NRC Generic Letter 88-13, Operator Licensing Examinations

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August 8, 1988

TO ALL POWER REACTOR LICENSEES AND APPLICANTS FOR AN OPERATING LICENSE

Gentlemen:

Subject: OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATIONS (GENERIC LETTER 88-13)

To plan for the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) resources to be consistent with your operator licensing needs, NRR needs the best estimate of your operator licensing examination requirements for fiscal years 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. Please provide the anticipated number of candidates and dates or each requested licensing examination site visit in the proposed format provided as Enclosure 1. Also, please provide the dates for your scheduled requalification examinations during the same fiscal years in the proposed format provided as Enclosure 2. Your voluntary input will be used to update the schedules you provided in response to Generic Letter 87-14.

In the absence of overriding circumstances, budget limitations dictate that the staff limit initial and replacement examinations to two visits per site each year, with one additional site visit per year dedicated to requalification examinations. Every attempt will be made to provide examination services at the times requested, however, excessive demand during any particular time, period may require rescheduling site visits to maintain the examiner workload within reasonable limits. Specific examination dates will be confirmed or rescheduled through direct liaison with the NRC Regional Offices.

In an effort to optimize examiner utilization, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) intends to implement a national examination schedule on October 1, 1989. This schedule will enable the NRC to equalize the workload of examiners across the nation so that Regional and contract examiners are employed at a relatively constant rate throughout the year. As currently planned, the FY 1990 schedule will become the baseline for future fiscal year national examination schedules. It is envisioned that, with minor modifications, the same schedule will be used year after year, thereby allowing you to plan your training efforts with greater confidence that your licensing examinations will be administered on their designated dates, while at the same time enabling NRC to more efficiently employ its limited examiner staff.

As in the past, it is imperative that you provide your best estimate of your examination needs for each fiscal year through 1992. Your submittal will not guarantee that the staff can administer examinations on the dates requested, however, every effort will be made to do so. Once the national schedule is implemented, your operator licensing and requalification examinations should be expected on approximately the same dates every year. Your estimates of licensing examination requirements for future fiscal years will be solicited primarily to determine the number of candidates to be examined so that NRC may modify its budget and staffing accordingly.

-2- AUG 08 1988

Your schedules, to be submitted on the enclosed suggested formats, should be returned to Mr. John Hannon, Chief, Operator Licensing Branch, OWFN-10D-18, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, with a courtesy copy to the appropriate Regional Administrator by September 1, 1988. We appreciate your assistance in this matter and invite you to address any questions concerning this request or your response to Mr. John Hannon at (301) 492-1031.

This request is covered by Office of Management and Budget Clearance Number 3150-0131 which expires August 31, 1988. The estimated average burden is two man-hours per licensee response, including assessment of the new requirements, searching data sources, gathering and analyzing the data, and preparing the required reports. Comments on the accuracy of this estimate and suggestions to reduce the burden may be directed to the Office of Management and Budget, Room 3208, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, and to the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Records and Reports Management Branch, Office of Administration ana Resource Management, Washington, DC 20555.

Sincerely,

Frank J. Miraglia, Associate Director for Projects Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Enclosures:

1. Proposed Operator Licensing Examination Schedule Format

2. Proposed Requalification Examination Schedule Format