Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: b647b09e-9948-474b-8b4a-d2e08837ffa5
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Guidance on Making Changes to Emergency Plans for Nuclear Power Reactors (Rev. 1)
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1505/ML15054A370.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.219
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
e duties assigned to these personnel; augmentation time by off shift personnel; and sufficient procedures, tools, instrumentation, equipment, and other material necessary to complete the activity. The licensee needs to evaluate proposed changes that affect these factors for their effect on the timely completion of emergency planning functions during an emergency response. 1.5 Role of the NRC’s Review of Emergency Action Level and Emergency Plan Changes Submitted under 10 CFR 50.54(q)(5) NRC staff screens emergency plan changes, including emergency action level (EAL) changes, and reviews a sample of changes submitted under 10 CFR 50.54(q)(5), that could reduce effectiveness. These reviews do not constitute the NRC’s approval of the plan changes, and all such changes remain subject to future inspection and enforcement actions. The NRC documents its approval of plan changes under 10 CFR 50.54(q)(4) in its decisions to grant license amendment requests. 1.6 Role of the Facility Licensing Basis a. The licensee cannot properly evaluate a proposed change to the emergency plan if it has not considered the basis for the staff’s approval of the original plan or the basis for any subsequent change, whether it has been approved by the staff or put into place by the licensee under 10 CFR 50.54(q). For example, why did the licensee specify more onshift ERO staff than what was called for in NUREG-0654? Was it a matter of exceeding the regulatory minimum as an operating philosophy, or was it done to compensate for special circumstances that existed when the decision was made (e.g., lengthy ERO augmentation times because of the remoteness of the site)? A decrease in staffing in the first case might not reduce effectiveness; a decrease in staffing in the second case would reduce effectiveness if the special circumstances still existed. b. The NRC’s approval of the original emergency plan (or subsequent revisions to that plan), established the licensing basis of the emergency