Summer Inside NIRMA Issue

By Tim Riti and Jim Slider
It is hard to believe that 25 years
ago, the Reactor Oversight Process
(ROP) was born. After evaluating
various top-down approaches to
assess industry regulatory
performance, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) worked with the
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to
develop a risk-informed approach to
reactor oversight. This required
many public meetings over the
course of two years, and pilot testing
at eight nuclear power plants. These
plants (Salem/Hope Creek,
Fitzpatrick, Harris, Sequoyah, Prairie
Island, Quad Cities, Fort Calhoun,
and Cooper) set the stage for this
revolutionary oversight approach
that was ultimately accepted and
approved by the five NRC
commissioners.
The ROP provides a clear
framework for combining inspection
results with objective performance
indicators reported to the NRC to
measure the regulatory performance
at each U.S. nuclear power plant.
The beauty in this approach was its
openness, predictability, and
objectivity. Over these 25 years, the
ROP has slowly evolved as industry
performance improved and riskinformed
processes were
implemented. While industry
operating experience and NRC selfassessments
informed some
improvements to inspections and
performance indicators, there is
more to do to ensure the ROP keeps
serving its intended purpose. The
industry and NRC continue to
discuss improvements to the ROP
and evaluate its effectiveness. This
long-running dialogue between
NRC, NEI and the public has served
all stakeholders well.
Today, the U.S. nuclear fleet
operates more safely and efficiently
than ever before. While the ROP has
come a long way since its inception,
it cannot be allowed to stagnate. The
ROP must continue to evolve and
modernize as the industry’s safety
and reliability continue to improve.
This is the key to ensuring NRC and
industry resources are applied where
they contribute the most to safety
and public confidence in nuclear
energy. Effective and efficient
regulation is vital for nuclear power
to play a critical role in meeting the
Nation’s decarbonization and energy
security goals.
Article reprinted with permission of
NEI. Read full article here.
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