Information Notice No. 87-22: Operator Licensing Requalification Examinations at Nonpower Reactors
SSINS No.: 6835
IN 87-22
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555
May 22, 1987
Information Notice No. 87-22: OPERATOR LICENSING REQUALIFICATION
EXAMINATIONS AT NONPOWER REACTORS
Addressees:
All research and nonpower reactor facilities.
Purpose:
The purpose of this information notice is to inform recipients of practices
involving the requalification examinations for renewal of reactor operator and
senior reactor operator licenses, that have been found to be contrary to
existing NRC requirements. It is expected that recipients will review this
information for applicability to their operator requalification programs and
consider action as appropriate to preclude similar practices at their
facilities. However, suggestions contained in this notice do not constitute
NRC requirements; therefore, no specific action or written response is
required.
Description of Circumstances:
NRC recently identified three nonpower reactor licensees who make a practice
of giving take-home or on-shift requalification examinations. Generic Letter
83-17, issued on April 8, 1983, addressed the use of take-home and on-shift
examinations as a means of determining an applicant's individual performance
as part of the requalification program. This generic letter was issued as a
result of an investigation into a case of cheating, in which an individual had
submitted another person's work in response to some examination questions.
The generic letter states, "In particular, unproctored examination(s),
take-home quizzes and on-shift tests allow ample opportunity for cheating
which could go undetected and, therefore, are not an acceptable means for
certifying individual performance." (See Attachment 1.)
Discussion:
The integrity of the requalification examination is essential because it is
used to certify that the operator's performance is adequate to warrant renewal
of his or her license. As a result of the recent discovery of inadequate
examination practices, the NRC initiated detailed reviews of examination
practices at the three facilities. Processing of license renewal requests
from these facilities were held in abeyance pending the completion of these
reviews.
. IN 87-22
May 22, 1987
Page 2 of 2
No specific action or written response is required by this information notice.
If you have questions about this matter, please contact the Regional
Administrator of the appropriate NRC regional office or this office.
Charles E. Rossi, Director
Division of Operational Events Assessment
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Technical Contacts: Donald Kirkpatrick, NRR
(301) 492-8166
Tony Mendiola, NRR
(301) 492-9695
Attachments:
1. Generic Letter 83-17
2. List of Recently Issued Information Notices
. Attachment 1
April 8, 1983
TO ALL POWER AND NON-POWER REACTOR LICENSEES, APPLICANTS FOR AN OPERATING
LICENSE AND HOLDERS OF A CONSTRUCTION PERMIT
Gentlemen:
Subject: Integrity of the Requalification Examinations for Renewal of Reactor
Operator and Senior Reactor Operator Licenses (Generic Letter 83-17)
Recently, an investigation was completed which determined that a senior
official at a nuclear power plant certified to the NRC that a licensed
individual had successfully completed the licensed operator requalification
program, when in fact, that individual had cheated by submitting another
person's work in response to some examination questions.
Such an individual has not successfully completed the requalification program
and has not discharged his licensed responsibility in a safe and competent
manner, as required by 10 CFR 55. Furthermore, it should be noted that
cheating on examinations which are used to certify individuals to the NRC will
result in an automatic denial of a license application or license renewal and
could result in more severe penalties.
The purpose of this letter is to highlight the need for you to ensure that the
validity of the certifications required by 10 CFR Part 55 and the integrity
and honesty of the requalification program are adequately addressed in
facility procedures. You should review your procedures on this subject to
ensure that anapplicant's individual performance can be determined. Your
procedures should include provisions to detect and prevent instances of
cheating. In particular, unproctored examination, take-home quizzes and
on-shift tests allow ample opportunity for cheating which could go undetected
and, therefore, are not an acceptable means for certifying individual
performance. While some portions of examinations may be conducted in an
open-book format (e.g. use of steam tables on thermodynamics problems or use
of facility procedures and drawings during oral examinations), adequate
monitoring provisions are essential to ensure that the persons being evaluated
are working independently and are using only authorized instructional or
reference materials.
No submittals of procedures or results of your procedure reviews are required
by this letter; however, we will review these procedures as a part of our
audits ofthe licensed reactor operator and senior reactor operator
requalification programs.
Original signed by
Darrell G. Eisenhut, Director
Division of Licensing
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