Operator Licensing Examinations (Generic Letter 89-12)

July 6, 1989


TO:       ALL POWER REACTOR LICENSEES AND APPLICANTS FOR AN
          OPERATING LICENSE

SUBJECT:  OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATIONS (GENERIC LETTER 89-12)


Generic Letter (GL) 89-03, dated March 24, 1989, promulgated the United States 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) national examination schedule.  It 
assigned each facility two examination dates during the fiscal year based, to 
the extent possible, upon the examination estimates reported in response to GL 
88-13, dated August 8, 1988.  It encouraged facilities to target the assigned 
examination dates in fiscal year 1990, which begins on October 1, 1989, but 
acknowledged that some deviation from the promulgated schedule would be 
accommodated to facilitate incremental training schedule revisions.  Beginning 
in fiscal year 1991 (October 1, 1990), replacement examinations will not be 
rescheduled but deferred until the next regularly scheduled site visit. 

To plan its resources for fiscal years 1990 through 1993, the Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) requires your input to update the number of 
candidates you provided in response to GL 88-13.  On the proposed format 
provided as Enclosure 1, please provide your best estimate of the anticipated 
number of candidates to be examined during each site visit assigned to you in 
Generic Letter 89-03.  Also, please provide the dates for your scheduled 
requalification examinations during the same fiscal years in the proposed 
format provided as Enclosure 2.  Your schedules, to be voluntarily submitted 
on the enclosed suggested formats, should be returned to Mr. Kenneth E. 
Perkins, Jr., Chief, Operator Licensing Branch, OWFN-10D-18, U. S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555, with a courtesy copy to the 
appropriate Regional Administrator, by September 1, 1989.

Bear in mind that 10 CFR 55.45 (b)(2)(iv) prohibits the simulation facility 
portion of the operating test from being administered on other than a 
certified or an approved simulation facility after May 26, 1991.  In 
anticipation of that deadline, NRR requires your best estimate of the dates on 
which you expect to certify and/or apply for NRC approval of your simulation 
facility(ies).  A space has been provided for this purpose on the Proposed 
Operator Licensing Schedule Format, Enclosure 1.

The NRC regional offices, through direct liaison with your training managers, 
will confirm your examination requests.  As stated in GL 89-03, the regional 
offices will continue to schedule NRC requalification examinations on a 
case-by-case basis until NRR reconciles the differences between the 
requalification and replacement examination methodologies in order to allow 
the concurrent administration of both examinations. 


8907060026
Generic Letter 89-12                 - 2 -             July 6, 1989


This request is covered by Office of Management and Budget Clearance Number 
3150-0131, which expires March 31, 1992.  The estimated average burden is two 
person-hours per owner response, including assessment of the new 
recommendations, searching data sources, gathering and analyzing the data, and 
preparing the required letters.  Send comments regarding this burden estimate 
or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions 
for reducing this burden, to the Records and Reports Management Branch, 
Division of Information Support Services, Office of Information Resources 
Management, Washington, D.C. 20555; and to the Paperwork Reduction Project 
(3150-0131), Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. 20503.

We appreciate your assistance in this matter and invite you to address any 
questions concerning this generic letter to Mr. Perkins at (301) 492-1031.

                                        Sincerely,


                                   James G. Partlow, Associate Director
                                     for Projects
                                   Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation


Enclosures:
1. Proposed Operator Licensing Examination
     Schedule Format
2. Proposed Requalification Examination
     Schedule Format
3. List of Recently Issued NRC Generic
     Letters
                                                            Enclosure 1



            PROPOSED OPERATOR LICENSING EXAMINATION SCHEDULE FORMAT

Facility 
                                                            Enclosure 2



             PROPOSED REQUALIFICATION EXAMINATION SCHEDULE FORMAT


Facility