Nuclear Regulation

NRC's Efforts to Ensure Effective Plant Maintenance Are Incomplete Gao ID: RCED-91-36 December 17, 1990

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the: (1) importance of safe nuclear power plant operations; and (2) status of the debate between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear utility industry on the need for facility maintenance regulations.

GAO found that: (1) while both NRC and the industry agreed that maintenance was crucial to safe, reliable, and efficient power plant operations and nuclear utilities improved such maintenance, some problems still remained; (2) the debate centered on NRC need to establish additional comprehensive maintenance regulations, NRC endorsement of the industry's program, and the specific plant areas and systems included in such regulations or programs; (3) NRC concluded that the lack of comprehensive regulations applicable to maintenance contributed to inconsistency in utility program implementation; and (4) NRC proposed maintenance regulations that would broaden its oversight over all plant systems. In addition, GAO found that industry opposed NRC maintenance regulations over all systems, since: (1) powerplants developed a nearly identical program; (2) including all balance-of-plant systems would dilute attention from the plant's safety-related portions; and (3) NRC lacked guidance that the utilities could use to establish acceptable maintenance programs. GAO also found that: (1) industry believed that utilities, not NRC, should determine the plant systems, structures, and components to be emphasized in maintenance programs; (2) NRC lacked specific standards applicable to all aspects of plant operations and extrapolated the results of selected samples of utility operations to make a judgement about the entire plant; and (3) industry questioned NRC ability to develop a single quantitative indicator to predict equipment or system failures resulting from poor maintenance practices.

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