Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: a5ee4c78-1135-4bb6-8d54-e974a3402f87
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: An Approach for Plant-Specific, Risk-Informed Decisionmaking: Graded Quality Assurance
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1221/ML12216A017.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.176
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
ense-in-depth philosophy. 3. The proposed change maintains sufficient safety margins. 4. When the proposed changes result in an increase in core damage frequency or risk, the increases should be small and consistent with the intent of the Commission's Safety Goal Policy Statement. 5. The impact of the proposed change should be mon- itored using performance measurement strategies. The individual elements of this process are described in Regulatory Guide 1. 174. Those generally applicable discussions are not repeated here. Instead, this guide describes a method acceptable to the NRC staff for categorizing SSCs at nuclear power plants in a manner commensurate with their safety significance (using an integration of insights from traditional engineering analyses, applicable qualitative consider- ations, and probabilistic analyses) and for applying appropriate QA programs to each category of SSCs. The process begins with a set of actions related to proposed changes in the QA categorization of certain SSCs. The following is an overview, with greater detail provided in the Regulatory Positions. The elements are (I) define the proposed change, (2) perform engineering analysis, (3) define imple- mentation and monitoring program, and (4) submit proposed change. Element 1: Define the Proposed Change The process for developing the initial proposal for the changes is left to the licensee, but it should derive from an examination of both traditional engineering and probabilistic information, and it should result in categorization of the plant's SSCs based on their safety significance so that an appropriate level of quality controls can be applied. The licensee identifies the candidate SSCs and associated activities for a risk- informed application of QA requirements. A risk- informed GQA submittal includes the QA program change required by 10 CFR 50.54(a)(3)(ii), accompa- nied by the supplemental information described in Regulatory Position 4.1.2 of this guide, which will be used