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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION |
| Office of Public Affairs |
Telephone: 301/415-8200 |
| Washington, DC 20555-001 |
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov |
No. 98-205
November 10, 1998
STATUS OF NRC OSRE PROGRAM
After a series of internal briefings and discussions, Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) today directed the NRC staff to reinstate its program for
Operational Safeguards Response Evaluations (OSREs) at nuclear power plants, effective
immediately. The initial focus of the program will be to complete OSREs at the 11 facilities that
have not received this evaluation to date. The Chairman stated, further that:
- The purpose of NRC oversight in this area is to test the actual efficacy of licensee programs
relative to NRC regulatory requirements;
- In parallel with continuing the OSRE program, the NRC would accelerate an ongoing study to
determine the proper level of performance testing appropriate to ensure that nuclear power plants
can withstand the design basis threat, as defined in NRC security requirements;
- The NRC staff also would initiate an evaluation of the adequacy of existing NRC regulations in
this area; and
- Results of these studies, as well as the results from past and future OSREs, would be
incorporated into the new NRC risk-informed baseline inspection program currently under
development.
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