ML20059F457

Provides Status Rept on NRC & Industry Accident Mgt Programs & Activities & Describes Current Plans for Development & Implementation of Accident Mgt Guidance

ML20059F457
Person / Time
Issue date:	09/05/1990
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:
References
TASK-PII, TASK-SE SECY-90-313, NUDOCS 9009110215
Download: ML20059F457 (8)

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POLICY ISSUE Szcy_,0_313 September 5,193

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(Information) l For:

% onsissioners From:

James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations

Subject:

STATUS OF ACCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM AND PLANS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Purpose:

To provide a status report on NRC and industry accident management proarams and activities, and to describe current plans for development and implementation of accident management l

guidance.

Summary:

Industry has initiated a coordinated effort on accident manage-ment. This effort will involve the participation of NUMARC, EPRI, and each of the vendor owners groups. The involvement of these organizations should help ensure compatibility between accident management enhancements and existing capabilities to deal with accidents but will delay issuance of a generic letter on accident management until 1992. This schedule should still allow for the development and implementation of utility eccident management plans in conjunction with other activities related to closure of severe accident issues, such as the IPE for external events. The NRC is continuing its research program on accident management to develop a technical basis for evaluating the industry's activities. The staff will periodically inform the Commission on the progress of the accident management program.

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Background:

The staff first described its approach to accident management in SECY-89-012. " Staff Plans for Accident Management Regulatory and Research Programs." Five " elements" of a utility accident management program were also described in that paper:

accident management procedures, severe accident training, guidance for accident management, instrumentation, and decision making Contacts:

R. Palla, NRR (x21095)

L. Shotkin, RES (x23530)

TO BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ::N 10 WORKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PAPER.

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responsibilities. -The staff discussed its. plans for accident j

management with the Commission;in January 1989, land clarified, these plansLin response to the resulting staff requirements l

memorandum. The' staff has, informed the Commission.of progress on accident management by,way of the October 1989'and May:1990 status reporte on, implementation of the integration plan for. E

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severe accident closure (SECY-89-308 and SECY-90-180), and the; O

December 14,1989', Tstatus, briefing on "

integration plan.:

1 Since the December 14, 1989 Commission briefing, significant changes have occurred in the planned approach to: develop and+

implement guidance for accident management'. Most of these-L

changes have resulted from the' Nuclear Man &gement.and Resources; Council's (NUMARC's) initiation;of-a. coordinated industry effort

~on accident management. This' effort will involve greater

participation by the Electric Power Research ' Institute ~ (EPRI)? _,

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and each of'the-vendor _ owners groups'than was originally; planned; by NUMARC. The' involvement of these organizationsLwill introduce-

'their broader ' perspectives and; expertise into the process for:

developing guidance for-accident management, and will, provide, added assurance that' accident management enhancements, when-:

implemented by utilities, will complement existing capabilities j

to deal with accidents. However,;this. broader. involvement by industry will produce a substantialt delay in the schedule.

In SECY-89-308, the staff projected issuing the: generic letter on accident management in late-1990.- The revised!

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• 1e will result in issuance of the plannedtgeneric letter

..ident management in 1992. LThe: staff'previously informed a

&e Commission of this delay in SECY-90-180.

Discussion:

In SFC# '9-012, the staff establishedithe following fundamental l

obj" d the accident; management program:i ch NRC licensee-shall implement.for eachD H

l clear plant an!" Accident Management Plan"~

snich provides a framework for. evaluating information on' severe. accidents, including!that:

developed.through conduct of the Individual PlantExaminations(IPEs)pforpreparing:and1 implementing severe accident operating procedures, and for training cperators:and. managers in; these " '

procedures.

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The following approach to develop' this plan was outlined in SECY-89-012.

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The NRC'will work with industry to: define the scope and.

attributes of a utility accident management plan and to l

L develop guidelines which describe the plant-specific implementation of such a plan;

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NUMARC will provide industry's perspective and coordinate the necessary industry-supported initiatives; 4

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The'NRC will issue a generic letterfon accident management.

1 to. initiate implementation of accident management by.

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The NRC resee ch program will contribute by developing a.

l technical basis for evaluating: industry's activities, and,

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'Ly assessing the feasibility of candidate strategies, fort j

accident management.

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Je. continue te follow these tenets in our'overall approach to' l

accident mana p ee and in ourcinteractions with industry.. The-i following sections:oweribe the important_ progress that the industry and the NRC have made towards achieving these goals.

Industry Activities-3 Industry, as enet,uraged by;the NRC' staff, has initiated a 'programi

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.ontaccident management.

Industry efforts are being coordinated-l

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by NUMARC and involve participation of EPRI and the owners groups; for each reactor vendor. To aid this_' process, NUMARC has, l '

established the Joint Owners Group AccidentLManagement Advisory J

Committee'(J0GAMAC). J0GAMAC consists of representatives of'thei

-i' four owners groups, EPRI,_and NUMARC. Additionally, INP0 serves-on the.J0GAMAC and is ~ represented lon the NUMARC Severe-Accident' Working Group..J06AMAC will-serve to coordinate the activities' of the individual owners groups and provide guidance to EPRI.with regard to technical.information needs.-

m An overview of-industry and NRC. activities is depicted in:

Figure 1.

The. coordinated' industry program involves three' i

. major activities as described'below.-.

1.

NUMARCisdeveloping" Guidelines-for?EvalbtingAccident-Management Capabilities."'-Currently in' draft form, this-document provides=a process by:which utilities can; systematically evaluate and enhance their atilities;to deal with patential' severe accidents,ir.cluding those identified through the IPE... According'to the'present.

H industry schedule NUMARC will revise the document to?

. reflect NRC 'and industry comments by late 1990.. The j

revised' guidelines will then be demonstrated on'a' trial' u

basis, as. appropriate, and issued in'.f,inal form:by mid-1991.

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EPRI is developing technical = bases for-accident manage-ment' guidance in parallel withlNUMARC's develognent of' accident management guidelines. The EPRI effort will 1

culminate in a technical _ basis report in early 1991.. This 1

document will' include the results offpreviousLtechnical-studies related to accident management, and will sunnarize o

information, applicable to generic challenges and strategies.

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The Commissioners 4-3.-_ Individual owners groups will develop' vendor-specific guidance for accident management by 1992. based on:the:EPRI 1

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technical > basis report.. Licensees =would develop. plant.

. specific guidance for accident management based on the' vendor-specific guidance..~ Guidance for accident management 1 should be flexiblei and not prescriptive,. and would guide 1 the technical support'staffLin responding to potential-1 severe accidents.

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'In their activities the vendor owners groups.must address.~a:

number of' complex issues, such as-the consistency.of;existingi

-emergency procedure _ guidelines (EPGs);with conditions and~ EPGs -

priorities during ' severe. accidents',ithe interf aces between a

and the newraccident management guidance, the' partitioning of' p

resporsibilities between the control room operators?and1the-f technical support staff, and the content-and presentation format of accident management ~ guidance for maximumfeffectiveness.

i Significant coordination ~among:the various; owners groups and-member utilities will also be required W As a result, vendor.

specific accident management guidance will: not be available:

until 1992. This schedule'should:still allow for development land-implementation ofiutility< accident management plans in conjunction-with other activities related<to severs accident issues (such' _

j as the IPE for external events)>and should not. adversely affect the overall schedules for severe-accident closure.-

NRC Activities With the initiation of the industry program for accident:

4 management,'the role of NRC in accident management will bcito' articulate the overall' principles-of accident management and: to:

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~t most important activities,.the NRCLimplementation.n Among its evaluate the industry products and will assess candidate strategies for accident mitigation, and issue a generic letter.

on accident management in mid-1992 to initiate implementation of utility programs;for accident management. The NRC generic letter on accident management will address the role of the.

1 industry products'(that is, the NUMARC " Guidelines for Evaluating Accident Management Capabilities" and vendor-specific

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guidance for accident management) in the. development of utility accident management capabilities.

The role of research in accident mana'gement is!to develop a-

-l technical basis for evaluating the. industry's activities, and' to assess the feasibility of candidate. strategies for.' accident' management. The NRC research activities will contribute'in the short-term, to (1) the, evaluation of accident management:

strategies, and (2) development of technical..information.and insights regarding the framework for accident management.

In-the long-term, the Accident Management'Research Program;will t

draw on the results of the Severe Accident.Research Program and-1

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other research programs to rN 1uate selected-strategies. The NRC will provide-informationa egarding these strategies to industry by means of technical exchange meetings and technical a

reports. More importantly, the research program will nevelop

'a comprehensive' basis for the evaluation.of; industry efforts.'

This research should result in sup>1ementary insights and.

guidance for inclusion in either tie industry products.(HUMARC,

guidelinesor' vendor-specificguidanceforaccidentmanagement) or-the NRC generic letter.on accident. management.

i Since the staff issued SECY-89-012, it has completed the!

following major milestones:

(1) review of;the draft NUMARC 3

guidelines'for evaluating; accident management capabilities, (2) issuance'of a-generic letter supplement providingl accident management strategies for-licensee'_s consideration in;the IPE i

process,and-(3)developmentLof-researchdocumentsconcerning.

accident management plans, and:informationLneeds for severe-accidents. -These activities are discussed briefly in the.

following paragraphs.-

In August 1989.:NUMARC provided the: staff with'a' draft of the-

" Guidelines for Evaluating Accident Management Capabilities."

In November 1989, the staff provided comments on the document.

to NUMARC. We are continuing'to~ interact with NUMARC on'the' resolution of these comments.- Periodic meetings and-information.

i exchanges between NRC and industry groups regarding developmental l-activities and research are planned. These meetings and exchanges will'be essential to maintain a dialogue between the-L NRC and the industry, maintain appropriate-program focus and-1 resolve-issues. 'As an example of these interactions,Jin May 1990,=the University of. California-at Los Angeles!(UCLA) organized a workshop for the NRCito' address the= implications' of uncertainties in accident' phenomena, plant operations, and modelling on accident management strategies which might be implemented during accidents in PWRs. This' workshop was-attended by representatives from academia, national laboratories, EPRI, NUMARC, and'several utilities. A similar workshop for BWRs is scheduled for' September 26-28,'1990 at UCLA.

In April 1990, the NRC issued Supplement 2-to Generic. Letter 88-20, " Accident Management Strategies for Consideration In The Individual' Plant Examination Process." This generic letter 4

supplement provides " lessons-learned" information from past l

probabilistic risk assessment studies, in the form of generic strategies for accident management. The generic letter supplement provides this information-to each licensee so that licensees can evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies:.

at each of their plants as-part of-(or subsequent to): conducting the IPE. The letter includes, as a NUREG/CR attachment,La:

technical assessment of each of the accident management strategies and cautions for each strategy to provide added assurance that V

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j use of the strategy.will not ' detract: from-safety.. Research is. ;-

1 progressing on the identification and assessment of, additional ~

J strategies for? accident management,-with reports lin progress-on.strategiesinvolvingdepressurizationinPWRsand,recriticality/

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in BWRs.

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- Recently;'the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research completedL La report describing.a process for; developing and assessing

. accident management plans, and another report on the'information.

needed-for accident management at-a PWR. tin addition; Research R

cis extending the latter work.to address the question of-informatioir needs for a BWR. Research will. continue to better. define;other~

specific elements of the> accident management framework,?such as:

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analysis aids, and tol assess options for NRC audits _of-industry

.l capabilities.

The staff will-continue to inform the Commission periodically on-the progress;of:the accident management ~ program and_the develop.

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. ment of plansfand guidance for. implementation..

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Enclosure:

' Figure'l - Overview of Industry and NRC'

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Activities on Accident Management 1

DISTRIBUTION:

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FIGl 'HE 1 OVERVIEW OF INDUSTRY AND NRC_ ACTIVITIES ON ACCIDENT MANAGEMENTL 1

EPRI TECHNICAL VENDOR-SPECIFIC BASIS REPORT AM GUIDANCE EARLY 1991 EARLY 1992 i :-

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