Inside NIRMA Summer 2021
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Issue # 11, <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
<strong>Inside</strong><br />
Leading the way in Nuclear Information and Records Management<br />
magazine<br />
Visit us at: <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s 45th Conference<br />
Remembering the Past, Celebrating the<br />
Present, Enthusiastic about the Future!<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Conference Keynote Speakers<br />
Overcome Microfiche Challenges, nextScan<br />
Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Are<br />
Changing the Face of Document Digitization, iBridge<br />
Visual Navigation, Integrated Scanning of America/ISAUSA<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>: The Beginning - How <strong>NIRMA</strong> Came to Be, KISMET<br />
Consulting, Inc.
Contents<br />
<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
5<br />
7<br />
9<br />
12<br />
Overcome Microfiche Challenges<br />
By Matt Anderson, Vice President of Marketing, nextScan<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Conference Keynote Speakers<br />
Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Are Changing the Face<br />
of Document Digitization<br />
By Desh Urs, CEO and President, iBridge LLC<br />
Visual Navigation<br />
By Manual Bulwa, Integrated Scanning of America/ISAUSA<br />
14<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>: The Beginning: A How <strong>NIRMA</strong> Came to Be<br />
By Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting, Inc.<br />
16<br />
18<br />
20<br />
21<br />
22<br />
26<br />
27<br />
Lifetime Member Profile: Meet Cheri Susner, CRM/NS<br />
From the CRM: It’s Time to Take Your Career to the Next Level<br />
By Rick Surber, CRM, IGP<br />
Working in New Ways with Robotic Process Automation<br />
By Bob Larrivee, <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s Director of Technical Programs<br />
ICRM Exam Prep Workshop Series Registration Summary<br />
Chronicles of NIM: A Retrospective on Information Management in Nuclear Power<br />
By Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting, Inc.<br />
NRC’s Implementation Plan to Comply with M-19-21<br />
By Margie Janney, CRM/NS/FED<br />
On Becoming a Leader<br />
By Lou Rofrano, PDBU Co-Director<br />
2 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
CONTENTS<br />
<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
in every issue<br />
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE—28<br />
FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT—29<br />
TREASURER REPORT—29<br />
PDBU NEWS—30<br />
RIMBU NEWS—31<br />
M&MBU NEWS—32<br />
INDUSTRY NEWS—34<br />
Letter from the Editors<br />
We at <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>, value your opinion and are<br />
always looking to improve our magazine. Let us<br />
know what you like and dislike and what you’d<br />
like to see more of. Share your thoughts with our<br />
Communication Team at<br />
DevereauxInc@outlook.com.<br />
If you haven’t already done so, please take a<br />
moment to follow us on Twitter and Instagram,<br />
like us on Facebook and connect with us on<br />
LinkedIn.<br />
Thanks for reading. Please keep in touch!<br />
Neal and Sandra Miller<br />
Editors<br />
Editors<br />
Neal and Sandra Miller<br />
DevereauxInc@outlook.com<br />
Advertising<br />
Neal.F.Miller@gmail.com<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Headquarters<br />
Sarah Perkins<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Administrator<br />
245 Sunnyridge Ave., #41<br />
Fairfield, CT 06824<br />
nirma@nirma.org<br />
In addition to our own<br />
articles, <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
publishes guest articles from<br />
agencies and vendors. Please<br />
be advised that the views and<br />
opinions expressed in these<br />
articles are those of the<br />
authors and do not<br />
necessarily reflect the<br />
opinions of <strong>NIRMA</strong> or its<br />
Board of Directors.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 3
Overcome Microfiche<br />
W<br />
Challenges<br />
By Matt Anderson,<br />
Vice President of Marketing, nextScan<br />
hile fiche is an excellent<br />
medium for long term<br />
storage of documents and<br />
files, retrieving the<br />
contained information can be<br />
challenging. Beyond the difficult<br />
nature of the medium, the three<br />
unique challenges microfiche<br />
presents include the condition of<br />
the microfiche, how the documents<br />
were filmed onto the microfiche,<br />
and how the files should be sorted.<br />
In addition, conversion should<br />
provide assurance that all the<br />
information was<br />
captured. nextScan approaches<br />
these challenges head-on delivering<br />
the fastest and smoothest<br />
microfiche conversion solution.<br />
Is All Microfiche Flat?<br />
Since microfiche is a flat sheet,<br />
it is very stackable and made for<br />
simple storage. In perfect<br />
condition, a stack of microfiche<br />
should be able to be loaded and<br />
scanned automatically. We have<br />
experienced instances that a group<br />
of microfiche will be combined,<br />
with a paperclip or with a rubber<br />
band, to keep them together. Over<br />
months, years, and possibly<br />
decades, the tightness of being held<br />
together will warp the microfiche.<br />
Now, instead of neat, flat pieces of<br />
microfiche, you have microfiche<br />
that may curve from the middle to<br />
the edges or be wrinkled in some<br />
areas. This may require individual<br />
attention and is not ideal for a<br />
quick conversion project.<br />
Imperfections with fiche must<br />
be addressed before being able to<br />
properly convert the microfiche to<br />
a digital format. To keep<br />
microfiche in place, it is placed<br />
between two pieces of glass. One<br />
effective solution that nextScan<br />
employs is to use a heavy piece of<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 5
Continued from previous page.<br />
glass to hold the microfiche in<br />
place. This will ensure the media is<br />
as flat as possible as it is being<br />
scanned. When converting, make<br />
sure your scanner can handle the<br />
condition of your microfiche.<br />
Microfiche Irregularities<br />
Microfiche created today uses a<br />
machine called an archive writer.<br />
This machine essentially takes a<br />
picture of an open digital file and<br />
records it onto the piece of<br />
exposed film. The microfiche is<br />
then processed using chemicals to<br />
create the visible image on the film.<br />
With so many variables, if one is<br />
not performed properly there is a<br />
chance the produced images could<br />
be in poor quality. Special highdefinition<br />
scanners will be required<br />
to bring the lost information back<br />
to life.<br />
Another issue a microfiche user<br />
may experience is if the files were<br />
not filmed straight, or the images<br />
are skewed on the microfiche. This<br />
happens when the microfilmer<br />
does not line up the documents<br />
correctly. nextScan’s software<br />
automatically recognizes the image<br />
as being crooked and automatically<br />
straightens the image.<br />
Microfilm Archive<br />
Orderliness<br />
One aspect often overlooked in the<br />
microfilm conversion process is<br />
refiling the documents to their<br />
original position in the archive.<br />
Many times, these files are in<br />
sequential order or filed by date.<br />
nextScan’s autoloader on the<br />
FlexScan has been designed to hold<br />
hundreds of microfiche,<br />
automatically move the microfiche<br />
to the scanning area, scan the entire<br />
document, and move the<br />
microfiche to a holding tray. Not<br />
only does this recreate the same<br />
stack of microfiche from where it<br />
started, but it also frees up the<br />
operator for other tasks.<br />
Line Scanning Technology<br />
Finally, the only suitable way to<br />
guarantee a 100% capture rate is<br />
with a line scanner used in all<br />
nextScan equipment. Cameras and<br />
imaging systems utilize different<br />
techniques and components for<br />
capturing images. Two common<br />
methods for capture are line scan<br />
and area scan. Line scanning<br />
technology is best applied to large,<br />
high-resolution and/or high-speed<br />
capture, such as high-speed<br />
microfiche conversion. This<br />
technology allows for movement<br />
of the media during the continuous<br />
capture process, guaranteeing a full<br />
digital copy. Comparatively, the<br />
area scan method relies on the<br />
software to determine each frame,<br />
move to position, stop to capture,<br />
and find the next frame. Not only<br />
is that a longer process, but it does<br />
not guarantee full capture of the<br />
microfiche.<br />
Your archives hold some of the<br />
most important documents. Many<br />
may have been there for decades.<br />
Make sure to use a system designed<br />
to meet the challenges of scanning<br />
microfiche. Whether the media is<br />
flat, curved, skewed, straight,<br />
ordered or not, your scanner<br />
should create an exact digital<br />
replica of your documents. Don’t<br />
leave your conversion project to<br />
chance.<br />
nextScan manufactures a wide<br />
range of scanners designed for the<br />
high-speed conversion of<br />
microfilm, microfiche, and aperture<br />
cards. For more information on<br />
our microfilm conversion scanners,<br />
call us at 208-514-4000 or email us<br />
at sales@nextScan.com.<br />
Register for the<br />
45th Annual <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
Conference Today.<br />
6 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
<strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>2021</strong> CONFERENCE<br />
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS<br />
David Nelson<br />
currently serves as<br />
the Chief<br />
Information Officer<br />
(CIO) and Chief<br />
Data Officer<br />
(CDO) of the<br />
Nuclear Regulatory<br />
Commission<br />
(NRC). Mr. Nelson<br />
was selected for this<br />
role in 2016 to<br />
oversee the NRC’s<br />
information<br />
technology/<br />
information<br />
management (IT/IM) portfolio, including those IT<br />
systems supporting nuclear reactor safety and nuclear<br />
materials and waste safety. In addition to the IT/IM<br />
portfolio, Mr. Nelson is responsible for the NRC’s<br />
information resource management, enterprise<br />
architecture program, cybersecurity program,<br />
information and records management program,<br />
information collection program, and the agency’s<br />
implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and<br />
the Federal Privacy Act of 1974.<br />
Mr. Nelson previously held several executive roles at<br />
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),<br />
including CIO and Director, Office of Enterprise<br />
Information; Director, Office of Information Services;<br />
Director, Office of Enterprise Management; and<br />
Director, Data Analytics and Control Group for the<br />
Center for Program Integrity. Mr. Nelson’s office<br />
managed the CMS’s $2.6 billion IT portfolio, including<br />
the complex ecosystem of applications and trusted data<br />
exchanges supporting Healthcare.gov, the Medicare<br />
claims processing system, and the Medicaid support and<br />
quality reporting systems. Mr. Nelson joined CMS in<br />
2004 as the Director, Division of Call Center Systems,<br />
Office of External Affairs and Beneficiary Services, and<br />
was charged with improving access to information for<br />
40 million Medicare beneficiaries.<br />
Before joining CMS, Mr. Nelson served in a variety<br />
of challenging private sector leadership roles, including<br />
co-founder of two broadband development companies<br />
that provided access to underserved markets in the<br />
United States. Mr. Nelson also served in executive<br />
operations roles both in the United States and abroad<br />
for several leading IT development and<br />
telecommunications companies, and as Vice President<br />
of Operations for a telecommunications firm where he<br />
managed the commissioning of several hundred satellite<br />
earth stations in 50 countries across Europe, Latin<br />
America, and the United States.<br />
Whitney McCollum<br />
is the Vice President,<br />
Assistant General<br />
Counsel for Data<br />
Protection &<br />
Technology at<br />
AECOM, a Fortune<br />
500 company that<br />
designs, builds,<br />
finances and operates<br />
infrastructure assets<br />
for governments,<br />
businesses and<br />
organizations. With<br />
offices in over 100<br />
countries, Whitney is<br />
responsible for AECOM’s global privacy compliance<br />
program, and works with AECOM’s Information<br />
Security and Technology, legal, HR, compliance, and<br />
business teams worldwide on mitigating privacy risk. As<br />
AECOM’s technology counsel, Whitney partners with<br />
business teams globally to protect AECOM’s intellectual<br />
property. Whitney is based in Washington state and is<br />
an alum of the IP litigation teams at Morrison Foerster<br />
and O’Melveny & Myers, is CIPP/US certified and a<br />
member of the U.S. Patent Bar.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 7
Are You Still Just<br />
Scanning Media?<br />
Artificial Intelligence not only enhances digital<br />
conversion…<br />
It is the POWER TO TRANSFORM!<br />
Sentiment<br />
Analysis<br />
Thematic<br />
Modeling<br />
Syntactic or<br />
Structural<br />
Matching<br />
Intelligent<br />
Document<br />
Processing<br />
Text<br />
Segmentation<br />
Relationship<br />
Analysis<br />
Topic Discovery<br />
For more details go to<br />
www.ibridgellc.com/IDP<br />
Information<br />
Extraction<br />
www.ibridgellc.com
By Desh Urs, CEO &<br />
President, iBridge LLC<br />
Natural Language Processing and Machine<br />
Learning Are Changing the Face of<br />
Document Digitization<br />
T<br />
he operational flexibility<br />
that business process<br />
outsourcing (BPO) offers<br />
has long been a key growth<br />
driver for enterprises. Document<br />
Digitalization has helped accelerate<br />
this growth, and emerging<br />
technologies are pushing it even<br />
further.<br />
At its core, BPO has been a<br />
mechanism for improving cost<br />
efficiency. Enterprises face a<br />
complex landscape of client<br />
requirements, changing<br />
methodologies, and regulatory<br />
mandates. External partners provide<br />
the necessary expertise and<br />
experience to cost efficiently close<br />
operational gaps.<br />
How Do Enterprises<br />
Utilize BPO?<br />
BPO vendors add value by<br />
supplying external resources to<br />
complete mission critical tasks for<br />
the organization. When enterprises<br />
outsource business processes that<br />
are outside their core value, they<br />
earn the ability to dedicate valuable<br />
time and resources towards highimpact<br />
strategic initiatives.<br />
Some of the most commonly<br />
outsourced business processes<br />
include:<br />
• Document Digitalization – 68%<br />
of enterprises outsource their<br />
document, film and fiche<br />
digitalization, indexing and image<br />
enhancements.<br />
• Accounting – 37% of enterprises<br />
outsource accounting processes to<br />
specialty firms.<br />
• IT services – 37% of enterprises<br />
outsource IT services to managed<br />
service providers.<br />
• Digital marketing – 34% of<br />
organizations outsource their<br />
digital marketing processes to<br />
agencies.<br />
• Lead generation – 28% of<br />
companies outsource lead<br />
generation to cut costs.<br />
• Customer service – 24% of<br />
organizations believe outsourcing<br />
customer service gives them<br />
enough time to focus on higherimpact<br />
processes.<br />
Outsourcing to Optimization<br />
Emerging technologies like natural<br />
language processing, artificial<br />
intelligence, robot process<br />
automation (RPA) and cloud<br />
integration are rapidly changing the<br />
traditional cost-arbitrage thinking<br />
that has historically defined BPO.<br />
Vendors that invest in these<br />
technologies are not only able to be<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 9
Continued from previous page.<br />
more cost effective than internal resources, but these<br />
elements also transform BPO to return optimization<br />
benefits. Thus, making their role even more important<br />
to operational success.<br />
Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on<br />
Document Digitalization<br />
That is why enterprises of all sizes are turning towards<br />
vendors that deploy emerging technologies that<br />
automate the time-consuming manual tasks. Natural<br />
language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine<br />
learning have demonstrated powerful efficiencies in<br />
completing a variety of document conversion functions.<br />
Natural Language Processing<br />
Natural language processing (NLP) is a type of<br />
artificial intelligence that allows computers to read and<br />
identify key words, phases, document context, and<br />
topographic map symbols and fashion thematic<br />
understanding.<br />
NLP delivers a cost-efficient way to automatically<br />
filter and categorize large volumes of content.<br />
NLP algorithms are also behind many other useful and<br />
innovative technologies. These include voice-activated<br />
personal assistants, real-time translation tools, and email<br />
spam filters.<br />
Artificial Intelligence<br />
Artificial intelligence (AI) in digital conversion is a<br />
broad collection of emerging technologies designed to<br />
handle large quantities of unstructured data quickly and<br />
accurately. It achieves this using computational<br />
techniques designed to mimic the way the human brain<br />
processes data through structures called neural<br />
networks.<br />
One of the transformative technologies artificial<br />
intelligence enables is optical character recognition.<br />
Allowing computers to recognize document text and<br />
formatting makes a significant amount of costly and<br />
time-consuming data entry work redundant. Data can be<br />
indexed and accessible the moment an employee<br />
introduces it into the system.<br />
The ability to interpret large quantities of unstructured<br />
data is key to enabling next-generation document<br />
control processes. Instead of painstakingly entering data<br />
into a database manually, artificially intelligent data<br />
repositories can index scanned document images directly<br />
– with no need for file format conversion.<br />
The practical benefit of this approach is minimaltouch,<br />
straight-through processing. Any process that<br />
relies heavily on manual, high-touch processes is a<br />
potential candidate for AI-powered restructuring.<br />
Higher impact operational benefits are achievable<br />
through AI as well. Artificially intelligent support<br />
systems can cost-effectively read through years of<br />
complex documents, land records, and contracts and<br />
store them digitally for ready access.<br />
Machine Learning<br />
Machine learning (ML) is a subset of AI that focuses<br />
on teaching computers to process data without giving<br />
them explicit instructions on how to do so. Machine<br />
learning systems can interpret data without relying on<br />
human intervention influencing the results.<br />
Basic optical character recognition (OCR) systems are<br />
unable to decipher the location of text in icons or<br />
symbols. Digitizing intricate paper documents,<br />
especially land maps and blueprints, which often contain<br />
numerous geometrical figures, complicates the<br />
recognition of the text.<br />
An ML-based system first identifies the objects, icons<br />
or symbols and inherently searches for the text within<br />
these objects. A ML-based workflow prevents the OCR<br />
system from overlooking potentially important<br />
information.<br />
Machine learning enables AI equipped vendors to<br />
automate analytics processes that traditionally come with<br />
steep learning curves and operating costs.<br />
10 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
Optimize Business Processes with Tech-Enabled<br />
Outsourcing<br />
It’s important for executives and leaders to<br />
understand that these new outsourced technologies do<br />
more than digitize documents. They enable your<br />
employees to maximize their productivity by focusing<br />
on the tasks that only humans can do.<br />
This puts greater value on the human element of the<br />
process itself – whether it’s helping a customer solve a<br />
technical problem, processing an insurance claim, or<br />
identifying a malware attack. In each case, tech-enabled<br />
business process outsourcing vendors make it possible<br />
for enterprises to emphasize the value their employees<br />
generate.<br />
Deploying automated solutions to high-volume, lowimpact<br />
processes is key to achieving best-in-class<br />
workflow efficiency throughout the enterprise.<br />
Records managers and administrators who look for<br />
vendors that incorporate these technologies into their<br />
organizations will enable smarter decision-making and<br />
more flexible leadership.<br />
Business process outsourcing vendors that<br />
implement emerging technologies can facilitate this by<br />
making process efficiency their core value.<br />
For an enterprise, whose core value may not include<br />
emerging technologies, it’s a strategy that prioritizes<br />
efficiency, flexibility, and agility.<br />
About iBridge:<br />
iBridge Is a Digital Transformation Company. We help<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> members, manage, and analyze their data to create<br />
meaningful operational control and improved profitability. For<br />
more than a decade, iBridge has successfully distilled complex<br />
information into actionable results.<br />
www.ibridgellc.com<br />
“It is my pleasure to introduce to you our new digitalization<br />
Solutions Account Executive, Suzanne King. Suzanne is based in<br />
Atlanta and brings a decade of digitalization experience to iBridge.”<br />
Desh Urs, CEO and President, iBridge LLC.<br />
Suzanne’s contact information:<br />
Direct: 503.906.2596<br />
Email: Suzanne.king@ibridgellc.com<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 11
By Manuel Bulwa, Integrated Scanning of America<br />
www.isausa.com<br />
m<br />
ost DMS products provide search capabilities<br />
based on a combination of structured index<br />
fields and full text search (FTS). Structured<br />
indexing and full text search are two legs<br />
supporting the proverbial search stool, so we need to<br />
add a third leg: Visual Navigation (VN). Visual<br />
Navigation allows users to refine their search looking at<br />
folder tree structures, bookmarks and thumbnails.<br />
These visual entities convey valuable information and<br />
are captured from covers, folders, staples, clips, divider<br />
tabs, barcoded target sheets, envelopes, microfilm blips,<br />
email attachments, title blocks, headers, footers, logos,<br />
etc.<br />
Visual Navigation markers are small raster images<br />
that can be captured automatically or with the mouse,<br />
drawing rectangles around divider tabs, title blocks,<br />
headings, dividers, etc.<br />
In the example below, visual markers were captured<br />
through mouse rectangles, barcoded sheets on stapled<br />
or clipped pages and automated capture of text<br />
headings. As you navigate through the multiple pages of<br />
a document, the corresponding visual marker will be<br />
highlighted in blue (left pane). Conversely, if you click<br />
on a visual marker, the first page pointed at by that<br />
marker will become visible (top right, blurred to protect<br />
confidentiality), showing any highlighted keywords used<br />
in the full text search (green box, bottom right):<br />
Visual marker images are also snippets that can be<br />
distributed to remote (even off-shore) data entry<br />
operators, volunteers and interns, making human<br />
capture more efficient and less costly.<br />
Besides paper documents and books, visual<br />
navigation proves very helpful in other areas. Examples:<br />
Smart video inventorying: used to reduce costs and<br />
liabilities creating a manifest/inventory of a collection:<br />
An operator wearing smart glasses (shown above)<br />
captures (hands-free) a video of the contents of a box<br />
or drawer. Using his/her hands, the operator simply<br />
makes sure that every label is exposed for a fraction of a<br />
second before exposing the next label or tab. A typical<br />
box or drawer can be captured in two to four minutes,<br />
depending on how packed the folders are, their<br />
orientation and their location.<br />
A legible still frame is extracted via software off the<br />
video for each label. Using Binary Search (a<br />
combination of automation and visual navigation that<br />
relies on responding to Yes/No or Lower/Higher<br />
questions) a user can locate any of 2 n records with zero<br />
indexing cost in less than n clicks. For example, a<br />
collection of over 30,000 documents would require less<br />
than 15 clicks to locate any document or to determine<br />
that it does not exist.<br />
See also: https://youtu.be/9TltKt5HGi0<br />
COM Fiche: Every<br />
fiche sheet has a title<br />
block that is visible as<br />
pdf file names that can<br />
be navigated visually<br />
and/or through windows<br />
search. Double<br />
clicking on a named<br />
PDF file will show all<br />
12 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
An improved variation of this method is based on<br />
defining “hot spots” in the fiche index frame, so clicking<br />
on a coordinate will link straight to the image without<br />
having to use the bookmarks.<br />
frames in that fiche sheet. The last frame of a sheet<br />
(“fiche index frame”) contains the coordinates of the<br />
row and column that will show the starting frame of the<br />
document sought. All you need to do now is to click on<br />
the bookmark matching that coordinate and visually<br />
navigate the document frames:<br />
This makes possible the finding of records:<br />
• without the cost of keying in certain title<br />
block data fields ...<br />
• without the risk of keying or recognition<br />
errors and the cost of subject matter<br />
expertise to decide which ones to<br />
capture.<br />
• adding the convenience of improvising<br />
selection criteria on-the-fly …..<br />
Large Format Drawings and Maps: A drawing set<br />
typically includes one or more sheets. After a quick<br />
search, the few sheets of the selected set can be visually<br />
navigated through a small number of images of the title<br />
blocks (bottom right). This makes possible the finding<br />
of records:<br />
• without the cost of keying in certain title block data<br />
fields such as sheet number, revision number,<br />
section, task, etc.<br />
• without the risk of keying or recognition errors and<br />
the cost of subject matter expertise to decide which<br />
ones to capture.<br />
• adding the convenience of improvising selection<br />
criteria on-the-fly by seeing stamps, signatures,<br />
handwritten annotations, logos, etc.<br />
Microfilm Rolls: If the filming is blipped and that a<br />
catalog or manifest exists naming each blip, then the<br />
entire roll could be contained in a bookmarked PDF<br />
file. The bookmarks can be navigated visually and/or via<br />
text search. Producing separate smaller PDF files per<br />
bookmark is not recommended, as blips are known to<br />
be less than perfect, so document frames may extend<br />
beyond a blip.<br />
In summary, visual navigation provides the third leg<br />
needed to stabilize the search stool. It can also save<br />
money, defer costs, reduce errors and facilitate<br />
progressive indexing as dictated by use and practical<br />
experience.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 13
<strong>NIRMA</strong>: The Beginning<br />
I<br />
t’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s SUPERMAN!<br />
Those stirring words announced the arrival of a<br />
superhero who fought for truth, justice, and the<br />
American Way. But, in the beginning…<br />
On the far-off world of Krypton, its destruction<br />
imminent, a scientist and his wife place their infant son,<br />
Kal-El, in a small spacecraft and send him to Earth.<br />
The spacecraft plows into a farm field upon arrival and<br />
is discovered by an older couple named Kent. They<br />
adopt Kal-El and name him Clark. They (and<br />
eventually the people on Earth) discover that Clark has<br />
superhuman abilities, such as the ability to fly,<br />
incredible strength, and x-ray vision. Clark, aka<br />
Superman, then strives to fight crime and protect Planet<br />
Earth.<br />
I just love origin stories. They set a historical<br />
context for a person, place, or thing. They provide<br />
insight into the whys and fundamental motivations for<br />
what we see today. Typically, from humble beginnings<br />
(Apple started in a garage, HP started in a garage,<br />
grunge rock started in a garage…wait, what’s with<br />
garages?), brands and companies emerged that grew<br />
into multi-billion-dollar behemoths.<br />
Here’s an origin story you probably haven’t heard<br />
much about, and it’s “how <strong>NIRMA</strong> came to be…”<br />
REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT<br />
BACKDROP<br />
Back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, nuclear energy<br />
was being embraced wholeheartedly by electric utilities<br />
as cost-effective for putting electric power on the grid;<br />
this surge is known as the Great Nuclear Bandwagon<br />
Era. In June 1970, the Atomic Energy Commission<br />
(AEC) issued 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, “Quality<br />
Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel<br />
Reprocessing Plants”. The Commission then issued<br />
Regulatory Guide 1.28, that endorsed the implementing<br />
By Eugene Y. Yang,<br />
Principal Consultant<br />
KISMET Consulting, Inc.<br />
ANSI nuclear standard, N45.2-1971. However, the<br />
guidance was deemed not sufficient to answer the<br />
“how” to implement a QA program, let alone<br />
implement a records management program to address<br />
Criterion XVII. In 1974, ANSI published ANSI<br />
N45.2.9-1974, establishing a standard on the collection<br />
and storage of quality assurance records; the AEC<br />
endorses this standard through Regulatory Guide 1.88.<br />
Finally, in 1975, the creation of the Nuclear Regulatory<br />
Commission is finalized. It is from this regulatory<br />
environment that the Association emerges.<br />
RECORDS MANAGERS, UNITE!<br />
In 1976, a call was put out to the industry (utilities,<br />
A/E’s, NSSS vendors, services consultants, etc.) to 1)<br />
gain further understanding of the ANSI Standard’s<br />
requirements, and 2) provide a forum to share<br />
implementation lessons learned and methods. The<br />
common need was to find solutions for maximizing the<br />
value of the flood of information, while bringing a<br />
sense of order and cost effectiveness. This initial adhoc<br />
meeting was held in Miami, FL, attended by 135<br />
charter members.<br />
The general consensus from this meeting was that<br />
a) the information presented was of high value to the<br />
industry, b) another meeting (and subsequent meetings)<br />
need to occur, and c) the industry needs standards and<br />
guidance in the methods for managing documents and<br />
records. To that end, in 1977, a Steering Committee<br />
was formed; from this committee, the Nuclear Records<br />
Management Association (NRMA) was incorporated in<br />
1978.<br />
NRMA Logo, circa 1978<br />
14 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
THE EARLY YEARS<br />
NRMA was challenged from the beginning on<br />
several fronts. First, the Association needed to get<br />
organized, with mission and purpose, and codified into<br />
bylaws. Second, the Association needed to be on the<br />
forefront on anticipating and reviewing proposed rule<br />
changes from the NRC – and providing feedback.<br />
Third, the Association wanted to continue to meet<br />
annually, providing a venue where lessons learned, new<br />
methods, and the use of emergent computer<br />
technologies could be presented and discussed. Finally,<br />
to be in a position to provide guidance for standardizing<br />
methods, committees needed to be formed to carve out<br />
specific areas of work.<br />
Then, the Three Mile Island event occurred.<br />
Though the Association’s overall mission and purpose<br />
didn’t change, many members saw dramatic changes<br />
occur at their plants in accountability and traceability<br />
rigor, and the accessibility and availability of records<br />
when needed. As the political aftermath wended its way<br />
through the general population and Congress, rule<br />
changes were coming fast and furious, many of which<br />
were deemed burdensome to the utilities. NRMA<br />
established a liaison with the Office of Management and<br />
Budget to provide input and feedback on these issues;<br />
interestingly enough, many of the proposed rule changes<br />
never saw the light of day.<br />
The big issues back then were a) how to overcome<br />
the huge volume of paper flooding the workplace and<br />
vaults; b) configuration management issues like drawing<br />
updates and accuracy; c) records retention schedules; d)<br />
the processing and use of microfilm, and e) anticipating<br />
issues concerning plant life extension and plant<br />
decommissioning.<br />
industry. Others felt that the Association needed to<br />
expand its vision; the rapid increase and use of<br />
computer technologies was beginning to blur lines on<br />
“what’s data”, “what’s a record”, as well as the promise<br />
of establishing integrated suites of plant management<br />
applications. In 1985, the vote was taken, and the<br />
Association changed its name to the Nuclear<br />
Information and Records Management Association<br />
(<strong>NIRMA</strong>).<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Logo, circa 1985<br />
YET, ANOTHER BEGINNING…<br />
And, in 1986, a certain young engineer resigned his<br />
job with a southern utility, where he was part of the IT<br />
staff that supported plant applications for that utility’s<br />
nuclear plants. He went to work at a consulting<br />
engineering firm out of Boston, MA, and thus attended<br />
his first <strong>NIRMA</strong> Symposium in 1987…<br />
Current <strong>NIRMA</strong> Logo<br />
THE “BEGINNING” OF <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
Ten years after that first ad-hoc meeting, the<br />
Association met with a piece of controversy of its own:<br />
putting the “I” (Information) in the name. Looking<br />
back, it seems obvious that the Association should have<br />
“information management” as part of its mission, but in<br />
this timeframe, it was met with stiff resistance. Many<br />
felt that there was a compelling argument for the<br />
Association to be dedicated to “records”, as there was<br />
the Appendix B basis, and it carved a niche out in the<br />
Eugene has been a member of <strong>NIRMA</strong> for over 34<br />
years. At the time he joined,<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> had only been in existence<br />
for 11 years. He would love to hear<br />
about stories and anecdotes from<br />
others, so please email him at<br />
eugene.yang@kismetconsulting.com.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 15
Lifetime<br />
Member<br />
Profile<br />
Meet Cheri Susner, CRM/NS<br />
“Cheri was on the Board when I was newly elected. I recall her giving each new Board "the talk" about what it meant to be involved<br />
in <strong>NIRMA</strong> and being on the Board, its history, etc. The Lifetimes seemed to have "skin in the game" in all they do for <strong>NIRMA</strong>,<br />
meaning they weren't going to let <strong>NIRMA</strong> decline on their watch, as they say. That is what makes them special and comes out in their<br />
stories and memories.”<br />
Janice Hoerber, <strong>NIRMA</strong> President<br />
Tell us about the locations have you worked at and<br />
positions held during your nuclear career?<br />
In 1983, I started to work for Exelon Generation,<br />
Nuclear Division. I spent 24 years at Braidwood Station<br />
and the remaining time I worked at the Centralized<br />
Training Center and the Nuclear Corporate Office.<br />
After 30 years, I decided to retire and relax; that didn’t<br />
last long because within 6 months I came back as a parttime<br />
Contract Instructor for Inprocessing for<br />
Braidwood, Dresden, and LaSalle Stations. I retired<br />
from the Training Department at Braidwood Station<br />
where I was an INPO Certified Instructor and I<br />
coordinated the General Employee Training for Exelon<br />
Employees and Contractors. Also, I was the First Line<br />
Supervisor Training Coordinator. However, the majority<br />
of my tenure was spent in Records Management/<br />
Document Control at the Station and at Corporate. I<br />
worked up through the ranks from a member of the<br />
Clerical staff to management, and then as the<br />
Department Head for RM/DC. That was called learning<br />
the RM/DC business by fire.<br />
What are your Professional Affiliations and<br />
Education?<br />
• Nuclear Information and Records Management<br />
Association (<strong>NIRMA</strong>)<br />
• Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM),<br />
earning my CRM designation in January 1999 and<br />
my NS designation in July 1999<br />
• Bachelors Degree in Business Management in 2005<br />
• Masters Degree in Adult Education in 2007<br />
When did you join <strong>NIRMA</strong>?<br />
I attended my very first <strong>NIRMA</strong> Symposium (as it was<br />
called in the ‘old’ days) back in 1994 in Milwaukee, WI. I<br />
remember that first time as being overwhelming and an<br />
awesome experience. After that, I didn’t miss a single<br />
conference until 2017 when I fully retired.<br />
What <strong>NIRMA</strong> Leadership positions have you held?<br />
In 1996 I jumped in the deep end and I joined the<br />
Regulations Committee and became the secretary. I was<br />
on the subcommittee that created the original Technical<br />
Guidelines (TGs) for Electronic Records, which was<br />
recommended to the industry by the NRC. In 2001 I<br />
“I have to say that Cheri was my first introduction to Nuclear<br />
Generation in 1984! Cheri and I progressed through the IBEW<br />
bargaining ranks until we were asked to become supervisors and<br />
managers over the Records & Information Management<br />
environment during the many years of working together. During<br />
the early years not only was I her good friend, but I was Cheri's<br />
Supervisor/Manager in Records Management and it was<br />
incredibly apparent to me that this chick had a lot to offer the<br />
world. She is a people person and never attempts to elevate herself<br />
above anyone no matter what position she holds, and boy can she<br />
carry her own when it comes to debating the ins and outs of<br />
records and information management!!! As Cheri's Manager/<br />
Mentor when she became a Supervisor it was time to let this kid<br />
fly and show her stuff. Given the right opportunities (work and<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>), introducing her to the appropriate audience, getting<br />
the needed guidance on the education needs, she flew to the highest<br />
levels in her job and in <strong>NIRMA</strong>!”<br />
Jo Ann Chovan, Chovan Associates<br />
16 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
was elected to<br />
the Board of<br />
Directors<br />
beginning my<br />
term in 2002. I<br />
was proud to<br />
be the first<br />
Female to<br />
serve two<br />
consecutive<br />
years as<br />
President for<br />
the<br />
Association. I<br />
was Vice<br />
President for<br />
four years and<br />
in 2009, my<br />
last year as a<br />
Board Member, I served as the Secretary. 2009 was the<br />
year I received my Lifetime Achievement Recognition,<br />
and that, my friends, is a humbling experience.<br />
As President, we changed the title of the <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
Symposium to the Nuclear Information Management<br />
Conference. This move was to stress Information<br />
Management but not lose the importance of Records<br />
and Documents. Also, to have <strong>NIRMA</strong> recognized as<br />
the leading authority as a training organization in IM,<br />
RM, and DC.<br />
During that era, <strong>NIRMA</strong> was faced with financial<br />
issues and my goal was to have the Association be<br />
solvent and to create a strong foundation for the future.<br />
Another change that was important to me, as President,<br />
was to have the Board available and approachable to the<br />
Membership. With the Board taking on the planning<br />
and coordination of the Annual Conference, I felt that<br />
Board Meetings should not be held during the<br />
conference and the expectation was that the Board<br />
Members be out interfacing with the membership<br />
during the entire conference.<br />
How did you get started with <strong>NIRMA</strong>?<br />
My boss at the time, Jo Ann Chovan, brought me to<br />
my first conference and set me loose. My second<br />
conference was in 1995, Washington DC, where I was<br />
taken under the wing of Hans Ebner and he directed me<br />
where to go and what to do. He also told me that I need<br />
to get involved so I can grow in my profession; he also<br />
pushed to do a presentation. The third year, 1996 in<br />
Orlando, FL, I gave my first presentation and from<br />
there I got much more involved with <strong>NIRMA</strong>. I was<br />
lucky to have Bruce Evans and Eugene Yang as mentors<br />
and between Jo Ann, Bruce, and Eugene I got pushed<br />
and prodded to expand my comfort zone.<br />
How did being a member of <strong>NIRMA</strong> assist you<br />
with your career?<br />
Being a member of <strong>NIRMA</strong> increased my knowledge<br />
in IM, RM, and DC through the training and mentoring<br />
opportunities that the Conference provided. Also, giving<br />
presentations provided me with experience in public<br />
speaking, which, in turn, provided a level of comfort to<br />
train the Station personnel in RM/DC processes. The<br />
time spent on the Board also improved my Project<br />
Management techniques, due to serving as VP and<br />
responsible for coordinating the annual conference.<br />
Finally, by serving eight (8) years on the Board provided<br />
leadership skills. All of these pieces to my professional<br />
puzzle was priceless.<br />
“When Cheri first joined <strong>NIRMA</strong>, she was pretty shy, to the<br />
point of being very unassertive. It was clear to me, from her<br />
questions and her personal "OE" at Braidwood that she was<br />
smart, experienced, and could hold her own. It drove me crazy<br />
how she was being so "mamby-pamby" on one hand, and then<br />
being so blazingly insightful on the other hand. During the<br />
opening night festivities one year, I pulled her aside and quoted her<br />
the riot act. She needed to cut out the "mamby-pamby" and step<br />
up; she had too much to offer. So, she started to move up the<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> ranks - secretary of a committee, chair of a<br />
subcommittee, chair of a committee, Board Director, and then<br />
President. And look where she is today...retired and doing a<br />
wonderful job making delightful home-made cards while riding in<br />
a Slingshot!”<br />
Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting<br />
Cheri in her slingshot with her beloved dog, Chewie.<br />
Continued on page 32.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 17
From the CRM<br />
It’s Time to Take Your<br />
Career to the Next Level<br />
I<br />
t's a great time to be in the<br />
Records and Information<br />
Management (RIM) industry.<br />
Advances in technology and an<br />
increase in knowledge workers<br />
worldwide have enabled a more<br />
efficient and prolific environment<br />
for creating records and information.<br />
This progression has increased the<br />
volume of data and information<br />
created annually from 2 zettabytes in<br />
2010 to 59 zettabytes in 2020. And<br />
people are working from everywhere,<br />
from traditional offices to home<br />
offices, to tropical beaches, which is<br />
contributing to this abundance of<br />
information. An organization's<br />
information is its most powerful<br />
asset, and like tangible assets,<br />
information needs management to<br />
function efficiently. Developing the<br />
capacity to properly manage a<br />
growing volume of records and<br />
information being created and used<br />
in diverse locations has never been<br />
more vital.<br />
The premier certification in the<br />
RIM field is the Certified Records<br />
Manager (CRM). It's the top<br />
certification because it accurately<br />
measures competency to perform as<br />
a records manager. But more than<br />
that, it provides a path to becoming a<br />
well-rounded and knowledgeable<br />
records manager capable of solving<br />
the most complex RIM problems. If<br />
that's not enough, it also offers<br />
opportunities to continue RIM<br />
education throughout your career<br />
while providing opportunities to<br />
network and grow professionally.<br />
My Journey<br />
In high school, a practical law<br />
class taught by one of the best<br />
teachers I ever had, Mr. Carlton,<br />
sparked an interest in regulatory<br />
compliance. He caught on to my<br />
enthusiasm and encouraged setting<br />
law school as a long-term goal. After<br />
a pre-law track in undergraduate<br />
school, law school helped me realize<br />
that I prefer collaboration to the<br />
adversarial nature of litigation. I<br />
gravitated towards classes that waded<br />
into complex areas of statutory<br />
interpretation, like environmental<br />
law and tax. I also found that I<br />
loved performing legal research. I<br />
realized that researching and<br />
analyzing difficult areas of law could<br />
be a way to help people avoid fines,<br />
penalties, and litigation through<br />
regulatory compliance.<br />
What I didn't expect is that my<br />
path would lead me to the RIM<br />
industry. After passing the bar and<br />
dabbling in a few contract research<br />
jobs, I found an opportunity to apply<br />
my research and analysis skills. It<br />
called for extensive research of<br />
statutory recordkeeping law and how<br />
it impacts records retention<br />
schedules. I didn't know what a<br />
records retention schedule was at the<br />
time but recognized that this fit well<br />
with my regulatory compliance<br />
background. Joining Zasio allowed<br />
By Rick Surber, CRM, IGP<br />
me to research the laws in nearly<br />
every industry worldwide. It also<br />
opened the door to the RIM field. I<br />
was privileged to learn the ropes<br />
from great mentors like David<br />
Stephens and Kevin Zasio. They<br />
both encouraged and incentivized<br />
hard work, dedication to clients, and<br />
continuing education through<br />
certifications. The first certification<br />
they recommended was the CRM.<br />
Study Tips<br />
The CRM certification is a set of<br />
six exams designed to ensure that<br />
successful candidates are strong, well<br />
-rounded records managers with the<br />
tools and knowledge to tackle the<br />
most complex RIM hurdles. So, the<br />
biggest tip I can give for studying is<br />
to take the time to learn and<br />
understand the material. If you are<br />
interested in a career in RIM,<br />
shortcuts gained by memorizing and<br />
mastering test-taking strategies at the<br />
expense of truly understanding the<br />
material will hurt you in the long run.<br />
I recommend starting with the<br />
exam outline. My study strategy was<br />
to make the outline my own by going<br />
through and adding what I knew<br />
about each concept. That gave me a<br />
good baseline for what I already<br />
knew and helped me understand the<br />
overall scope of the outline. Then as<br />
I read through the recommended<br />
books and acronyms list, I added<br />
what I was learning to my outline.<br />
18 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
When I finished reading, there were<br />
still some areas where I felt like my<br />
outline was weak. So, I researched<br />
those areas online. Where I was still<br />
unsure whether I had an adequate<br />
understanding, I asked my mentor.<br />
The result was a lengthy outline filled<br />
with details that I continued to study<br />
in the weeks leading up to the exams.<br />
My final step was to understand my<br />
weak points and distill my outline<br />
down to a double-sided page of items<br />
per test that were the least intuitive.<br />
For some parts, especially part five,<br />
which covers technology, this was no<br />
small feat.<br />
Another study tip is to answer as<br />
many practice questions as you can<br />
find. The questions aren't designed to<br />
trick you into picking an incorrect<br />
answer. But many have multiple<br />
answers that aren't blatantly<br />
incorrect. Understanding the<br />
concepts helps you realize why there<br />
is a best answer for each question<br />
and how seemingly correct answers<br />
are flawed. Another thing I noticed<br />
is that the test takers use RIM<br />
concepts as the incorrect answers<br />
instead of making things up. So, in<br />
addition to understanding why each<br />
correct answer in a practice test was<br />
correct, I made sure to understand<br />
why the incorrect answers were<br />
incorrect.<br />
One last resource to mention, if<br />
you are looking for an extra boost to<br />
incentivize studying, consider an<br />
exam preparation workshop. With<br />
virtual options now available, they<br />
are more affordable than ever. I was<br />
lucky to sit through an excellent inperson<br />
workshop and made some<br />
professional connections that I still<br />
keep in touch with and consider<br />
friends. The workshop provided an<br />
instructor-led review of the outline<br />
and also gave me access to additional<br />
practice questions. I found it to be<br />
worthwhile. <strong>NIRMA</strong> is again hosting<br />
a Pre-conference ICRM Online<br />
Workshop this year, as they have in<br />
recent years.<br />
Becoming a CRM is<br />
challenging, demanding,<br />
and requires persistence<br />
and determination. But it's<br />
one of those<br />
accomplishments that you<br />
can be proud of ....<br />
Test Time<br />
There are different approaches to<br />
how close together to take each test<br />
and which ones to take first or last. I<br />
decided I wanted to take the one I<br />
felt most comfortable with first,<br />
which ended up being part four.<br />
Parts two and three are also closely<br />
related, and all have the same<br />
recommended reading. I found that<br />
the concepts in parts two through<br />
four overlapped considerably.<br />
Prioritizing these three tests also<br />
provides you with an initial<br />
certification, the Certified Records<br />
Analyst (CRA), which eliminates the<br />
five-year window to complete all<br />
exams. Unless you have a<br />
background in either IT or project<br />
management, I recommend starting<br />
with parts two through four.<br />
Part one on project management<br />
and part five on IT were the most<br />
difficult because they required me to<br />
explore unfamiliar concepts. I<br />
followed the same outline approach<br />
described above, and I feel like the<br />
studying process gave me a solid<br />
foundation in both areas. The great<br />
thing about part six is that there is no<br />
new material to learn. It's all content<br />
from the first five tests, so as long as<br />
that material is still fresh, you just<br />
have to be prepared to explain and<br />
apply the concepts in writing. I<br />
practiced taking part six, timed, and<br />
trying to mimic testing conditions,<br />
which allowed me to stay focused<br />
with a plan of action when it came to<br />
the actual test.<br />
Continuing RIM Education =<br />
Continuing Professional<br />
Development Opportunities<br />
Once you pass the tests, the<br />
CRM requires completing 100<br />
continuing education credits every<br />
five years to maintain good standing.<br />
While I initially worried completing<br />
all these credits would be difficult, I<br />
found this requirement presents<br />
fantastic professional development<br />
opportunities. Basically one credit<br />
equals one hour of traditional<br />
educational opportunities like<br />
attending webinars. But many other<br />
activities also qualify for credits,<br />
including RIM projects at work.<br />
Initiatives like records retention<br />
schedule creation, RIM procedures<br />
drafting, training, and numerous<br />
other tasks spearheaded by records<br />
managers are all included. There are<br />
also options to write articles, present,<br />
and grade tests to earn credits. The<br />
best part is that a lot of these options<br />
are free.<br />
More traditional methods of<br />
gaining credits like attending local<br />
ARMA chapter speakers provide<br />
valuable opportunities to learn while<br />
networking. These also provide<br />
leadership and public speaking<br />
opportunities. Further, attending<br />
conferences like <strong>NIRMA</strong> or ARMA<br />
allow you to knock out big chunks of<br />
credits at a high value.<br />
Becoming a CRM is challenging,<br />
demanding, and requires persistence<br />
and determination. But it's one of<br />
those accomplishments that you can<br />
be proud of and continues to pay<br />
dividends throughout your career. If<br />
you love RIM and you are ready to<br />
take your career to the next level, this<br />
certification should be high on your<br />
list.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 19
I<br />
Working in new ways<br />
with robotic process<br />
automation<br />
have had a great<br />
opportunity to teach and<br />
talk about process<br />
automation within the<br />
Nuclear Records Management<br />
community over the years. I enjoy<br />
engaging in conversations about how<br />
far we have come in streamlining<br />
operations and business processes<br />
through the use of automation<br />
technologies.<br />
Businesses are gaining their<br />
process independence now more<br />
than ever before, due to increased<br />
emphasis on intelligent information<br />
management (IIM) practices and the<br />
drive to digitalize business processes<br />
across the enterprise. The main areas<br />
of focus are typically on the back<br />
office with finance and human<br />
resources taking the lead.<br />
In the Nuclear industry, there is<br />
great opportunity for process<br />
automation with the use of Robotic<br />
Process Automation (RPA) and<br />
Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within<br />
the Nuclear Information and<br />
Records Management sector for<br />
example, RPA and AI allow these<br />
business units to gain their process<br />
independence away from manual<br />
processes to digitally automated<br />
processes.<br />
Robotic Process Automation and<br />
AI are most suitable for teams and<br />
individuals:<br />
• performing structured,<br />
repeatable, tasks.<br />
• undertaking simple, or in some<br />
cases, complex decisions based<br />
on predetermined rules.<br />
• accessing multiple systems to<br />
accomplish a task.<br />
• with a need to search for,<br />
aggregate, or update information.<br />
• performing tasks that are part of<br />
a workflow sequence.<br />
Some RPA candidate examples<br />
include:<br />
• Inbound digital capture<br />
• Data Entry and Validation<br />
• Data Consolidation<br />
• Data and File Manipulation<br />
• Automated Formatting<br />
• Web Scraping<br />
• User Interface Manipulation<br />
(clicks, input fields et al)<br />
• Uploading / Exporting Data<br />
• Downloading / Importing Data<br />
• Message Creation, Data<br />
• Quality Checks<br />
• More….<br />
By Bob Larrivee<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s Director of Technical Programs<br />
Nuclear Age Examples<br />
In my conversations with Records<br />
and Information Professionals in the<br />
Nuclear industry, one topic in<br />
particular seems to surface every<br />
time – decommissioning a power<br />
plant. The amount of information<br />
related to the decommissioning<br />
process is significant to say the least,<br />
and critical to maintain properly.<br />
According to TRS 411 from the<br />
International Atomic Energy Agency<br />
(IAEA), the types of documentation<br />
and records collected as part of<br />
decommissioning include design,<br />
construction, and modification data,<br />
and operating, shutdown, and post<br />
shutdown data. What this means is<br />
that all forms of documentation<br />
must be collected, managed and<br />
archived including drawings, X-Rays,<br />
procurement records, process maps,<br />
test reports and much, much more.<br />
This is where RPA and AI can play<br />
a significant role as part of the<br />
capture process. Inbound<br />
information whether via email,<br />
uploading to a specific directory of<br />
storage locations, or manually<br />
converted from physical to digital<br />
form, can be fully or partially<br />
automated to help identify the<br />
information, classify it, and move it<br />
through a process for further action.<br />
The advantage being one of<br />
consistency, repeatability, and<br />
improved defensibility while freeing<br />
up human resources to focus on<br />
more complex activities or exception<br />
processing.<br />
In my view<br />
Process independence in the<br />
nuclear industry is a reality. RPA is<br />
rapidly being sought after and<br />
embraced by many organizations and<br />
business unit. Immediate<br />
opportunity exists to improve and<br />
automate those processes that are<br />
still likely manual, seen as chaotic, or<br />
where activities are repetitive with<br />
little to no deviation.<br />
The key in all of this is to align<br />
RPA with your operational goals,<br />
20 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
focusing on targeted objectives that support the<br />
corporate vision, operational requirements, and<br />
regulatory compliance. If you are considering RPA<br />
because it is the latest technology and you want to be<br />
the leader in your space to use, think again because that<br />
is the wrong way to approach this.<br />
If you are looking at RPA as a way to enhance your<br />
operations, transform your manual processes and even<br />
some existing “automated” processes to a new level that<br />
will help enhance organizational processes and support<br />
your corporate goals, you are on the right path to<br />
gaining process independence.<br />
About the Author<br />
Bob Larrivee is an Independent Analyst and <strong>NIRMA</strong> Board<br />
member. An internationally recognized subject matter expert and<br />
thought leader, Bob has over thirty-five years of experience in the<br />
fields of information and process management. Bob is an avid<br />
techie focusing on the application of advanced technologies to<br />
enhance and automate business operations.<br />
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS<br />
ICRM Exam Prep Workshop Series<br />
Registration Summary Marketing Partner:<br />
Nuclear Information & Records Management Association<br />
Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day –<br />
CRA - Introduction and Parts 2, 3 & 4<br />
Monday, Aug 2, <strong>2021</strong> - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Analyst (CRA) –<br />
Overview & Parts 2-4. This 4-hour half day workshop will<br />
cover the introduction to the ICRM Exams, including<br />
qualification overview & detailed overview of the material<br />
covered in Parts 2-4, with 20 sample questions for Parts 2-4<br />
$129 per person<br />
Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day –<br />
CRM - Parts 1, 5 & 6<br />
Tuesday, Aug 3, <strong>2021</strong> – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Manager (CRM)<br />
– Overview & Parts 1, 5, & 6. This 4-hour half day<br />
workshop will cover introduction to the ICRM Exams,<br />
including a qualification overview, and detailed overview of<br />
the material covered in Parts 1, 5, & 6 with 20 sample<br />
questions for each part.<br />
$129 per person<br />
Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day –<br />
Part 6 Written Case Study<br />
Wednesday, Aug 4, <strong>2021</strong> – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Manager (CRM)<br />
– Part 6 Written Case Study. This 4-hour half day workshop<br />
involves attendees writing one sample case study w/feedback.<br />
$129 per person<br />
Register for all three 4-hour exam prep workshops:<br />
Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day–<br />
CRA - Introduction & Parts 2, 3 & 4<br />
Monday, August 2, <strong>2021</strong> - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
Exam Workshop – 4-hour half day – CRM - Parts 1, 5 & 6<br />
Tuesday, August 3, <strong>2021</strong> - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day –<br />
Part 6 Written Case Study<br />
Wednesday, August 4, <strong>2021</strong> – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern<br />
$387 per person<br />
ICRM Post Certification Specialty<br />
Designation Registrations<br />
Tuesday, Aug 3, <strong>2021</strong><br />
Anyone can attend the post certification specialty<br />
presentations without requiring registering for any of the<br />
workshops. The post certification specialty designation exam<br />
prep sessions will be held after the CRM Exam Prep<br />
Workshop.<br />
1-hour Exam Prep Session for Nuclear Specialist<br />
Tuesday, Aug 3, <strong>2021</strong> – 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. eastern<br />
Description: The Nuclear Specialist (NS) designation is an<br />
advanced certification & established around high rigor<br />
requirements of the nuclear industry (governmental &<br />
commercial). Applicable to both CRAs & CRMs working in<br />
the nuclear profession.<br />
$50 per person<br />
1-hour CRM/Fed Specialist Exam Prep Session<br />
Tuesday, Aug 3, <strong>2021</strong> – 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. eastern<br />
Description: The CRM/Federal Specialist is an advanced<br />
certification & applicable to CRMs whose field of<br />
professional practice involves RIM programs of the U.S.<br />
Federal government, whether as a Federal government<br />
employee, uniformed military, vendor, consultant, or<br />
contractor.<br />
$50 per person<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 21
A Retrospective on Information Management<br />
in Nuclear Power<br />
i<br />
am continuing with my multi-part series on the<br />
fundamentals of electronic records in the nuclear<br />
industry. In the last issue, I discussed “what’s a<br />
record”, that electronic records need a man-machine<br />
interface, and ultimately, how an electronic record is structured. In<br />
this issue, I’ll discuss the evolution of electronic records guidance in<br />
the nuclear industry.<br />
IN THE BEGINNING…<br />
On December 6, 1953, President Dwight D.<br />
Eisenhower presented a speech to the United Nations<br />
General Assembly entitled, “Atoms for Peace.” The<br />
speech was part of "Operation Candor", a campaign to<br />
enlighten the American public on the risks and hopes of<br />
a nuclear future. The speech inspired a focus on<br />
peaceful uses of atomic energy. It catalyzed the United<br />
States’ commitment to design, construct, and operate<br />
electric power plants using nuclear reactors. The<br />
"Atoms for Peace" program also created regulations for<br />
the use of nuclear power and through these regulations<br />
stopped other countries from developing weapons while<br />
allowing the technology to be used for positive means.<br />
THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT<br />
When it comes to regulations, the nuclear industry is<br />
subject to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations<br />
(10 CFR). Title 10 created the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory<br />
By Eugene Y. Yang,<br />
Principal Consultant<br />
KISMET Consulting, Inc.<br />
Commission (NRC), and is the basis for the NRC’s<br />
regulatory actions. A plant must receive a license to<br />
operate, and as part of that license, it must have a<br />
quality assurance program based on 10 CFR Part 50,<br />
Appendix B, “Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear<br />
Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants”. This<br />
appendix cites 17 criteria for such a program; two of the<br />
criteria of interest to <strong>NIRMA</strong> members are Criterion<br />
VI, “Document Control” and Criterion XVII, “Quality<br />
Assurance Records”.<br />
THE NEED FOR STANDARDS<br />
The industry wanted to have a say on how to<br />
implement Appendix B requirements, so standards<br />
organizations, such as the American National Standards<br />
Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of<br />
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) stepped to the fore.<br />
Standards, such as ANSI N45.2.9, "Requirements for<br />
Collection, Storage, and Maintenance of Quality<br />
Assurance Records for Nuclear Power Plants," and<br />
ASME NQA-1, “Quality Assurance Requirements for<br />
Nuclear Facility Applications, “ were developed.<br />
Through these standards, more specificity was provided<br />
in term of the “what’s” and high-level “how’s”, such as<br />
additional definition of record types and their related<br />
retentions.<br />
ISSUE: THE MANAGEMENT OF<br />
INFORMATION<br />
To meet the requirements defined by Appendix B<br />
and the industry standards, management systems were<br />
established to properly manage the documents and<br />
records when operating a plant. Up to this point, plants<br />
were processing a lot of paper: design changes, drawing<br />
changes, procedure changes, work order packages, ad<br />
infinitum…and records, with distribution copy locations<br />
throughout a plant. Sure, microfilm reduced the<br />
amount of paper, but the amount of information<br />
continued to grow.<br />
22 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
ELECTRONIC RECORDS GUIDANCE<br />
Computers entered into the workplace; applications<br />
were being developed that not only reduced the paper<br />
volume further, but also provided a huge benefit when<br />
searching for and retrieving current and historical<br />
information. Electronically storing and retrieving<br />
record content looks good, but does it comply with<br />
Appendix B, the industry standards, and other<br />
commitments? What follows is a treatise on how the<br />
guidance in electronic records evolved:<br />
Generic Letter 88-18 (GL 88-18):<br />
Plant Record Storage on Optical Disks<br />
that had to be met: for example, that the image is<br />
written to two optical disks; the disks are stored<br />
separately from each other (dual storage); and periodic<br />
random inspection is needed of the images on the disk<br />
to verify no degradation.<br />
Bottomline: If you wanted to have electronic records management<br />
for your site, the NRC approved the use as long as you used<br />
optical disks and you demonstrated compliance to the eight criteria.<br />
EPRI/NCIG-10: Guidelines for Quality Records<br />
in Electronic Media for Nuclear Facilities<br />
During the time that GL 88-18 came out, the<br />
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) convened a<br />
Nuclear Construction Issues Group (NCIG-10) to<br />
better understand the growing trend toward storing,<br />
maintaining, and retrieving electronic quality assurance<br />
records. A document was produced (May 1989) that<br />
presented guidelines and supporting information for the<br />
creation, storage, retrieval, control and approval of<br />
quality records in electronic media for nuclear facilities.<br />
Regulatory Information Summary 00-18:<br />
Guidance on Managing Quality Assurance Records<br />
in Electronic Media<br />
Two utilities and an NSSS supplier requested that<br />
the NRC approve the use of optical disk document<br />
imaging systems for storing and retrieving electronic<br />
quality assurance records. GL 88-18 (issued October<br />
1988) informed addressees that the NRC approved the<br />
use of this method when appropriate quality assurance<br />
controls are applied. GL 88-18 cited eight major criteria<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 23
As computer technologies continued to<br />
improve and more nuclear plants looked for<br />
efficiencies opportunities, in the mid-1990’s,<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s Regulations Committee made a concerted<br />
effort to provide guidance to the industry. In 1998, four<br />
Technical Guidelines (TGs) were published pertaining<br />
to the management of, authentication, software<br />
application control, and disaster recovery when storing<br />
quality assurance records in electronic format:<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG11, Authentication of Records and<br />
Media<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG15, Management of Electronic Records<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG16, Software Configuration<br />
Management and Quality Assurance<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG21, Electronic Records Protection and<br />
Restoration<br />
Key distinctions of these TGs versus GL 88-18<br />
were: addressing authentication; having a management<br />
program; and the option of storing electronic objects<br />
on magnetic disk. The NRC was engaged to review<br />
these TGs as guidance to the industry. In October<br />
2000, the NRC endorsed the use of the TGs to provide,<br />
for those licensees with QA programs, a way to satisfy<br />
the Appendix B requirements for the maintenance of<br />
electronic QA records.<br />
Bottomline: If you wanted to have electronic records management<br />
for your site, the NRC approved the use as long as electronic<br />
records system complied with the RIS and the 4 <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs.<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG16, Software Quality Assurance<br />
Documentation and Records<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG21, Required Records Protection,<br />
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuation<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>, in July 2011, requested the NRC to<br />
re-evaluate the RIS in light of these new revisions;<br />
however, the staff at the time declined to take on the<br />
evaluation, citing that there was little or no interest in<br />
the industry for a guidance update.<br />
Position Paper (PP-06) on Alternative Approaches<br />
in the Implementation of the Nuclear Regulatory<br />
Commission Regulatory Issue Summary<br />
(RIS) 00-018<br />
In 2014, the RIMBU committee grappled with the<br />
confusion that arose in the industry on how to<br />
implement RIS 00-18. <strong>NIRMA</strong> hadn’t stood still; the<br />
TGs underwent numerous changes since publication of<br />
the RIS, the most recent revisions of all four in 2011. A<br />
position paper was developed to provide alternative<br />
approaches to address the use of these latest revisions<br />
since the NRC declined to update the RIS. Besides<br />
continuing to use the RIS-based TGs, this paper<br />
discussed two other alternatives: 1) a utility/nuclear<br />
plant can submit a request to the NRC, an evaluation<br />
through the safety evaluation process; if approved, this<br />
(On the <strong>NIRMA</strong> website, to access the RIS and the<br />
related TGs, you will find a folder called “RIS 2000-18<br />
and Endorsed <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs (1998)” under the<br />
Technical Guidelines section of the Reference<br />
Documents area.)<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> TG Updates and NRC Petitioned<br />
In 2011, <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s Regulations and Information<br />
Management Business Unit (RIMBU) committee<br />
simultaneously updated and harmonized the four RISbased<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs. These updates were extensive and<br />
reflected more current technology trends, such as e-<br />
authentication, e-transmittal, and sustainable file<br />
formats, as well as the elements of an electronic records<br />
program These became:<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG11, Authentication of Records and<br />
Media<br />
• <strong>NIRMA</strong> TG15, Management of Electronic Records<br />
24 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
would set a precedent that other utilities/plants could<br />
take advantage of, or 2) insert electronic records<br />
guidance into a subsequent version of NQA-1 (more on<br />
that later).<br />
Duke Energy Safety Evaluation Report Request<br />
In March 2015, Duke Energy Carolinas submitted a<br />
request to the NRC to approve a change to the Quality<br />
Assurance Topical Report (QATR) for its three nuclear<br />
stations. The request was to revise the QATR to<br />
reference the 2011 versions of the TGs. The NRC<br />
found it acceptable that the requirements of 10 CFR 50<br />
Appendix B would still be satisfied through compliance<br />
with the TGs. Therefore, the Duke SER satisfied one<br />
of the alternatives cited in the PP06 position paper.<br />
Bottomline: If you want to have electronic records management for<br />
your site, the NRC approves the use as long as your electronic<br />
records comply with these 2011 versions of the TGs.<br />
[On the <strong>NIRMA</strong> website, for these TGs, you will<br />
find a folder called “NRC-SER Endorsed <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs<br />
(2011)” under the Technical Guidelines section of the<br />
Reference Documents area.]<br />
Regulatory Guide 1.28, Revision 5<br />
Quality Assurance Program Criteria<br />
(Design and Construction)<br />
In October 2017, the NRC issued Revision 5 of<br />
Regulatory Guide 1.28. Prior to that, in Revision 4, the<br />
NRC stated that, if electronic QA records were being<br />
stored and managed, its position on electronic records<br />
was based on Generic Letter 88-18 and RIS 2000-18<br />
that references the 1998 <strong>NIRMA</strong> guidelines (TG-11, TG<br />
-15, TG-16, TG-21). In Revision 5, the NRC stated:<br />
“For the management of electronic records,<br />
appropriate controls on quality assurance include the<br />
following:<br />
(a) No deletion or modification of records unless<br />
authorized pursuant to the record retention rule<br />
(b) Redundancy (system backup, dual storage, etc.) is<br />
provided<br />
(c) Legibility is required of each record<br />
(d) Records media are properly maintained<br />
(e) Inspections to ensure no degradation of records<br />
(f) Records are acceptably converted into any new<br />
system before the old system is taken out of<br />
service<br />
The Nuclear Information and Records Management<br />
Association (<strong>NIRMA</strong>) technical guides (TGs), as<br />
listed…, provide guidance to establish the<br />
appropriate quality controls that incorporates the<br />
implementation of enterprise content management<br />
systems, web-based technologies, and higher capacity<br />
LAN/WAN networks. The NRC approves for use<br />
the 2011 versions of the <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs.”<br />
Bottomline: The NRC, in Revision 5, essentially leveraged its<br />
position stated in the Duke SER and approves the use of the<br />
2011 <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs.<br />
American Society of Mechanical Engineers:<br />
Quality Assurance Requirements for<br />
Nuclear Facility Applications<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> members, in 2015, began to participate in<br />
the Programs Management Process (PMP)<br />
Subcommittee of NQA-1. It was surmised that the<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> TG content is very extensive, but wordy, so<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> TG (2011) requirements were reduced or<br />
summarized to fit the ASME NQA-1 format and scope.<br />
The advantages for the industry are that the<br />
manufacturers can use these changes very quickly; NSSS<br />
vendors and new build facilities can adjust, as needed.<br />
ASME NQA-1 is the “go-forward” strategy for industry<br />
and NRC review. It will not be tied to any specific TG<br />
version, so the standard can adjust as technology<br />
changes. From a <strong>NIRMA</strong> perspective, there will be<br />
many ASME interpretations, of which answers can then<br />
be sought in the full <strong>NIRMA</strong> TGs.<br />
Bottomline: The electronic records requirements are published as<br />
part of ASME NQA-1-2017. (Caution: You have to be<br />
committed to/and use this standard/year to take advantage of<br />
this.)<br />
Whew! Thanks for hanging in there with me. It’s<br />
been quite a ride in guidance space for over 30+ years,<br />
and <strong>NIRMA</strong> has been in the thick of it! In future<br />
columns, I intend to continue with addressing the other<br />
aspects of nuclear electronic records, such as<br />
authentication, sustainability, disaster planning and<br />
recovery, and more! Stay tuned!<br />
Eugene has been a member of <strong>NIRMA</strong> for over<br />
34 years. At the time he joined, <strong>NIRMA</strong> had<br />
only been in existence for 11 years. He would love<br />
to hear about stories and anecdotes from others, so<br />
please email him at eugene.yang@kismetconsulting.com.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 25
NRC’s ImplemeNtatIoN<br />
Plan to Comply with<br />
M-19-21<br />
By Margie Janney, CRM/NS/FED<br />
t<br />
he Office of Management<br />
and Budget (OMB) and<br />
the National Archives and<br />
Records Administration<br />
(NARA) jointly issued M‐19‐21,<br />
“Transition to Electronic Records,”<br />
on June 28, 2019. The purpose of<br />
the directive is to guide and support<br />
Federal agencies’ transition to<br />
electronic records for increased<br />
efficiency, accuracy, and improved<br />
records storage. M‐19‐21 establishes<br />
four targets with nine requirements.<br />
Thus far, the Nuclear Regulatory<br />
Commission (NRC) has met seven<br />
of the nine NARA requirements:<br />
• Managing permanent electronic<br />
records (by December 2019);<br />
• Designating a NARA-certified<br />
Agency Records Officer (ARO);<br />
• Designating a Senior Agency<br />
Official for Records<br />
Management (SAORM);<br />
• Informing agency personnel of<br />
records responsibilities;<br />
• Ensuring agency records are<br />
covered by NARA-approved<br />
records schedules;<br />
• Ensuring that agency records<br />
schedules are updated as<br />
business processes transition to<br />
electronic records management<br />
(ERM); and<br />
• Closing agency-operated or<br />
commercial records storage<br />
facilities and transferring<br />
inactive, temporary records to<br />
NARA-operated Federal<br />
Records Centers (FRCs);<br />
The staff is actively addressing<br />
the two remaining M‐19‐21<br />
requirements:<br />
• Managing permanent electronic<br />
records with appropriate<br />
metadata (to/from and date/<br />
time) (by December 2022); and<br />
• Managing temporary electronic<br />
records with appropriate<br />
metadata (by December 2022).<br />
The staff developed a strategy,<br />
based on five actions, to address the<br />
requirements of M‐19‐21:<br />
• Assess analog records for<br />
possible future digitization;<br />
• Transfer permanent and<br />
temporary analog records to<br />
FRCs;<br />
• Digitize prioritized analog<br />
permanent and temporary<br />
records, as appropriate;<br />
• Ensure that Federal records are<br />
created, retained, and managed<br />
in electronic formats, with<br />
appropriate metadata; and<br />
• Develop a Communication Plan<br />
and guidance.<br />
The staff is implementing the<br />
five remaining approaches to comply<br />
with these requirements. We believe<br />
we will meet the goal laid out in<br />
M-19-21 to transition the NRC’s<br />
recordkeeping to a fully electronic<br />
environment that complies with all<br />
records management laws and<br />
regulations.<br />
26 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
ON BECOMING A LEADER<br />
By Lou Rofrano<br />
Professional Development Business Unit Co-Director<br />
R<br />
ecently, some members of<br />
the <strong>NIRMA</strong> team were<br />
discussing growing the<br />
organization and<br />
encouraging participation at multiple<br />
levels. I have been fortunate that as<br />
a supplier/vendor, the <strong>NIRMA</strong> team<br />
has been able to find my skills and<br />
experience helpful. It has allowed<br />
me to contribute in a manner I did<br />
not expect when I first started<br />
attending the conferences. Since I<br />
am not a Records Manager, I have<br />
relied on many <strong>NIRMA</strong> members to<br />
help me understand priorities and<br />
developmental needs. It has been<br />
amazing from my perspective.<br />
This year has extra meaning as it<br />
represents the 45 th Anniversary of<br />
the <strong>NIRMA</strong> Conference. We know<br />
we are hoping for a great turnout of<br />
current and past members, some of<br />
which most would consider legends<br />
in the organization. So the question<br />
to be asked is how did some of these<br />
individuals become legends? How<br />
will the organization develop and<br />
create individuals to step into<br />
leadership roles going forward? We<br />
have an amazing group of leaders on<br />
the current board and will have great<br />
candidates going forward. That<br />
being said, the first job of a leader is<br />
to inspire excellence and the second<br />
is to guarantee that a team is<br />
ensuring continued excellence<br />
through leadership development.<br />
Now is the time to ask the question,<br />
how many members would be<br />
interested in a leadership role down<br />
the road?<br />
People often ask how do I<br />
become a leader? Honestly, there are<br />
truly no magic answers, just solid<br />
principles and action to create a<br />
leadership opportunity for yourself.<br />
Here are some things to consider.<br />
• Be Motivated: If you look at<br />
events and elements of the<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> organization and say to<br />
yourself that something could be<br />
improved or augmented as<br />
yourself, what would you do<br />
given the chance?<br />
• Be Willing: Many people see<br />
the need for change and<br />
evolution but are not willing to<br />
get involved or do not have the<br />
time/bandwidth to participate.<br />
Being willing is a key element of<br />
becoming a leader.<br />
• Be Curious: In the case of<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> (and other<br />
organizations as well) there are<br />
usually multiple areas that need<br />
participation and leadership.<br />
Within <strong>NIRMA</strong> there are several<br />
Business Units. If you want to<br />
grow as a leader, you should<br />
know what each Business Unit<br />
does and ask yourself if you<br />
could make a contribution. You<br />
must be curious.<br />
• Broaden Your Range: Be<br />
willing to stretch your current<br />
areas of expertise and gain<br />
experience in things that depart<br />
from your current role. Just<br />
because you are not a marketing<br />
person does not mean you can’t<br />
have ownership in that area.<br />
• Raise Your Hand: If you want<br />
to lead or contribute, you must<br />
raise your hand and let current<br />
leaders know you want to<br />
participate or lead at a greater<br />
level. Current leaders may see<br />
your talent and wonder why you<br />
aren’t doing more. If you don’t<br />
pursue leadership, it will not<br />
happen on its own.<br />
• Be Great: To elevate to<br />
leadership, excel at your current<br />
level and then reach for even<br />
more responsibility. Being great<br />
does not mean being error-free,<br />
it means achieving your goals<br />
with vision and hard work.<br />
• Throw Your Hat in the Ring:<br />
When we try for a leadership<br />
role, sometimes we win and<br />
sometimes we lose. When you<br />
run for office, apply for a job, or<br />
seek a promotion, we must be<br />
prepared to either win or lose.<br />
Don’t let fear get in the way.<br />
Even if you lose, people notice<br />
that you want to grow and make<br />
things better.<br />
Finally, the greatest leaders I<br />
have known personally are dedicated<br />
to making others and teams better<br />
than their current state. They<br />
understand that both recognition<br />
and legacies are best created through<br />
contribution and elevation of others.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 27
T<br />
A MESSAGE From the<br />
his is such a special year as<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> celebrates 45 years<br />
of providing leading<br />
industry guidance and peer<br />
networking relationships that span<br />
decades! My first <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
conference in 1997 introduced me to<br />
all of it. I saw the value and wealth<br />
of knowledge that <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
delivered. I was not your typical<br />
attendee, instead coming from the<br />
IT side of my nuclear facility, but I<br />
was welcomed and encouraged to<br />
participate. I listened and I learned.<br />
Looking back, I heard many of the<br />
great legacy names of <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
presenting and leading the way to the<br />
future for all of us in a nuclearrelated<br />
career. In turn, my company<br />
implemented technology and<br />
solutions over the years that were<br />
grounded in the <strong>NIRMA</strong> Technical<br />
Guidelines (TGs) and the ANSI/<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Standard CM 1.0 for<br />
Configuration Management.<br />
I found my trip report from my<br />
first <strong>NIRMA</strong> conference. Some<br />
topics are still relevant today and<br />
unresolved. Here is a snippet about<br />
one of the 1997 presentations:<br />
Organizational Memory Effects<br />
on Productivity<br />
"This session was quite<br />
interesting as it was presented that<br />
we should not try to justify our<br />
investment in information<br />
management systems by savings in<br />
manpower, but rather by gains in<br />
President<br />
Janice Hoerber<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Celebrates its Past, Present, and Future!<br />
preserving organizational memory.<br />
Organizational memory was defined<br />
as the means by which knowledge from the<br />
past is brought to bear on present activities,<br />
thus resulting in higher or lower levels of<br />
organizational effectiveness. The idea<br />
here is to make the information<br />
available, centrally accessible and<br />
friendly enough that it will be used<br />
on a daily basis to make decisions<br />
that affect the plant. Examples were<br />
given that would allow us to make<br />
better decisions on when to do<br />
work, when not to do work, and<br />
when we may prevent work from<br />
being needed by providing cause and<br />
effect information from other<br />
failures.<br />
This company had offered a<br />
good retirement package and had<br />
many reductions in a short period of<br />
time. They found that they were<br />
sadly lacking in organizational<br />
memory without the people that had<br />
done the work for a long time. He<br />
also challenged the long time<br />
practices of only keeping records<br />
that are required by regulators. He<br />
felt that we should all be evaluating<br />
data for retention based on its value<br />
to the organization in addition to the<br />
required information. He encouraged<br />
the Records Managers to evaluate<br />
the need of keeping E-mail as<br />
records to support plant decisions, as<br />
this is currently not a common<br />
practice. He also encouraged us to<br />
build in to our databases the ability<br />
to maintain multi-media information<br />
to link reports, pictures, audio and e-<br />
mails to capture histories. We have for<br />
some time been concerned about how we will<br />
pass on our plant knowledge to our<br />
successors with such a large group of us in<br />
the same age range, this may be an<br />
opportunity for us to address some of those<br />
concerns."<br />
Today, <strong>NIRMA</strong> continues to<br />
engage its membership to bring the<br />
relevant topics to the table. We<br />
invite you to present a session at the<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> conference or join the<br />
working groups (Business Units) to<br />
share your experiences to help<br />
develop industry guidance or even<br />
standards. As an ANSI Accredited<br />
developer, <strong>NIRMA</strong> is in a unique<br />
position with the platform to lead<br />
information and records<br />
management initiatives to benefit<br />
both the domestic and international<br />
nuclear community!<br />
Looking to the future, the<br />
economic challenges for U.S Nuclear<br />
require us to think differently about<br />
the way we have always done things.<br />
We must ask more questions,<br />
particularly "why" we still do some<br />
things and can it be eliminated or<br />
done through automation or<br />
technology. Earlier this year, the<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Board of Directors<br />
incorporated Process Management into<br />
the <strong>NIRMA</strong> Strategic Plan, which<br />
expands <strong>NIRMA</strong> into the tools,<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
28 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT<br />
Bruce Walters, CRM/NS<br />
T<br />
he <strong>2021</strong> Nuclear<br />
Information Management<br />
Conference (August 9-11)<br />
at the JW Marriott Resort<br />
and Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada is<br />
quickly approaching. We have many<br />
wonderful topics and speakers lined<br />
up and are awaiting word from a few<br />
more. Let’s preview some of the<br />
Keynotes and other Sessions.<br />
David Nelson with the NRC is<br />
our intended kickoff Keynote<br />
speaker addressing “Transformation<br />
Initiatives around the NRC.”<br />
Another Keynote is by Laura<br />
Williams with the American<br />
Nuclear Insurers who will address<br />
“Records – The Nuclear Liability<br />
Perspective.” Another is by my own<br />
AECOM company attorney, and<br />
now boss, Whitney McCollum<br />
addressing “Data and COVID –<br />
Now & Future.” We will:<br />
• hear a progress report on our<br />
successful Mentorship Program;<br />
• learn about Robotic Process<br />
Automation and the World of<br />
Robotics;<br />
• Deposition Do’s and Don’ts;<br />
• Decommissioning RM – Lessons<br />
Learned to Date;<br />
• Configuration Management –<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s ANSI Standard<br />
overview;<br />
• a panel discussion about the<br />
three ‘balls’ of CM; IG & Privacy<br />
Management;<br />
• Cyber Security;<br />
• Best Practices of Document<br />
Control;<br />
• Capture is No Longer About<br />
Just Paper;<br />
• the ever-popular Government<br />
Updates & Benchmarking<br />
session;<br />
• some Fundamentals sessions;<br />
• and more.<br />
Registration for the Conference is<br />
open on our website (click here). We<br />
encourage you to come and<br />
participate in our 45 th Anniversary<br />
celebration. This year’s Conference<br />
will be well worth your while in<br />
attending. With Las Vegas opening<br />
back up, I look forward to seeing<br />
you there!<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s Financial Holdings<br />
As of: June 2, <strong>2021</strong><br />
Michelle Smith<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Treasurer<br />
Investment Account $ 124,300.45<br />
Checking Account $ 16,012.36<br />
Continued from previous page.<br />
techniques, and strategies you need to improve your<br />
business agility and operational performance. These<br />
include:<br />
• RPA, Robotic Process Automation<br />
• AI, Artificial Intelligence<br />
• IG, Information Governance Technologies<br />
We invite all of you to participate with us at the<br />
August <strong>NIRMA</strong> conference, and especially potential<br />
solution providers/exhibitors. These innovative<br />
solutions, among others will be necessary to carry us<br />
into the next generation of Nuclear so we want to hear<br />
from you!<br />
Check the <strong>NIRMA</strong> website at www.nirma.org for conference<br />
details and to register. Attendance may be in-person or virtual.<br />
We look forward to a great anniversary conference!<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 29
Professional Development<br />
Business Unit (PDBU) News<br />
Tammy Cutts, PDBU Director<br />
R<br />
emember: ICRM Exam Prep<br />
workshops are preconference<br />
activities this<br />
year. Read the article here and<br />
be sure to enroll on the registration<br />
page. Also, keep an eye out for the<br />
pre-conference workshop coming<br />
soon!<br />
The Memorial Day Holiday has<br />
come to a close and although<br />
summer does not begin unofficially<br />
until June 20 th most of us see June<br />
1 st as the start of that season. So<br />
many of us, especially after last year,<br />
are busy planning picnics, family<br />
reunions and summer vacations.<br />
This is also an important time to get<br />
ready to invest in your development.<br />
Literally, in about 60 days the <strong>2021</strong><br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> Conference will begin in<br />
Las Vegas. We are hoping that many<br />
of you will be able to attend in<br />
person. Of course, if you cannot<br />
then you are reserving time on your<br />
calendar to attend virtually. I will<br />
lobby here for a few lines that if at<br />
all possible participate in person<br />
within the limits of your comfort<br />
and organizational requirements.<br />
Why? When you attend in person<br />
not only do you grow and learn<br />
during our sessions but also keep in<br />
mind all of the learning and<br />
development that goes on between<br />
colleagues over meals and in the<br />
discussions outside of the formal<br />
sessions. That being said, remote<br />
attendance may be your only option<br />
for various reasons. To maximize<br />
your learning and development in<br />
either attendance method here are<br />
several ideas to help you get the<br />
most of the conference:<br />
1. Focus: I find this is the most<br />
critical aspect of learning<br />
success. Try as much as possible<br />
to stay focused on the session<br />
either in person or remotely.<br />
Limit email, side bar<br />
conversations and cell phone<br />
distractions where possible.<br />
2. Selectivity: Really take the time<br />
to review the agenda in advance<br />
and select the sessions you really<br />
want to attend based on content<br />
and speaker. Choose the<br />
sessions that will help you<br />
advance your knowledge and<br />
skills.<br />
3. Participation: You will only get<br />
from the conference what you<br />
put into it. Ask questions so that<br />
your peers and<br />
you can both benefit from your<br />
curiosity and developmental<br />
needs. Enter your comments<br />
and questions if you are working<br />
remotely and wait for your<br />
answers. This improves your<br />
attention level.<br />
4. Sit Down Front: If you are<br />
attending the meeting live then<br />
move to the front of the room<br />
to the first several rows. We sit<br />
in the back to lessen the chance<br />
of being put on the spot. Sitting<br />
in the first few rows you will<br />
hear better and also likely make<br />
eye contact with the presenter<br />
and that drives enhanced<br />
participation.<br />
5. Take Notes: Nothing drives<br />
retention like active note taking.<br />
It keeps you focused and helps<br />
commit key learning to memory.<br />
It also helps to keep your<br />
listening skills active.<br />
There you have five tricks to keep<br />
your learning and development at<br />
maximum levels during our<br />
upcoming conference.<br />
Not a Member of <strong>NIRMA</strong>?<br />
join today!<br />
30 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
News from the Records &<br />
Information Management<br />
Business Unit (RIMBU)<br />
By Stephanie Price, RIMBU Business Unit Director<br />
ANSI/<strong>NIRMA</strong> CM 1.0 5 Year Revision<br />
T<br />
he 5 year revision to ANSI/<strong>NIRMA</strong> CM 1.0 is<br />
nearing completion thanks to Rich Giska,<br />
long time <strong>NIRMA</strong> and RIMBU member. Rich<br />
has been involved since the inception of this<br />
process, approximately 20 years. The standard is<br />
recognized throughout the industry as the guidance<br />
document on Configuration Management (CM). The<br />
focus of the standard is how to ensure the information<br />
managed and associated with the plant is in sync and<br />
properly accounted for.<br />
The standard was originally published in 2000 with<br />
an initial revision published in 2007 and reaffirmed in<br />
2015. ANSI requires periodic maintenance actions be<br />
taken every 5 years. This revision had no major issues<br />
to address; however, updates were made to reflect best<br />
evolving practices, clarify US-specific terms for the<br />
international nuclear community, and add appendices<br />
with examples of how the CM principles have been<br />
implemented in the industry. The process involves<br />
multiple groups including a working group, <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
project team, and the consensus body (industry<br />
members responsible for reviewing and approving, by<br />
a vote, the document).<br />
The Consensus Body membership was INPO and<br />
(Configuration Management Benchmarking Group)<br />
CMBG, Nuclear Utilities, Architect Engineer and<br />
NSSS Suppliers. The revision was approved by the<br />
consensus body and is now ready to be submitted to<br />
ANSI for final approval. Once finalized, the standard<br />
will be available for sale by <strong>NIRMA</strong> and ANSI.<br />
of COVID as many companies are continuing remote<br />
working practices and converting to a new normal.<br />
The RIMBU organization strives to provide our peers<br />
with meaningful guidance and best practices for<br />
records management, and that includes recognizing<br />
and addressing the changing landscape of the industry.<br />
Doing less with less has been a topic of discussion for<br />
RIMBU during several of our annual meetings in the<br />
past. Good benchmarking data on best practices has<br />
been shared, including:<br />
• Automation of quality checks on scanned images<br />
• Elimination of convenience copies on distribution<br />
• Automation of records submittal process<br />
• Evaluation of core business processes vs. collateral<br />
duties<br />
In order to best serve our peers in the industry,<br />
RIMBU is attempting to put together a “Less with<br />
Less” document containing further information about<br />
how you have successfully streamlined, simplified,<br />
and/or eliminated things in your organization. If you<br />
have any feedback in this area, please reach out to me<br />
at sjprice@southernco.com.<br />
Get involved with RIMBU<br />
New members are always welcome! RIMBU is a<br />
great opportunity to benchmark with others in the<br />
industry, share valuable operating experience, and<br />
have the opportunity to influence industry standard<br />
guidance in records management.<br />
Doing Less with Less<br />
The concept of doing less with less goes by many<br />
names in the nuclear industry. Streamline/Simplify/<br />
Eliminate, Stop/Start/Continue, digitization,<br />
automation, working smarter, etc. This was an ever<br />
present expectation that has been magnified in the era<br />
Not receiving <strong>NIRMA</strong> Email<br />
communication? Click here &<br />
scroll to the bottom of <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s<br />
website to sign up to ensure<br />
you receive the most current<br />
information.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 31
MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING<br />
(M&M) Business Unit News<br />
e are less than 2 months away from<br />
W<br />
the <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> Conference, the<br />
45 th Anniversary. Time to start really<br />
thinking about attending the<br />
conference. There will be a lot of exciting<br />
things to participate in, learn and enjoy. If you<br />
attend in person, you can take a walk down<br />
memory lane with all the <strong>NIRMA</strong> memorabilia<br />
that has been collected from long time<br />
members and will be on display.<br />
Two of the Keynote Speakers are showcased in this<br />
addition of <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>. Check them out here. I think<br />
you will be quite pleased with what they will bring to our<br />
conference.<br />
Do you have a vendor(s) that you do business with<br />
that could benefit from participating in the <strong>NIRMA</strong><br />
conference and that other members of <strong>NIRMA</strong> could<br />
benefit. Please share the <strong>NIRMA</strong> conference<br />
information with your vendors and ask them if they are<br />
interested in being a part of the conference.<br />
We will again be promoting the “BRING-a-<br />
BUDDY” campaign in <strong>2021</strong>. When you register<br />
yourself and a “buddy” (a new attendee) to come to the<br />
<strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> conference, your names will be placed in<br />
a special drawing. Prizes are always fun! The new<br />
attendee can be anyone from your organization (i.e., IT,<br />
Kathi Cole, CRM<br />
M&MBU Director<br />
your boss, procedure writers, auditors,<br />
engineers, etc.).<br />
Remember to register by July 1st<br />
and receive the Early Bird Discount.<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> is offering a group discount when<br />
you register for the Conference early.<br />
Purchase three (3) registrations from the same<br />
company, and all subsequent registrations are<br />
$625. These subsequent employees need not<br />
be part of the Records Management organization. They<br />
can be employees from any of the organizations within<br />
the same company.<br />
Also, because this year is the 45 th Anniversary of<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong>, we are offering you a free <strong>NIRMA</strong> 45 th<br />
Anniversary shirt with your Early Bird registration.<br />
Membership & Marketing Business Unit is looking for<br />
members to help come up with new ideas to bring new<br />
members to <strong>NIRMA</strong>, as well as new ideas of how to<br />
share expertise with the membership. M&MBU meets<br />
the first Wednesday every month for one hour at 1:00<br />
PM ET, 12:00 PM CT, 11:00 AM MT, and 10:00 AM<br />
PT. Please join us. We are a fun group to work with.<br />
For additional information or questions on anything<br />
mentioned above, please contact nirma@nirma.org.<br />
Continued from page 17.<br />
What did you find most<br />
rewarding about your<br />
membership?<br />
The Education opportunities and<br />
mentoring, both receiving and<br />
giving, lead to lifelong friendships.<br />
In what ways were you able to<br />
help (mentor) other members?<br />
I think with my personal goal of<br />
approachability, I was available to<br />
the membership at all times; I always<br />
tried to make everyone feel welcome.<br />
I constantly talked with all first-time<br />
attendees and I made sure that if<br />
anyone had questions or concerns<br />
they would feel comfortable talking<br />
to me.<br />
What would you tell others<br />
looking to get involved in<br />
<strong>NIRMA</strong> or <strong>NIRMA</strong> leadership<br />
roles?<br />
Take the leap, the water is fine. It<br />
is a great opportunity to increase<br />
your skills in the field of IM. Yet,<br />
don’t overlook the soft skills of<br />
leadership. What <strong>NIRMA</strong> can<br />
provide is there for the taking, but<br />
you have to reach for it.<br />
Why is it important for you to stay<br />
involved?<br />
I am looking forward to returning<br />
for <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s 45 th Anniversary. You<br />
may retire, but once <strong>NIRMA</strong> gets in<br />
your bloodstream, it is there forever.<br />
Thank you to all of the past, current,<br />
and future leaders of <strong>NIRMA</strong> – you<br />
make the Association what it is today<br />
and what it will be tomorrow!<br />
32 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
<strong>NIRMA</strong>’s 45 th Anniversary Conference<br />
Will Be Truly Spectacular!<br />
The Conference will be held at the beautiful JW Marriott Las Vegas<br />
Resort and Spa, 221 N. Rampart Blvd., Las Vegas, NV<br />
The <strong>NIRMA</strong> Board is hard at work to make this conference one of our<br />
best ever! In addition to our tradition of engaging speakers and<br />
enlightening presentations, we will also be commemorating <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s<br />
45 th Anniversary with a Celebration Night Extravaganza including<br />
dinner, music, and all-around fun! In addition, there will be lots to see<br />
and remember in our Memorabilia Room, highlighting <strong>NIRMA</strong>’s rich<br />
history!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Learn the latest from<br />
the experts in current<br />
trends.<br />
Be inspired by the<br />
message of industry<br />
leaders.<br />
Retool & re-energize<br />
your passion to make<br />
a difference.<br />
The JW Marriott Resort and Spa is a luxury getaway,<br />
providing spacious rooms and suites, premium amenities<br />
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Even As Support for Carbon-Free Energy Grows, Some<br />
Reactors Still Face Shutdown, New Study Warns<br />
Among climate advocates,<br />
energy experts and now the Biden<br />
administration, there is a growing<br />
consensus that the nuclear energy is<br />
critical to address the challenges of<br />
climate change.<br />
Earlier this month, President<br />
Biden released his American Jobs<br />
Plan, an infrastructure investment<br />
package that includes a major focus<br />
on addressing climate change. A key<br />
provision of this plan is a clean<br />
energy standard that relies on the<br />
nation’s largest source of carbon free<br />
energy, nuclear power, to help<br />
decarbonize electricity by 2035.<br />
But at the moment when climate<br />
change is recognized as an urgent<br />
problem and nuclear is viewed as an<br />
important part of the solution, a new<br />
study shows that we also face the<br />
prospect of well-running nuclear<br />
plants shutting down, right when<br />
they’re needed the most.<br />
The report, from Potomac<br />
Economics, assesses the economic<br />
realities facing nuclear plant owners<br />
today in PJM, the largest electricity<br />
market in the U.S. serving 65 million<br />
customers in 13 states across<br />
portions of the Mid-Atlantic and<br />
Great Lakes regions, as well as<br />
Washington, D.C. PJM is home to<br />
31 of the nation’s 94 nuclear plants,<br />
including many that are currently or<br />
have been financially threatened.<br />
Potomac Economics has a unique<br />
standing to help understand<br />
electricity market forces, serving as<br />
the independent market monitor<br />
(IMM) for four other U.S. electricity<br />
markets, a role that requires deep<br />
knowledge of the economic<br />
incentives facing companies in these<br />
markets. Their analysis concludes<br />
that most of the nuclear plants in<br />
PJM will not produce enough<br />
revenue to remain economically<br />
viable in the coming years. This<br />
finding is consistent with numerous<br />
other analyses and nuclear operators<br />
who have been warning that flaws in<br />
the wholesale markets are driving<br />
always-on, carbon-free nuclear<br />
plants to close prematurely.<br />
Often, there are two key aspects<br />
of nuclear economic analyses that<br />
get overlooked. First, critics of<br />
policies to support nuclear power<br />
often do not account for the<br />
financial costs and risks associated<br />
with operating large plants that<br />
owners must bear. These costs, as<br />
well as their ability to be avoided<br />
through a shutdown, are often<br />
neglected by critics when assessing<br />
the financial outlook for the plants.<br />
It seems clear to me, however, that<br />
they are well-accepted<br />
considerations in any boardroom or<br />
stock analyst report. Often, shutting<br />
a plant down will be more<br />
economically appealing because all<br />
future costs and risks will be avoided<br />
and any remaining post-shutdown<br />
costs will be covered through a trust<br />
fund the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory<br />
Commission requires all nuclear<br />
owners to establish.<br />
Second, critics often utilize<br />
unrealistic or optimistic revenue<br />
forecasts. However, the Potomac<br />
Economics report sets the record<br />
straight by basing their analysis on<br />
realistic market-based prices. By<br />
utilizing true avoidable costs and a<br />
reasonable revenue estimate, the<br />
report demonstrates that nuclear<br />
plants are not viable.<br />
Through Potomac Economics’<br />
analysis, it’s clear that the economic<br />
hurdles facing nuclear plants in PJM<br />
are significant. Energy policies can<br />
be enacted to overcome these<br />
hurdles, but reforms to federal and<br />
state policies are needed quickly.<br />
Over the past decade, state<br />
policymakers and energy customers<br />
have very clearly demanded more<br />
carbon-free electricity.<br />
In that time, 10 states in the PJM<br />
region and the District of Columbia<br />
have instituted policies like<br />
renewable portfolio standards or<br />
zero-emissions credits to cut<br />
emissions. Customers in these states<br />
represent over 90 percent of the<br />
electric demand served by PJM.<br />
Article reprinted with permission<br />
of NEI. Read full article here.<br />
34 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
Here’s 3 Ways to Make Promises From the<br />
Climate Summit Come True<br />
President Biden met with 40<br />
world leaders last week and<br />
promised to get the United States<br />
back on the climate control track.<br />
He and the other leaders pledged to<br />
shift to clean energy and<br />
dramatically reduce emissions—with<br />
the U.S. promising a 50 to 52<br />
percent reduction below 2005 levels<br />
by 2030. Expectations and<br />
aspirations are high.<br />
But promises won’t stop climate<br />
change. Cutting emissions will<br />
require action in the form of<br />
appropriate policy, research,<br />
investment and deployment. What,<br />
specifically, can we do?<br />
Here’s three ways we can meet<br />
the aggressive goals we’ve pledged<br />
ourselves to:<br />
1. Invest in Energy<br />
Innovation: Climate advocates,<br />
policymakers and leaders like<br />
Bill Gates agree that the only<br />
way we can eliminate carbon<br />
emissions is through innovation.<br />
Many of the technologies that<br />
will help us reach a carbon-free<br />
future are already being<br />
developed. There are major<br />
advances happening in advanced<br />
nuclear technology, for example.<br />
Last year, the U.S. Department<br />
of Energy announced nearly<br />
$3.9 billion in funding through<br />
the Advanced Reactor<br />
Demonstration Program for<br />
research and development to<br />
bring two pathbreaking<br />
advanced reactors into<br />
operation in five to seven years,<br />
and a pipeline of new projects<br />
after that. And the department<br />
has promised $1.4 billion<br />
towards a small modular reactor<br />
project planned in Idaho.<br />
Congress has paid for the<br />
beginnings of each of these<br />
programs. But the investment<br />
curve gets steeper in the next<br />
few years. We must continue to<br />
fund innovative advanced<br />
nuclear projects through private<br />
and public investment. The<br />
market is strong, with 40<br />
utilities, including the nation’s<br />
largest, already pledging to<br />
reduce emissions by about three<br />
quarters by 2050. But the<br />
innovation already underway<br />
will need a helping hand to<br />
bring the zero-carbon products<br />
to market—which will also<br />
include innovation in fuels,<br />
some of which may be provided<br />
by the government.<br />
2. Preserve All the Carbon-Free<br />
Electricity We Have: The<br />
nation’s largest source of clean<br />
energy is nuclear reactors that<br />
are already running, which have<br />
slowed the buildup of climatechanging<br />
gases in the<br />
atmosphere and can continue to<br />
do this vital work for decades to<br />
come. The Biden administration<br />
has acknowledged the role of<br />
our current reactors, listing<br />
existing nuclear as a resource for<br />
reaching their ambitious climate<br />
goals—and other policymakers<br />
like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-<br />
W.Va.) have applauded the<br />
administration’s leadership in<br />
this area. But because of flawed<br />
markets and changing economic<br />
conditions, nuclear plants need<br />
to be recognized in policy and<br />
compensated appropriately.<br />
States with aspirations to do<br />
their part for clean air and<br />
climate stability have systems in<br />
place, and some are developing<br />
or revising such policies.<br />
Connecticut, New York, New<br />
Jersey and Illinois are in this<br />
category and others may step<br />
forward. The White House has<br />
also proposed a national clean<br />
energy standard that would<br />
compensate nuclear plants for<br />
their carbon-free energy, as part<br />
of its major infrastructure<br />
package, the American Jobs<br />
Plan. The most effective path to<br />
a carbon-free future is to<br />
preserve and properly value<br />
America’s 94 nuclear plants.<br />
3. Recapture U.S. Leadership in the<br />
Global Nuclear<br />
Market: Stabilizing the climate<br />
will require global action.<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 35
Stakeholder Coordination<br />
Essential for Nuclear to Innovate<br />
The nuclear power sector in<br />
North America and Europe is at a<br />
turning point.<br />
A whole generation of power<br />
plants – built in the sixties and early<br />
seventies and running on mostly<br />
analogue technology – are facing<br />
decommissioning or refurbishment<br />
while a new generation of state-ofthe-art<br />
alternatives are being tested<br />
today for deployment by the end of<br />
the decade.<br />
Recent studies have shown<br />
that refurbishing the industry’s old<br />
workhorse reactors, which have<br />
reliably pumped out power 24/7 at<br />
high capacity for decades, is the<br />
most cost-effective, dispatchable,<br />
low-carbon power producing<br />
technology on the market. The new<br />
generation offers an array of<br />
advanced features that promise<br />
increased safety and productivity.<br />
In both cases, scientists are<br />
using significantly different<br />
technology than was even imagined<br />
during the first wave of reactors<br />
which, before refurbishment,<br />
continue to operate today much as<br />
they did when they were built.<br />
“In some instances it was said<br />
that you could leave the sector in<br />
the 70s and 80s and come back 20<br />
years later and sit at your old desk<br />
and get back to work because the<br />
The control room at Pickering<br />
Nuclear Power Generating Station<br />
near Toronto, Canada. (Source:<br />
Reuters/Carlos Osario)<br />
technology at its heart had not<br />
moved on,” says Director for<br />
International Engagement, Security<br />
& Non-Proliferation at the UK<br />
National Nuclear Laboratory Rob<br />
Whittleston.<br />
This, in fact, has been the<br />
strength of the technology. Nuclear<br />
power has been a disruptive<br />
technology in its own right ever<br />
since its introduction, Whittleston<br />
says, comparable only to<br />
hydroelectric systems in generating<br />
huge amounts of carbon-free<br />
energy.<br />
However, the generation<br />
landscape today is changing and<br />
nuclear must change with it.<br />
Continued on next page.<br />
Here’s 3 Ways to Make<br />
Promises From the Climate<br />
Summit Come True,<br />
Continued<br />
Outside the industrialized<br />
world, demand for electricity is<br />
galloping ahead and is mostly<br />
met with new plants burning<br />
coal. As in the United States,<br />
nuclear will be an essential<br />
component of a zero-carbon<br />
electric system worldwide, and<br />
more than 30 countries are<br />
working to develop nuclear<br />
energy programs. The potential<br />
market is more than $8<br />
trillion between now and<br />
2050.Current reactor<br />
technology and the advanced<br />
and small reactors in<br />
development all have a role to<br />
play. And returning the United<br />
States to a leading export role<br />
will create jobs here, cement<br />
commercial relationships with<br />
developing countries for<br />
decades to come, and boost<br />
global health and prosperity, in<br />
addition to solving the climate<br />
problem.<br />
Ambitious goals are an<br />
important first step and provide<br />
important signals about the effort<br />
needed to reduce emissions. But<br />
real progress on climate change<br />
will require action, investment and<br />
policy, and nuclear energy will be<br />
key to making any climate solution<br />
work.<br />
Article reprinted with permission<br />
of NEI. Read full article here.<br />
36 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>
Stakeholder Coordination Essential for Nuclear to<br />
Innovate, Continued<br />
“The issue now is that in order<br />
to play its role in a different looking<br />
energy mix, it has an opportunity to<br />
change its game. That is why the<br />
industry is working hard to ensure<br />
nuclear is cost competitive and<br />
more flexible,” he says.<br />
"Advanced nuclear<br />
technologies, such as small and<br />
advanced modular reactors, as well<br />
as hydrogen production in nuclear,<br />
are all examples of where disruptive<br />
tech is being considered and<br />
deployed to meet the world's future<br />
energy needs, and to power net zero<br />
here in the UK."<br />
High stakes<br />
Introducing different<br />
technology and systems – whether<br />
for new machines or to refurbish<br />
the old – is deeply challenging for a<br />
heavily regulated industry that<br />
cannot afford the slightest mistake<br />
for both safety and financial<br />
reasons.<br />
Part of the problem of bringing<br />
new technology to the nuclear<br />
industry is that each stakeholder has<br />
a different view on what that<br />
means.<br />
From the utilities, innovation<br />
must mean improved safety and<br />
lower cost while the regulator<br />
considers new technology as<br />
something that must be categorized<br />
and quantified before it’s given the<br />
green light amid concerns<br />
surrounding the risks of changing a<br />
legacy safety system.<br />
Investors, meanwhile, want it as<br />
fast as possible and cheap.<br />
“For innovation to be<br />
successful, we must find a way to<br />
bring together all stakeholders early<br />
on in the innovation process; the<br />
end user, the regulator, laboratories,<br />
governments, all brought together<br />
early on in terms of understanding<br />
how a particular technology might<br />
be able to be used within the<br />
nuclear sector and to really<br />
understand the barriers and<br />
challenges to take that<br />
forward," Chief Science and<br />
Technology Officer at the UKNNL<br />
Fiona Rayment said during an<br />
OECD NEA webinar on disruptive<br />
technologies.<br />
The series of webinars, 'From<br />
NI2050 to Disruptive Technologies<br />
for Nuclear Safety Applications',<br />
aimed to explore the use of new<br />
technologies in nuclear applications<br />
and the specific challenges that they<br />
pose for all the stakeholders.<br />
The NEA Nuclear Innovation<br />
2050 (NI2050) initiative was started<br />
in 2015 and is a push to bring<br />
together the disparate elements of<br />
the nuclear industry from all over<br />
the world to examine how,<br />
collectively, it could develop and<br />
deploy new and innovative<br />
technologies.<br />
By Paul Day<br />
(Source: OECD NEA; “From NI2050 to Disruptive Technologies for Nuclear Safety<br />
Applications”)<br />
Article reprinted with permission of<br />
Reuters Events Nuclear.<br />
Read full article here.<br />
Back to Content | <strong>Inside</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong> <strong>NIRMA</strong>.org <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 37
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