Public Availability of the NRC Operator Licensing Examination Question Bank (Generic Letter No. 87-01)

                                UNITED STATES
                        NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
                           WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555

                               January 8, 1987

TO ALL POWER REACTOR LICENSEES AND APPLICANTS FOR AN OPERATING LICENSE 

Gentlemen: 

SUBJECT:  PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF THE NRC OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATION 
          QUESTION BANK (Generic Letter 87-01) 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has developed the NRC Operator 
Licensing Examination Question Bank (EQB) to be used by examiners for the 
construction and storage of operator examination questions for Reactor 
Operators (RO) and Senior Reactor Operators (SRO). The data base and the 
mainframe computer on which it resides is located at the Idaho National 
Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and is maintained under
contract to the NRC by INEL. 

The data is in the form of questions, answers and references and is being 
made available on request. All information requested can be transferred 
either on magnetic tape or paper computer printout. Although active on-line 
access is not permitted, an off-line procedure to request specific 
information from the EQB is enclosed. Costs in providing this information 
are normally charged to the requestor unless provisions of the Freedom of 
Information Act that provide for public access to information are invoked. 

Requestors of information should be aware that the information provided will
be current only at the time it is requested, since updates and changes occur
frequently. 

In addition to utility use in preparing for future NRC examinations, this 
information is being provided to requestors to allow checks of accuracy in 
the EQB and to evaluate the bank to ensure the information is correct. New 
questions and revisions of current EQB questions will be accepted and 
considered for EQB updating. Proposed changes should be based upon facility 
job/task analyses and RO/SRO training program learning objectives. Requested
changes are to be submitted to the Operator Licensing Branch, U. S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. 

We hope that making this exchange of information available will improve the 
quality of NRC examinations and provide information to interested persons on
the scope of the NRC written examination. A complete listout of current 


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questions on the database is being provided periodically to the Main Public 
Document Reading Room at the NRC Headquarters in Washington, DC. Each 
nuclear power utility's Local Public Document Reading Room will receive a 
listout of current questions only for that utility. 

                                   Sincerely, 


                                   Harold R. Denton, Director 
                                   Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 

Enclosure: 
As stated