ML19100A193
| ML19100A193 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/30/2019 |
| From: | Ho Nieh Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Baker B NRC/OIG/AIGA |
| Buckberg P, 415-1383 | |
| References | |
| OEDO-19-00140, OIG-19-A-05 | |
| Download: ML19100A193 (5) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 May -30, 2019 MEMORANDUM TO: Dr. Brett M. Baker Assistant Inspector General for Audits Office of the Inspector General FROM: Ho K. Nieh, Director ~~ jj * ~ i<YL--
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
STATUS OF RECOMMENDATIONS: AUDIT OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION'S LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST ACCEPTANCE REVIEW PROCESS (OIG-19-A-05)
As requested in your March 22, 2019, memorandum, "Status of Recommendations:
Audit of the NRC License Amendment Request Acceptance Review Process (OIG-19-A-05),"
enclosed please find an update of the status to the recommendations in OIG-19-A-05, "Audit of the NRC License Amendment Request Acceptance Review Process" dated December 13, 2018.
Enclosure:
Status of Recommendations (OIG-19-A-05)
CONTACT: Perry H. Buckberg, NRR/DORL (301) 415-1383
AUDIT OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION'S LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST ACCEPTANCE REVIEW PROCESS (OIG-19-A-05)
Status of Recommendations Recommendation 1: Strengthen data verification and validation measures to ensure completed acceptance review reports and data are processed accurately.
Agency Response Dated The staff agrees with the recommendation.
January 31, 2019 The NRC deployed the Replacement Reactor Program System (RRPS) on October 21, 2016. The Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has introduced several RRPS software updates to remedy programming problems as they are discovered by the users (staff), to make improvements based on staff feedback, and to better attune the software to evolving office needs. These updates have improved the RRPS acceptance review status reporting capability and, as with any software, the staff will continue to introduce updates periodically to address office needs.
NRR staff reviews RRPS acceptance review reports to identify the need to edit data (e.g., due to data input errors) to provide the most accurate accounting of milestones. NRR management review of the metrics reports is performed on a monthly basis. NRR expects this combination of software updates, staff validation, and management review to continue indefinitely.
Planned Action: NRR staff will continue to update the RRPS, including improving the automated reporting capability. NRR staff and management will continue to review and edit automated RRPS reports manually as needed to ensure the most accurate information is reported, until RRPS updates described in Recommendation 3 of this audit response resolve RRPS reporting issues. NRR staff will document the manual review and validation process for RRPS reports in an NRR Division of Operating Reactor Licensing (DORL) memorandum that will be posted to the internal DORL workload management SharePoint site.
Target date for documenting the manual process:
February 28, 2019 Enclosure
AUDIT OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION'S LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST ACCEPTANCE REVIEW PROCESS (OIG-19-A-05)
Status of Recommendations Current Agency Response . The NRR staff work to document the manual review and validation process for RRPS reports has not been completed.
Work continues on this effort and an updated target completion date is provided below.
Updated Target Completion Date: July 31, 2019
Contact:
Perry H. Buckberg, (301) 415-1383 Recommendation 2: Identify a single, consistent process for calculating the number of workdays for the acceptance review metric and communicate it to DORL staff.
Agency Response Dated The staff agrees with the recommendation.
January 31, 2019 Appendix E, "Generic Acceptance Review Milestones," to LIC-109, Revision 2, "Acceptance Review Procedures,"
effective January 16, 2017, pages E-1 and E-2, gives the review milestones for each of the four possible outcomes of an acceptance review. The 25 and 53-day timeframes in these tables form the basis for the acceptance review metrics for each of the outcomes. Through project manager qualification and participation in LAR [license amendment request] reviews, all project managers are expected to be familiar with the LIC-109 review milestones and metrics.
Planned Action: DORL will provide a reminder of the guidance in LIC-109 regarding acceptance review milestones to its staff to help ensure consistent understanding. This information will be included in the DORL memorandum described in Recommendation 1 of this audit response and provided to all applicable DORL staff.
Target date for completion: February 28, 2019 Current Agency Response The NRR staff work to provide a reminder of the LIC-109 guidance has not been completed. Work continues on this effort and an updated target completion date is provided below.
Updated target completion date: July 31, 2019
Contact:
Perry H. Buckberg, (301 ) 415-1383 2
AUDIT OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION'S LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST ACCEPTANCE REVIEW PROCESS (OIG-19-A-05)
Status of Recommendations Recommendation 3: Complete the Replacement Reactor Program System -
Licensing Module upgrade efforts to generate automated reports.
Agency Response Dated The staff agrees with the recommendation.
January 31, 2019 The validation of RRPS reports revealed inaccuracies in calculating various metrics, including those for acceptance reviews. In addition, interfaces between the RRPS and other NRC systems have presented significant challenges to metric calculations and reports. Since deployment, the RRPS has received numerous updates, and the NRC continues to work with the RRPS contractor to resolve the multiple issues related to reporting.
Planned Action: The NRC is working to improve all aspects of the RRPS with updates. Funding for a task order was implemented in January 2019 to support dedicated resources for improvements to RRPS automated reporting and advanced search capabilities that are, in part, intended to support workload planning and metrics reporting. NRR staff will continue to work with RRPS contractors to implement these improvements.
Target date for completion: February 28, 2020 Current Agency Response Work to implement RRPS improvements continues.
Target date for completion: February 28, 2020
Contact:
Perry H. Buckberg, (301) 415-1383 3
Package: ML19084A175 Incoming: ML19081A156 Stat us U1pdate: ML19100A193 *b>Y e-ma1*1 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-2/PM NRR/DORL/LPL2-2/LA Tech Editor*
NAME PBuckberg BClayton (LRonewicz for) JDougherty DATE 04/18/19 04/18/19 05/01/19 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL2-2/BC NRR/DORL/D NRR/D NAME UShoop CErlanger (GSuber for) HNieh (MGEvans for)
DATE 05/21/19 05/23/19 05/30/19