ML20217G970
| ML20217G970 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/26/1997 |
| From: | Black S, Gramm R NRC |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9804290247 | |
| Download: ML20217G970 (1) | |
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5th international Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONES)
Nice, France, May 26-30,1997 ABSTRACT GRADED QUALITY ASSURANCE Robert A. Gramm Suzanne C. Black The NRC has promulgated deterministic criteria for determining which equipment at commercial nuclear power plants is considered safety-related (see 10CFR50.2, Appendix A to 10 CFR 100,10 CFR 50.65, and 10 CFR 50.49). Because of the relatively greater importance of this set of equipment to protect public health and safety, the NRC also required that a quality assurance program (Appendix B to 10 CFR 50) be applied to all activities affecting the safety-related functions of that equipment. The overall purpose of the quality assurance program is to implement planned and systematic actions that are necessary to provide adequate confidence that safety-related plant equipment will perform satisfactorily in service. The requirements delineated in Appendix B to 10 CFR 50 recognized that QA program controls should be applied in a manner consistent with the importance to safety of the plant equipment. In the past, engineering judgement provided the general mechanism to determine the relative importance to safety of plant equipment.
In recognition of advances made in the state-of-the-art in the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) technology area, the NRC has,made the decision to expand the use of PRA in the regulatory process.~ PRA will provide new insights that can be utilized by licensees to determine the relative safety-significance of plant equipment. The probabilistic insights would then be utilized to help identify less safety important systems, structures, and components that are candidates for reductions in QA treatment. The end result of this proce,ss is that licensees would have plant equipment that is in one of four categories: safety-related and high-safety-significant; safety-related and low-safety-significant; non-safety-related and high-safety-significant; and non-safety-related and low significant. Grading of QA controls would vary commensurate with these categorizations. The NRC is providing guidance that may be used by licensees to determine both the relative safety significance of plant equipment, and to adjust the application of QA controls accordingly.
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