National Materials Program Pilot Project 3
Operating Experience Evaluation
Charter
Objectives
The objective of the Operating Experience Evaluation Pilot is to optimize the common use of operating experience information from licensed facilities and trending in integrated NRC and Agreement State review, assessment, and decision-making processes. The pilot should develop and test a structured process for evaluating cumulative licensee data and performance, identify gaps in NRC and Agreement State processes, and develop strategies and tools to make the programs more scrutable, predictable, and transparent. The revised process should produce consistent analyses and results when implemented by the NRC or Agreement States.
Scope of Activities
The pilot will examine NRC and Agreement State processes for collecting, reviewing, analyzing, and disseminating concerns and lessons learned from operating experience. Operating experience information may include: domestic and foreign event data, major team inspections and special studies leading to generic reviews and/or generic communications, industry-wide analyses of performance and trends, insights and metrics amenable to risk-informed decision making, and performance indicators and associated thresholds for increased regulatory attention.
This pilot should: (1) examine the process for evaluating a collective set of Agreement State and NRC licensee events for generic implications and possible additional regulatory action, (2) consider the proposed process, in SECY-02-0216, for providing information on significant nuclear materials issues and adverse licensee performance, and (3) address applicable recommendations identified in incident or working group reports (e.g., Schlumberger Augmented Inspection Team, Davis-Besse Lessons Learned Task Force report, etc.).
The pilot is expected to identify gaps in NRC and Agreement State regulatory processes and opportunities for improvement in program effectiveness. The pilot should develop a set of evaluation tools and metrics to be tested using cumulative data, a standard format, and decision criteria. The pilot should examine and implement lessons learned from past operating experience and associated root cause analyses, risk insights, and corrective actions.Of particular importance are precursor events that provide leading indication of change/problems and/or highlight weakness in regulatory oversight programs. The pilot should also examine methods to advance materials-related contributions to the annual report to the Commission on performance trends in the materials area.
The pilot should develop a proposed regulatory framework and associated program recommendations for consideration by the NRC and Agreement States. The framework should propose enhancements to procedures, organizational review and evaluation methods, sources of information, and methods to better communicate operating experience information. This pilot should provide recommendations for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of materials oversight programs, including matters related to duplication of effort and/or burden reduction, particularly with regard to the allocation and use of inspection resources.
The pilot should seek broad stakeholder input including the views of the Organization of Agreement States (OAS), Committee of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), Advisory Committee on the Medical Use of Isotopes (ACMUI), and from open-public meetings with licensees and members of the public, as appropriate.
Work Products
The pilot should prepare: (1) an overall work product plan for developing and testing methods to systematically evaluate operating experience information, and (2) a final work product and associated recommendations for improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and consistency of operating experience evaluation.
Organization
The Working Group (WG) should comprise Co-Chairpersons from both NRC (Mike Markley, NMSS/IMNS) and Agreement States (Marcia Howard, State of Ohio), at least one additional Agreement State representative, and one NRC representative from an NRC Regional Office materials program. NRC membership shall not exceed Agreement State participation.
Schedule
The updated schedule for completion of this pilot is provided in the Work Product Plan consistent with the National Materials Program Pilot Projects, Implementation Plan.
Level of Effort
Approximately two person-days per month will be required of participants. The Working Group Chair will require, on average, eight person-days per month for this effort. Actual Working Group travel should not exceed three meetings per year. Teleconferencing and video technology will be used to limit costs.
Revision 5 08/04/03