ML20023C954
| ML20023C954 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/14/1983 |
| From: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| To: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20023C953 | List: |
| References | |
| ACRS-2071, NUDOCS 8305180674 | |
| Download: ML20023C954 (3) | |
Text
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING 0F'THE ACRS SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY POLICY AND PROCEDURES y.
February 8,1983 Washington, D. C.
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_,u The ACRS Subcommittee on Regulatory Policy and Procedures met in an open meeting on February 8,1983 in Washington, D. C. in order to be briefed by the Office of the ED0 on the concept of regionalization.
There were no written or oral statements received or presented at the meeting.
The Federal Register meeting notice, the attendee list, meeting schedule and handout list are shown in Attachments 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.
The handout is on file in the ACRS office.
Marvin Gaske was the Designated Federal Employee.
The ACRS Members present were:
H. Lewis, Chairman; J. Ray; and F. Remick.
The EDO Staff members present were V. Stello, T. Murley, and E. Blackwood.
V. Stello advised the Subcommittee that the concept of regionalization began as a byproduct of the NRC looking at how it was controlling generic require-ments.
The issue at hand was to decide if the offices under the Office of Inspection and Enforcement should be reoriented and report directly to the EDO.
The decison to effect this change was made in October 1981 along with the decision to regionalize other NRC activities.
He reiterated that the nature of HRC's business has shifted from that of the early seventies.
At that time there was a need for strong central control on the many new construction permits and applications.
Since now and future emphasis is on dealing with operating licensees, it was determined that the methods of regulating that kind of business should be revaluated.
The question was raised within the agency if the NRC could be more effective and efficient doing this from the regional offices than from a centralized one.
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s V. Stello remarked that the concept of decentralizing activities from head-quarters is not a new one and it has been going on for a number of years in a variety of ways.
For instance, about 25 to 30 percent of the agency's resources were located in the field prior to any decision to regionalize.
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Stello discussed the functions that have been managed by the region.
Such are; materials inspection, reactor inspection, regional enforcement, state liaison and agreement state programs, pilot operator licensing exam-inations, and pilot materials licensing.
He clarified the point that al-though the responsibility for a technical review and signing off an amendment has been done at headquarters, most of the information and the review has been performed in the region by the inspectors.
However, Stello remarked that the generic issues ( ATWS, station blackout, etc.) will remain central-ized.
Examples of activities that will continue to be dealt with at head-quarters are construction pennit reviews, operating license reviews, stan-dard plant reviews, and topical report reviews.
V. Stello reiterated activities decentralized within the last year.
One of the most important of these activities was the mill tailings operation.
Others include materials licensing and Fort St. Vrain activities.
The regions will effec *ively be agents for headquarters office responsibilities.
The policy and guidance will remain a headquarters activity; the implemen-tation will be the responsibility of the region.
If there is a need to change the way an inspection is done on a materials license issued, the program office will nake those decisions.
Therefore, it will be necessary for the program offices to audit the regional offices to ensure unifornity.
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H. Lewis expressed the concern that dispersing expertise to the field will tend to dilute the resources necessary to handle the workload, especially field events, at headquarters.
Vic Stello answered that there is an office set up to read, analyze, and evaluate field experiences.
V. Stello advise the Subcommittee that last summer 66 people were moved out into the regions.
Since then an average of 8 people per month are moved.
It is expected that the total increase in regional staff will reach about 160 through 1984. This is about 5 percent of the total agency strength and a 20 percent increase of personnel in the field. The current program for regional-ization goes through 1985.
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Stello stated that policynaking responsibilities will remain at head-quarters while the implemer.tation of the program for which the policy exists will be delegated to the regions.
However, there will be some decision-making authority in the field.
For instance, the Regional Administrator will-he able to make both licensing and inspection type decisions.
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Ray raised the concern about communications between the regions and headquarters.
V. Stello said that since the restructuring of the regional offices from IE to EDO, the communications link between the program offices and the regions has increase substantially.
There are structured conference calls every Friday between the Program Office Directors and the Regional Administrators to discuss the past week's events and issues.
Also, the group has scheduled quarterly meetings.
The Subcommittee adjourned at 10:55 A.M.
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