ML091680080

Response Letter to NEI on Review of NEI 08-02

ML091680080
Person / Time
Site:	Nuclear Energy Institute
Issue date:	07/08/2009
From:	Tracy G NRC/NRO/DCIP/CCIB
To:	Bell R Nuclear Energy Institute
Jimenez, J, NRO/DCIP/CCIB, 415-5303
References
NEI 08-02
Download: ML091680080 (10)

Text

July 8, 2009 Mr. Russ Bell, Director New Plant Licensing Nuclear Generation Division Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-3708

SUBJECT:

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION RESPONSE REGARDING THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE (NEI) REQUEST FOR ENDORSEMENT OF NEI 08-02 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION FOR NEW NUCLEAR PLANTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION REVISION 1, APRIL 2009.

Dear Mr. Bell:

This letter responds to your letter dated April 22, 2009, which requested NRC review and further discussion on NEI 08-02, Problem Identification and Resolution for New Nuclear Power Plants During Construction, with the goal of NRC endorsement in a regulatory guide (ADAMS Accession No. ML0911705940). The NRC has held various public meetings to discuss NEI 08-02, and has documented the March 9, March 24, and May 13, 2009, meetings in meeting summaries (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML090990033, ML091140058, and ML091630136, respectively). The public meeting held on May 13, 2009, provided NEI with the staffs written comments regarding NEI 08-02, Revision 1. Following constructive dialogue on each of the comments, NEI representatives agreed to consider the NRC staff comments and address them, as appropriate, in the next revision of NEI 08-02. The list of staff comments discussed at the May 13, 2009, public meeting is enclosed with this letter for your convenience.

In addition to resolving the comments discussed at the public meeting on May 13, 2009, the following issues must be resolved in order for NRC to endorse NEI 08-02.

1. NEI 08-02, Revision 1, states that the document provides guidance for meeting the requirements of Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 50. The depth and extent of this document does not provide for complete implementation of Appendix B independent of the implementation of other licensee quality assurance commitments as described in the quality assurance program descriptions. Implementation of NEI 08-02, Revision 1, with appropriate adjustments, would appear to implement Criterion XVI of 10 CFR 50 Appendix B for new nuclear reactors under construction; this should be clearly reflected in NEI 08-02. NEI 08-02 should make clear that the document will not supersede any corrective action program already defined in an NRC-approved quality assurance program description.

2. NEI 08-02 must adequately describe the process to determine significance of conditions adverse to quality. NEI 08-02, Attachment 1, PI&R Process Flow, illustrates two instances where significance of an issue is determined but the description provided in the narrative does not provide detail regarding what criteria (e.g. timeliness) are required to accomplish the objective. One of the two instances to determine significance is independent of the NEI 08-02 processes to address conditions adverse to quality or significant conditions adverse to quality, allowing a potentially significant issue to be outside of both processes for an indeterminate amount of time.

3. The process to disposition ITAAC-related conditions within NEI 08-02 must be detailed enough to implement NEI 08-01, Industry Guideline for the ITAAC Closure Process Under 10 CFR Part 52. NEI must address how safety-related and non-safety-related ITAAC-related conditions will be dispositioned (e.g. significance, timeliness, management reporting) within this program.

4. NEI should reconsider the use of the term Problem Identification and Resolution (PI&R) for this application as it is a term already in use in the reactor oversight program for operating reactors and could create confusion. Alternatively, NEI 08-02 could be developed to have all the attributes of an operating reactor PI&R program, such as, tracking and resolving conditions adverse to quality and significant conditions adverse to quality within the same process.

We await your response in order to proceed with our review. If you have any questions with regard to this letter, or its enclosures, please contact Joelle Starefos at (301) 415-6091, or email Joelle.Starefos@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA John Tapper for/

Glenn M. Tracy, Director Division of Construction Inspection

& Operational Programs Office of New Reactors Project No. 0698

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/ encl: see next page

3. The process to disposition ITAAC-related conditions within NEI 08-02 must be detailed enough to implement NEI 08-01, Industry Guideline for the ITAAC Closure Process Under 10 CFR Part 52. NEI must address how safety-related and non-safety-related ITAAC-related conditions will be dispositioned (e.g. significance, timeliness, management reporting) within this program.

4. NEI should reconsider the use of the term Problem Identification and Resolution (PI&R) for this application as it is a term already in use in the reactor oversight program for operating reactors and could create confusion. Alternatively, NEI 08-02 could be developed to have all the attributes of an operating reactor PI&R program, such as, tracking and resolving conditions adverse to quality and significant conditions adverse to quality within the same process.

We await your response in order to proceed with our review. If you have any questions with regard to this letter, or its enclosures, please contact Joelle Starefos at (301) 415-6091, or email Joelle.Starefos@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA John Tappert for/

Glenn M. Tracy, Director Division of Construction Inspection

& Operational Programs Office of New Reactors Project No. 0698

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/ encl: see next page DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC CCIB r/f RidsNroDcip RidsNroDcipCqvb RidsOpaMail RidsRgn2MailCenter RidsOgcMailCenter RidsAcrsAcnwMailCenter RidsNroDcipCqvp RidsNroDcipCcib ADAMS ACCESSION #: ML091680090 NRO-002 OFFICE NRO/DCIP/CCIB NRO/DCIP/CCIB NRO/DCIP/CTSB NRO/DCIP/CQVB NRO/DCIP/CQVP NRO/DCIP/CCIB NAME JJimenez RPascarelli MKowal JNakoski JPeralta JStarefos DATE 07/02/09 07/02/09 07/04/09 07/02/09 07/06 /09 07/02/09 OFFICE NRO/DCIP NAME GTracy (JTappert for)

DATE 07/08/09 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

NRC Staff Comments for Discussion at Public Meeting on May 13, 2009 NEI 08-02 Problem Identification and Resolution for New Nuclear Power Plants During Construction, Revision 1 The description of the Problem Identification and Resolution (PI&R) program lacks consistency with the terms and concepts present in 10 CFR 50 Appendix B Criterion XVI and other regulatory documents. The program document should demonstrate how it is implementing regulatory requirements and commitments specified in the licensing basis documents.

The use of terms like PI&R and corrective action program (CAP) can be a source of confusion. The document should state more clearly how it is trying to implement requirements of 10 CFR 50 Appendix B Criterion XVI and NQA-1-1994.

The licensing documents under review by the NRC state that the CAP, within the quality assurance program (QAP), will identify all Conditions Adverse to Quality (also identified in NEI 06-14A Rev 6). Once identified, further review will be performed to determine if it is a Significant condition Adverse to Quality; at which time, causal analysis and proper management notification will be done. NEI 08-02 Rev 1 doesnt appear to consider CAQs as part of the CAP.

Should NEI 08-02 address evaluation of conditions for reporting requirements? For example, reporting under 50.55e.

NEI 08-02, section 3.4, states If the program has been contracted to others then the purchaser is responsible for the overall program Language should reflect that suppliers/contractors may be made responsible for the implementation of the program but licensees are responsible for the overall program effectiveness.

The specific concepts defined in the document can be confused with the same terms as defined by the licensing documents (e.g. CAP, extent of condition, SCAQ). The document should refrain from creating new definitions and use terminology already in use.

The concept of work processes is confusing within the framework of the document. It does not make it clear how they are part of the Corrective Action Program (currently highlighted as part of the PI&R), nor does it define each as a quality process. NEI 08-02 states in Section 5 that the QAP will make reference to the work processes but a sample QAP currently submitted to NRC does not address the work processes.

ENCLOSURE The document should clearly define the baseline program for implementing the Corrective Action Program. Including how determination of thresholds would capture conditions adverse to quality (CAQ) and exactly what process would drive a CAQ to be processed as a significant condition adverse to quality (SCAQ). It should be clear how the process will effectively implement trending that would drive an identified CAQ to become an SCAQ.

The method or process from identification to disposition should be clearer. For example, what will initiate the process? Who will determine significance?

NEI 08-02 states The PI&R process is the primary means for workers to identify problems. There are additional processes that can be used by workers to identify problems including reporting to management, reporting to QA, Employee Concerns program, reporting to NRC, etc. The references to these alternative sources should be eliminated if they infer equivalent controls outside of regulatory requirements. Otherwise, the statement should make it clear how these programs inform the CAP for proper disposition.

Description of how ITAAC will be handled by NEI 08-02 should be in alignment with intentions described in NEI 08-01. Conditions identified to have affected an ITAAC should reflect the appropriate characterization (e.g. CAQ, SCAQ, new process, etc.) consistent with needs of NEI 08-01.

Construction Inspection Program Mailing List cc:

Mr. Edward L. Quinn Mr. Glenn H. Archinoff Longenecker and Associates AECL Technologies Utility Operations Division 481 North Frederick Avenue 23292 Pompeii Drive Suite 405 Dana Point, CA 92629 Gaithersburg, MD 20877 Mr. Lionel Batty Mr. Robert E. Sweeney Nuclear Business Team IBEX ESI Graftech 4641 Montgomery Avenue 12300 Snow Road Suite 350 Parma, OH 44130 Energy Program Bethesda, MD 20814 Ms. Michele Boyd Mr. Gary Wright, Director Legislative Director Division of Nuclear Facility Safety Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Environmental Program 1035 Outer Park Drive 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Springfield, IL 62704 Washington, DC 20003 Mr. Ian M. Grant Mr. Paul Leventhal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Nuclear Control Institute 280 Slater Street, Station B 1000 Connecticut Avenue, NW P.O. Box 1046 Suite 410 Ottawa, Ontario Washington, DC 20036 K1P 5S9 Mr. Eugene S. Grecheck Mr. Brendan Hoffman Vice President Research Associate on Nuclear Energy Nuclear Support Services Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Dominion Energy, Inc.

Environmental Program 5000 Dominion Blvd.

215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Glen Allen, VA 23060 Washington, DC 20003 Manager Mr. Ed Wallace, General Manager GT-MHR Safety & Licensing Projects General Atomics Company PBMR Pty LTD PO Box 85608 PO Box 9396 San Diego, CA 92186-5608 Centurion 0046 Republic of South Africa

Mr. Dobie McArthur Director, Washington Operations General Atomics 1899 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 Mr. Ron Simard 6170 Masters Club Drive Suwanee, GA 30024 Leslie Compton Kass Nuclear Energy Institute Suite 400 1776 I Street NW Washington, DC 20006-3708 Mr. Carl E. Parry, President Utilities Service Alliance, Inc.

9200 Indian Creek Parkway Suite 201 Overland Park, KS 66210

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