ML20127D317

Summary of ACRS 388th Meeting on 920806-08 Re SECY-92-263, Staff Plan for Elimination of Requirements Marginal to Safety

ML20127D317
Person / Time
Issue date:	08/11/1992
From:	Ward D Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards
To:	Selin I, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
ACRS-R-1479, FACA, NUDOCS 9209140210
Download: ML20127D317 (2)

Text

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3 J UNITE D STATES A

7^]chf%.I. .#*i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION. ACRSR-1479

>;f ADVISOHY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS PDR . I wAsHiNcTON, D. C. 20555 -'

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August 11, 1992-g The Honorable Ivan~Selin 4 <

Chairman- s

'U.S.-Nuclear Regulatory Commission ,

Washington, D.C._20555

SUBJECT:

ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS MARGINAL TO SAFETY During the ' 388th meeting of-the Advicory C o m m i t t e e ' o n -- R e a c t o r Safeguards, _ August 6-8,1992,: we reviewed SECY-92-263, "Staf f Plans  ;

-For:: Elimination of. Requirements Marginal to Safety." We hadathe 1 benefit of discussions with!the NRC staff and-NUMARC,'and of-the -

documents: referenced. ,

The. staff.isinot very far along in this enterprise,cand proposes a-workshop (orz more than one) , interactions = with the public, the

, industry, and ACRS, to elicit input.- It.has also' produced a list.

of: candidate regulationsL.for further; study. -We:have no problem

with any of-this, and both hope-and expect to remain involved. -We Jdo.have a~.few observations-at this stage, as follows; in no special torder. ,

The list ?of / cabdidate _ regulations.f so f ar seems :a bit thin, and

'doesn't;really.: represent the fruits of;thel kind offcomprehensive 7

< review we3haveloften: recommended.- That m y.come-later.

Even. ; this : ' list, however, can _ serve ~ to test - l the . methods, . _ and'

, high] whtithe:veryfdifficult questions of-implementation which have i JyetLto be considered. Resolution of those issues _(to which we turn '

Din a J moment): can; provide _ paradigms for later developments.

4 TheFpresentiationL we'~ heard . described the objective as.- removal of - l regulations ~.when. thisican be;done "without. adverse safety impact. "- -

1 LSince.such a determination requires that the' regulation'be judged l

'as:having hadj:no safety ~ significance at all, it is hard to imagine _t

theEstaff; acquiescing-in-sucn a judgment. - The' original term was- l 1" marginal to: safety," and that has'yet to be defined.

_ It will not .1

. :be: easy.- 1

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In : manyJ cases 1 (if - not most) ,: it is = not : th a ' plain wording of a fregulation that_causes the.. problems, but tte-impicmentation and ,

11nterpretati'on by the staff. In short, it is the body- of  ;  !

regulatory ' prnetice, -' not just the .regulatioas, that is at . issue, I

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., s The_ Honorable Ivan Selin. 2 August 11, 1992 The. staff did not mer tion that as a problem, so the effort is so far very incomplete.

We have given many examples in'recent years of incoherence among regulations and practices, and some important examples of overkill only appear-in that context. These are more difficult to find by searching each regulation ind cendently. iet this program is an important-vehicle for the stuuy of coherence in regulation.

In the whole enterprise, it will be necessary to make informed and sophisticated use of PPA to separate the marginal from the essential requirements. Werything we have recently said on that subject should be regarded as repeated here.

Finclly,'.it is worth noting that the health of the organism is not only a function of the health of its parts. The reasons for seeking to remove _ marginal regt lations are not only to reduce wasted effort and burden, but also to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the regulatory process. Regulations that do no harm in and of themselves nonetheless can do harm to the focus and effectiveness of the enterprise.

Sincerely.

D l% D

--y, David A. Ward Chairman tieferences:

1. SECY-92-263, dated July 24, 1992, _from James M. Taylor, Executive Director for Operations, for the Commissioners,

Subject:

Staf f Plans for Elimination of Requirements Marginal

-to. Safety (Draft Predecisional).

2. Memorandum dated July 13, 1992, from Byron Lee, Jr., NUMARC, for NUMARC -Board of Directors,

Subject:

Industrywide Initiative.

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