division's efforts in this program area.
Evaluating and responding to licensee requests for amendments to their
licenses, requests for reliefs from or alternatives to the requirements
specified in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and
Pressure Vessel Code, and requests for exemptions from NRC regulations
are examples of licensing action tasks. The tasks included in the
mandated controls category include DLPM's reviews of Updated Final
Safety Analysis Reports submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 50.71,
descriptions of changes, tests and experiments submitted in accordance
with 10 CFR 50.59, updates to the, Quality Assurance, Security, and
Emergency plans submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 50.54, and
regulatory commitments not addressed by specific NRC regulations.
Other licensing tasks include those items associated with NRR's
role as the licensing authority for power reactors but not addressed by
the aforementioned categories. DLPM tasks in this area include
evaluating information received from licensees in response to requests
for information (e.g., generic letters and bulletins), responding to
petitions from parties requesting NRC actions pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206,
and responding to requests for assistance from other NRC organizations
made via the Task Interface Agreement (TIA) procedure.
Operating Reactor Licensing Assistants provide a comprehensive
review and quality assurance of licensing correspondence. These reviews
ensure licensing products comply with management directives, office
letters, and rules in addition to improving uniformity and consistency
of effort for all licensees.
The Agency and NRR benefit from having a designated point of
contact for all licensing issues associated with each power reactor
facility. The project management staff can assess a licensee's
performance in the licensing area, evaluate licensees' efforts to make
improvements in licensing submittals, and help evaluate key licensee
activities that may or may not have a direct bearing on the licensing
agenda for the plant. Specifically, requiring the PMs to maintain a
sound awareness of the 50.59 process and to participate in NRC's
evaluation of each licensee's program for determining which changes
require NRC review and approval has a clear nexus in this program area.
In assessing products and evaluating outcomes for this area, the
staff has identified products primarily in the licensing action and
activity categories. These products are scrutinized by a myriad of
stakeholders. NRR products continue to be closely analyzed and
evaluated by the industry, individual licensees, and other
stakeholders, including public interest groups. Issues of paramount
concern associated with these products include assuring high quality,
uniformity, consistency, and timeliness. Thus, high importance is
placed in assuring all products being issued by the staff can withstand
close scrutiny, and are predictable and repeatable. To this end flows
the conclusion that the program area of licensing authority receives
high marks when weighed against the four pillars. Specifically,
licensing actions have a direct bearing on maintaining and assuring
safety while also reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens. The ability
to process documents in a timely manner, relying on precedents and the
broad-based knowledge of plant-specific project managers, is key to
ensuring effective and efficient work force outputs and the associated
outcomes from this program area. Enhanced public confidence is derived
from the quality of NRR products that are technically sound and
defensible, completed on schedule, and well communicated to all
stakeholders.
Interfaces
The DLPM interface program area covers DLPM tasks involving
interactions with NRC internal and external stakeholders. These DLPM
interactions include the NRC regional offices, other NRR divisions,
other offices at NRC Headquarters, power reactor licensees, owners
groups and other industry organizations, government organizations
(local, State, and Federal), and the public. From the perspective of
DLPM, the interfaces are either integral to its core activity (serving
as the licensing authority for power reactor facilities), directly
support the licensing authority role by providing its staff with an
awareness of plant issues, or result from the project managers serving
as a convenient point of contact at NRC Headquarters for plant-specific
information. The interface program area presents some challenges in
terms of measuring performance because many of the activities do not
involve a deliverable product. Feedback from stakeholders as a measure
of performance may result in some
[[Page 37821]]
changes in or additions to NRC processes.
Project Managers in DLPM routinely interact with their counterparts
in the regional offices and with inspectors at reactor sites. A common
interface with regional personnel is in the form of participation by
the PM in routine status calls between the resident inspectors and the
projects organization in the regional office. The PMs' participation in
these calls allows DLPM to maintain an awareness of plant status,
operating issues, inspection issues, and significant activities being
conducted or planned by licensees. This information is used to ensure
that ongoing issues are considered in the management of a plant's
licensing agenda and that the NRC's inspection/assessment activities
can properly account for licensing activities. The project managers
also maintain an awareness of, and occasionally offer insights into,
licensee performance issues through routine interactions, participation
in assessment processes, and reviews of various reports.
Project Managers in DLPM act as the primary interface between NRR
and licensees. The primary function of the routine interactions between
DLPM and licensees is to ensure that the licensing processes are
working effectively. Licensees and project managers discuss plant
issues, technical positions, process or procedural matters, generic
activities, future licensing submittals, and the appropriate
prioritization of licensing reviews. In addition to interacting with
specific licensees, DLPM has recently assumed project management and
interface responsibilities for licensing activities sponsored by owners
groups or other collective groups of licensees (other than the Nuclear
Energy Institute).
DLPM serves as the primary interface between NRC Headquarters
organizations and licensees or regional offices in matters pertaining
to specific power reactor facilities. The need to communicate
frequently with the regional offices and the licensees as part of their
core activities enables personnel within DLPM to respond to many
inquiries. This limits the numbers and types of requests for
information to both the regional offices and licensees from the various
organizations at NRC Headquarters. DLPM also supports other
Headquarters' organizations in terms of answering questions about and
coordinating activities with the licensing programs. The NRC's incident
response program also calls upon the DLPM staff for support due to
their knowledge of plant design features and licensing basis.
Given its licensing authority responsibility and other interface
functions, DLPM is often called upon to support the NRC's interactions
with the public and other external stakeholders. These activities
include responding to public inquiries and supporting the NRC's
allegation process. DLPM will participate in the redesign of and long-
term maintenance of NRC Internet web pages that provide plant-specific
information to the public.
Regulatory Improvements
The regulatory improvements program area includes tasks and
activities undertaken by DLPM either at the request of licensees or in
response to problems identified by NRC staff. By interacting with
licensees and owners' groups in various forums, DLPM has an opportunity
to address those issues that result in inefficient or ineffective use
of resources and unnecessary regulatory burden. A logical role for DLPM
in improving regulatory processes is drawn from the routine
responsibilities that DLPM has in the licensing authority program area
and the associated knowledge and skills of the DLPM staff. In general,
the changes in procedures, policy, and guidance documents are
undertaken to simplify existing processes associated with licensing
actions and other licensing tasks. As licensee and NRC resources become
more scarce, these efforts will become even more important.
The Licensing Action Task Force is currently addressing issues or
processes identified by industry and the NRC staff as potential areas
of improvement. The improvements being pursued include changing the
request for additional information (RAI) process, developing a
mechanism to address minor discrepancies in the wording of requirements
in the technical specifications, refining the process for issuing
changes to technical specification bases sections, enhancing the
process for the staff's handling of generic or repetitive licensing
actions, refining the guidance for the staff's preparation of safety
evaluations, and addressing miscellaneous policy issues such as
limiting the use of TIAs to address generic issues. Interactions with
owners' groups are invaluable in sharing technical and process
information. DLPM interactions with owners' groups and management of
generic topical reports facilitates improving the working relationships
between licensees and NRC, resulting in a more effective and efficient
regulatory process. It is expected that industry groups will play an
increasing role in resolving safety concerns by undertaking voluntary
initiatives in lieu of responding to generic communications issued by
the NRC. NRC resource expenditures will be reduced due to efficiency
gains resulting from these interactions. Additionally, public
confidence may be enhanced by the increased consistency that comes from
resolving issues generically.
Licensing workshops offer a unique and invaluable way for licensees
and DLPM to interact on a working level. A goal of the workshops is to
improve licensing submittals and associated NRC reviews. Licensees and
DLPM staff share experiences and knowledge of their own processes to
improve the licensee-NRC regulatory interface. DLPM prepares revisions
to existing policies, rules, and guidance documents including office
letters (or provides assistance to those with the lead for these
activities). DLPM's experience with the licensee-NRC interface can
provide valuable insights when process changes or rules are being
developed.
Questions
During the course of the July 23, 1999, public workshop, the staff
would appreciate feedback from participants on the following questions.
This information will be most useful as the staff proceeds with the
process to define the role of the NRR/Projects licensing organization
for the future.
When providing feedback on the importance of activities, it would
be helpful to the staff if comments from the public could be related to
the outcome goals that are used by the staff. These outcome goals are:
maintaining reactor safety; reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on
licensees; increasing public confidence; and increasing NRC internal
efficiency and effectiveness.
1. What do you believe should be the principle role of the Projects
organization?
2. Given the proposed descriptions of activities encompassed by the
licensing authority, interfaces, and regulatory improvements program
areas, what five activities do you consider most important for the
Projects organization to perform?
3. Why do you consider the five activities identified in response
to Question 2 important with respect to the staff outcome goals? If you
consider these activities important for a reason not related to the
staff outcome goals, what is the reason these activities are important
to you?
4. Are there any activities not identified in the licensing
authority, interfaces, and regulatory improvements program areas that
you consider the Projects organization should perform?
[[Page 37822]]
5. Why do you consider the activities identified in response to
Question 4 important with respect to the staff outcome goals? If you
consider these activities important for a reason not related to the
staff outcome goals, what is the reason these activities are important
to you?
6. What types of performance indicators would be useful for the
staff to employ to objectively determine its effectiveness in
performing licensing activities?
7. What five activities contained in the proposed descriptions of
activities encompassed by the licensing authority, interfaces, and
regulatory improvements program areas do you consider least important
for the Projects organization to perform?
8. Why do you consider the activities identified in response to
Question 7 of less importance with respect to the staff outcome goals?
9. Identify any activities in the proposed descriptions for the
licensing authority, interfaces, and regulatory improvements program
areas that the Projects organization should not perform, and provide an
explanation why.
10. As a customer of the licensing organization's output, the staff
welcomes any additional input that you feel would be germane to the
process of redefining the role of the Projects organization.
DATES: July 23, 1999, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Auditorium--Two While Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marsha Gamberoni, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville Pike, Mail Stop O 13 E4,
Rockville, Maryland; Telephone 301-415-3024; Internet: [email protected].
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: For members of the public who are unable to
attend the public workshop, the staff would welcome written comments by
July 30, 1999. Comments should be sent to: Marsha Gamberoni, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville Pike, Mail Stop O 13 E4,
Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of July 1999.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John A. Zwolinski,
Director, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-17748 Filed 7-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P