U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

New Training Rule for Nuclear Power Plant Personnel

HPPOS-325 PDR-9308260260

Title: New Training Rule for Nuclear Power Plant Personnel

See the memorandum from L. J. Cunningham to J. Joyner (and

others) dated August 9, 1993. The NRC has published a

final rule, "Training and Qualification of Nuclear Power

Plant Personnel," on April 26, 1993 (58 FR 21904) and also

published a correction of a date on July 21, 1993 (58 FR

39092). A review of the final rule and supporting

supplementary information by NRR's Radiological Protection

Branch (PRPB) and earlier Regional feed back on the new

rule has resulted in several questions. After discussions

with NRR's Human Factors Assessment Branch, PRPB developed

the following health physics position that summarizes the

questions and answers. HPPOS-247 contains a related topic.

Question: Regarding the "Engineering Support Personnel"

category listed as requiring training and qualification

under the rule, are health physics (radiation protection)

professionals such as radiation protection managers, ALARA

engineers, and professional support technical staff

(including foremen) included in this category?

Answer: No. The only radiation protection job category

covered under 10 CFR 50.120 is the "Radiation Protection

Technician" (or HP technician). The training and

retraining requirements for the HP professionals are

contained in the plant technical specifications -

administrative controls section.

Question: Does the training rule cover contract HP or

chemistry technicians?

Answer: Contract Health Physics / Chemistry technicians

providing short-term support (e.g., outage work) and not

filling a regular position in the permanent plant staff are

not required to take part in the training program required

by the rule [systems approach to training (SAT)]. However,

all contractors assigned to work independently must be

qualified to do the assigned tasks. As an example, the

ongoing training and qualification programs, which are not

part of the facility SAT program, are focused to

task-qualify incoming outage workers.

On the other hand, contractors filling permanent plant

staff positions that require them to work independently are

covered by the rule. They should be included in the next

scheduled session of the staff SAT training for that

position.

Regulatory references: 10 CFR 50.120, Technical

Specifications

Subject codes: 1.2

Applicability: Reactors