§ 53.725 — General staffing, training, personnel qualifications, and human factors requirements.

§ 53.725 General staffing, training, personnel qualifications, and human factors requirements.

(a) Two classes of commercial nuclear plants. Commercial nuclear plants licensed under this part are either of the class of self-reliant-mitigation facilities or of interaction-dependent-mitigation facilities, based upon the similarity of operating and technical characteristics of the plants in the class. A commercial nuclear plant is a self-reliant-mitigation facility if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determined as part of its approval of the OL or COL for that plant that its design demonstrates compliance with the criteria of § 53.800(a)(1) through (a)(5). Otherwise, the commercial nuclear plant is an interaction-dependent-mitigation facility.

(b) Purpose and applicability. The regulations in §§ 53.725 through 53.830 address areas related to staffing, training, personnel qualifications, and human factors engineering for applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part. These regulations are organized as follows:

(1) Sections 53.725 through 53.745 address general requirements for staffing, training, personnel qualifications, and human factors engineering. The regulations within these sections are applicable to all applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part, except where specifically stated otherwise.

(2) Sections 53.760 through 53.795 address operator and senior operator licensing requirements. The regulations within these sections are applicable to those applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part for interaction-dependent-mitigation facilities that have not yet certified the permanent cessation of operations and permanent removal of fuel from the reactor vessel as described under § 53.1070.

(3) Sections 53.800 through 53.820 address generally licensed reactor operator requirements. The regulations within these sections are in lieu of §§ 53.760 through 53.795 for those applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part for self-reliant-mitigation facilities that have not yet certified the permanent cessation of operations and permanent removal of fuel from the reactor vessel as described under § 53.1070.

(4) Section 53.830 provides general personnel training requirements. The regulations within this section are applicable to all applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part.

(c) Definitions. When used in §§ 53.725 through 53.830, applicant refers to an applicant for an operator or senior operator license; licensee refers to the holder of an operator, senior operator, or generally licensed reactor operator license; and facility licensee refers to the licensee for the commercial nuclear plant where the applicant would be licensed or the licensee is licensed. As also used in §§ 53.725 through 53.830—

Automation means a device or system that accomplishes (partially or fully) a function or task.

Auxiliary operator means any individual who operates components of a commercial nuclear plant but does not manipulate controls or direct the manipulation of controls of the plant and is not required to be licensed under the provisions of this part.

Controls when used with respect to a nuclear reactor means apparatus and mechanisms, the manipulation of which directly affects the reactivity or power level of the reactor.

Generally licensed reactor operator means any individual licensed under the provisions of § 53.810 to manipulate controls of a self-reliant-mitigation facility and to direct the licensed activities of generally licensed reactor operators.

Interaction-dependent-mitigation facility means a commercial nuclear plant design other than one that demonstrates compliance with the operating and technical characteristics defined under § 53.800.

Load following means a commercial nuclear plant automatically changing its output to match expected demand in response to externally originated instructions or signals.

Operator means any individual licensed under the provisions of §§ 53.760 through 53.795 to manipulate controls of an interaction-dependent-mitigation facility.

Performance testing means testing conducted to verify a simulation facility's performance as compared to actual or predicted reference plant performance.

Reference plant means the specific commercial nuclear plant, or plant design for facilities which are not yet constructed, on which a simulation facility's configuration, system control arrangement, and design data are based.

Self-reliant-mitigation facility means a commercial nuclear plant design that demonstrates compliance with the operating and technical characteristics defined under § 53.800.

Senior operator means any individual licensed under the provisions of §§ 53.760 through 53.795 to manipulate controls of an interaction-dependent-mitigation facility and to direct the licensed activities of operators.

Simulation facility means an interface designed to provide a realistic imitation of the operation of a commercial nuclear plant used for the administration of examinations, for training, and/or to demonstrate compliance with experience requirements for applicants or licensees. A simulation facility may rely, in whole or part, upon the physical utilization of the reference plant itself.

Systems approach to training means a training program that includes the following five elements:

(i) Systematic analysis of the jobs to be performed.

(ii) Learning objectives derived from the analysis which describe desired performance after training.

(iii) Training design and implementation based on the learning objectives.

(iv) Evaluation of trainee mastery of the objectives during training.

(v) Evaluation and revision of the training based on the performance of trained personnel in the job setting.