the Nuclear Electrical Engineer
An educational resource for electrical engineers in the nuclear power industry
The NRC made some rule changes in the mid-1990’s that simplified a critical component of a nuclear power plant’s licensing basis. This reduced the paperwork burden on both the NRC and the sites. It also gave birth to a new kind of licensing basis document. Continue reading “Technical Requirements Manual”
Often a design will require updating something in the UFSAR. It might be a drawing or some text. There’s a process for that . . . .
Continue reading “Modifying the UFSAR with the 50.59 process”
The Tech Specs don’t include the basis used to explain and justify them. Those explanations are contained in the Tech Specs Bases. That raises a question: what is the foundational purpose of the Tech Specs?
Continue reading “The most important task performed by the tech specs”
There’s always room to better explain what an LCO actually is. One thing that’s helpful to know is the relationship between operability, surveillance requirements, and the LCO . . . .
Continue reading “Explaining the LCO concept using an analogy”
The concept “limiting condition for operation” can be a bit tricky to understand at first. In the industry, we simply call them “LCOs”. This example will help you get it straight . . . .
The Technical Specifications, or Tech Specs for short, are the documented technical parameters that govern the plant’s safe operation. Whereas the UFSAR reads more like a textbook, the Tech Specs usually consist of many different tables that list requirements, actions, and their frequencies. . . .
One of the most popular of the licensing basis documents that you’ll work with (or hear about) is the UFSAR. It stands for updated final safety analysis report. . . . Continue reading “The UFSAR”
The NRC requires a new plant undergoing the licensing process to create a set of documents that will govern its operation. It reviews, and eventually approves, these documents, then grants an operating license on the basis of their content (and proof that the content has been implemented in the plant). Continue reading “The most common licensing basis documents”