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:
mation about initial efforts to implement GQA is in SECY-95-059, "Development of Graded Quality Assurance Method- ology" (March 10, 1995) (Ref. 2). Relationship to Other Guidance Document Applications Regulatory Guide 1.174 (Ref. 3) describes a general approach to risk-informed, regulatory decision- making and includes a discussion of specific topics common to all regulatory applications. This regulatory guide provides guidance specifically for GQA programs, consistent with but more detailed than the generally applicable guidance given in Regulatory Guide 1. 174. Licensees may choose to use risk- informed decisionmaking in application areas other than GQA. It is anticipated that certain efficiencies could be realized in that situation. Licensees developing GQA programs will adjust their QA programs to accommodate their individual needs. The NRC conveyed its goals and expectations for an acceptable graded QA program to Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) in a letter dated June 15, 1994 (Ref. 4). Irrespective of a licensee's specific approach, the NRC stated a graded QA program should have four essential elements: (I) A process that determines the safety significance of SSCs in a reasonable and consistent manner, including the use of both traditional engineering and probabilistic evaluations (2) The implementation of appropriate QA controls for SSCs, or groups of SSCs, according to safety function and safety significance to maintain reasonable confidence in equipment performance and to support the GQA corrective action feedback process (3) An effective root-cause analysis and corrective action program (4) A means for reassessing SSC safety significance and QA controls when new information becomes available through operating experience, or based on changes in plant design. Organization and Content Limited data are available to define the impact of QA programs on SSC performance. Consequently, this regulatory guide emphasizes the classification of equipment into