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NRC INSPECTION MANUAL IIPB |

MANUAL CHAPTER 0301

COORDINATION OF NRC VISITS TO COMMERCIAL REACTOR SITES

0301-01 PURPOSE

This chapter provides the policy for coordinating visits by NRC personnel to commercial

reactor sites. This policy is intended to eliminate unnecessary duplication between offices,

with licensees, or with INPO, and to minimize instances where activities are scheduled

without regard to other ongoing NRC or licensee activities. Full implementation of this policy

will improve the efficiency of those regulatory activities which are affected and ensure that

there will not be any unnecessary impact on plant operations or other major licensee

planned activities.

0301-02 POLICY

The general policy of the NRC is that all NRC visits to commercial reactor sites shall be

coordinated and scheduled with the responsible regional office. The focal point for

coordinating with the regions the routine visits by headquarters program and support offices

shall be the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) project manager. Headquarters

offices should apprise the NRR project manager of planned visits whenever practicable. |

This manual chapter addresses routine, planned visits to commercial reactor sites.

Non-routine inspections or site visits are not covered by this manual chapter. This manual

chapter does not specify detailed procedures for coordinating interoffice communications

(verbal and written) with licensees. All such communications from headquarters offices

should be coordinated in advance with the NRR project manager.

0301-03 DEFINITIONS

03.01 Routine Visits. Visits of a routine nature to include planned inspection activities,

non-inspection visits such as site tours and meetings, licensing reviewer visits, and audits.

03.02 Non-Routine Visits. Visits that are generally reactive in nature and therefore not

routinely planned. An example is visits in response to licensee events covered by NRC

Management Directive 8.3, "NRC Incident Investigation Program." |

0301-04 APPLICABILITY

All regional and headquarters staff shall comply with the policy statements in this manual

chapter.
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0301-05 RESPONSIBILITIES

05.01 Regional Offices. Coordinate and schedule visits by NRC or NRC sponsored

personnel to commercial reactor sites to avoid duplication and to prevent poorly-timed visits

from occurring.

05.02 Headquarters Offices. Coordinate proposed visits to commercial reactor sites with

the associated regional office through the appropriate NRR project manager.

| 05.03 NRR Project Manager. Remain cognizant of the integrated inspection plan for

his/her assigned site and review proposed headquarters office visits to commercial reactor

sites to ensure that duplication is avoided and that visits are not poorly timed such that they

would interfere with a previously planned activity of greater safety importance. Identify

conflicts and work with the regional office to resolve them.

0301-06 DISCUSSION OF POLICY

06.01 The purpose of this manual chapter is to outline guidelines for coordinating visits

by NRC personnel to commercial reactor sites. These guidelines address coordination

between headquarters and regional offices and are intended to ensure that visits to

commercial reactor sites are scheduled such that the objectives of NRC visits are achieved

with no unnecessary impact on plant operations or other licensee planned activities.

06.02 Regional offices have overall responsibility for coordinating and scheduling NRC

visits to reactor sites. NRC presence on-site without the regional office's knowledge should

not occur. The regional offices, with input from headquarters offices, should develop and

| schedule inspection plans for each plant in the Inspection Planning module of the Reactor

| Program System (IP/RPS). These inspection plans are based on the NRC inspection

| program, quarterly assessments of licensee performance, inspection findings, and

operational events. As a minimum, the inspection plan for each site should include all NRC

non-reactive inspections, NRC non-inspection activities, INPO evaluations, and major

activities planned by the licensee such as shutdowns or internal audits which impact

| inspection planning. IP/RPS shall be used as the primary tool for coordinating NRC

activities at commercial reactors and should be consulted before contacting the regional

office to begin planning. Only regional offices are permitted to enter scheduling information

| in IP/RPS.

To assist in coordinating NRC site activities, the NRR project manager is the focal point for

contacting the regional Project Division Section Chief for visits by all headquarters personnel

or their contractors or consultants. The project manager will remain cognizant of the current

| integrated inspection plan for his/her assigned site and should be apprised early in the

planning stages of all proposed visits to commercial reactors by headquarters personnel.

Based on an awareness of planned inspection and inspection related activities, major

| licensee activities and initiatives, and INPO visits, as scheduled in IP/RPS and overall

licensee performance, the project manager is responsible for ensuring that the proposed

headquarters visits are not overlapping or redundant or poorly timed such that they would

interfere with a previously planned activity of higher priority. Project managers shall identify

any conflicts (e.g., INPO evaluation, NMSS visits, regional activity, major licensee

evolutions) to the regional office and other affected offices and work to resolve them as

soon as practicable.

06.03 In light of the potentially significant impact to licensees caused by major inspections

| and non-inspection activities, the regional office shall ensure that no more than three major

| activities are conducted during any 12-month assessment cycle without getting approval

of the Deputy Regional Administrator following coordination with the Associate Director for

| Project Licensing and Technical Analysis, NRR. Major activities are defined as visits to
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commercial reactor sites during which 20 or more staff-days of onsite effort are expended

within a 5-day period (including contractors, trainees or interns) for the purpose of

inspecting, researching information, auditing licensing, or other activities requiring significant

licensee input or interactions. Generally, this limitation applies on a site bases, unless the

units at the site are of a different design or operated under different management programs.

An activity shall be counted as a single major activity even though it may involve more than

one site visit that meets or exceeds the staff threshold defined above. When scheduling

separate activities at a site, the total impact of all current activities should be considered

for its impact on the licensee. However, separate activities conducted concurrently that

individually would not be defined as a major activity, even though they collectively result

in 20 or more staff-days within a 5 day period, would not be treated as a major activity and

would not be subject to the restrictions established above. The restriction on major

activities does not apply to operator licensing examination visits, emergency preparedness

visits, or reactive team inspections. In addition, visits by senior NRC management officials

shall not be subject to these restrictions.

06.04 Coordination between headquarters offices and the regional offices for the purpose

of planning and scheduling site visits shall be as described below.

a. NRR Licensing Site Visits. The NRR project manager, in coordination with the

technical reviewer determines the need for site visits to support ongoing licensing

activities. The need for site visits is based on either the reviewer's or project

manager's need to examine equipment or documents at the site or to talk with plant

personnel. The project manager, in consultation with the licensee and the regional

Division of Reactor Projects, will determine the schedule for visiting the site

consistent with the schedule for completing the licensing activity and ensuring that

the proposed visit will not interfere with higher priority planned activities. The

regional office should schedule extensive licensing visits in IP/RPS. |

b. NRR Inspection Site Visits. The associated NRR division director, in coordination

with regional counterparts, will determine the need for NRR inspections to support

regional and headquarters activities. Once it is determined that a particular NRR

inspection will be conducted, its scheduling will be coordinated through the

associated NRR project manager. The regional offices should schedule these

inspections in IP/RPS. |

c. Operator Licensing Examination Visits. Arrangements for operator licensing

examinations, in which headquarters will participate, are normally made directly with

the utility by the regional branch with operator licensing responsibilities. NRRís |

Operating Licensing, Human Performance, and Plant Support Branch should inform |

the regional office directly if it plans to attend. The regional offices should schedule

licensing examination visits in IP/RPS. |

d. Visits by Other Headquarters Offices. NMSS, RES, and other headquarters offices |

will coordinate and schedule visits to commercial reactor sites with the regional

office through the NRR project manager. The region will review the request and

ensure that proposed visits are integrated with the schedule of activity planned for

the site. The regional offices should schedule visits to commercial reactor sites by

NMSS and RES in IP/RPS as non-inspection activities. |

Arrangements for site visits by the Office of the Executive Director for Operations

(OEDO) and the Office of the Commission (OCM) are coordinated with the regional

offices and resident inspector. The visitorís technical assistant will normally notify

the NRR project manager of the visit and the itinerary. The region should schedule

these visits in IP/RPS. |
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e. Visits by Headquarters Contractors. The sponsoring organization will coordinate

visits by NRC headquarters contractors to commercial reactor sites with the regional

office through the NRR project manager. The regional offices should schedule

| extensive visits in IP/RPS.

f. Visits by Headquarters Sponsored Visitors. The sponsoring organization will

coordinate visits by NRC sponsored visitors to commercial reactor sites with the

regional office through the NRR project manager. The regional offices should

| schedule significant visits in IP/RPS.

06.05 The above guidelines should not preclude free, informal communications between

regional and headquarters offices, which are necessary to ensure effective implementation

of the NRC's regulatory programs.

END