ML20207S807

Discusses Integrity of Written take-home Requalification Exams.Generic Ltr 83-17 Prohibits take-home Exams.Further License Renewal Submittals Held Pending Evaluation of Next Requalification Exam & Administration

ML20207S807
Person / Time
Site:	University of Maryland
Issue date:	03/04/1987
From:	Elsasser T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Dorfman R MARYLAND, UNIV. OF, COLLEGE PARK, MD
References
GL-83-17, NUDOCS 8703200286
Download: ML20207S807 (3)

Text

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e F# 4 E87 Docket No: 50-166 University of Maryland ATTN: Dr. R. Dorfman, Provost Division of Mathematics and Physical Services and Engineering College Park, Maryland 20742 Gentlemen:

Subject:

WRITTEN REQUALIFICATION EXAMINATION INTEGRITY This concerns the recently substantiated practice at your facility of allowing licensed operator requalification written examinations to be taken home on an honor-system basis. One objective of the requalification examination is to monitor individual knowledge and ability levels. Successful completion of this examination is used to certify to the NRC that individual operator performance is adequate to warrant license renewal every two years under the current provisions of 10 CFR 55.33.C. This issue was directly addressed in Generic Letter 83-17 to all power and non power reactor licensees, " Integrity of the Requalification Examinations for Renewal of Reactor Operator and Senior Reactor Operator Licenses," issued on April 8, 1983 by Darrell G. Eisenhut, Director, Division of Licensing. This letter clearly prohibited the use of take-home examinations as a means of certifying individual performance. A copy of this letter is enclosed.

Since NRC licensing action on requests for operator and senior operator license renewals depends significantly on the integrity of requalification examinations, all further submittals of these license renewals from your facility will be held pending an NRC evaluation of your next requalification written examinations and their administration. Specifically, this will include an NRC review of the written examinations prior to their being admin-istered and after they are graded. In addition, an NRC examiner may be present during one or more of the examination administrations.

We presently hold a reference material set for your facility, but for the purposes of this review we will additionally require the requalification written examinations given over the last two years. These can be sent with the current year examinations when they are submitted for review.

In a telephone conversation between Dr. Frank Munno of your staff, and Mr. Douglas Coe, Lead Examiner, the next administration of your written requalification examination is planned for March 1987. Please inform us of the specific schedule when it becomes known.

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2 Thank you for your consider. Lion in this matter. If you have any questions regarding this evaluation process, please contact Mr. Douglas Coe, Reactor Projects Section IC, at 215-337-5171.

Sincerely, Thomas C. Elsasser, Chief Reactor Projects Section No. 3C Division of Reactor Projects

Enclosure:

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F. Munno, Director R. Belcher, Reactor Director Chief, OLB, DHFT, NRR bec w/ encl:

DRP Section Chief D. Coe -

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April 8, 1983 <

TO ALL POWER AND NON-POWER REACTOR LICENSEES, APPLICANTS FOR AN OPERATING -

LICENSE AND HOLDERS OF A CONSTRUCTION PERMIT Gentlemen:

Subject:

Integrity of the Requalification Examinations for Renewal of Reactor Operator and Senior Reactor Operator Licenses (Generic Letter 83-17) .

Retantly, an investigation was completed which determined that a senior off f-cial at a nuclear power plant certified to the NRC that a licensed individual had successfully completed the licensed operator requalificathn program, when in fact, that individual had cheated by submitting another person's work in rnpon e to some examination questions.

Such an individual has not successfully completed the recualification prograin and has not discharged his licensed responsibility in a safe ann comp 3 tent manner, as required by 10 CFR 55. Furthermore, it should be noted that cheating on examinatior.s which are used 'to. certify individuals to the NRC will result in an automatic denial of a ilcense application or license renewal and could result in more severe penalties.

The : purpose of this letter is to higillight the need for you to ensura that tha validity of the certifications rwuired by 10 CFR Part 55 and the intreity

.nd honesty of the raqualification program are adequately addressed in fat.ility procedures. You should review your procedures on thB subject to ensuiu that an applicant's i_qdividual perf.mr.ance can be determined. 'faur procco sees should include provisions to detect and prevent instances of cheatin3 In particular, unrecctored ex.smisation, take-home quizzes a.1d on snif t tests allow ample opper:. unity for cheating which could go undetected and, therefore, are not an ahceptable mears for certifying individual performance. While some portions of extiinations may be conducted in an open-book format (e.g. Use of steam tabits on thermodynamics problems or use of facility procedures and drawingt during oral examinations), adequate mo,Horing provisions are essential to ensure that the persons being evaluated are working independently and are: using only authorized instructional or reference materials.

No submittals of procedures or resuP.s of your procedure revit ws are required by this letter; hcwever, we will review these procedures as a part of our audits of the licensed reactor operator and senior reactor operator requalifi-cation programs.

Original tigned by Darrell G. Eisenhut, Director Division of Licensing

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