Regulatory Issue Summary for OMB 3150-0234

OMB Control No.: 3150-0234
UNITED STATES
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION
OFFICE OF NEW REACTORS
WASHINGTON, DC 20555-0001
March 29, 2018
NRC REGULATORY ISSUE SUMMARY 2017-01, REVISION 1,
HUMAN RELIABILITY AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE DATABASE
ADDRESSEES
All holders of, or applicants for, a power reactor operating license under Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, “Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization
Facilities,” except those that have certified that they have permanently ceased operations and
have permanently removed all fuel from the reactor vessel.
All holders of and applicants for a power reactor early site permit, combined license, standard
design approval, or manufacturing license under 10 CFR Part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.” All applicants for a standard design certification, including
such applicants after initial issuance of a design certification rule.
INTENT
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing this regulatory issue summary (RIS)
to inform addressees about the NRC’s Scenario, Authoring, Characterization, and Debriefing
Application (SACADA) software for operator simulator training. In addition, the NRC is seeking
industry partners to voluntarily use SACADA to support the NRC's research in Human Reliability
Analysis (HRA) method improvements. This RIS supersedes in its entirety RIS 2017-01,
“Human Reliability and Human Performance Database” (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML16257A399) and requires no action or written
response on the part of an addressee. Addressee actions to collect and transmit information
requested are strictly voluntary.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The NRC’s Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research worked with the South Texas Project Nuclear
Operating Company (STPNOC) to develop SACADA to collect operator performance
information in simulator training. SACADA can be used to develop simulation scenarios, guide
post-simulation debriefings, and generate reports for various purposes. A general overview of
SACADA is available in ADAMS (Accession No. ML17053B558).
The STPNOC has used SACADA since 2012 and determined that the software helped the
company meet training objectives as described below:
•

SACADA automatically e-mails personnel performance information to managers once it
is saved into the SACADA database, typically immediately after a debriefing. This
facilitates timely communication about personnel performance. In addition, nuclear

ML17128A343

RIS 2017-01, Rev. 1
Page 2 of 4
power plants within the same organization can use SACADA as a common platform to
exchange and compare performance information in simulator training.
•

SACADA provides an efficient and effective way to track and trend simulator
performance issues, identify performance strengths and weaknesses, and generate
information for crew notebooks. A common crew performance issue in a training cycle
can be immediately identified and addressed by the licensee in the next training cycle
instead of requiring two or more training cycles to identify the common issue.

SUMMARY OF ISSUE
The NRC is seeking to partner with additional NRC licensees to use SACADA to collect
operator performance information in simulator training. For licensees that request the use of
SACADA, the NRC staff will provide free software licenses, training, and technical support. In
exchange, the licensee using SACADA will grant the NRC access to the collected operator
performance data. The NRC will use the collected data solely to support its research in HRA
method improvement. An agreement will be developed to reflect the details of any
partnership.
Any licensees interested in learning more about SACADA should contact the NRC technical
contacts listed in this document. For licensees interested in using SACADA, the NRC will
support a negotiable evaluation period. Typically, this period is three training cycles. After the
evaluation period, if the licensee decides to continue using SACADA, the NRC would continue
to provide free software licenses, perform software maintenance and updates, and provide
technical support. The licensee would also continue to grant the NRC use of the collected data
for HRA research.
BACKFITTING AND ISSUE FINALITY DISCUSSION
This RIS requires no action or written response. Any action on the part of addressees in
accordance with the information contained in the RIS is strictly voluntary and, therefore, does
not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR Part 50.109 or a violation of issue finality provisions
under 10 CFR Part 52. Consequently the staff did not perform a backfit analysis.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTIFICATION
The NRC did not publish a notice of opportunity for public comment on this RIS in the Federal
Register because the RIS is administrative.
CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT
This RIS is not a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 801-808) and,
therefore, is not subject to the requirements of the Act.

RIS 2017-01, Rev. 1
Page 3 of 4
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT
This RIS contains voluntary information collections that are subject to the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved
these information collections, approval number 3150-0234. The burden to the public for these
information collections is estimated to average 1 hour to review the RIS and 0.5 hours per
response. Send comments regarding this information collection to the Information Services
Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to
[email protected], and to the Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, NEOB-10202, (3150-0234) Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection
of information unless the document requesting or requiring the collection displays a currently
valid OMB control number.
CONTACT
Please direct any questions about this matter to the technical contacts listed below.
/RA/ (Paul G. Krohn for)
Timothy J. McGinty, Director
Division of Construction Inspection
and Operational Programs
Office of New Reactors

/RA/
Christopher G. Miller
Division of Inspection and Regional Support
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Note: NRC generic communications may be found on the NRC public Web site,
http://www.nrc.gov, under NRC Library/Document Collections.
Technical Contacts:
Yung Hsien J. Chang
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
301-415-2378
[email protected]

Sean Peters
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
301-415-2293
[email protected]

RIS 2017-01, Rev. 1
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NRC REGULATORY ISSUE SUMMARY 2017-01, REVISION 1, “HUMAN RELIABILITY AND
HUMAN PERFORMANCE DATABASE,” DATE: March 29, 2017
ADAMS Accession No.: ML17128A343;
OFFICE

Tech Editor (QTE) * RES/DRA/HFRB*

concurred via email*
RES/DRA/HFRB*

NRR/DRA/APHB/BC* NRO/DCIP/HOIB/BC*

RES/DRA/DD*

NAME

JDougherty

JChang

SPeters

GCasto

A Rivera-Varona

MThaggard

DATE

5/16/17

6/2/17

6/2/17

6/1 /17

6/6/17

6/6/17

OFFICE

OE*

NRR/PMDA*

OCIO*

OGC*

NAME

JPeralta

LHill

DCullison

LShrum

TMensah

ELee

DATE

6/15/17

2/14/18

2/22/18

3/14/18

3/8/18

3/07/18

OFFICE

NRR/DIRS/IRGB
/BC*

NRO/DCIP/D

RES/DRA/D*

NRR/DIRS/D

NAME

HChernoff

MCheok

CMiller

DATE

3/15/18

3/16/18

3/29/18

TMcGinty
(PKrohn for)
3/22/18

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

NRR/DIRS/IRGB/PM* NRR/DIRS/IRGB/LA