Guidelines document for inservice testing programs

Prior to Generic Letter (GL) 89-04, 'Guidance on Developing Acceptable Inservice Testing Programs,' the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed inservice testing (IST) programs extensively. The reviewers attempted to verify that all applicable components were part of the program and that the testing established for the components met the Code requirements. This resulted in long review periods and contributed to a large backlog of programs without safety evaluations. Meetings with licensees were routine elements of the review, allowing for discussion on the content of the programs. This paper discusses the development of the IST programs guidelines and provides a description of the guidelines document IST topics