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:
appropriate, PRA should be used to support the proposal of additional regulatory require- ments in accordance with 10 CFR 50.109 (backfit rule). Appropriate procedures for including PRA in the process for changing regulatory requirements should be devel- oped and followed. It is, of course, understood that the intent of this policy is that existing rules and regulations will be complied with unless these rules and regulations are revised. " PRA evaluations in support of regulatory decisions should be as realistic as practicable, and appropriate supporting data should be publicly available for review. * The Commission's safety goals for nuclear power plants and subsidiary numerical objectives are to be used with appropriate consideration of uncertainties in making regulatory judgments on the need for proposing and backfitting new generic requirements on nuclear power plant licensees. The staff's review of 10 CFR Part 50 indicates that the option of applying QA measures in a manner commensurate with safety significance is clearly available to licensees. That is, no exemptions from current regulations are expected to be needed to implement a graded quality assurance (GQA) program. The implementing industry QA standards (which licensees have committed to implement to fulfill the requirements of Appendix B) also contain general provisions for applying QA using a graded approach. However, when implementing such changes, licensees may need to submit a revised QA program to the staff pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(a). Purpose and Scope In this guide the staff describes an acceptable approach for identifying the safety significance of SSCs and assigning QA controls accordingly to ensure that QA requirements are being graded commensurate with safety. This regulatory guide contains guidance on modifying current QA program controls based on the safety categorization of the SSCs. This regulatory guide also describes acceptable approaches for 1.176-2 monitoring the effectiveness of the