§ 53.730 Defining, fulfilling, and maintaining the role of personnel in ensuring safe operations.
Each applicant for or holder of an OL or COL for a commercial nuclear plant under this part must comply with the following:
(a) Human factors engineering design requirements. The plant design must reflect state-of-the-art human factors engineering principles for safe and reliable performance in all locations that human activities are expected for performing or supporting the continued availability of plant safety or emergency response functions.
(b) Human system interface design requirements. The plant design must provide for the following to support operating personnel in monitoring plant conditions and responding to plant events:
(1) Features for displaying to operating personnel a minimum set of parameters that define the safety status of the plant and are capable of displaying both the full range of important plant parameters and data trends on demand, as well as indicating when process limits are being approached or exceeded;
(2) Automatic indication of the bypassed and operable status of safety systems;
(3) Direct indication of SSC status that relates to the ability of the SSC to perform its safety function, such as relief and safety valve position (i.e., open or closed) for barriers important to fulfilling safety functions with such devices, and ultimate heat sink and cooling system status and availability;
(4) Instrumentation to measure, record, and display key plant parameters related to the performance of SSCs and the integrity of barriers important to fulfilling safety functions to support operators in monitoring plant conditions and responding to plant events. Examples include temperatures and pressures within important systems or structures, core or fuel system conditions (including possible damage states), temperatures and levels associated with cooling functions, combustible gas concentrations, radiation levels in systems and within structures, and radioactive effluent releases;
(5) Leakage control and detection in the design of systems that pass through barriers important to fulfilling safety functions for the release of radionuclides. An example is an SSC that penetrates a containment structure that might contain radioactive materials that could contribute to the source term during an accident;
(6) Monitoring of in-plant radiation and airborne radioactivity as appropriate for a broad range of normal operating and accident conditions; and
(7) For self-reliant-mitigation facilities, the plant design must also provide the generally licensed reactor operators with the capability to do the following:
(i) Receive plant operating data, including reactor parameters and information needed for the evaluation of emergency conditions.
(ii) Promptly dispatch operations and maintenance personnel.
(iii) Immediately implement responsibilities under the facility emergency plan, as applicable.
(8) For both interaction-dependent and self-reliant mitigation facilities, the plant design must provide licensed operators with the capability of immediately initiating a reactor shutdown from their location.
(c) Concept of operations. A concept of operations that is of sufficient scope and detail to address the following must be provided:
(1) Plant goals;
(2) The roles and responsibilities of operating personnel and automation (or any combination thereof) that are responsible for completing plant functions;
(3) Staffing, qualifications, and training;
(4) The management of normal operations;
(5) The management of off-normal conditions and emergencies;
(6) The management of maintenance and modifications; and
(7) The management of tests, inspections, and surveillances.
(d) Functional requirements analysis and function allocation. A functional requirements analysis and a function allocation must be provided that are sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the following:
(1) The functional requirements analysis must address how safety functions and functional safety criteria are satisfied; and
(2) The function allocation must describe how the safety functions will be assigned to human action, automation, active safety features, passive safety features, and/or inherent safety characteristics.
(e) Operating experience. A program, during construction and during operation, as applicable, for evaluating and applying operating experience must be developed, implemented, and maintained.
(f) Staffing plan. A staffing plan must be developed and comply with the following:
(1) The staffing plan must include a description of how engineering expertise will be available to the on-shift operating personnel during all plant conditions, to assist if they encounter a situation not covered by procedures or training. Engineering expertise includes familiarity with the operation of the plant for which the expertise is provided and one of the following:
(i) A bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, or physical science from an institution accredited by a U.S. Government recognized accrediting body or equivalent; or
(ii) A Professional Engineer's license from a U.S. State or territory.
(2) Applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs for interaction-dependent-mitigation facilities must include within their staffing plans a description of how the proposed numbers, positions, and qualifications of operators and senior operators across all modes of plant operations will be sufficient to ensure that plant safety functions will be maintained. This description must be supported by human factors engineering analyses and assessments.
(3) Applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs for self-reliant-mitigation facilities must include within their staffing plans a description of how generally licensed reactor operator staffing that is both sufficient to continually monitor the operations of fueled reactors and to provide for a continuity of responsibility for facility operations at all times during the operating phase will be maintained.
(4) Applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs under this part must include within their staffing plans a description of how the positions and responsibilities of personnel contained within those plans will adequately satisfy necessary support functions within areas such as plant operations, equipment surveillance and maintenance, radiological protection, chemistry control, fire brigades, engineering, security, and emergency response.
(5) The staffing plan must be approved by the NRC as part of its approval of the OL or COL for the plant. The approved staffing plan is subject to the requirements of § 53.1565.
(g) Training, examination, and proficiency programs. Develop, implement, and maintain programs that comply with the following requirements. These programs must be approved by the NRC as part of its approval of the OL or COL for the plant:
(1) For those applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs for interaction-dependent-mitigation facilities:
(i) The operator licensing initial training program required under § 53.780(a);
(ii) The operator licensing initial examination program required under § 53.780(b);
(iii) The operator licensing requalification program required under § 53.780(c); and
(iv) The operator proficiency program required under § 53.780(g).
(2) For those applicants for or holders of OLs or COLs for self-reliant-mitigation facilities, the generally licensed reactor operator training, examination, and proficiency programs required under § 53.815.
(3) The operator licensing requalification programs required under § 53.780(c) or § 53.815(b) must be implemented upon commencing the administration of initial examinations under the operator licensing examination program required under § 53.780(b) or § 53.815(b), respectively.