Application of reliability-based techniques to technical specifications

Nuclear plant Technical Specifications, issued as part of the plant operating license, contain both operational and surveillance requirements for assuring the safe operation of the plant. Current technical specifications have come under criticism as being, in some cases, inappropriate and even risk-increasing. The paper briefly describes a program plan, prepared by BNL, to examine approaches, methods, and criteria for developing a quantitative basis for making engineering judgments in revising technical specifications. A rather comprehensive program is described which, although stressing risk-based analytical development and techniques, takes cognizance of other engineering and operational aspects for assuring safe operation. As such a seven-task program is designed to interface with and impact on other NRC-sponsored and industry-sponsored programs. The end result will be a new methodology, along with a procedures guide, for evaluating technical specifications and structured on a sound basis to expect only infrequent requests for extension