ML14181A409
| ML14181A409 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Robinson  |
| Issue date: | 03/03/1998 |
| From: | Peebles T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| To: | Natale T CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO. |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9803120406 | |
| Download: ML14181A409 (22) | |
Text
REGULATA INFORMATION DISTRIBUTIOAYSTEM (RIDS)
ACCESSION NBR:9803120406 DOC.DATE: 98/03/03 NOTARIZED: NO DOCKET #
FACIL:50-261 H.B. Robinson Plant, Unit 2, Carolina Power & Light C 05000261 AUTH.NAME AUTHOR AFFILIATION PEEBLES,T.A.
Region 2 (Post 820201)
RECIP.NAME RECIPIENT AFFILIATION NATALE,T.
Carolina Power & Light Co.
SUBJECT:
Provides summaries of Training Managers Conference on 971112-13 & Exam Workshop on 9 8 012 7-29.Training Managers Conference agenda,presentation viewgraphs & attendee lists for both conference & workshop.
DISTRIBUTION CODE: IE45D COPIES RECEIVED:LTR ENCL +/- SIZE:
2 3 TITLE: Summary of Significant Meeting with Licensee (Part 50)
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1 RGN2 FILE 01 1
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1 NRC PDR 1
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'1-.
ENCL 4
March 3, 1998 Carolina Power and Light Company ATTN: Mr. Tom Natale. Acting Training Manager H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant 3581 West Entrance Road Hartsville, SC 29550
SUBJECT:
MEETING SUMMARIES - NOVEMBER 1997 NRC REGION II TRAINING MANAGERS' CONFERENCE AND JANUARY 1998 NRC REGION II EXAMINATION WORKSHOP
Dear Mr. Herrell:
This letter refers to the Training Managers Conference conducted at the Atlanta Federal Center on November 12 and 13, 1997 and the Examination Workshop conducted at the Richard B. Russell Building on January 27-29, 1998.
Representatives from all utilities in Region II participated in both meetings.
The agenda for the Training Managers Conference is Enclosure 1 and the list of attendees is Enclosure 2. We appreciate the participation of you and your staff and believe that the goal of providing an open forum for discussion of operator licensing issues was met. Mr. Gallo, Chief of the Operator Licensing Branch, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), made a presentation on the present status of operator licensing and his slides are Enclosure 3. During the meeting, it was decided that a workshop on operator licensing examination writing was needed and would be held at the first of the year. Also, we have tentatively set the date for the 1998 Training Manager's Conference as November 4 and 5.
Additionally, I am enclosing our preliminary schedule for FY 1998 and FY 1999, dated February 18, 1998, as Enclosure 4. Please review the schedule and supply comments to my staff or myself.
The Examination Workshop was conducted with participation by everyone. A list of attendees is Enclosure 5. A standard Job Performance Measures (JPM) format was reviewed and comments collected by the Southeast Training Managers (SSNTA), with a final version expected this summer. Concerns on the examination process were collected and is included as Enclosure 6. These low concerns were forwarded to NRR for review.
00CL During the workshop, we discussed some of the problems with the initial ame examination process as it is being implemented be Revision 8 of NUREG-1021.
o0o A discussion of those issues is enclosure 7.
ooU a0 It is our opinion that this conference was beneficial and provided an excellent opportunity for open discussion of various concerns about the Operator Licensing process, especially the techniques of writing the licensing on:
examination.
AWA aA~eJC f11111111JALI~jI ilf1
CP&L 2
If you have any questions regarding the content of this letter, please contact me at (404) 562-4638.
Sincerely, ORIGINAL SIGNED BY THOMAS PEEBLES Thomas A. Peebles, Chief Operator Licensing and Human Performance Branch Division of Reactor Safety Docket No.:
50-261 License No.:
Enclosures:
- 1. Agenda for Training Managers' Conference
- 2. List of Attendees for 1997 Training Managers' Conference
- 3. Mr. Gallo's Slides
- 4. Region II Examination Schedules for FY 97 & 98
- 5. List of Attendees for 1998 Examination Workshop
- 6. Concerns Expressed during Workshop
- 7. Discussion of Workshop Issues cc w/encls:
J. S. Keenan, Vice President, H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant Distribution w/encls:
PUBLIC B. Michael, DRS OPFICE RII:DRS SIGNATURE NAME 5EBE DATE 3/ /
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/98 COPY?
YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO OFFICIAL RECORD COPY DOCUMENT NAME:
A:\\ROBLTR.JC
SOUTHEASARAINING MANAGER'S PONFERENCE U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region II Atlanta, Georgia Meeting Agenda November 12-13, 1997 Atlanta Federal Center Wednesday, 11/12/97 8:00 a.m.
Conference Registration Conference Center Conference Room C 8:20 a.m.
Introduction Thomas A. Peebles, Chief, Operator Licensing & Human Performance Branch 8:30 a.m.
Welcome Johns P. Jaudon, Director Division of Reactor Safety 9:00 a.m.
Welcome Bruce S. Mallett, Acting Deputy Regional Administrator 9:30 a.m.
Overview of Pilot Exam Process Thomas A. Peebles; Chief, Operator Licensing & Human Performance Branch 10:00 a.m.
Break 10:30 a.m.
Examination Communications Ron Aiello, RII Exam Development & Coordination 11:00 a.m.
Examination Security Issues Paul Steiner, RI 11:45 a.m.
Lunch 1:00 p.m.
Resident Review of Training Paul Harmon, RII 1:30 p.m.
Lessons Learned from Recent Exams Charlie Payne, RII 2:15 p.m.
Break 2:30 p.m.
Examination Questions and Answers George Hopper, RII Examples of questions 4:00 p.m.
Meet with Principal Examiners All 4:30 p.m.
Adjorn ENCLOSURE1
2 Thursday, 11/13/97 8:30 a.m.
Recap Tom Peebles 8:45 a.m.
Reactivity Changes and Other Issues Robert M. Gallo, Chief Operator Licensing Branch, NRR 9:30 a.m.
Medical Exam Issues - Conditions Charlie Payne, RII 10:00 a.m.
Break 10:15 a.m.
Open Session - Other Issues Training Managers 12:00 p.m.
Adjorn ENCLOSURE 1
REGION II TRAINING MANAGERS CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 12-13, 1998 Timothy L. Norris Onsite Engineering General Manager Brian Haagensen PSHA CP&L Larry Dunlap BK Supv. Ops Cont Trng Rick Garner HR Supv Ops Trng Tom Natale RB.
Supt Ops Trng William Noll BK.
Ops Trng Supv Max Herrell BK Trng Mgr Scot Poteet RB Exam Team Leader Crystal River - FPC Jack Springer CR Supv Simulator Tng Tom Taylor CR Dir Nuc Ops Trng Duke Power Garmon Clements CT Human Perf Mgr Camden Eflin OC Ops Trng Richard P. Bugert Corp Ops Trng Spec Gabriel Washburn OC Req Team Leader Charles Sawyer Corp Sr Tech Spec Ronnie B. White, Jr MG Trng Mgr E.T. Beadle CT Init Lic Exam Leader William H. Miller CT Trng Mgr Al Lindsay MG Ops Trng Mgr Paul Stovall OC Mgr Oper Trng Bentley Jones OC Trng Mgr Paul Mabry OC Ops Line FP&L Maria Lacal TP Trng Mgr Philip G. Finegan TP Ops Trng Supv Dennis L. Fadden SL Services Mgr Jo Magennis Corp Trng Assessment Spec Kris Metzger SL Ops Trng Supv Southern Nuclear (SNC)
J. M. Donem FA Sr Inst Ops. Trng John C. Lewis HT Trng & EP Mgr Tom Blindauer FA Sr Plt Inst Joe Powell FA Sr Inst Ops Trng Bill Oldfield FA Nuc Ops Trn Supv Southern Nuclear (SNC) (cont'd pace 2)
ENCLOSURE2
OPERATOR LICENSING INITIAL EXAMINATION RULE CHANGE Region II Training Managers Conference November 13, 1997 Robert M. Gallo, Chief, Operator Licensing Ef.Oh, NRR ENCLOSURE 3
HISTORY
- SECY 95-75 (3/95): Proposed change GL 95-06 (8/95): Solicited volunteers ROI 95-25 (8/95): Pilot guidance 10/95 - 4/96: Original pilot exams 5/1/96: CRGR briefing SECY 96-123 (6/96): Pilot results SECY 96-206 (9/96): Pros and cons GL 95-06, Sup. 1 (1/97): Voluntary continuation of pilot process NUREG-1021, Interim Rev. 8 (2/97)
.S CY 97-79 (4/97): Proposed rule 62 FR 42426 (8/97): Propcued rule
THE PROPOSED RULE
- 3. A new § 55.40 is added to read as follows:
§ 55.40 Implementation.
(a) Power reactor facility licensees shall-(1) Prepare the required site specific written examinations and operating tests; (2) Submit the written examinations and operating tests to the Commission for review and approval; and (3) Proctor and grade the NRC approved site-specific written examinations.
THE REST OF THE RULE (b) In lieu of requiring a specific.
power reactor facility licensee to prepare the examinations and tests or to proctor and grade the site specific written examinations, the Commission may elect to perform those tasks.
(c). The Commission will prepare and administer the written examinations and operating tests at non-power reactor facilities.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS The NRC will prepare one exam per Region per [calendar] year Facility licensees are expected to use the guidance in NUREG-1021 NRC will approve deviations NRC will not compromise statutory responsibilities NRC is committed to maintaining quality, level of difficulty, consistency, and security NRC intends to use its full enforcement authority against persons who willfully compromise an exam in violation of 65.49
BACKGROUND Goal was to improve efficiency while maintaining effectiveness Eliminate reliance on NRC
- contractors (except GFE)
Increase facility involvement Maintain examination quality and difficulty Remain consistent with the Act and Part 55 Changes should be transparent to license applicants initial licensing program was not broken
MILESTONE SCHEDULE
- 10 /2 1/9 7:Comnent period ended
- 4/1/98:
Resolve comments; revise rule and NUREG-1021; seek Office concurrence
- 4/98:
- 5/22/98: Obtain Office concurrence and deliver to EDO 6/98:
Obtain EDO and Commission concurrence 7/98:
Publish the final rule and Revision 8 12 /3 1/9 8:1mplement rule and Revision 8
EXAM RESULTS Exams RO RO RO-SRO-RO---k Written Operating Total Written Operating Tot FY 11995 94%
98%
92%
95%
95%9 Original 22 91%
93%
83%
93%
90%
P40s 4/54 50/54 45/54 86/92 87/'91 83/9,2 Through CY 93%
95%
1996 77/83 80/84 75./85 136/144 137/143 131/144 Since 92%
89%
83%
9%9%89
- 51/57 49/59 100/106 98/106 915/107 Total 92%
93 6
4 4
0%
8%94%
94%
90%
131/142 131/141 124/144 236/250 235/249 2216/251 The results of one exam plus one RO and one SRO operating test appeal are pending.
FY99 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS February 20, 1998 RO SRO-I SRO-U TOTAL Date Plant Chief Pass Pass Pass Pass 0
9/28/98 Sequoyah MEE 4
10/5/98 Harris RFA 4
2 3
10/19/98 B.Ferry WFS write DCP
_4 4
11/30/98 Oconee &
MEE 6
6 12/14/98 11/30/98 St Lucie &
RSB 15 15 12/14/98 1/25/99 McGuire &
DCP 14 1
15 2/8/99 1/25/99 C. River &
RFA 10-12 2/8/99 3/15/99 Watts Bar &
RSB 7
5 3/29/99 3/29/99 Surry &
RFA 6
2 4
4/12/99 5/17/99 Catawba &
15-18 5/31/99 5/10/99 Farley 2
6 Watts Bar? 6/99 6
4 8
07/ /99 Robinson?
4 1
1 07/ /99 C. River?
08/ /99 Turkey Pt?
20 9/15/99 Summer?
4 09/ /99 Sequoyah ?
99
? designates tentative No Initial exams scheduled for:
North Anna
?10/18/99 Brunswick-9 candidates
?10/ /99 B. Ferry 4r, 4i, 4u
?10/25/99 Hatch 8r?
?10/ /99 St. Lucie 2 wk
?12/13 /99 Vogtle-5r, 5i, 2u ENCLOSURE 4
FY 98 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS
[10/1/97 - 9/30/98]
February 20, 1998 RO SRO - I SRO - U TOTAL Exam PLANT CHIEF PASS PASS PASS PASS Week 10/14/97 St. Lucie &
GTH 6
6 1
1 7
7 10/20 11/14/97 Cr. River RETAKE RFA 1
1 1
1 12/1/97 Summer JFM 8
8 8
8 12/1/97 Catawba &
DCP 2
3 4
5 6
6 14 12/15 3/2/98 Farley RETAKE RFA 1
1 2/23/98 Robinson + 1 op RSB 3
1+1 1
6 retake 4/13/98 Vogtle (Mellen write)
GTH 4
2 6
5/11/98 Brunswick &
DCP 5
3 3
11 5/25/98 w Sequoyah Retake +
LSM 3
3 6/1/98 op RFA RSB 6/29/98 Crystal River MEE 6
6 6/22/98 St. Lucie &
GTH 8
4 8
7/6/98 8/10/98 Turkey Point DCP 8
8 8/17/98 North Anna &
RSB 8
1 6
15 8/31 9/28/98 Sequoyah MEE 4
4 54 28 26 108 RESULTS TO DATE L
16 17 5
6 7
7 28 30
'&' designates examinations that will require two weeks to administer No exams scheduled for B. Ferry Oconee Harris Surry Hatch W. Bar McGuire ENCLOSURE4
REGION 11 WORKSHOP - OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATIONS JANUARY 27 - 29, 1998 Exam Workshop Attendees Charlie Brooks Asst Manager, Ops Trg - INPO Frank S. Jaggar Examiner - WD Associates Ken Masker Senior Licensed Instructor Rochester Gas & Electric, R. E. Ginna NPP Bob Niedzielski Exam Developer - Baltimore Gas & Electric James F. Belzer Instructor - CCNPP/BGE Max Bailey Region III Operator Licensing Examiner CP&L Gregg Lualam LOR - Supervisor - Brunswick William Noll Supt Ops Training - Brunswick Tony Pearson Initial Training - Brunswick Richard Edens LOR Instructor - Brunswick Rick Garner Sup - OTU - Harris Terry Toler Project Tech Spec - Harris Wiley Killette Project Tech Spec - Harris Scott Poteet Exam Team - Robinson Bill Nevins Instruct Tech - Robinson Crystal River - FPC Alan Kennedy Senior Licensed Instructor Johnie Smith Training Supervisor Jack Springer Training Supervisor Duke Power Alan Whitener Ops Instructor Edward A. Shaw Ops Instructor Bobby Ayers Ops Instructor - Oconee Steve Helms Training Super Charles Sawyer Initial Training - McGuire Reggie Kinvay Initial Trining Lead E. T. Beadle Nuclear Instructor - CNS James K. Black Nuclear Instructor - ONS Gabriel Washburn Nuclear Instructor - ONS Camden Eflin Team Leader - HLP - Oconee (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2)
ENCLOSURE 5
2 (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd)
FP&L Ivan Wilson Operations Manager Kris Metzger Ops Training Supervisor - St. Lucie Roger Walker Instructor - St. Lucie Tim Bolander Instructor - St. Lucie David P. Clark Instructor - St. Lucie Maria L. Lacal Training Manager - Turkey Point Rich Bretton Ops Cert Trng Sup - Turkey Point Philip G. Finegan Ops Trining Supervisor - Turkey Point Michael E. Crolteau Cont Trng Instructor - Turkey Point Southern Nuclear (SNC)
Joel L. Deavers Senior Instructor - Farley Scott Fulmer Training & Emergency Preparedness Manager - Farley Gerard W. Laska Training Instructor - Farley Charlie Edmund Plant Instructor - Hatch David Gidden Training Supervisor - Hatch Ed Jones Plant Instructor - Hatch Dan Scukanec Ops Trng Supv - Vogile Fred Howard Plant Instructor - Vogtle Virginia Power Keith Link Requal.....-
North Anna Ed Trask Instructor - North Anna Joe Scott Supervisor Operations Training - North Anna Ken Grover Senior Instructor (NUC) - Surry Harold McCallum Supervisor Ops Training - Surry Paul K. Orrison Ops Instructor - Surry TVA Ray Schorff Instructor - Browns Ferry Denny Campbell Instructor - Browns Ferry Bob Greenman Training Manager - Browns Ferry Marvin Meek Instructor - Browns Ferry A. R. Champion Instructor - Browns Ferry Rick King Sr Ops Instructor - Sequoyah Frank Weller Instructor - Sequoyah Phillip H. Gass Sim Instructor - Sequoyah Ed Keyser Instructor - Sequovah Harold Birch Instructor - Sequoyah (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2)
3 (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd)
TVA cont'd Terry Newman SRO Instructor - Watts Bar Rancy Evans SRO Instructor - Watts Bar Rick O'Rear Sift Manager - Watts Bar V. C. Summer - SCE&G Perry Ramicone Ops Instructor Bruce L. Thompson Ops Instructor William R. Quick Ops Instructor
CONCERNS EXPRESSED DURING THE REGION 11 EXAMINATION WRITING WORKSHOP The following is a condensation of the concerns received from the attending facilities during the January 1998 Workshop on Examination Writing. The workshop attendees and I would appreciate your consideration of the concerns during your revision to the Examiner Standards.
- 1)
Security requirements are too restrictive, considering the limited resources available. Also, more guidance on minimum security expectations is needed.
(three comments)
- 2)
The NRC should develop the sample plan as this would save both utility and NRC resources. (two comments)
- 3)
If independent groups generate the audit and licensing exams, some overlap should be allowed. (one comment, also I believe the standards allow this now?)
- 4)
The K/A catalog contains errors and omissions and should be corrected, or at the least an errata sheet of know errors should be published. (two comments)
- 5)
If an exam bank item has not been used during the licensing class, the exam item should be considered at "face value" for the licensing exam. (one comment)
- 6)
The length of time allowed for written exams should be revised to a more reasonable period. Does this time also apply to continuing education.
(one comment, I had commented that the length of time did not apply to requalification exams the utilities conducted.)
- 7)
The NRC should periodically publish problem areas encountered during the exam process and distribute it to all training managers. (one comment)
- 8)
The facilities appreciated the workshop. They want Region 11 to have another workshop in about six months. The next time they want to concentrate on good and bad examples of written and operating test items and the sample plan. (six comments)
ENCLOSURE 6
DISCUSSION OF WORKSHOP ISSUES During the workshop we discussed some of the problems with the revised operator licensing examination process as implemented by Revision 8 of NUREG-1021. The following were three of the principle issues discussed and a summary of the response given by NRC's Region II Operator Licensing staff.
- 1.
Why has exam development take so many man-hours? Some facilities did not fully understand our methodology, concepts and expectations for developing the initial examination such as content validity, plausible distractors and other psychometric issues. The NRC did not recognize the variance across facilities in their depth of understanding. As a result, some facilities submitted examinations with the quality lower than expected and these examinations did not meet the standards described in NUREG-1021. The amount of resources required to modify the examinations to meet the standards was more than either the facility or the NRC had anticipated. There was general agreement during the workshop that more discussion with the facility examination writers and reviewers, such as these workshops, would better align the facilities' original products with the standards of NUREG-1021 and reduce the resources required to develop an acceptable examination.
- 2)
Why has the NRC raised the level of difficulty of the examinations?
Many participants felt that the NRC was "raising the bar."
We stated that the purpose of the initial operator licensing examination is to test valid knowledges, skills and abilities required to safely carry out duties as a licensed operator at a specific facility. The examination should be written to a discrimination level not specific to the quality of the facility's training program, but so that a minimal competent operator, with specific site knowledge and skills, will pass the examination. Therefore, the level of difficulty of the examination should not vary significantly from site to site. The concept of discrimination validity is that a given test item is written at a level which will discriminate between a competent and less than competent operator.
In some cases, the NRC examination reviews have adjusted the discrimination validity (difficulty) in order to achieve region-wide consistency on what is required of a competent operator. We try to create an examination such that an applicant who is capable of safely operating the plant will achieve a score of 80 percent or greater. For facilities that prepare candidates beyond the minimally qualified level, we would expect the average score to be higher. Historically, nationwide NRC examination scores have averaged approximately 85 percent, which is a reasonable benchmark and expectation for a discriminating criterion-referenced examination.
I explained that I use a mental description of a minimally competent operator to decide if the question is one that he/she needs to know and whether the overall exam is targeted for that person to achieve a score of 80%. An 80% score on the written examination for a.minimal competent candidate does not correlate to an 80% pass rate and we have no goal ENCLOSURE 7
2 regarding pass rate. Overall, we did not intend to change the 'bar' and are reviewing results to ensure our practice meets our intent.
- 3)
Why have some applicants not been able to complete the examination in the four hours currently allowed? Prior to the current examination revision, we had two actions in the implementation phase. One was the improvement in the plausibility of distractors and the other was standardizing the percent of comprehension and analyses questions. In the last two years, we have improved our identification of poor distractors. A question does not have discrimination validity if the distractors (i.e. incorrect answers in a multiple choice test) can be eliminated by a less than competent operator due to psychometric flaws in the question structure. These types of flaws are detailed in Appendix B of NUREG-1021. At the workshop, several examples of these psychometric flaws were illustrated and discussed. Answering questions with incorrect but plausible distractors should not take longer for a candidate who is sure of the answer, but does take longer for the candidate who must eliminate each distractor. Also, in general, comprehension / analyses questions require more thought process than memory level questions and consequently more time. The requirement for a fifty percent minimum of higher level questions was based on a review of the last two years of examination audits and an effort to standardize the level of examination difficulty.
We stated that the four hour time limit for the written examination is under review by the NRC for possible extension of the limit and that extensions may be granted in accordance with the examiner standards.