Audit of NRC's Management of Licensee Commitments

Revise the section of LIC-105, “Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Licensees to NRC,” on conducting triennial commitment management audits to include detailed sampling direction, such as a checklist of sources to be used in identifying a universe of commitments from which to sample.

Revise LIC-105, “Managing Regulatory Commitments Made by Licensees to NRC,” to include well-defined expectations and guidelines regarding the conduct of commitment management audits. The guidelines should include an expectation that audited commitments are reviewed to ensure that they have been appropriately implemented in the plant facility, procedures, program, or other plant documentation.

Develop training that sufficiently addresses the definition and use of commitments and provide it to all agency staff involved in reviewing reactor licensee commitments.

Identify actions to determine the extent to which commitments that are considered safety significant and/or necessary for approval of proposed licensing actions exists. This could be accomplished by either: (1) NRR project managers identifying any such commitments as part of the triennial commitment management audits, or (2) conducting a review of all existing commitments and identifying any inappropriately applied commitments. Any such commitments should be identified to NRC management for appropriate action.

Depending on the outcome of the efforts to meet recommendation 4, develop and utilize a tool for systematically tracking the status of commitments that are deemed safety significant and/or necessary for approval of proposed licensing actions.