ML20011D928
| ML20011D928 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/05/1989 |
| From: | Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20011D270 | List: |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7, RULE-PR-50-MISC PR-891205-01, NUDOCS 9001030067 | |
| Download: ML20011D928 (12) | |
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NUCLEAR ~ REGULATORY COMMISSION 10 CFR Part 50 Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants; Revised Policy Statement AGENCY:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, u
ACTION:
Revised policy statement.
SUMMARY
The Commission believes safety can be enhanced by improving nuclear power plant maintenance across the nuclear industry.
Consistent with this belief, the Commission previously published a final policy statement on maintenance on March 23, 1988 (53 FR 9430), and a proposed rule on November 28, 1988 (53 FR'47822).
The Commission recognizes that the industry and individual licensees have made improvements in their maintenance programs.
Indeed, the Commission has seen noticeable progress by the industry over the past four years in the area of nuclear power plant maintenance.
The Commission also recognizes that the industry is committed to continue to improve maintenance.
Nevertheless, NRC maintenance team inspections have confirmed that further improvements are necessary, especially with regard to effective implementation of maintenance programs.
In view of the progress made to date, as well as the industry's expressed commitment to continue to improve maintenance, the Commission has decided to hold rulem..ng in abeyance for an 18 month period to monitor industry initiatives and progress and, at the end of this 9001030067 891222 PDR 10CFR PT9.7 PDR
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18 month period, to assess the need for rulemaking in this area.
This revised policy statement is being issued to describe the Commission's expectations during this 18 month period, as well as the Commission's planned actions during and at the conclusion of this period.
This policy statement contains a voluntary solicitation of reporting and record keeping that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C.
3501 et seq.).
It will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval of the information collections.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This revised policy statement is effective December 8, 1989.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Moni Dey, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C.
20555, telephone:
(301) 492-3730.
BACKGROUND On March 23, 1988 (53 FR sA30), the Commission published a Policy Statement on Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants which stated the Commission's expectations in the area of maintenance and the intention to proceed with a rulemaking on maintenance.
Subsequently, on November 28, 1988, the Commission published a notice of proposed rulemaking (53 FR 47822) directed toward improving the effectiveness of maintenance programs.
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NRC's rulemaking initiative served to increase industry attention on this important aspect of nuclear power plant' safety.
The Commission acknowledges industry's effort and progress directed toward improvements in maintenance and endorses industry maintenance initiatives; however, recent NRC inspections of licensee maintenance programs and their implementation, and evaluations of plant operational data indicate that many licensee maintenance programs need further improvement.
For example, there remains a wide variation across the industry in the effectiveness of the implementation of maintenance programs.
Areas of weakness include engineering support, root cause analysis, trending, and recordkeeping.
The Commission believes that good maintenance is a key factor in achieving and maintaining a high level of safety in plant operations throughout the life of a nuclear power plant by helping to ensure that equipment will perform its intended function when required.
In addition, a well-documented and executed maintenance program is expected to be significant in plant life extension decisions.
Because maintenance plays such an important and integral role with plant operations in assuring a
public safety, the Commission is convinced that continued industry attention and improvement in the maintenance area is needed not only to improve maintenance at some nuclear power plants today, but to ensure performance of effective maintenance at all nuclear power plants in the future.
Therefore, the Commission has decided to hold rulemaking in abeyance for a
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[7590-01) e period of 18 months from the effective date of this revised I
policy statement to permit the Commission to monitor industry 1
i initiatives and progress in improving maintenance and to evaluate I
the need for additional rulemaking.
The commission is issuing this revised policy statement to describe the Commission's expectations and future actions planned in the maintenance area, and to restate the commission's views 2
with respect to what constitutes an effective maintenance program.
REVISED POLICY STATEMENT i
The Commission desires to have in place an industry-wide program that will ensure effective maintenance is achieved and maintained over the life of each plant.
The Commission expects each
.i licensee to' assume responsibility for assuring that an effective maintenance program is or has been developed, implemented and maintained at his facility.
The Commission recognizes that the Nuclear Management and Resources Council (NUMARC) and the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) can contribute, through their leadership, to an industry-wide program for improving and maintaining effective maintenance and encourages such leadership.
During the next 18 months, the Commission intends to closely
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monitor individual licensees and the industry as a whole and i
assess the need for additional rulemaking in the area of maintenance.
This monitoring will include completion of the ongoing Maintenance Team Inspections (including some selected reinspections) and review or other inspection results, performance indicators; and industry's and individual licensee's performance, commitments, and progress-toward improvement.
Industry groups and individual licensees are encouraged to provide information to document their commitments and to demonstrate their performance and improvement in maintenance..
In addition, the Commission intends to continue development of a rule on maintenance so that at the end of the 18 month period, if-rulemaking is determined to be necessary, the Commission will be i
in a position to promulgate such a rule.
In enforcing existing requirements over this time period, the commission intends to emphasize maintenance by assessing whether a safety significant violation (i.e., Severity Level III or higher) of license conditions or regulations could have been-prevented if an effective maintenance program had been implemented.
Accordingly, the Commission, by separate action, is modifying its enforcement policy to provide that, for safety-significant violations where a civil penalty is appropriate, the amount of the penalty for such a violation may be escalated where a programmatic inadequacy in maintenance is a root cause.
Furthermore, plant specific orders or letters requesting information pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54 (f) may be issued
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where poor or declining maintenance performance raises safety issues.
Additional Commission actions and expectations are discussed below.
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The Commission believes that the development and use of a comprehensive performance-based standard for maintenance, which provides guidance and requirements on the scope, goals, performance and activities associated with an effective maintenance program, is important in assuring that maintenance is improved, where necessary, and remains effective over the life _of i
each plant.
Therefore, during the next 18 months, the Commission intends to continue to' develop, on a cooperative basis with the industry and public, a maintenance standard for commercial nuclear power plants.
In this regard, the commission has issued for comment a standard for maintenance in the form of a draft regulatory guide and announced its availability in the Federal Register (54 FR 33988; August 17, 1989).
The Commission also intends to hold a workshop early in 1990 to promote further dialogue on the standard.
The industry and the public are encouraged to assist in the refinement of this standard or propose a suitable alternative standard for NRC endorsement (to
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be considered, any alternative standard would need to be proposed l
i to the Commission by March 1, 1990).
The Commission intends to j
have a standard available for use in approximately 1 year and
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will encourage voluntary industry use and adoption of this standard.
Adoption and use of an acceptable standard will be a
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consideration in evaluating industry's and individual licensee's commitment to achieving and sustaining effective maintenance.
-An' integral part of an effective maintenance program is the monitoring and feedback of results.
The commission believes that such' programs should utilize quantitative information regarding operational history, especially component failures and system reliability / availability to monitor and adjust the maintenance program.
Pertornance indicators that are based upon actual-component reliability, system reliability / availability and failure' history provide a useful indication of maintenance effectiveness.
Such measures are most effective when they are based on a well-structured and component-oriented system,
'i e.g.
the Nuclear Plant Reliability Data System (NPRDS), to capture and track equipment history-data.
The Commission encourages the use of the-industry-wide NPRDS data for this purpose, including improved industry use of and participation in the NPRDS to gauge the effectiveness of maintenance.
Licensee reporting of such q
data to the system in a timely and complete manner and licensee use of such data to monitor component failures and system reliability / availability for comparison with overall plant goals or standards, represents one acceptable element of maintenance monitoring.
The commission intends to develop, validate, and use maintenance effectiveness indicators.
The Commission also encourages development and use of such indicators by licensees and the
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. industry such that the progress of improvement in maintenance can be closely monitored.
To that effect, the Commission has solicited industry participation in a joint NRC/ licensee project-with the objective of sharing and comparing development work on maintenance effectiveness indicators.
Finally, the Commission-reemphasizes its previous views with respect to elements of an effective maintenance program.
Specifically, the Commission expects the scope of each licensee's j
maintenance program to include all systems, structures and I
components addressed by existing regulations and licensee commitments'and described in the documents (e.g. Final Safety Analysis Report) required by 10 CFR 50.34, whose failure could significantly impact the safety or security of the facility.
This includes systems, structures, and components in the balance of plant, since experience has shown that failures in many balance of plant systems, structures, and components can and do have an impact on plant safety or security.
In addition, the Commission defines maintenance as the aggregate of those actions which prevent the degradation or failure of, and which promptly restore the intended function of, structures, systems, and components.
As such, maintenance includes not only the activities traditional.ly associated with identifying and correcting actual or potential degraded conditions (i.e., repair, surveillance, diagnostic examinations, and preventive measures) but extends to include all supporting functions for the conduct
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Accordingly, each commercial nuclear power
. plant should either have in place or develop and implement a well-defined maintenance program to assure that the above is accomplished.
Activities and supporting functions that should be considered in a maintenance program, as defined in this policy statement, are listed below:
(1)
Maintenance Management and Technology.
Corrective'and preventive maintenance programs (the latter may include reliability-centered and predictive maintenance activities) to integrate and focus these activities on-structures, systems, and components whose failure could significantly impact safety and to prioritize preventive maintenance tasks.
Maintenance management and technology should include consideration of:
(i)
Planning.
(ii)
Scheduling.
(iii)
Staffing.
(iv)
Shift Coverage.
(v)
Resource Allocation.
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1 (vi)
Control of Contracted Maintenance Services.
(vii)
Availability of Parts, Tools,.and Facilities.
1 (viii) Measures of Maintenance Program Effectiveness.
(ix)
Internal communications between the maintenance organization and plant operations and support groups, as well as communications between plant i
and corporate management and the plant maintenance organization.
(x)
External communications between the plant main-tenance organization and individual vendors to consider their recommendations or requirements.
j (2)
Engineering.
Ensure engineering support to maintenance, including root cause analysis and updating the maintenance program.as a result of plant modifications.
(3)
Radiation Exposure Control.
Ensure radiological exposure control including ALARA during maintenance activities.
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(4)
Maintenance Personnel Qualification and Training.
i Develop and apply maintenance personnel qualifications and training requirements.
(5)
Quality Assurance.
Ensure use of quality assurance and quality control to maintenance-related activities.
(6)
Documentation.
l Develop equipment history and trending, maintenance record-keeping, and maintenance procedures.
-l (7)
Testing and Return to Service.
Develop and use post-maintenance testing and return to service procedures.
In accordance with the above, the Commission intends to monitor individual licensee and industry commitments, performance, and improvement in maintenance over the next 18 months, and to evaluate the need for additional rulemaking to ensure that effective maintenance is achieved and maintained over the life of each nuclear power plant.
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1 Dated'at'Rockville, MD this I-day of 1989.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION G. t c a
i Samuel J(. D ilk Secretary of the Commission 1
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