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
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CFR Title: 

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effect and may not be changed by means of the GQA program description. Licensee. commitments regarding QA are ad- dressed in a number of documents, including the FSAR, the QA Topical Report, and other docketed correspondence (e.g., responses to generic communi- cations, inspection reports). Licensees are expected to maintain control of their licensing bases. Accordingly, changes from current commitments to QA regulatory guides that will be revised as part of the GQA program should be identified, and the manner in which they are being changed should be documented, reviewed, and approved as necessary by the NRC in accordance with 10 CFR 50.54(a), as appropriate. 3.1.2 Grading of Quality Elements After categorizing the system functions and subsequently the SSCs into two or more safety- significance categories as described throughout this regulatory guide, the licensee should apply appropriate QA controls for the various categories. This is a critical factor in achieving the goals of the GQA initiative and. is performed by an integrated assessment, for example, by an expert panel, as discussed in Regulatory Position 2.3. For safety-related SSCs determined to be high safety significant, or for safety-related SSCs that have not yet been evaluated in accordance with the GQA process, the current QA practices contained in the NRC-approved QA program should be retained. Licensees have the flexibility to define the processes used to achieve reasonable confidence in SSC performance commensurate with their safety significance. Therefore, the licensee may develop reduced, or graded, quality assurance controls for those safety-related SSCs assigned to the low safety- significant category. Examples of areas in which this may be possible are listed in Regulatory Position 3.2 of this regulatory guide. In proposing to reduce controls, two basic objectives should be kept in mind. These are that the GQA program should be sufficient to ensure the SSC's design integrity and ability to