Why operators fail licensing examinations

A survey was conducted among nuclear utility operators who have taken NRC licensing examinations to determine which factors they considered important in their success or failure. The operators also compared the actual NRC examination with their expectations prior to taking the examination. The results of the survey supplement NRC statistics with regard to failure rates. Over 350 operators and 20 utilities participated in the survey and a good cross section of the nuclear community is represented. Reactor theory and emergency procedures are important areas in which operators found NRC emphasis to be different than expected. Observation Training and Design Lecture Series are two training segments which appear to require improvement. Recommendations are made for the use of data collected through this survey and for continuation of the effort to give operators a mechanism of supplying feedback to the training and licensing process