Technical basis for staffing levels at nuclear power plants

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has defined minimum staffing levels for reactor operators (ROs) and senior reactor operators (SROs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Title 10 of the code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 50.54(m). Recent trends within the NRC to move away from compliance-based and towards performance-based regulation, as well as recent events within the U.S. nuclear industry with staffing-related implications, have resulted in the NRC re-examining the technical basis for staffing levels as they exist in 10 CFR 50.54(m). Numerous changes in NPP regulatory requirements and standards of operation have occurred since 10 CFR 50.54(m) was originally published in 1982. These changes have led to concern among NRC staff that the demands placed upon NPP shift personnel have increased. Additionally, recent incidents at NPPs where minimum staffing level requirements have been met but problems still occurred that could be attributed to staffing levels, have contributed to the concern among NRC staff. Finally, staffing level requirements for non-licensed personnel have not been systematically examined, although goals for some positions have been outlined in NUREG-0737, Supplement No. 1, open-quotes Clarification of TMI Action Plan Requirements.close quotes