ML24156A109
| ML24156A109 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/24/2024 |
| From: | Bo Pham Division of Operating Reactor Licensing |
| To: | Andrea Veil Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML24156A109 (1) | |
Text
June 24, 2024 MEMORANDUM TO:
Andrea D. Veil, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM:
Bo M. Pham, Director /RA/
Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
ESTABLISHMENT OF CORE TEAMS TO FACILITATE EFFICIENT POWER UPRATE REVIEWS Objective:
The objective of this charter is to establish and maintain a core team that will be responsible for reviewing power uprate review (PUR) applications.
Groups:
The PUR Project Team, led by a PUR subject matter expert (SME), the PUR branch chief in the Division of Operating Reactor Licensing (DORL), and the PUR senior executive service champion (DORL), will keep abreast of when PURs (specifically extended power uprates (EPUs)) will be submitted to the NRC for review. The PUR Project Team will facilitate the formation and management (e.g., coordination with technical branches) of a core team and provide guidance and support to the plant project managers (PMs).
The core team is a concept in which the same pool of reviewers will review PUR applications to the maximum extent practicable, particularly EPUs, to facilitate more efficient reviews and to incorporate lessons learned from one PUR review to the next. The core team will ideally consist of experienced or senior staff members from the branches listed in the table below and maintained through strategic knowledge transfer opportunities. Based on past EPU data, the expected number of staff members that should be made available for review of an EPU is identified in the table below. Note that this number can change due to the complexity of the review (e.g., combined reviews, maximum extended load line limit analysis plus (MELLLA+) or increased enrichment/higher burnup combined with EPU reviews) and/or as a result of other potential shifts in the staffs approach to conducting the reviews (e.g., further enhancements).
CONTACT: William Orders, NRR/DORL 301-415-3329
Branch Number of Staff Members Needed for Each Core Team Level of Effort*
NRR/DORL 2 (Plant PM and Backup PM)
Significant Effort NRR/DRA/APLA 1
Low Effort NRR/DRA/APLB 1
Low Effort NRR/DRA/ARCB 1
Low Effort NRR/DEX/EEEB 1-2 Medium Effort NRR/DEX/EICB 1
Low Effort NRR/DEX/EMIB 2-3 Significant Effort NRR/DRO/IOLB 1
Low Effort NRR/DNRL/NCSG 1
Low Effort NRR/DNRL/NPHP 1
Low Effort NRR/DNRL/NVIB 1
Low Effort NMSS/REFS 1
Low Effort NRR/DSS/SCPB 2-3 Significant Effort NRR/DSS/SFNB 1-2 Medium Effort NRR/DSS/SNSB 2-3 Significant Effort
- Low Effort: Past EPUs have taken less than 400 hours0.00463 days <br />0.111 hours <br />6.613757e-4 weeks <br />1.522e-4 months <br />. Medium Effort: Past EPUs have taken between 400 - 900 hours0.0104 days <br />0.25 hours <br />0.00149 weeks <br />3.4245e-4 months <br />. Significant Effort: Past EPUs have taken over 900 hours0.0104 days <br />0.25 hours <br />0.00149 weeks <br />3.4245e-4 months <br />.
- NRR/DSS/STSB is concurrence only and not a part of the core team effort.
NOTE: Refer to the table in appendix C of LIC-112, Power Uprate Process, for the estimated level of effort for measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) and stretch power uprates. The number of staff members needed for MUR or stretch power uprates would be one staff member for each branch, if needed.
The core team will be responsible for:
Preparing for receipt of the application, including background reading, and conducting presubmittal activities.
Performing the acceptance review of the application to assess whether the application should be docketed and developing an estimated review schedule and resource needs, if accepted.
Performing the safety and environmental reviews of the application.
Performing audits.
Preparing requests for additional information, as needed.
Preparing the safety evaluation and environmental review document content.
Providing support for Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards interactions.
Preparing and providing support for any hearings, if necessary.
Establishment and Maintenance of Core Team:
In advance of the anticipated submittal of a PUR application (especially for an EPU review), the PUR Project Team will engage each of the listed technical branches to identify staff members that will serve on the core team. Backup reviewers may be assigned for knowledge transfer; however, they should not charge their time to the project EPID when spending time learning the material. The technical branches should consider the staff members workload and may need to transfer any lower priority work to other staff in the branch in order for the core team member to prioritize the PUR review.
While the strategy is to maintain consistent staff members on the PUR team, there may be times when assignments conflict with other high priority work or when staff leave the organization. In these instances, the branch chief will inform the PUR Project Team PM and provide for effective turnover to ensure a continued efficient review.
The plant PM should engage the PUR SME to start the presubmittal activities when licensees inform them of an upcoming PUR submittal. Presubmittal activities include presubmittal meetings or readiness assessments. The core team may use the guidelines in LIC-116, Preapplication Readiness Assessment, to conduct readiness assessments for EPUs.
For presubmittal interactions, the plant PM and PUR SME will review the scope of the meeting/activity to determine the level of participation needed to engage in the presubmittal activities.
Once the application has been submitted, the same core team and PUR Project Team members that supported the presubmittal activity should continue to support the review, to the extent feasible. Branch chiefs may need to reassign work to other staff, as needed in order for the core team member to prioritize the PUR review. The PUR SME will assist the plant PM with coordination/planning activities, as necessary.
The NRC staff will issue a regulatory issue summary in 2024, requesting licensees to provide proposed schedules for any PUR-related licensing actions. If there are multiple EPUs expected at the same time, the PUR Project Team will communicate with the licensing and technical branch chiefs to determine if the core team pool needs to be expanded to support the review of multiple concurrent EPUs. The PUR Project Team will assess, with input from the branch chiefs, the need to stagger EPU reviews and/or establish contracts to assist in expected increases in workload.
As noted in LIC-112, the best practices in LIC-206, Integrated Risk-Informed Decision-Making for Licensing Review, should be leveraged as appropriate during a PUR review.
Once the core team is assigned, the plant PM will set up a meeting with the core team to properly scope the review. This can also be done as part of the readiness assessment, if performed.
Enhancing PUR Review Process Guidance:
The PUR Project Plan (ML24110A141) presents the high-level strategy that the staff will follow to ensure that it is ready to review PUR licensing actions. The Project Plan outlines stakeholder engagement opportunities and milestones for the NRC staff to develop recommendations to improve and streamline the PUR review process.
Following the first EPU review, the PUR Project Team and core team will determine if updates are needed to the PUR guidance documents, including this core team charter.
Any lessons learned during the conduct of the review will be applied to the next reviews.
ML24156A109 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL4/PM NRR/DORL/LPL4/LA NRR/DORL/LPL4/PM NRR/DORL/LPL4/BC NAME WOrders PBlechman KGreen JRankin DATE 06/04/2024 06/4/2024 06/05/2024 06/05/2024 OFFICE NRR/DORL/D NRR/DEX/D NRR/DRA/D NRR/DSS/D NAME BPham TMartinez Navedo MFranovich (MKhanna for) TClark DATE 06/21/2024 06/11/2024 06/12/2024 06/13/2024 OFFICE NRR/DNRL/D NRR/DRO/D NMSS/REFS/D NRR/DORL/D NAME BSmith RFelts CRegan BPham DATE 06/11/2024 06/12/2024 06/13/2024 06/24/2024