ML20197B716

Summary of 971112-13 Training Managers Conference Conducted at Atlanta Federal Center & Exam Workshop Conducted on 980127-29.Agenda,list of Attendees,Presentation & Slides Encl

ML20197B716
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	03/03/1998
From:	Peebles T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:	Beth Brown SOUTHERN NUCLEAR OPERATING CO.
References
NUDOCS 9803110372
Download: ML20197B716 (21)

Text

I March 3, 1998 Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.

ATTN:

Mr. Bob Brown. Plant Training and Emergency Preparedness Manager Vogtle Electric Generating Plant P. O. Box 1600 Waynesboro, GA 30830

SUBJECT:

MEETING SUMMARIES - NOVEMBER 1997 NRC REGION II TRAINING MANAGERS' CONFERENCE AND JANUARY 1998 NRC REGION II EXAMINATION WORKSHOP

Dear Mr. Brown:

This letter refers to the Training Managers Conference conducted at the Atlanta Federal Center on November 12 and 13. 1997 and the Examination Workst'?p conducted at the Richard B. Russell Building on Januc?y 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 told 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 revle,1 the schedule and supply comments to my staff or myself.

The Examination Workshop was conducted with participation by everyone.

A list

,JE of attendees is Enclosure 5.

A standard Job Performance Measures (JPM) format ggn.

was reviewed and comments collected by the Southeast Training Managers oo (SSNTA). with a final version expected this summer.

Concerns on the gg examination process were collected and is included as Enclosure 6.

These concerns were forwarded to NRR for review.

su QS During the workshop, we discussed some of the problems with the initial 4

examination process as it is being implemented be Revision 8 of NUREG-1021.

5 A discussion of those issues is enclosure 7.

88 e n.>

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 examinat~on.

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4 If you have any questions regarding the content of this letter.- please contact me at (404) 562-4638.

Sincerely, original signed by

'Ihmas Peebles Thomas A. Peebles. Chief Operator Licensing and Human

-Performance Branch Division of Reactor Safety Docket'Nos.:

50-424 and 50-425 License Nos.:

NPF-68 and NPF-81

Enclosure:

'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 3-7.

Discussion of Workshop Issues cc w/encls:

J. B. Beasley. General Manager.

-Plant Vogtle Distribution w/encls:

PUBLIC B. Michael. DRS 1

LFFICE RII: ORS j

IauaTumE M/'

WAME TP M LES DATE 3/ f

/98 3/

/98 3/

/98 3/

/98 3/

/98 3/

/98

.1/

/98 COPY?

YES

-NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO

OFFICIAL RECOstD COPY DOCUMENT NAMES As\\VOGLTR.JC

SOUTHEAST TRAINING MANAGER'S CONFERENCE U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region II Atlanta, Georgia Meeting Agenda t

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 i

8:30 a.m.

Welcome Johns P. Jaudon, Director Division of Reactor Safety 9:00 a.m.

Welcome Bruce S. Mallett, Acting Deputy Regic.al 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, Ril Exam Development & Coordination 11:00 a.m.

Examination Security Issues Paul Steiner, RIl 11:45 a.m.

Lunch 1:00 p.m.

Resident Review of Training Paul Harmon, RIl 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, Ril 3

Examples of questions 4:00 p.m.

Meet with Principal Examiners All 4

4:30 p.m.

Adjorn ENCLOSURE 1

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

4 i

N REGION 11 TRAINING MANAGERS CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 12-13,1998 Timothy L. Norris Onsite Engineering General Manager Brian Haagensen PSHA CP&L Larry Dun'ap BK Supv. Ops Cont Tmg Rick Gamer HR Supv Ops Tmg Tom Natale RB.

Supt Ops Tmg William Noll BK Ops Tmg Supv 4

Max Herrell BK Trng Mgr l

Scot Poteet RB Exam Team Leader i

Crystal River - FPC Jack Springer CR Supv Simulator Tng Tom Taylor CR Dir Nuc Ops Tmg Duke Power Garmon Clements CT Human Perf Mgr Camden Eflin OC Ops Trng j

Richard P. Bugert Corp Ops Trng Spec Gabriel Washburn OC Rea Team Leader Charles Sawyer Corp Sr Tech Spec Ronnie B. White, Jr MG Trng Mgr I

E.T. Beadle CT Init Lic Exam Leader William H. Miller CT Tmg Mgr i

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) i-J. M. Donem FA Sr Inst Ops. Trng John C. Lewis HT Tmg & EP Mgr Tom Blindauer FA Sr Pit Inst Joe Powell FA Sr inst Ops Trng Bill Oldfield FA Nuc Ops Trn Supv Southern Nuclear (SNC) (cont'd oaae 2)

ENCLOSURE 2 4

w'yT*w T

ma e.

_ _ ___=

d OPERATOR LICENSING INITIAL EXAMINATION RULE CHANGE Region ll Training Managers Conference Novermber 13,1997 Robert M. Gallo, Chief, Operator Licensing hoh, NMR ENCLOSURE 3

s~

l HISTORY SECY 95-75 (3/95): Proposec c7ange GL 95-06 (8/95):

Solicited vo unteers ROI 95-25 (8/95):

Pilot guidance

'0/95 - 4/96:

Original pilot exams 5/1/96:

C9GR ariefing

=

SECY 96 ' 23 (6/96):

Pi'ot results o

SECY 96-206 (9/96):

Pros and cons o

GL 95-06, Sup.

' (1/97): Voluntary o

continuation o" pilot process NUREG-1021, Interim Rev. 8 (2/97) o SECY 97-79 (4/97):

Proposed rule o

62 FR 42A26 (8/97):

Proposed rule o

evalise ahe a

+.g gm

.w.ee g

.*eein,e4 mWhP>h.@eep e.her$

RbN e.W eumiquey W 4Wemew..

THE PROPOS$D RULE

3. A new s 55.40 is accec to reac as follows:

1 55.40 mp ementation.

(a)

Power reactor "acility licensees s h al.

(1) 3repare t7e required site-specific written examinations one operating tests; (2) Suamit the written examinations anc operating tests to the Commission for review and approval; and Proctor and grade the NRC-spproved site-specific written examinst ons.

t THE REST OF THE RULE 5

(b)

In ieu of requiring a specific power reactor faciity licensee to prepare the examinations and tests or to proctor anc grace the site-specific written examinations, the Commission may e ect to perform t1ose tas <s.

(c) T7e Commission will prepare and 4

acminister the written examinations anc operating tests at non-power reactor "acilities.

d

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

. ~~1e \\'RC wi prepare one exam per Region per :ca encar. year

. Faciity icensees are expectec to use t.7e guicance in N UR EG ' 02' N.9C wi approve deviations NRC wi. not compromise statutory responsibilities

. NRC is committed to maintaining qua ity, level of cifficu ty, consistency, and security

+ NRC intends to use its "ull enforcement authority against persons who willfully compromise an exam in violation of 55.49

BACKGROUND

+ Goal was to improve ef"iciency w1i e maintaining effectiveness Eliminate reliance on NRC contractors (except G:E) c Increase facility invo vement Maintain examination quality and cifficu ty Remain consistent witn t7e Act and Part 55 C7anges s7oulc ae transparent to license applicants

• Initial licensing program was not broken

++n..

_________m

MILESTONE SCHEDULE

' 0/2' /97:Comnient perioc encee 4/' /98:

Resolve comments; revise ru e anc NU 9EG-1021; seek Office concurrence 4/98:

Brief CRGR and ACRS 5/22/98:

Ootain Office concurrence and de iver to EDO 6/98:

Obtain EDO anc Commission concurrence 7/98:

Pub is, the final rule anc Revision 8

' 2/31/98: Imp ement rule anc Revision 8

zw a

l EXAM RESULTS Exams RO RO RO SRO SRO SRO Written Operating Total Written Operating Tetol i

FY 1995 94 %

98 %

92 %

95 %

95 %

92 %

Original 22 91 %

93 %

83 %

93 %

96 %

90 %

j 1

Pilots 49/54 50/54 45/54 86/92 87/91 83/92 l

i Through CY 93 %

95 %

88 %

94 %

96 %

91 %

1996 77/83 80/84 75/85 136/144 137/143 131/144 1

Since 92 %

89 %

83 %

94 %

92 %

89 %

1/97 54/59 51/57 49/59 100/106 98/106 95/107 Total 92 %

93 %

86 %

94 %

94 %

90 %

131/142 131/141 124/144 236/250 235/249 22'6/251 l

The results of one exam plus one RO and one SRO ioperating test appeal are pending.

. 1 v ~~

;+

- k-

FY99 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS

' Fcbruary 20,- 1998 RO SRO-l SRO U TOTAL l

l Date Plant Chief Pass Pass Pass Pass 0

4 l

9/28/98 Sequoyah MEE 4

l 10/5/98 Harris RFA 4

2 3

10/19/98 B. Ferry HFS write DCP 4

4 11/30/98 Oconee &

MEE 6

6 12/14/98 11/30/98 St Lucie &

RSB 15 15-l 12/14/98 j

1/25/99 McGuire &

DCP 14 1

15 l

2/8/99 1/25/99 C. River &

RFA 10-12 l

2/8/99 i

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

!l 07/199 Robinson?

4 1

1 1

07/ /99 C. River?

08/ /99-Turkey Pt?

20

(

9/15/99 - Summer?

4 l

09/ /99 Sequoya;; ?

l 99 l

'?' designates tentative No initial exams scheduled for:

Nor+J, Anna 710/18/99 Brunswick-9 candidates 710/ /99 B. Ferry 4r, 4i, 4u i

710/25/99 Hatch Br?

710/ /99 St. Lucie 2 wk i

712/13/99 Vogtle-Sr, Si, 2u l

j^

ENCLOSURE 4 i.

FY 98 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS

[10/1/97 - 9/30/98]

Febru:ry 20,1998 RO SRO-I SRO-U TOTAL Exam PLANT CHIEF PASS PASS PASS PASS Week

!0/14/97 St. Lucie &

GTH 6

6 1

1 7

7 10G0 11/14/97 Cr. River RETAKE RFA 1

1 1

1 12/1/97 Summer JFM 8

8 8

8 l

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 l

l RESULTS TO DATE 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 ENCLOSURE 4

... ~.. _ _._

-__.__m i

i REGION 11 WORKSHOP - OPEF.ATOR LICENSING EXAMINATIONS JANUARY 27 - 29,1998 4

j Exam Workshop Attendees Charlio Brooks Asst Manager, Ops Trg - INPO Frank S. Jaggar Examiner-WD Associates Ken Masker Senior Licensed Instructor Rochester Gas & Electric, 5

R. E. Ginna NPP Bob Niedzielski Exam Developer - Baltimore Gas & Electric i

James F. Belzer instructor - CCNPP/BGE Max Bailey Region Ill Operator Licensing Examiner CP&L l

Gregg Lualam LOR - Supervisor - Brunswick William Noll Supt Ops Training - Brunswick i

Tony Pearson initial Training - Brunswick i

Richard Edens LOR instructor - Brunswick

]

Rick Qmer Sup - OTU - Hams Terry,

'r Project Tech Spec-tlatris Wiley K., atte Project Tech Spec - Hams l

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 '

j Alan Whitener Ops Instructor j

Edward A. Shaw Ops Instructor Bobby Ayers Ops instructor _Qragan j

Steve Helms Training Super Charles Sawyer Initial Training - McGuire

!L Reggie Kinvay Initial Trining Lead E. T. Beadle Nuclear instructor - CN_S James K. Black Nuclear Instructor - DNS Gabriel Washburn Nuclear Instructor - DRS 4

Camden Eflin Team Leader - HLP - Oconee 4

a (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2) i 4

ENC OSURE 5

~

_. ~.

I.,

2 (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd)

EE%L Ivan Wilson Operations Manager Kris Metzger -

Ops Training Supervisor - St. Lucie 1

Roger Walker.

Instructor - St. Lucie Tim Bolander instructor - St. Lucie_

David P. Clark Instructor - St. Lucie i

Maria L. Lacal Training Manager - Turkev Point Rich Bretton Ops Cert Trng Sup - Turkev Point Philip G. Finegan Ops Trining Supervisor - Turkev Point Michael E. Crolteau Cont Trng Instructor - Turkey Point j

i SoutMrn Nuclear (SNC)

Joel L. Deavers Senior Instructor-Farlev Scott Fulmer Training & Emergency Preparedness Manager - Eader Gerard W. Laska Training Instructor-Farlev Charlie Edmund Plant Instructor-Hatch David Gidden Training apervisor-Hatch Ed Jones Plant Instructor - Hatch Da7 Scukanec Ops Trng Supv - Vogtle Fred Howard Plant Instructor - Vf, gile Virainia 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 4

Paul K. Orrison Ops Instructor-Surry IVA Ray Schorff Instructor - Smwps Ferry Denny Campbell Instructor - Browns Ferry Bob Greenman Training Manager-Browns Ferry Marvin Meek Instructor - Browns Ferrv A. R. Champion Instructor - Browns Ferry Rick King Sr Ops Instructor - Seauovah Frank Weller lustructor - Secuovah Phillip H. Gass Sim instructor - Seouovah Ed Keyser Instructor - Seauoyah l

Harold Birch Instructor - Seauovah (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2) j

- ~ -....

3 j

(Exam Workshop AMendees cont'd) 1 TVA cor11'd Teny 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 o.

A s

i i

e s

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v

_~ _

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CONCERNS EXPRESSED DURING THE REGION 11 EXAMINATION WRITING WORKSHOP The following is a condensation of the concems rr:ceived from the attending facilities during the January 1998 Workshop on Examination Writing. The workshop attendees ar,d I would appreciate your consideration of the concems during your revision to the Examiner Standards.

1)

Security requirt.ments 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 ;.now 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 commer.t, 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)

ENCIOSURE 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 iaci1ities 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 thair 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 h

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 +a 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 hava 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 tne 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 exple.ned that I use a mental description of a minimally competent 03erator to decide if the question is one that he/she needs to know and w1 ether the overall exam is targeted for that person to achieve a store 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 d

i ENCUJSUPE 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 3

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 com]etent operator due to psychometric flaws in the question structure. T1ese 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 cuestions require more thought process than memory level questions anc consequently more time. The recuirement for a fifty percent minimum of higher level questions was basec 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.

4 I

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