ML20247F592
| ML20247F592 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/10/1989 |
| From: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 8905300111 | |
| Download: ML20247F592 (38) | |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMIS SION 1
If(16'-
BRIEFING ON STATUS OF OPERATOR LICENSING ACTIVITIES-IN THE AREA 0F REQUALIFICATION EXAMS Location:
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND h&($'
MAY 10, 1989 P&gg$'
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O DISCLAIMER This is an unofficial transcript of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission held on May 10, 1989 in the Commission's office at One White Flint
- North, Rockville, Maryland.
The meeting was open to public attendance and observation.
This transcript has not been reviewed, corrected or edited, and it may contain inaccuracies.
The transcript is intended solely for general 1
informational purposes.
As provided by 10 CFR 9.103, it is not part of the formal or informal record of decision of the matters discussed.
Expressions of opinion in this transcript do not necessarily reflect final determination or beliefs.
No pleading or other paper may be filed with the Commission in any' proceeding as the result of, or e
addressed to, any statement or argument contained herein, except as the C'ommission may authorize.
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UliITED STATES OF AMERICA 2
UUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIOli 7
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-d BEIEFItiG 011 STATUS OF OFERATOR t,ICEliSIITG ' ACTI'v'ITIES l
5 I?T THE APEA OF REQUALIFICATIO11 EXAt!S-
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?UBLIC MEETI11G g
9 tiuclear Regulatory Commission' 10 One White Flint ITorth 11 Rockville. tiaryland 12 13 Wednesday. May 10. 1989 14 15
-The Commission met in open session, pursuant to 16 notice. at 2 : 00. p.m., the Honorable LA1IDO W.
- CECH, JR.,
17 Chairman of the Commission. presiding.
18 19 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
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20 LANDO W.
- ZECH, JR.,
Chairman of the Commission 21 THOMAS M. ROBERTS, Member of the Commission 22 JAMES R.
CURTISS, Member of the Commission 23 24
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STAFF:AND PRESE11TERS SEATED'AT THE COMMISSION TABLE:
I' 2
SAMUEL J.
CHILK, Secretary 3-STUART TRERY,' General Counsel's Office 4
VICTOR STELLO, JR,,
Executive Director for 5
Operations l
6 JACK ROE, Director, DLE Q, IIRR
]
l 7
KEITf!ETH E.
PERKIffs.
JR.,
Chief.. OPLB. DLPQ, !!RR 8
RALPH COOLEY., Chief, RSOS, DLPQ, 11RR 9
FRED HIRAGLIA, !!RR 10 11 12 13 14 i
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1
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(2:01 p.m.)
3 CHAIRMAti ZECH:
Good afternoon.
ladies and-
-4 gentlemer..
5 F.nmmissioners Carr and Rogers will not be with 6
us today.
7 This afternoon the staff will brief the 8
. Commission on the status of implementation of the 9'
operator.raqualification examination program.
10 After a September 10th, 1987 public meeting 11 between the !!RC staff and the industry representatives,-
12.
the staff. decided to suspend' further NRC involvement in 13 the administration of requalification examinations for 14 HRC licensed reactor operators.
15 This decision was made tn assure that there was 16 no adverse impact on the safety of licensed power 17 reactors as a result of the NRC requalification 18 examination process, 19 The staff has worked to improve the 20 requalification examination process, and demonstrated its 21 effectiveness by conducting pilot requalification
[
22 programs at five utilities, which they briefed, the h
l 23 Commission on in December of 1988.
i 24 The staff has now conducted requalification j
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this afternoon of'the results of.the program to-date.
2
' Copies of.the slide. presentation should be 3
available at the entrance to the meeting room.
4 Do my fellow Commissioners have any opening l
5
. comments to make?
6 (lio response.)
7 If'not, tir. Stello, yob may proceed.
8 MF. STELLO:
Thank you, lir. Chairman.
I 9
In the. way of a general observation. I think 10 the overall training of. the operating people over the 11 past ten years has improved significantly, and that-was 12 summarized this morning in the Commission's briefing by 13 the industry.
I think, in my judgment, a great deal of 14 the credit for the improvement we've seen in the nuclear 15 plants directly ties back to the adequacy of the 16 training, especially of the operators.
17 One particular part of that training leads, of 18 course, to two times when they're tested -- one when they' 19 get their initial exams, which we think has been going 20 along very well and we've not had significant problems, 21 although I think there's clearly room for improvement 22 there, but we, as you had indicated, found significant 23 problems in terms of administering requal exams and, as 24 you point out, we did suspend it.
T 25 We went out to try to understand the problem as NEAL R. GROSS COURT Rep 0RTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RN00E 15 LAND AVENUE, N.W.
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'best we-can.
We_had some public meetings, and in a 2
moment Jack Roe will summarize this in more detail, but I 3
would look at the experience we've had with it and I--
4 in seeingL the regulatory problem, hitting it. head-on,
5 making the changes that were necessary I think we have, 1
'6 again, come a long way in demonstrating the willingness 7
of the regulators to go out, when we're off on a tangent 8
and we ought not to be, to be willing to change ' our 9
course and do the right thing, and I think we have.
10 And I think the overall feedback that I've 11 heard from the industry now has been very, very positive.
12 So, I think we've gotten the requal program running now 13 reasonably well.
i 14 I'll ask Jack Roe to-give you
'a more 15 comprehensive picture and snapshot of. the background 16 because I 'think it is important -- has a very important 17 lesson to. how we can regulate better when we have a 18 problem, and deal with it quickly and efficiently.
19 Jack?
20 MR. ROE:
The Commission requested a briefing 21 on our new requalification program after it was running 22 smoothly.
I'm pleased to report to you that we have i
23 fully implemented our new requal program and, indeed, it 24 is running very smoothly.
25 Late in '88 we briefed the Commission on our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHOOE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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a 4
1 current approach, which corrected the problems that Mr.
2 Ste110 has-spoken of.
At that time, we had conducted the 3
five pilot programs, and we had made some revisions based 4
on what-we learned in the pilot programs', and implemented 5
our new requal program in October of88.
6 Recently, the staff has sent.to the Commission 7
two papers on alternatives to our requalification 8
program, which makes further refinements'in the way that 9
we conduct it.
We will make the changes based on ' the 10 guidance from the Commission, after you have an 11 opportunity to address those.
' - 12 Ken Perkins is Chief of our Operator Licensing 13 Branch, will discuss the status of our current program.
14 Ken?
15 MR. PERKIIIS :
Thank you.
16 As we begin to talk about the status of the 17 requal program, I'd like to refresh'your memories on the 18 composition of the requal program.
Recall that it is a 19 four-part examination that we administer at the sites.
20 The first part is a
dynamic s i m u l.a t o r 21 examination in which we focus on crew performance as well.
22 as individual performance, individual weaknesses.
We 23 evaluate the time critical and team dependent behavior 24 during the simulator scenario runs.
25 The critical tasks to plant safety that are NEAL R. GROSS I
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1 contained in each of the scenarios then, provide'us with r
2 a basis for evaluating the satisfactory performance of 3
the individuals and the teams.
4 The second part of the operating exam is the 5
walkthrough part.
And in the walkthrough exam, we assure 6
proficiency of individuals and plant systems which are 7
.important to safety.
We emphasize the requalification 8
- subjects, the subjects out of their requalification 9
~ programs, as well as recent licansee and industry 10 experience, and probability risk assessments.
l 11 Ue utilize job performance measures to 12 determine satisfactory performance of individuals during 13 these walkthrough examinations.
14
'In the written exam, which is all'. ope n 15 reference, we conduct a portion of that in the static 16 simulator and, in the static simulator, we evaluate ' the 17 individual's knowledge of plant systems, integrated 18 operations, instrumentation and controls, technical I
19 specifications, and limited conditions of operation.
20 In the classroom portion of the written exam--
21
- again, remember. tha t this is open reference we 22 evaluate the individual's ability to analyze conditions t
23 and to determine proper procedures and administrative l
24 practices.
I 25 So, these are the four sections of the exam as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRAN5 Cal 8ERS 1323 RNODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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we've been administering them, 3
.1 4
2 If I may have the first slide, please.
(Slide) j i
3 I'd like to now discuss with you a summary of the requal l
1 I*
4 program status since implementation -- that is, since we 5
b gan implementing the program October of 1933, about
]
6 seven months ago.
7-I'd first like to say that the. start has been a 8
little slow.
The number of facilities' exams in the 9
first few months was somewhat below our projection but:
10 that the number of exams that we have been administering 11 have been picking up in the last three months.
We're now 12 within 60 percent of our projedted level of examination.
13 and we' expect to meet our. examination projection for.the 14 year, by the end of the fiscal year.
15 There are 12 facility programs which we have 16 evaluated to-date.
Two of those final evaluations are 17 still pending.
Two of the 12 have been found
-18 unsatisfactory.
19 We have found no significant problems with the 20 NRC requalification program implementation. In fact, the i
21 NRC's requalification program is identifying problems j
)
3 22 with facility programs, as well as with individuals who 23 need remedial training.
i 24 Next slide, please.
(Slide)
The facilities at
./
25 which we have conducted requalifications examinations and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AMO TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENGE N.W.
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where we have evaluated the facilities' programs are 2
listed on this slide.
The two facilities for which the 3
results are still pending are Braidwood and Palisades.
4 The Braidwood exam is still being graded.
The Palisades 5
exam has been graded, but in order to complete a program 6
evaluation, we must have a minimum sarple cf 12
'l 7
examinations.
and we did not have the full 12 at 8
_ Palisades.
9 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Which are the two that were 10 unsat?
11 MR.
PERKIUS:
The two programs that. were.
12-unsatisfactory are Turkey Point and Point Beach.
13 COMMISSIONER ROBERTS:
Point Beach was 14 unsatisfactory?
15 MR. PERKINS:
Yes.
If there are questions, we 16 can speak to that a little later.
17 COMMISSIONER ROBERTS:
What was the basis for 18 selecting these 12?
19 MR. PERKINS:
It depends on the -- we intend to 20 get to all facilities.
21 COMMISSIONER ROBERTS:
I understand.
22 MR. PERKINS:
It was based on the facilities' and their availability 23 training cycle schedule and out 24 in order to conduct these examinations.
25 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
I might say that it's NEAT. R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE 1$ LAND AVENUE, N.W.
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. disappointing to hear that Turkey Point was unsat.
This 2
kind'of' indicates a continuing problem with Turkey Point.
3
.I'm kind of tired of seeing Turkey Point on the bottom of 4
our list, and so forth, and all the attention the staff's 5
given it, and the region's given it the past few years.
6 It's very ' disappointing.
What were the results of that 7
-unsat?
Can you give us just a little bit on that.before
'8 we move on?
9 MR. PERKItiS :
Certainly.
There were 24 people 10
-- 24 individuals examined at-Turkey Point.
The criteria 11 that we have set up in our exam --
- 12 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
This is by our own people, by 13 NRC?
14 MR. PERKINS:
By IIRC.
15 C H A I R M AII ZECH:
Our new requalification 16 program.
17 MR. PERKItiS :
Examined by IIRC.and the facility 18 evaluators.
So, it was co-graded.
I l
19 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
But the requalification program 20
-- just-to refresh my memory -- this is the one that the i
)
21 industry worked with us on this program --
22 MR. PERKINS:
Yes.
and contributed l
23 C H A I R M A li ZECH:
24 significantly to the new program, so this is the one that 25 they also recognize as a valid, good requalification NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $
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program, is that correct?
2 MR. PERKINS:
I'm stealing my own thunder for a 3
later slide, but, yes, both Point Beach and Turkey Point 4
have told us that they thought that the exam was a good,
-5 fair, operationally-oriented examination.
l 4
6 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Well, we can go on then.
Thank 7
.you.
Tell us some more about Turkey Point, though; why 8
-did they do so poorly.
9 COMMISSIONER CURTISS:
Just a quick question 10 while we're on that point.
What do we do when a program i
11 is unsatisfactory?
12 MR.
- PERKINS :
Okay.
A facility-we have 13 criteria in the examiner standards that we use-to 14
-determine when a program is unsatisfactory It can be~on 15 the basis of the percentage of individuals examined that 16 fail the exam.
In other words, if less'than 75 percent 17 of the people. pass, this is a reflection on the program, 18 and they may have an unsatisfactory program.
19 If a
certain number of
- crews, certain 20 percentage of the crews that we examine fail, then their J21 program may be found unsat.
If a certain number of their i
22 evaluators are found unsat, then the program may be found
.)
I 23 unsatisfactory.
So, there are a longer list of criteria 24 that are considered.
k.:
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. individual who fails t.h e exam is removed from shift and 2~
put into remedial-training.
The facility's program,.when 3-it is found to be unsat, no longer has the authority or 4
.the power to re-examine that individual and return them 5
'to shift.
If it was a satisfactory.prograr, we allow the 6
facility-to re-examine the individual and return.them to 7
shift, knowing that we will come back and conduct'another S
exam prior to. renewing their license.
With an unsat 9
program,.that power does not exist.
10 Also, there.is a case-by-case determination by
-11 the regional administrator working in conjunction with 12 ourselves and his staff, on whether or not that facility 33 should continue to operate.
And the number of-14 individuals in whom we have confidence as operators to.
15.
operate that plant, to constitute-the required number of 16 shifts,.'is one factor, but SALP ratings and other factors 1~7 go'into that determination.
18 COMMISSIONER CURTISS:
What if a crew fails the 19 test, what happens?
20 MR. PERKINS:
If a crew fails the shift, they if a crew fails the exam, they are taken 21 are taken 22 off-shift and must receive remedial training prior to 23 being returned to shift.
24 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Can you tell us just briefly a
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.1 then?
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'2 MR. PERKIllS :
Okay.
There were
- a. total of 24 l
3 individuals who took the examination.
of those, 12 were
..0 4'
on-shift personnel and 12 were off-shift personnel.
By i
5 off-shift., I mean staff licensed individuals.
6 The number of on-shift perscnnel who failed the 7
exam was four.
The number of of f-shif t. personnel who 8
failed the exam-was eight.
The failures that occurred 9.
were-across all three parts of the examination the 10 written exam, the walkthrough, and the simulator, the 11 dynamic simulator part of the exam.
12 Those individuals were taken off-shift and have 13 been put into a remedial training program.
And as I 14 believe you are aware, the facility shut-down in order to 15 provide training to those individuals who continue ~ to 16 have active licenses, so that they could provide crew-17 performance training to those people prior to restarting.
18 We conducted operational assessments which are-b 19 like the dynamic simulator part of the exam, on those 20 crews.
21 CHAIRMAff ZECH:
Do we consider their program 22 satisfactory?
23 MR. PERKIIIS :
fio, we do not.
We consider their 24 program as unsatisfactory.
tk 25 CHAIRMAti ZECH:
The whole program is NEAL R. GROSS cover nepoersas ANo raANsemisens 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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1 unsatisfactory at Turkey Point?
q r.
2 MR. PERKINS:
Their requalifications program is.
3' unsatisfactory at this point,'and there is going to be+a 4
meeting in Region III on Monday, the. 15th, to discuss 5
their plan for correcting their program.
l 6
CHAIRMAt! ZECH:
What's the operational status 7
.of the plant?
8 MR.
PERKINS:
The operational status of the j
9 plant is that they have returned -- we have conducted our 10 operational assessment and determined that the four 11 crews, after --
12 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Qualified operators.
of qualified operators, are 13 MR.
FEEKINS:
14 satisfactorily qualified to operate the facility.
This 15 was a determination made about a week ago.
It's my 16 understanding that the f acility has returned to has 17 gone to hot stand-by today.
18 MR. MIRAGLIA:
It's on its way.
19 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
I presume we're monitoring that 20 performance very closely, though, Region II, and perhaps 21 headquarters.
What do we do in that regard?
3 lc l
the operational 22 MR. MIRAGLIA:
It's a joint d
23 readiness that Ken alluded to was a joint evaluation by 24 region and headquarters.
We've had --
25 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Make a determination,that they NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRAN5CRitERS 8323 RNODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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.could operate with those four shifts.
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.MR.
MIRAGLIA:
Yes, sir, and there's been some-
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31 radditional looking at the crews, concerns - relative to 4
both of the units.
There's a: meeting, as Ken indicated,.
'5 to discu~ss the long-term. plans.
and region and 6
' headquarters will continue to watch that operation.
7 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Please do that; watch them 8.
closely.
1 9
MR. MIRAGLIA:
Yes, sir.
~ 10 MR. STELLO:
I should add, Mr. Chairman, since-11 this conversation thus far has a very, very negative 12 tone, and perhaps s'omewhat justified, but on the other 13 hand we have h'ad intense interactions with this licensee.
14-and.they have made significant management changes at the 15 plant, and the feedback --
-.16 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
I know they've made changes --
the feedback we're getting, 17 MR.
STELLO:
18 that the individuals that are coming there, are. starting 19 to make a difference, but we must be patient.
It will 20 take a long --
Lt 21 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Well, we've been patient a long 22 time with Turkey Point, that's my point.
The plans are 23 good always.
I've been down there.
I've seen it.
I 24 remember when they told me about the improvement programs 25 they had.
I asked him why the others didn't work.
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didn't-get.a very good answer.
They're all enthused 2
about their new' programs.
3 I recognize they've had management changes.
.I 4
recognize the staff has done.a very good job of watching.
5 them closely.
They haven't perfo5med "ery well.
They
,'i j 1
6 have not implemented very well.
7 I expect to see results.
I expect we. deserve 8
to see results.
We should see results.
So,' ' all I'm 1
9 saying is, watch them closely, and I hope'that we'11'see 10 results soon because we should.
11 111 right.
Let's move along.
~
12 MR.
PERKINS:
All right.
If I may have ' the 13 next slide, please.
(Slide).The results that weuhave.to-
.14 date are presented on this slide.
We have conducted 15 since program implementation that's.since this past 1C October -- 149 individual license examinations.
17 Each of the three examination categories are 18 broken out for you there.
I will tell you that of the 19
- 149, 119 individuals have passed the exams, which 20 represents about 80 percent.
In other words, there's
' l 21 about an 80-percent pass rate across all of the 22 facilities that we have done to-date.
Now, that includes L'
23 Turkey Point and Point Beach.
24 If I remove Turkey Point and Point Beach, then 25 the total pass rate is 89 percent.
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.1 trying:to make with you here is that the unsatisfactory 2'
programs do have a marked impact on the overall 3
statistics for this program.
.1 Also, at the bottom of the ' page ', it reveals 5
that we have examined or evaluated 37 crews.
Of these.
6-31 he-e passed.-- that is 34 percent overall - -and 91 7.
percent of the facilities-with satisfactory programs.
8
- Uext, I'd like-to provide you with some 9
observations with respect to the satisfactory programs.
I L
10
.In general,= the facilities' programs have been. well 11 prepared.
Recognize that this is a first round with each
-12 facility, and this is a different type of examination-13 than we have administered before, and so there has been-l-
14
'some need fer shepherding but, in general, the facilities 15-are well prepared.
16-The examination is recognized to be a practical 17' one versus academic questions.
We believe that we're 18-seeing good performance.
.That approximately 90 percent, 4
19.
or 89 percent, that I showed to you on the previous page, 20 I think,. -is a good indicator that we're lovking at the 21 operational qualities of these operators.
22 A few generic -- very few generic problems ha've 23 been identified.
Some improvements have been' identified 24 that would help to tune the program.
Several of the 25 facilities have just made our minimum requirement with NEAL R. GROS %
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'l respect to having questions in their question banks,-and L
2 job performance measures.and scenarios, and they need to 3
go on and develop additional material and refine the 4
quality of that.
5 There's also some need to gain more experience 6
on open reference question writing.
There's a skill'to 7
writing open reference type questions, so that the 8
candidate doesn't believe he has
't o look up'every ~
I 9
question.
10 That also relates ' to the last bullet on that 11
- page, and there is a certain amount of exam-taking 12
' technique involved in this exam, and that is because it's 13 open reference, individuals sometimes. f eel: that they 14 should look up every answer.
The exam is not' designed 15 that way.
The open references are provided to see how 16
.the individuals use their references, and how familiar 17 they are.
Not every question is expected to be looked 18 up.
19 With respect to the unsatisfactory programs, I 20 mentioned to you before that we used the criteria 21 contained in our examiner standards.
The specific 22 examiner standard is 601.
We believe that the NRC 23 program is effective in identifying facility program 24 deficiencies.
25 Licensees have concurred in the validity of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER 5 1323 RN00E ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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Both. Point Beach and. Turkey Point have nade that
]
exam.
.J 2
comment.
Point Beach did.it in a public forum of about
]
'3 300 people.
4 We 've also received an individual letter ' that.
5
-.where the individual stated that they thought the--
6 that he thought that the exam was' operationally-oriented-7 and he got an operational benefit o u't of it when ' he 8
returned to watch.
It's an individual who had not passed 9
the exam the first time around.
I think tha t 's 10
- remarkable.
11 With respect to the unsatisfactory programs, 12 just to reiterate a little bit, when the program is-13 unsatisfactory, the 11RC must re-examine the operators 14 before-they can go back on-shift, as well as prior to 15 their licenses being renewed.
16
.I n addition, the facility must describe the 17 actions that it plans to take to remedy the program 18 problems.
And the NRC must, in subsequent examinations, 19 evaluate an appropriate or a prescribed sample of that 12 20 operators in order to re-establish that the facility's' 21 program is, in fact, satisfactory.
22 So, if we had an unsatisfactory program, we 23 have to do 12 exams, or a sample of 12 people, to 24 determine that the facility's program is, in fact, 25 satisfactory.
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In s umrna ry,
.I'd like to report that I believe 2
that.the operational. nature of the current requal' program
.3 has ccrrected the problems previously identified by the 4
industry and by ourselves.
5 I believe that the program is going well.
6-There's'still some additional opportunity for fine-tuning 7
and improvement, but I believe overall the program :is 8
. working very well.
9 We intend to continue with the program on its 10 present course.
With respect to the manner or the 11 approach that we use in implementing it, the standards 12 a id the like, I do not anticipate changing, but as the 13 Commission makes its decision on the alternatives paper, 14 which is presently befcre you, we will modify the 15 specifics on how we implement the program.
l 16 That concludes the prepared remarks that I had-l 17 to present to you today.
18 MR. STELLO:
We're through, Mr. Chairman, and 19 ready for questions.
20 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
All right.
Thank you very
[
21 much.
22 Commissioner Roberts?
23 COMMISSIONER ROBERTS:
No.
24 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Commissioner Curtiss?
25 COMMISSIONER CURTISS:
No, I don't have any NEAL R. GROSS COURT R$ PORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 REM ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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1 questions.
I'm just -- I'm pleased to see that the 2.
shortcomings in the program around that final ruling, as 3
to problems that I think existed, have been addressed.
I 4
think the staff's made' good progress generally, on the t
5 programmatic issues that.they focused on, 5
I.
- too, I guess, am disappointed in any s
p-7 instance where a licensee performs as badly as some of 8
them apparently have, but I think ' tha t continued
.l
-l 9
attention that the Chairman has alluded to, hard-hitting 10 attention, is important, but I am pleased to see that the 11 program generally is m ving forward, and that th 12 concerns have been resolved, and that you've worked 13 carefully with those who have an interest in this-14 program, to make sure that we're t e s t i'ng for the right 15 things and in a fair and objective manner, and achieving, 16 I think, a general improvement in this area.
Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
What is the staff's schedule 18 for implementation of the requalification program at the 19 other facilities?
20 MR. PERKINS:
For the remainder of this fiscal 21 year, as I mentioned, we're looking at somewhat higher 22 than our projected -- our initial projections.
And for-
~
23 the remainder of this fiscal year, us expect to get to 22 f
24 more facilities.
That will bring us to a total of 36 in I'
25 this fiscal year.
And I should also mention, we can take NEAL R. GROSS COURT R$ PORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $
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~1 some credit for the five pilot exams, the five xams-that 1
2 we conducted at pilot facilities because the individuals 3
that we examined there, and passed those exams, who had 4
six-year licenses, have satisfied the exam requirement.
5 So, T. suppose we cdd take credit by the 9nd 6
of this. fiscal yH r, for having gotten to 41 facilities.
7' CHAIR 14Ali ZECH:
Does the schedule you've just 8
described and your projected schedule, permit us to get 9
to the objective that we have for examining all the 10 operators once every six years?
11 14 R.
PERFINS:
We believe so:
with-good 12 management and' hard work,. we'll be able to accomplish
- 13 '
that, yes, sir.
14.
C H A I R M AII ZECH:
.Very. good.
- Well, I think 15 you've done a fine job, and I'll tell you, it's a 16
. tremendous improvement from the requalification ' program 17 of several years ago, there's no question about it.
18 I remember in my early plant visits, why, I 19 almost consistently received complaints from the 4
20 operators about the requalification program, and I think 21 that this effort that you've undertaken jointly with the 22 utility support, has really been something that we can 23 all be proud of.
24 I think your comments that the acceptance.of
.,g 25 this program by the utilities and it's my NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $
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.1 understanding that that has been accepted very well -- as 2
appreciating the ' fact that the program is
- a. valid :
3 program; it's a much better program.
tiow, that's very 4
important.
'5 so, let nm. thank you very much for a fine r
1 6'
briefing.
I thank all of you involved'in this program.
I think it's important that we, as independent 8
regulators, do have confidence the operators that we're 9
licensing continue to man a high level of technical 10 competence and operational proficiency throughout their 11 licensing tenure.
12 I'm disappointed to hear that Turkey Point is 13 continuing to have problems.
I might ask.Mr. Stello,.
14 have you thought about a diagnostic examination, or some 15 kind of an examination for Turkey Point, that would kind 16 of look across the whole spectrum?
17 MR.
STELLO:
In our upcoming meeting, we're l
18 going to be looking at that plant very closely, and 19
.trying to sort out the types of changes they made ---are 3
20 they right, or do we need to look to understand more.
21 We'll be prepared to answer that question in June.
22 CHAIRMAli ZECH:
All right.
Fine.
Thank you.
23 I do think it's important because we've just focused on 24.
one aspect of it, the training, here today, but we all 25 know that there have been other problems at Turkey Point.
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.24 1-So, I think: the Commission would" be very interested' in 2
. hearing your views, after you've had.a chance to discuss.
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l 3'
them with your senior management people.
I know that q
f 4'
meeting is going'to take place next week, I believe.
j l
5 HP. STELLC:
Correct.
6 CHAIRMAIT ZECH:
So,.perhaps when you come back.
7 to the Commission -- I believe it's in early June -- that 8
you'll be able to give us your' thoughts on this.
It's a 9
continuing concern, I think, to the commission, and we'll 10 look forward to'your views on it.
11-I think it's also important ' that the methods o
12-that you use to judge compet.ence in-these requalification-13
- exams, and the proficiency that we assess f rom 'our 14 operators. in your examinations, is -- do we have the-15 confidence it's a very valid assessment of the-skills 16 that are required for safety, and that's why I, for one, 17 am so encouraged by the progress you've made in this area 18 because this exam for these operators is a
19 requalification exam.
We know it's not the initial 20 examination, but these are operators that are supposedly 21 qualified.
22 They are operating our plants.
We have reason 23 to believe that they're doing so safely, but this check 24 is very important, and I chink we've upgraded the 25 examination itself.
You have obviously made it much more
~
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professional, as I understand it, and much more on the 1
2 level of.what one might expect from qualified operators.
3 I appreciate the fact you're using simulators 4
as well r.s oral and written examinations, too, and you're 5
doing it with team concept and so forth.
I think thoss 6
are all good things because individual axams' are 7
important, but when they've been operating the plants'for 8
a while, it 's important to know that they are using 9
- teamwork, they're working together, they communicate 10 well, and they are respectful of those important parts of 11 the operations.
'12 So, I think that you have done an excellent job 13 in revising this requalification program, and it's a
~14 terrifically important program.
It does give us a check 15 on whether those licenses we've issued are being 16 respected, and whether the operators continue to keep 17 updated on current operational incidents that happen, 18 whether they're knowledgeable about their~ prof ession.
19 So, I commend you for an excellent job that you've all l
20 done in this regard.
21 You've asked the Commission to give you some i'
22 guidance in the paper, SECY 89-055, on this subject, in 23 the conduct of NRC-administered requali'fication 1
l 24 examinations, and I'm sure the Commission will be coming 25 back to you in the very near future, on that matter.
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p 26 1
Do any of my fellow Commissioners have anything
~
i 2.
-- any other comments to make?
^3 (No response.1 4
If
- not, thank you for an ' excellent 5
presentation, and keep up the" good work.
6 We stand adjourned.
7 (whereupon, at 2:34 p.m.,
the mee ting ' was.
8-adjourned.)
9
. 10-
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CERTIFICAT$ OF TRANSCRI'ER B
This is to certify that the attached events of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission entitled:
TITLE OF MEETING: BRIEFING ON STATUS OF OPERATOR LICENSING ACTIVITIES IN THE AREA 0F REQUALIFICATION EXAMS
' PLACE OF MEETING: ROCK"ILLE, MARYLAND DATE OF MEETING:
MAY 10, 1989 were transcribed by me. I further certify that said transcription is accurate and complete, to the best of my ability, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing events.
WAdL v
0o Reporter's name:
Phyllis Young ev h
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NEAL R. GROSS cover asacarsas Ano raAuscaissas 1323 aHOOf IShAMD AVsNUs, N.W.
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6
' - 0PERATOR REQUALIFICATION STATUS i
PRESENTED BY:
L JACK R0E, DIRECTOR DIVIS10N OF LICENSEE' PERFORMANCE AND OUALITY EVALUATION KENNETH E. PERKINS,'JR,, ClilEF OPERATOP LICENSING BRANCH k
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INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND
- PROBLEMS WITH PREVIOUS PROGRAM
- CORRECTIVE ACTIOP
- PILOT. PROGRAM i
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- STAFF PROPOSAL ON REQUAL ALTERNATIVES CUPRENT PROGRAM STATUS t
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REQUAL PROGRAM'
SUMMARY
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STATUS SINCE IMPLEMENTATION
- 12 FACILITY PROGRAMS EVALUATED
- - 2 PP0 GRAMS FOUND UNSAT 2 PROGRAM RESULTS PENDING s
N0 SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS WITH PROGRAM
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4 PLANTS EVALUATED FORT CALHOUN
' TURKEY POINT
- INDIAN. POINT 2 LIMERICK BEAVER VALLEY-1 PALISADES
- BRAIDWOOD*
SUMMER MONTICELLO SUSQUEHANNA POINT BEACH PALO VERDE'
'RESULTS PENDING 1
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SUMMARY
' EXAM ADMIN PASSED PERCENT PERCENT.
(TOTAL)
(SAT. PROG ONLY)
PRITTEN:
'149
- 129 87%'
94%
ORAL:
149 144 97%
100%
SIMULATOR:
149 134
-90%
93%
4 CREW EVALS:
37 31-84%
91%
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SATISFACTORY PROGRAMS-1 WELL PREPARED PRACTICAL VERSUS ACADEMIC QUESTIONS GOOD PERFORMANCE (APPR0X. 90% PASS)
FEW GENERIC PROBLEMS SOME IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY
- JOB PERF0PMANCE MEASURE-00ESTIONS L
- OPEN REFERENCE QUESTIONS
- EXAM-TAKING TECHNIQUES
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UNSATISFACTORY PP0 GRAMS 1-PROGRAM EFFECTIVE IN IDENTIFYING DEFICIENCIES LICENSEES CONCllRRED IN VALIDITY OF EXAM i
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SUMMARY
PREVIOUS PROBLEflS CORRECTED PROGRAM G0ING WELL CONTIt't!E PROGRAM MODIFY IN ACCORDANCE WITH COMMISSION DIRECTION 1
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.i ADVANCED COPY TO:
The Public Document Poem E//9 !E T DATE:
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FROM:
SECY Correspondence & Records Branch l!
Attached are copies of.a Commission meeting transcript and related meeting document (s). They are being forwarded for entry on the Daily Accession List and 1.
placement in the Puolic Document Room. No other distribution is requested or j
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l Meet'ing
Title:
M; N MW E
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Meeting Date:
5//o /#9 0 n Closed
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Copies l
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