Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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utility writes a comprehensive report, which is provided to
INPO, that describes how the accreditation criteria are
being met.
o Second, an accreditation team, composed of training experts
from INPO and other utilities, visits the plant and
evaluates the training programs. After the utility corrects
identified weaknesses, the team's recommendations, along
with the utility's responses and corrective actions, are
presented to the National Nuclear Accrediting Board in a
written report.
o Third, the decision to award or defer accreditation is made
by the National Nuclear Accrediting Board.
The National Nuclear Accrediting Board is the independent
decision-making body that awards or defers accreditation of
utility training programs. The Board operates under the auspices
of INPO, but it is totally independent in its deliberations and
decision-making process.
When training programs are presented to the Board, members
examine the report of the accreditation team and the utility's
responses, as well as the utility self-evaluation report. The
Board's final decision comes only after its meeting with
representatives from the plant and training staffs. This is a
meeting that involves page-by-page review of the written report,
and it is followed by private deliberations by the Board to
determine whether the training programs meet the accreditation
objectives and criteria.
To maintain accreditation, INPO requires a status report two
years after training programs are accredited. Further, each
program must be fully reaccredited every four years.
The National Nuclear Accrediting Board includes four categories
of membership: senior utility representatives, non-nuclear
training experts, representatives from the post-secondary
educational community, and individuals nominated by the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
A working board of five individuals meets to consider
accreditation for each nuclear plant's training programs. This
working board includes one or more individuals from each of the
classifications listed above and must have a majority of
representatives from outside the nuclear utility industry.
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