ML20216B063
| ML20216B063 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Browns Ferry  |
| Issue date: | 03/03/1998 |
| From: | Peebles T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| To: | Greenman R TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9803120402 | |
| Download: ML20216B063 (23) | |
Text
.
9 March 3, 1998 Tennessee Valley Authority ATTN: Mr. Robert Greenman Training Manager Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant P. O. Box 2000 Decatur. AL 35609-2000
SUBJECT:
MEETING SUMMARIES - NOVEMBER 1997 NRC REGION II TRAINING MANAGERS' r.0NFERENCE AND JANUARY 1998 NRC REGION II EXAMINATION WORKSHOP
Dear Mr. Greenman:
This letter refers to the Training Managers Conference conducted at the Atlanta Federal Center on November 12 and 13. 1997 and the Examination Workshop conducted at the Richard B. Russell Building on January 27-29, 1998.
Representatives from all utilities in Region Il participated in both meetings.
The agenda for the Training Managers Conference is Enclosure 1 and the list of I
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 Replation (NRR). made a presentation on the present status of operator licensing and his slides are Enclosure 3.
During the meeting, it was tacided that a workshop on operator licensing examination writing was needed and would be held 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.
t Additionally I am enclosing our preliminary schedule for FY 1998 and FY 1999.
j dated February 18. 1998, as Enclosure 4. Please review the schedule and supply comments to my staff or myself.
I The Examination Workshop was conducted with participation by everyone. A list of attendees is Enclosure 5.
A standard Job Performance Measures (JPM) format was reviewed and coments collected by the Southeast Training Managers (SSNTA), with a final version expected this summer.
Concerns on the
- gl*
examination process were collected and is included as Enclosure 6.
These h4 concerns were forwarded to NRR for review.
n 1
00:',3 h b(
t gggggJed un
- M(9A D
w During the workshop..we discussed som of the problems with the initial examination process as it is being implemented be Revision 8 of NUREG-1021.
A discussion of those issues is enclosure 7 It is our opinion that this conference was beneficial and provided 'an L
excellent opportunity for open discussion of various concerns about the
'~
Operator Licensing process, especially the techniques of writing the licensing.
examination.
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.:
50-259. 50-260, and 50-296 License Nos:
i
Enclosures:
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' i
7.
Discussion of Workshop Issues-cc w/encls:
C. M. Crane _, Site Vice President.
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant i
T. E. Abney, Manager. Licensing &
Industry Affairs Distribution w/ enc 1s:
(See page 3) l
c:
i 3
Distribution w/encls:
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SO'UTHEAST TRAINIP.3 MANAGER'S CONFERENCE i
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region II Atlanta, Georgia Meeting Agenda 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 8:30 a.m.
Welcome Johns P. Jaudon, Director Division of Reactor Safety 9:00 a.m.
Welcome Bruce S. Mallett, Acting Deputy Regional Adminietrator 9:30 a.m.
Overview of Pilot Exam Process Thomas A. Peebles, Chief, j
Operator Licensing & Human Performance Branch 10:00 a.m.
Break 10:30 a.m.
Examination Communications Ron Aiello, RIl I
Exam Development & Coordination 11:00 a.m.
Examination Security Issues Paul Steiner, RII l
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, RII Examples of questions 4:00 p.m.
Meet with Principal Examiners All 4:30 p.m.
Adjorn ENCLOSURE 1
s.
$.i hradav. I1/13/97 8:30 a.m.
Recap Tom Peebles
. 8:45 a.m.
Reactivity Changes and Other issues Robert M. Gallo, Chief Operator Licensing Branch, NRR f
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 I
i l
l I
ENCLOSURE 1
t i
REGION 11 T-GERS CONFERENCE
/-13,1998 Timothy L. Norris -
Onsite Engin' si Manager Brian Haagensen PSHA 1
i CP&L Larry Dunlap BK Supv. Ops Cont Tmg Rick Gamer HR Supv Ops Trng Tom Natale RB Supt Ops Tmg William Noll BK Ops Trng Supv i
Max Herrell BK Trng Mgr Scot Poteet RB Exam Team Leader 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 Tmg Richard P. Bugert Corp Ops Trng Spec Gabriel Washburn OC Req Team Leader Charles Sawyer Corp Sr Tech Spec Ronnie B. White, Jr MG Trng Mgr E.T. Beadle CT Init Lic Exam Leader William H. Miller CT Tmg Mgr Al Lindsay MG Ops Trng Mgr Paul Stovall OC Mgr Oper Trng Bentley Jones OC Trng Mgr Paul Mabry OC Ops Line FP&L Ma.*ia Lacal TP Trng Mgr i
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)
J. M. Donem FA Sr inst Ops. Tmg John C. Lewis HT Trng & EP Mgr Tom Blindauer FA Sr Plt Inst Joe Powell FA Sr Inst Ops Trng Bill Oldfield FA Nuc Ops Trn Supv Southem Nuclear (SNC) (cont'd oaoe 21 ENCLOSURE 2 I
l '
2 i
Southern Nuclear (SNC) fcont'd)
Steve Grantham HT Ops Trng Supv Scott Fulmer FA Mgr Trng & EP Leon Ray VG, Ops Tmg Supv -
Viroinia Power Frank Winks NA Spv Ops Tmg H. Ashley Royal NA Supt Tmg Thomas Toby Sowers SR Supt Trng
.Dlh Bob Greenman BF Tmg Mgr Dick Driscoll SQ Tmg Mgr Walt Hunt SO Ops Tmg Mgr James Proffitt SQ Nuc Eng Marvin Meek BF HLT Lead inst Rusty Proffitt SQ V. C. Summer-SCE&G Terry Matlosz SM Mgr Trng AlKoon SM Ops Trng Supv ENCLOSURE 2
4 OPERATOR LICENSING INITIAL EXAMINATION RULE CHANGE Region ll Training Managers Conference November 13,1997 Robert M. Gallo, Chief, Operator Licensing Stench, NRR HCI)SURE 3
.J
~
HISTORY SECY 95-75 (3/95): Proposec change GL 95-06 (8/95):
So icitec volunteers ROI 95-25 (8/95):
Pi ot guidance 10/95 - 4/96:
Original pilot exams 5/1/96: CRGR ariefing o
SECY 96-123 (6/96?:
Pilot results o
SECY 96-206 (9/96):
Pros and cons o
GL 95-06, Sup.1 (1/97): Voluntary o
continuation of pilot process NUREG-1021, interim Rev. 8 (2/97) o SECY 97-79 (4/97):
Proposed rule o
62 FR 42426 (8/97):
Proposed rule o
e o..
. e.e e
e e m ae.
e.w.
w-s -o.. m n oe, o. m
- e-e. m THE PRCPCS$D RULE
- 3. A new 155.40 is acc'ec to reac as follows:
s 55.40 mp ementation.
(a? Power reactor facility licensees shall--
(1?
Prepare t7e required site-specific written examinations one operating tests; (2) Submit the written examinations and operating tests to the Commission for review and approval; and t
($?
Proctor and grade the NRC-spproved site-specific written exsminetLons.
1 i
THE REST OF THE RULE i
(b)
'n lieu of requiring a specific power reactor "acility licensee to prepare the examinations anc tests or to proctor and grade the site-specific written examinations, the Commission may elect to perform taose tas <s.
(c) The Commission will prepare anc acminister the written examinations and operating tests at non-power reactor facilities.
l l
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- The NRC wi. prepare one exam per Region per :ca encar year
- Faci'ity licensees are expectec' to use tae guicance in NUR.EG ' 021 NRC wil. approve ceviations N 9C wi not compromise statutory responsiaiities NRC is committed to maintaining quality, level o" cifficulty, consistency, anc security
- NRC intends to use its "ull enforcement authority against persons who willfully comnromise an exam in vio ation of 66.49
BACKGROUND Goa was to improve e"ficiency w1i e l
maintaining effectiveness i
E iminate reliance on NRC contractors (except GFE)
Increase faciity involvement l
Maintain examination qua ity anc cifficulty l
Remain consistent wit, the Act and Part 55 Changes should ae transparent to license applicants Initial licensing program was not broken
MILESTONE SCHEDULE 1
l
' 0/2' /97:Comntent perioc' enc'ec 4/1/98:
Resosve comments; revise l
ru e and NUREG ' 021; seek Office concurrence 4/98:
5/22/98:
0 3tain Office concurrence and ce iver to EDO i
6/98:
0 3tain EDO anc Commission concurrence 7/98:
Publis, the final rule and Revision 8
2/31/98: Implement ru e and i
Revision 8
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FY99 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS Fcbruary 20,1998 1
RO SRO-l SRO-U TOTAL Date Plant Chief Pass Pass Pass l#
Pass 0
9/28/98 Sequoyah MEE 4
l 10/5/98 Harris RFA 4
2 3
10/19/98 B. Ferry WFS write DCP 4
4 l
11/30/98 Oconee &
MEE 6
6 12/14/98 11/30/98 St Lucie &
RSB 15 15 12/14/98 1/25/99 McGuire &
DCP 14 1
15 2/8/99 1.
1/25/99 C. River &
RFA 10-12 2/8/99 3/15/99 Watts Bar &
RSB 7
5 I
3/29/99 3/29/99 Surry &
RFA 6
2 4
i 4/12/99 5/17/99 Catawba &
15-18 l
5/31/99 i
l l
5/10/99 Farley 2
6 Watts Bar ? 6/99 6
4 8
l 07/ /99 Robinson?
4 1
1 1
07/ /99 C. River?
08/ /99 Turkey Pt?
20 9/15/99 Summer?
4 l
09/ /99 Sequoyah ?
l 99 l
'?' d:signates tentative No initial exams scheduled for:
North Anna 710/18/99 Brunswick-9 candidates 710/ /99 B. Ferry 4r, 41, 4u 710/25/99 Hatch Br?
710/ /99 St. Lucie 2 wk
?12/13 /99 Vogtle-Sr, Si,2u -
ENCLOSURE 4 i
r FY 98 INITIAL EXAM RESULTS
[10/1/97 - 9/30/98)
Februrry 20,1998 RO SRO-I SRO-U TOTAL Exam PLANT CHIEF PASS PASS PASS PASS Week 10/14/97 St. Lucie &
GTH G
6 1
1 7
7 10/20 11/14/97 Cr. River RETAKE RFA 1
1 1
1 l
12/1/97 Summer JFM 8
8 8
8 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 G/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 1
9/28/98 Sequoyah MEE 4
4 54 28 26 108 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 l
Harris Surry l
Hatch W. Bar McGuire l
l ENCLOSURE 4 i
I e
l l
l
[
REGION 11 WORKSHOP - OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATIONS JANUARY 27 - 29,1998 Exam Workshop Attendees Charlie Brooks Asst Manager, Ops Trg - INPO Frank S. Jaggar Examiner-WD Associates Ken Masker Senior Licensed instructor Rochester Gas & Electric, R. E. Ginna NPP Bob Niedzielski Exam Developer - Baltimore Gas & Electric James F. Belzer Instructor - CCNPP/BGE Max Bailey Regicn 111 Operator Licensing Examiner CP&L Gregg Lualam LOR - Supervisor - Brunswick William Noll Supt Ops Training - Brunswich Tony Pearson Initial Training - Brunswick Richard Edens LOR Instructor - Brunswick Rick Garner Sup - OTU - Harns Terry Toler Project Tech Spec - HarIiG Wiley Killette Project Tech Spec - Harns 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 Alan Whitener Ops instructor Edward A. Shaw Ops instructor Bobby Ayers Ops Instructor - Oconee Steve Helms Training Super Charles Sawyer Initial Training - McGuire Reggie Kinvay Initial Trining Lead E. T. Beadle Nuclear Instructor - fdS James K. Black Nuclear instructor - QN_S l
Gabriel Wdburn Nuclear Instructor - RNE i
Camden Eflin Team Leader - HLP - Oconee (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2) l I
ENCEOSURE 5
2 (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd)
FP&L Ivan Wilson Operations Manager Kris Metzger Ops Training Supervisor - St. Lucie Roger Walker instructor-St. Lucie Tim Bolander Instructor-St. Lucie David P. Clark instructor - St. Lucie Maria L. Lacal Training Manager Turkev Point Rich Bretton Ops Cert Trng Sup - Turkey Point Philip G. Finegan Ops Trining Supervisor - Turkey Point Michael E. Crolteau Cont Trng instructor - Turkev Point Southem Muclear (SNC)
Joel L. Deavers Senior instructor-Farlev Scott Fulmer Training & Emergency Preparedness Manager-Farley Gerard W. Laska Training Instructor-Eadey Charlie Edmund Plant Instructor-Hatch David Gidden Training Gupervisor-Hater Ed Jones Plant Instructor-Hatch Dan Scukanec Ops Trng Supv - Vootle Fred Howard Plant instructor-Vootle Viralnir 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 Paul K. Orrison Ops instructor-EurIy EA Ray Schorff instructor - Browns Ferry Denny Campbell Instructor-Browns Ferry Bob Greenman Training Manager - Browns Ferry Marvin Meek Instructor - Browns Ferry A. R. Champion instructor - Browns Ferry Rick King Sr Ops Instructor-Seouovah l
Frank Weller instructor - Seouovah l
Phillip H. Gass Sim Instructor - Seauovah l
Ed Keyser Iristructor - Seauoyah Harold Birch Instructor - Seauoya.h (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd - See page 2)
r 1
3 (Exam Workshop Attendees cont'd)
TVA cont'd l
Terry Newman -
SRO Instructor - Watts Bar l
Rancy Evans SRO Instructor-Watts Bar i
Rick O' Rear Sift Manager - Watts Bar 1
- y. C. Summer-SCE&G Perry Ramicone Ops Instructor Bruce L. Thompson Ops Instructor William R. Quick
. Ops Instructor l
i l
l
1 CONCERNS EXPRESSED DUREG THE REGION ll EXAMINATION WRITING WORKSHOP The following is a condensation of the concems received from the al.ending facilities during the January 1998 Workshop on Examination Writing. The workshop attendees and I would appreciate your consideration of the concerns during your revision to the Examiner Standards.
1)
Security requirements 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 standa-ds allow this now?)
{
i 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 comment, 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 ll to have another workshop in about six months. The next time they want to concentrate on cood-
)
and bad examples of written and operating test items and the sample plan. (six i
comments)
ENCIOSURE 6
a 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 facilities 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 recogaize the variance across facilities in their 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 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 to develop an acceptable examination.
2)
Why has the NRC raised the level of difficulty of the examinations?
Many participants felt that the NPC 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 have 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 the 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 explained that I use a mental description of'a minimally competent o]erator 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 score 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 l
ENCIDSURE 7
b 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 abic 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 the last two years, we have improved our identification of poor distractors. A question does.not have discrimination validity u 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 1
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.
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